The Al Jazeera Media Network announced Thursday it will submit to the International Criminal Court a case file regarding the killing of its veteran reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while covering a raid by Israeli forces on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. She was wearing a helmet and a blue protective vest clearly marked “Press.”
Al Jazeera previously called the shooting “a blatant murder” that defies international law and warrants global condemnation.
The Network said that it has formed an international legal coalition that consists of its legal team along with international legal experts. The coalition is preparing a complete case dossier to be submitted to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
In addition to the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli Occupation Forces outside Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, 2022, the case file will also include the Israeli bombing and total destruction of Al Jazeera’s office in Gaza in May 2021, as well as the continuous incitements and attacks on its journalists operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to Article 8 of the Charter of the International Criminal Court, targeting war correspondents, or journalists working in war zones or occupied territories by killing or physically assaulting them, is a war crime.
“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the killing of our colleague Shireen Abu Akleh, who worked with the Network for 25 years as a professional journalist covering the ongoing conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Network vows to follow every path to achieve justice for Shireen, and ensure those responsible for her killing are brought to justice and held accountable in all international justice and legal platforms and courts,” reads the statement.
Earlier on Thursday, the Palestinian Authority announced the results of an investigation into the killing Abu Akleh that showed Israeli forces deliberately shot and killed her.
