He belongs to that rare breed of lawyers who are determined to apply their skills for the triumph of justice and truth at any cost. Literally at any cost, because not too far back he had put his own life on the line going on a mission to provide food supplies to the people of Gaza. Mubarak Al Mutawa was on the ship Flotilla that came under fire from the Israeli helicopter gunship and lost nine of its passengers. Mutawa is determined to bring Israel to book on Flotilla and numerous other counts of crimes against humanity. He knows he is fighting a very hard battle, and does not labour under any illusion about the might of the enemy he is up against. Yet, he is determined to stay his course and do his mite. In Kuwait, he is fighting to bring about an amendment to a law that he believes contravenes the Constitution of Kuwait. In short, he is a man who is a thorn in many people’s flesh on various fronts. He is not worried about the outcome. He will continue fighting. The only rewards he seeks are rewards from the Almighty.

Question: What do you do in your capacity as the Chairman of International Human Rights Committee in the Islamic World?
Answer: We deal with cases of international human rights violations. One of the important cases I’ve taken up is the Israeli aggression on Flotilla, the ship that was carrying food and other essential commodities to people in Gaza. Other cases include what happened in Gaza about 3 years ago, when the Israel army laid siege to the place for 22 days, end of 2008 and beginning of 2009.
In fact we have taken up several similar cases where Israel has taken military action against the civilian population of Gaza in gross violation of international norms. Guantanamo Bay has also been an issue with which we are dealing.

Q: You’ve indeed taken up very huge cases, which have a long history, going back decades, and are in fact at the centre of much of the global military crises going on at the moment. How are you planning to tackle a case of such a mammoth scale?
A: We are fighting a legal battle. This is the most legitimate form of protest one can take up. Nobody can blame us for crossing the line. If the governments of those countries that are perpetrating these violations are not going to listen to us, then it’s time they took a lesson from the recent goings on in the region. You cannot oppress a people for long. Beyond a certain point they will rise up and hit back. It will be violent, and there will be no stopping them.
This is a natural reaction. It’s a very basic human nature. If a person is not able to get his rights through civil means, he will be willing to go to any length to get them.
Look at Libya for example. In eight months 150,000 people have already laid down their lives for freedom. A killing on this scale is unacceptable by any standards.
We have held a lot of meetings in Turkey, Sudan, Jakarta, Albania, Kosova, Bosnia everywhere. Justice needs to be established all over the world. I think the world will be reorganized. Justice is at a premium.
When it comes to the issue of the rights of the Palestinian people, the UN, the US, a mighty power, and all the countries in the Security Council are not dealing with it in a just way. They try to support the occupiers at the cost of the occupied. There is no justice in their resolution. After 50 years, what do you expect from the oppressed?
The people in this region are fed up. It is very clear that those people who claim to be champions of freedom and democracy are not just supporting the oppressors, but also abetting with Israel in their crimes, supplying them weapons to oppress an entire population. Others who are similarly oppressed because of the support of the Western powers for unjust leaders are also deeply angered.
But what I say is that we should not lose patience. We have to try the legal means. We know there is a lot of injustice going on, but let’s not lose hope.

Q: How exactly are you pursuing the cases? In which court are you fighting the legal battles?
A: We have filed the cases with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in France. Flotilla and some cases pertaining to human rights violation in Gaza have been filed with ICC. However, we have a big obstacle. In two particular cases, one Flotilla and the other pertaining to Bait Hanoun in Gaza, the General Prosecutor of ICC, Luis Mareno Ocampo, has openly claimed that he is not empowered to register these cases according to the court’s constitution. This is a blatant lie. I want to declare through this interview that according to Article 13, Paragraph C, of the ICC Constitution, the General Prosecutor has not only the right to register a case based on information of violation of human rights, but is also obliged to move it with immediate effect.
This article also refers to Article 15, which further states the General Prosecutor has the right to move a case and open investigations on his own accord based on information brought to his notice, of crimes mentioned in the law.
However, what the General Prosecutor has done is that he has not acted on the information and reports that have reached him, despite there being many, and has failed to initiate any investigation in the case, which is the least that is expected of him in the face of the brutality that was staged in Gaza and on the decks of Flotilla. More than 150 complaints or close to 200 must have reached him, yet he has failed to act.
He must be terribly, terribly out of synch with reality to be not able to see the seriousness of the charges. If he is a man of justice, he should have opened a case on the first complaint that reached him. He should have sent a letter to Israel informing them that there is a case against them and invited them to defend.
But as I said, we are not going to lose hope and sulk. We are going to use the rights that other articles in the ICC give us, and are going to move against the General Prosecutor. We can file a complaint in the court against the General Prosecutor, saying he is not doing his job. The court can order him to initiate investigations into the case, or remove him from his post.
This is our duty now. I think we should also try again and again to use the legal means to achieve just results, so that no one can accuse us of overstepping our limits. We are not using a revolution. We are not doing anything illegal.

Q: This is not the first time that we are seeing such a deliberate attempt to derail justice in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel, blatant denial of justice to the Palestinian people has been a sort of norm, all the way to the recent claim by the US that it will veto any move in the UN to recognize a Palestinian state. How hopeful are you then that your petitions will ever see the light of day?
A: As Muslims, it is an article of our faith, that we never lose hope. It is up to us to try to the best of our abilities, and God is the disposer of affairs. We are not relying on any of these powers to get justice. It is God who delivers justice. Some people are victorious over others according to God’s will, and these are issues that belong only to His wisdom. We can only work good and wait for His mercy.
However, God will not change a people until the people change themselves. God will not intervene if we sit back and relax and wait for a miracle from heaven. God has created a method for everything and we have to follow the laws of His methods. If you want food, you have to harvest crops. You need to work to achieve. Moreover, right and wrong are not based on who scores a victory over whom, or how many people support which side? This is just a temporary world, and the success in the hereafter is our ultimate goal.

As lawyers, our weapon is the law. We are using this weapon to bring justice to people who are oppressed. In this stage, we feel this is enough. God willing, in future, the world will open its eyes to the truth, and there will be a change. As it is we are witnessing massive changes sweeping across this region, which was totally unexpected by anyone. It’s good to see that change is occurring in the Arab world. People have suffered long enough under oppression and unlawful regimes.
Regarding US’ veto against Palestinian statehood, it’s much more complex than what meets the eye. We must learn to understand the language of politicians. President Barack Obama has said that the US will veto the move for a Palestinian state. Remember, in the last century, Britain promised us Arabs that it would return Caliphate to the Arabs. That was to Sayyid Hussein Bin Ali, the leader of Hejaz. But what happened eventually. He was exiled and our lands were divided between Britain and France. So they said one thing, and did quite another.
Similarly, you don’t have to believe what America is saying now. If you look at who initially put forth the idea of a separate Palestinian state, it was the US themselves. That was in 2004. So, why are they vetoing against what they wanted back then. They are saying so now, because they want to take it forward one step at a time. Actually, a Palestinian state goes against the interest of the Palestinians. If they are given statehood, they will not be considered as being under occupation any more. This will be good enough ground to cut all aid going to them, impoverishing them further. The state will be unable to function. The situation will be very complicated. So, this state will play into the hands of Israel. A state will also deprive Palestinians of the right to resistance.

Moreover, all the refugees who are living outside Palestine currently, numbering in their millions, about 6 million, will be rendered stateless permanently, because the recognized state will be a small piece of land. Refugees coming from areas that are outside this small piece of recognized state will be homeless for good. The situation now, without a state, is much better. Just think, the UK prefers to remain neutral on this issue now. The US and the UK are the closest of allies, yet they differ on this count. There is something afoot. They are not against a Palestinian statehood, but they want to do it in such a way that the Palestinians totally lose out in the bargain.

Q: You were on Flotilla in May 2010, when the Israeli army aggressed. Tell us about your experience?
A: In fact I have written a book on my experience on Flotilla. God chose nine from among us from that fateful ship to be martyrs in His cause. I was on that ship too. All nine were from Turkey. All the people on Flotilla were united on a common cause. We did it for the one and half million people who have been enslaved in their own land. The people of Gaza are prisoners in that land. Gaza Strip is only 36 kms long and 6 kms wide. Imagine, one and a half million people are living on this strip of land. And on top of that, they are facing a siege frequently from the land, air and sea, with absolute impunity and disregard for human rights. What will any people do if they were treated like this? I am asking as a human being, not as a Muslim or an Arab. On that ship there were people from different faiths and nations. We had all united for the cause of justice to help the oppressed.
Our journey started on May 24, 2010, and on the morning of May 31, we were surrounded by helicopter gunships, attacking us, firing at us. We were unarmed civilians. We just had food supplies for the people of Gaza. We only had kitchen knives, and they said that we were armed, pointing at our knives. I don’t know how people can believe these things. How is the international community quiet on this?

Q: All the nine killed were on your ship?
A: Yes, all nine were on my ship. I was on the second deck. The firing took place on the topmost deck. It lasted for an hour. We were all then taken to Port Ashdud in Israel. We were investigated. We were around 650 people, and each of us was interrogated individually, and it took a long time. Children and women, old and young, everyone was detained. And then the following day we were all deported. We did not even trespass their territory. When we were captured by them, our ship was in the international waters. Some 95 kms from the shore.

Q: There were footages on YouTube of the Flotilla crew attacking the soldiers. And this was shown as a justification for the shooting. What happened exactly?
A: The people of Flotilla reacted that way because the Israeli soldiers fired at us first and killed nine innocent souls. Yes, we were very angry by their brazen act of terrorism against a peaceful mission. What you saw on YouTube was our reaction to the killing of our people. The shooting did not follow our violence, if it can be termed so. We were only reacting to their barbaric aggression. After a heavily armed army kills innocent, unarmed civilians, going on a humanitarian mission with such incredible disregard for human lives, what do you expect us to do? Kiss their hands and welcome them with roses and bouquets? What you saw was a very natural, justified, logical and human reaction to an act of cruelty that would shame even beasts of the jungle.

Q: You are also waging legal wars against the system in Kuwait to correct what you feel are unconstitutional laws. Tell us something about that?
A: Locally, yes I have taken up cudgels against a constitutional violation in the judicial system, the system of the Counselling Room dispensation of justice.
According to the Constitution of Kuwait, every human being is equal in his rights and duties in front of the law. According to this system, cases are dealt by the highest court in Kuwait in private, closed rooms, without the presence of the involved parties.
The cases are either declared rejected or accepted based on a sighting of the case papers without a fair hearing of the concerned parties or their lawyers. There is a lack of transparency as to on what basis the judgments are made. Some cases are accepted and some rejected, and this being the highest court, there’s no further appeal. This is tantamount to treating people unequally, going against Kuwait’s Constitution.

Moreover, many of our judges come from countries with discredited systems that have been overthrown by revolutions. I am calling into question the reliability of the judgments of these judges. After all judges are also humans and their thinking can be clouded by their ideologies and other factors.
The only court above the High Court in Kuwait is the Constitutional Court, but nobody has a direct access to this court. You cannot directly move a case through the Constitutional Court. It is only when the constitutionality of a particular case being handled by a lower court comes into question that you can go to the Constitutional Court.

I am preparing for a pitched battle to resolve this issue, which would become an embarrassment for Kuwait if brought to the attention of the international courts. However, if I am unable to pierce the silence on this issue within Kuwait, I will be left with few options other than seeking justice from an international court.
I have been called for a hearing by a special committee on Dec 5, 2011. Let’s hope the committee is able to see the unconstitutionality in this system of Counselling Room dispensation of justice.

biography

Mubarak Al Mutawa is the Chairman of the International Human Rights Committee in the Islamic World, headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. He is also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Union of NGOs in the Islamic World, which carries out humanitarian services in times of crises like starvation in Somalia, floods in Pakistan, earthquake in Turkey and so on. He is a very vocal opponent of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and is fighting legal battles in the International Criminal Court to make Israel account for its alleged crimes against humanity. He is also the author of numerous books, the latest being one about his experience on Flotilla, the ship that came under Israeli fire while on a mission to deliver food supplies to Gaza.