UK to defend leaders against private arrest warrants
Following incident involving Opposition Chairwoman Livni, British government decides to stop groups using courts to secure arrest warrants for visiting foreign officials. 'There is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organizations or individuals,' British PM Brown explains
The government's decision to change the law was made following an arrest warrant issued against Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, who was scheduled to visit London last year. Brown rushed to telephone Livni and inform her of his objection to the warrant.
Under the proposals, the Crown Prosecution Service will take over responsibility for prosecuting war crimes and other violations of international law. It will end the current system in which magistrates are obliged to consider a case for an arrest warrant presented by any individual.
Writing for the The Daily Telegraph, Brown said he would set out proposals to put the CPS in sole charge of judging the merits of any case brought under international law.
"The only question for me is whether our purpose is best served by a process where an arrest warrant for the gravest crimes can be issued on the slightest of evidence," he said.
According to Brown, the introduction of the right to prosecute international crimes in Britain had been right and necessary but that the process had been abused by activists.
"As we have seen, there is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organizations or individuals who set out only to grab headlines knowing their case has no realistic chance of a successful prosecution.
"Men and woman can then be held in prison on the basis of 'information', when the serious nature of such cases means that in any event they can only proceed to prosecution with the consent of the attorney general."
'We must defend our national interests'
Brown, who did not specifically address the warrants issued against Livni or other Israeli officials, hinted that "there is already growing reason to believe that some people are not prepared to travel to this country for fear that such a private arrest warrant – motivated purely by political gesture – might be sought against them.
"These are sometimes people representing countries and interests with which the UK must engage if we are not only to defend our national interest but maintain and extend an influence for good across the globe."
Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland Baroness Patricia Scotland visited Israel recently and said that Britain sees an urgent need to change the policy allowing arrest warrants to be issued against senior Israeli officials.
In a lecture she gave at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Baroness Scotland said that Britain is adamant that Israeli leaders always be allowed to travel freely to Britain.
Livni was not the only one to be hurt by the legal situation in the United Kingdom. A similar request for an arrest warrant was filed in the past few months against Defense Minister Ehud Barak, but was rejected. Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon called off a visit to the kingdom for fear of being arrested. Major-General (Res.) Doron Almog avoided getting off a plane in 2005 after being informed that he would be arrested in London.
