MALAYSIA: Former Malaysian premier Mahathir calls for President George W Bush and British prime minister Blair to be tried for war crimes over Iraq war

Record ID: 643971

  • Title: MALAYSIA: Former Malaysian premier Mahathir calls for President George W Bush and British prime minister Blair to be tried for war crimes over Iraq war
  • Date: 5th February 2007
  • Summary: AUDIENCE
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malaysia
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3NF22EECH8MCGDV5YIB0SI4IG
  • Story Text: Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, a outspoken critic of the U.S-led Iraq war, brands U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair war criminals as he set up a tribunal to try them in absentia. Announcing plans to set up a tribunal former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, a trenchant critic of the Iraqi War, on Monday (February 5)) called U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair war criminals.
    About 2,000 peace activists applauded Mahathir as the leaders of the United States and Britain were branded "fascist war criminals" at a conference featuring gruesome exhibits of their alleged crimes.
    As host of the conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir also won a standing ovation after opening it with a call for Bush and Blair to be tried by an unofficial tribunal for war crimes in Iraq.
    "We are seeing today an example of the form of punishment that can be meted out. Bush and Blair are now totally reviled and condemned by the world and by their own people. To a certain extent they have been tried and sentenced by their own people and media. It was a trial in absentia."
    "The tribunal that we set up can conduct a proper trial even if the accused are not present. A respected and totally impartial Tribunal applying recognized laws will surely find its findings respected by the world just as the world respects the Nobel Laureates for example," said Mahathir, who seemed to save his strongest venom for the British prime minister in an hour-long speech illustrated by pictures of wounded children, deformed babies and tortured men.
    Mahathir, a controversial figure whose own regime was accused of human rights abuses and torture, has been leading a campaign to highlight what he calls the human-rights abuses and hypocrisy of U.S.-led forces fighting for democracy in the Middle East.
    As Mahathir spoke in the main conference room, packed with students and legions of his supporters, tape-recorded screams of tortured men and orphaned babies echoed around the War Crimes Exhibition, a house of horrors on the floor below.

    os/
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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