US drone strikeДЄmnesty International agreed with the ACLU that Khan should reverse his decision, especially following the US drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in Kabul on August 29th.

Katherine Gallagher of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, who represents victims of US torture, said she was вЂњstunnedвЂќ by the decision, saying it sent a message that delaying and bullying yielded results. The ACLU was not the only group normally supportive of the ICC to respond angrily. Khan said the refocusing of the investigation, filed with judges, was as a result of the TalibanвЂ™s seizure of control вЂ“ a вЂњsignificant change of circumstancesвЂќ that meant there was no prospect of вЂњa genuine and effective domestic investigationвЂќ.ДЄs a result, he planned to вЂњdeprioritiseвЂќ the investigation into suspected crimes by US personnel and Afghan government troops and concentrate instead on the Taliban and on the Islamic State Khorasan insurgents who killed 60 Afghans and 13 US marines in a suicide bomb at Kabul airport on August 26th. Given such icy relations, as the legal elite lined up earlier this year to succeed Bensouda, all eyes were on how the new prosecutor would contend with the hegemonic power of the US, which вЂњsupportsвЂќ the court but refuses to subject its own citizens to it.

Those sanctions were dropped by the Biden administration in April, though it made plain that the US continued to вЂњdisagree stronglyвЂќ with the ICCвЂ™s position on Afghanistan and its perceived attempt to вЂњassert jurisdictionвЂќ over non-member states, particularly the US. It was the first decision in the ICCвЂ™s 15-year history to involve the US вЂ“ which is not a signatory to the court вЂ“ and it led to a dramatic souring of relations with the Trump White House, which subjected Bensouda to personal sanctions she described as вЂњan attempt to interfere with the rule of lawвЂќ. ICC appeals judges last year cleared the way for Bensouda to investigate the alleged mass killing of civilians by the Taliban, as well as вЂ“ in the interests of even-handedness вЂ“ allegations of torture by Afghan government forces and by the US, including the CIA, between May 20.Д¬ontroversially, the judges decided unanimously that the inquiry should include allegations that CIA вЂњblack sitesвЂќ вЂ“ to which captives were forcibly transferred, or вЂњrenderedвЂќ, for so-called вЂњenhanced interrogationвЂќвЂ“ were operated in Poland, Lithuania and Romania. Khan (51) succeeded Fatou Bensouda in mid-July, and such a forthright challenge from such an august civil rights organisation, aimed directly at his credibility, has the potential to cause severe perception problems for both the man and the institution during his nine-year tenure.

Its human rights director, Jamil Dakwar, said the ACLU represented three men who had been detained and tortured in Afghanistan, and warned that the net effect of KhanвЂ™s unexpected change of direction would be to вЂњindefinitely delay a measure of justice for victims of US torture programmesвЂќ. In the most stinging attack on Karim Khan, the powerful American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called on him to вЂњreverseвЂќ that first decision immediately, warning that it sent вЂњa troubling messageвЂќ about the ICCвЂ™s capacity to вЂњcredibly investigate war crimes committed by agents of powerful countriesвЂќ. ItвЂ™s not how the International Criminal Court will have wanted to end its first 100 days with a high-profile new prosecutor: fighting a fire brigade action against a barrage of criticism for his decision to вЂњdeprioritiseвЂќ alleged US, CIA and Afghan government war crimes in Afghanistan.

How to apply icc profile