- An eminent panel of legal experts is to accuse Tony Blair
of committing war crimes in Iraq in a formal complaint to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague.
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- The panel, which includes law professors from universities
in Britain, Ireland, France and Canada, will claim on Tuesday there is
compelling evidence that the Prime Minister broke international law and
UN treaties by invading Iraq last year.
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- The eight experts will recommend that the ICC launches
a formal investigation into the Government's conduct - the first step towards
indicting ministers for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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- Their dossier will add to the renewed controversy over
Mr Blair's stance on Iraq. It will be published a week before Lord Hutton
issues his report into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly, which
examines the Prime Minister's role in the decision to name him.
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- The ICC has already rejected several attempts by Greek
and Belgian lawyers to investigate the Government's behaviour, but in this
case its lawyers have contacted the panel in advance to ask for a copy
of their report.
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- The panel includes Guy Goodwin-Gill QC of All Souls,
Oxford, Professor Christine Chinkin of LSE, Professor Upendra Baxi from
Warwick University and Professor William Schabas, director of the Irish
Centre of Human Rights.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=482331
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