Could the bin Laden family sue in international court?

The last paragraph of the message from Osama bin Laden’s family includes a pledge to pursue international justice if its members do not receive full information about the death of their father: Failure to answer these questions will force us to go to International forum for justice such as International Criminal Court and International Court ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The last paragraph of the message from Osama bin Laden's family includes a pledge to pursue international justice if its members do not receive full information about the death of their father:

The last paragraph of the message from Osama bin Laden’s family includes a pledge to pursue international justice if its members do not receive full information about the death of their father:

Failure to answer these questions will force us to go to International forum for justice such as International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice and UN must take notice of the violation of international law and assist us to have answers for which we are lawful in seeking them. A panel of eminent British and international lawyers is being constituted and a necessary action may be taken if no answers are furnished within 30 days of this statement.

No matter how eminent the lawyers, the chances that an international court would touch this case are slim at best. The International Court of Justice either hears disputes between states or issues advisory opinions requested by UN bodies. Unless the bin Laden family can get a state or a UN body to champion its cause, that courtroom door will be closed. And the International Criminal Court opens formal investigations only at the request of the prosecutor, with the approval of a three-judge panel. The likelihood that the prosecutor would do so even if he had jurisdiction is vanishingly small. As it turns out, there would not be jurisdiction, as neither Pakistan nor the United States is a member of the court.   

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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