In an article for the Just Security blog last week, Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and Alex Whiting, who spent eight years as an international criminal prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal, discuss the emergence of new video evidence that could implicate Khalifa Haftar in war crimes.
The International Criminal Court very recently issued an arrest warrant for a militia leader in Libya which should catch the attention of U.S. policymakers, diplomats and prosecutors because of the possibility that his most senior commander—an American citizen by the name of Khalifa Haftar—ordered soldiers to commit war crimes. So has General Haftar been telling his subordinates to carry out the very acts that are part of the International Court’s arrest warrant, such as summary executions? Alex Whiting raised that prospect in a recent article at Just Security. Now startling video evidence of General Haftar’s potentially doing just that has emerged, we can report. The videos of Haftar reinforce concerns about the American’s criminal exposure and his suitability as an interlocutor in any diplomatic negotiations over the future of Libya. What’s more, if these videos help prove Haftar is personally committing war crimes, individuals who support Haftar’s military operations in the future, U.S. officials included, could also be exposed to criminal liability under international and domestic law.
Click here to read the full article.