RUTHFULLY YOURS

You have the right to remain silent… 

If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times. The one great hope for those of us calling for sanity over the state of Israel in particular and the western world in general is that the group hysteria that inspires our opponents will ultimately render them so ridiculous that they will lose all credibility outside the lunatic fringe.  

Well, vindication may be just around the corner. Now it emerges that the universal jurisdiction laws that have been used to effectively exclude prominent Israelis from Great Britain for fear of war crimes indictments may be used to launch a prosecution against, wait for it, the Pope.

This is not a theoretical idea. Two prominent atheist writers, Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion) and Christopher Hitchens, announced over the weekend that they are consulting lawyers with a view to prosecuting His Holiness when he comes to Britain in September. Charges, being considered by high profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, would relate to Pope Benedict’s alleged cover up of abuses by paedophilic priests. The alleged cover up is said to amount to a crime against humanity. If, on that basis, a prosecution is launched the universal jurisdiction procedures would provide the route to do it.

Where to start? Perhaps firstly by pointing out that any such prosecution could (and probably would) be taken by Catholics around the world as a declaration of war against them by a Protestant judicial system. (The Queen is the titular head of the Anglican church and also of the English courts).

Apart from anything else, this would thus amount to an abrogation of the Peace of Westphalia — the treaties which followed the Thirty Years war (1618-1648) and which sought to bring an end to religious conflict across Europe.

Now, I have just the suspicion that before the international law crowd plunges us back into the early 17th century someone in a position of authority is going to have what alcoholics reputedly refer to as “a moment of clarity”. It’s just not going to be allowed to happen.

But here’s the nub of the matter if the principle of universal jurisdiction is indeed invoked: it’s either universal or it’s not. If you amend or abolish it for one person, you amend or abolish it for everyone. You can’t say: prosecute Tzipi Livni, but don’t prosecute the Pope.

It is also crucial to note that the notion of the Pope as being immune from prosecution due to his status as a nominal head of state is unlikely to hold up. Mark Stephens, another lawyer working on the case for the campaigners, was quoted by the Guardian as saying:

“I’m convinced we can get over the threshold of immunity… The Vatican is not recognised as a state in international law. People assume that it has existed for time immemorial but it was a construct of Mussolini, and when the Vatican first applied to become a member of the UN, the US said no. So as a sop they were given the status of permanent observers rather than full members.”

If Stephens is right, what this all means is that the universal jurisdiction laws are almost certain to be amended beyond recognition in the very near future since the mere possibility they could see the Pope hauled before a British court is something the UK authorities will swiftly move to forestall.

It is true that there are other routes for a prosecution. The lawyers are also mulling the possibility of prosecuting the Pope under purely English law by, for example, finding a victim of abuse by Catholic priests who was living in England at the time the abuse took place.

But the case will inevitably occasion a rethink of the entire system, universal jurisdiction included, under which non-UK nationals can be prosecuted in Britain for alleged crimes committed while residing in another country.

Israeli generals and former ministers will benefit from the changes like everyone else.

In a roundabout sort of way, that is very much to be welcomed. But I return to the point I opened with: ultimately this mad, hysterical mindset will reveal itself to a wider audience. That’s no reason for complacency. But, amid all the gloom, it tells us there is hope.