Law farces: Khashoggi and the US sanctions

Written by Nasser Kandil,

The positions raised by the dependent political legal titles worth some interest because they spread intellectual and moral pollution that cannot be controlled. Among these titles is what is taking the first place in the international situation today especially the case of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and the issues of the US sanctions on Iran which are entering into force today.

In the case of Khashoggi, there were many positions across oceans and seas, in which the US President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister of the occupation entity Benjamin Netanyahu, and many Arab rulers and leaders and Lebanese politicians participated. There is one phrase among them “the crime is brutal and its committers must be prosecuted”. But it is important not to affect the Saudi rule, because it is a pillar in the confrontation with Iran and guarantor of the stability and balance in the region. If you search for these words on Google you will find that they are the words of Trump, Netanyahu, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Arab officials, and Lebanese politicians, so what does this mean?

The normal question posed by the mentioned speech is “is it possible to combine between the two parts of the equation; to achieve justice without diminution in the case of Jamal Khashoggi and at the same time to ensure not to harm the Saudi regime as a guarantee of the confrontation with Iran and the balance against it. The main accused in the case of the killing of Khashoggi is the Saudi Crown Prince, in other words; the pillar of the new rising Saudi regime under American-Israeli support. Every sticking to justice and truth will lead to his persecution and thus his fall, in others to ensure not to affect the Saudi regime is to call to falsify the investigation, to manipulate with justice at certain limits, to create false witnesses for that goal, and to find suspects to be in jails through injustice and aggression. This is what has been practiced by the international judiciary in the case of the assassination of the Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri and still so far, it was welcomed on that day by those who call for that today, to repeat the experience for the sake of the Saudi regime, but at the same time to find justice and truth with the same tools; fabricated investigation, alternatives of the real accused, and false witnesses. Some suggest that the international judiciary is a guarantee of truth and justice in the case of Khashoggi, so they consider it a desired goal.

Regarding the issue of the sanctions on Iran, what is surprising is how many people consider this issue as just a bilateral issue between Washington and Tehran, or an issue of oil interests that call some Iran’s customers to repel against the US sanctions out of their interest, but the actual issue is that it is first time in which a permanent member in the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions on a country that is implementing the resolutions of the Security Council, rather than on countries which do not abide by the their implementation. The nuclear understanding unanimously approved by the Security Council is the issue around which the sanctions revolve. The content of the US sanctions is a message to the world that the one who applies the UN resolution will pay the cost and will be punished. The repel in favor of law is the minimum thing that must be done by all the countries to refuse to bow to the American arrogance which it does not only repel against the understanding on which it signed and participated in its approval, but it insulted publicly through saying that those who implement the UN resolutions will pay the cost.

The Legal talk does not like the law itself which is based since the law of Hamorabi on an equation “the unity of criterion in judging the act”.

Translated by Lina Shehadeh,