Suspended sentence

Belgium has frozen the investigation into Sharon's role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre; critics accuse it of caving in to Israeli pressure. Amira Howeidy reports
It was never going to be easy convicting a powerful head of state for crimes against humanity. But the setbacks to bringing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to justice have come frighteningly fast. Last Friday, the examining magistrate in the case brought in Belgium against Sharon for his role in the Sabra and Shatila massacre suspended the investigation and begged an appeals court to decide if the matter falls within his jurisdiction. The move shocked those campaigning to bring Sharon to justice. Last week Luc Walleyn, the Belgian lawyer who filed the charge against Sharon, promised, "victory is near." How wrong he was.
The examining magistrate based his decision on two points. He argued that Sharon's role was already investigated by a judicial body, the Kahan commission, and therefore should not be tried again. The magistrate also argued that the massacre has no link with Belgium; therefore Belgium is incompetent to look into the case.
Critics of the sudden freeze accuse Belgium of succumbing to political pressure to improve strained relations with Israel. They believe the arguments for the stay of proceedings are "redundant." They point out that the Kahan Commission, which concluded that Sharon was indirectly responsible for the massacre, was an ad hoc local committee without judicial power. Dyab Abou Jahjah, head of the Arab European League (AEL), a Belgian NGO which formed the Sabra and Shatila Committee (SSC), the body that is handling the case for the defendants, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "The Kahan commission was simply a political and administrative commission. It had no judicial nature whatsoever."
A statement issued by AEL-SSC strongly contests the claim that the tenuous link between Belgium and the massacre is a judicial problem. The statement pointed to a Belgian law issued in 1993 (amended in 1999), which clearly stipulates that Belgium may try cases in which the alleged events took place outside Belgium, and where neither victim or perpetrator are Belgian. Nor need the defendant be present on Belgian soil during the trial.
"We are therefore surprised at the development, and we consider [the arguments made to suspend the investigation] groundless and unjustified," the statement said. It also commented, "We hope that the court of appeals will recognise this mistake and act promptly to reactivate the investigation and spare the victims and their families pain and disappointment."
Over 22 victims of the Sabra and Shatila massacre filed a complaint with the Belgian judiciary against Sharon and others for acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes last June. The complaint was accepted, and an investigation was launched in July, during Belgium's chairmanship of the European Union. This caused Belgium political embarrassment, and even prompted Sharon to cancel a scheduled visit to Brussels, which led some parliamentarians to try and change the law. But Belgium's finely-balanced parliamentary coalition made such a move tricky, and the entire matter was postponed.
After this latest move, the plaintiffs must wait until the Court of Appeals sets a date for hearings. That decision may take as long as a couple of months.
Israel reacted positively to the suspending of the investigation. Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper, quoted a senior official saying the suspension reflects a willingness by the Belgians to cooperate on the issue.
Commentators who feel that Belgium has succumbed to political pressure suspect that portraying the case as political is Israel's trump card, because it paints Belgian law as being exploited for political ends. Some also feel the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, where NGO delegates equated Zionism with racism, magnified Belgian guilt over the issue.
Yet for the plaintiffs, and for those representing them, the battle is not about politics at all: it is about justice. "The law is on our side," Abou Jahjah insists, "This is the strongest thing you can have in a state [governed by] law. And it is the most important element here." Yet he concedes that the issue does not just have legal elements. "There is the judicial one, and that has to be fought with legal means and the lawyers have to focus on that. [On the other hand], there is Belgian public opinion, which we, as the SSC, will have to influence...It is a very crucial case, not only for us, but for Belgium, as a state [governed by] law, and for international law. Belgium must not succumb to pressure. If it does, its image and its own judicial tradition will be forever marred. We will definitely try to make that clear to the people." AEL-SSC will organise a 'march for justice' next Sunday, in Brussels, to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the massacre.
The massacre took place on 17 and 18 September, 1982, during Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Members of a pro-Israeli Lebanese militia, the Phalange, raided the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, brutally murdering up to 3,000 Palestinians. Israeli forces surrounded the camps while the slaughter took place. On 16 December, 1982, the United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it an act of genocide.
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