International court wants to investigate US torture regime

Fatou Bensouda, ICC prosecutor

Here are some facts: The United States tortured people. This is a violation of international law. That same law requires that any nation that knows about torture must prosecute it. The US has so far failed to hold anyone involved in the Bush torture regime accountable.

The Hague’s International Criminal Court is not happy. And they plan to do something about it.

After a decade of collecting evidence, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court announced last week that she will take steps toward a full investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed over the course of the armed conflict in Afghanistan since May 2003. While the process could take years, this development means that, for the first time, U.S. officials could face the specter of indictment by the international court.

The prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has requested to launch a full investigation into whether a number of actors committed gross violations of international law, including “war crimes of torture and related ill-treatment.” That implicates U.S. military and CIA personnel, as well as private contractors. In a 2016 report, the prosecutor’s office revealed that it had reason to believe that members of the U.S. military “subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity” and members of the CIA “subjected at least 27 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and/or rape.”

This could be huge. The ICC encompasses 124 countries, including the entire European Union, so even if the United States (which isn’t a member) doesn’t cooperate (and does anyone expect Trump to?), the Court could still make it virtually impossible for anyone indicted to set foot nearly anywhere on the planet without being immediately arrested.

This is most likely a long shot, given that a) the case needs to be approved, b) arrest warrants need to be issued, and then c) the individuals targeted would need to leave the US for the Court to get their hands on them. But just the thought that criminal proceedings are underway, after President Obama chose to let his country’s torturers off the hook, is reassuring.

This will be very interesting to watch as it develops over the years to come.