{"id":102796,"date":"2017-12-04T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=102796"},"modified":"2017-12-01T14:09:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T14:09:45","slug":"the-criminalization-of-war-tun-dr-mahathirs-open-letter-to-muslims-in-saudi-arabia-the-gulf-states-and-yemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/the-criminalization-of-war-tun-dr-mahathirs-open-letter-to-muslims-in-saudi-arabia-the-gulf-states-and-yemen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Criminalization of War. Tun Dr. Mahathir\u2019s Open Letter to Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

28 Nov 2017 – We<\/em> received from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia\u00a0(1981-2003) an important message, addressed to Muslims in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen. <\/em><\/p>\n

This message, however, is also addressed to the U.S. and its indefectible British ally which have relentlessly supported Saudi Arabia\u2019s war against the people of Yemen, a criminal act tantamount to \u00a0genocide under international law. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. has been instrumental in supporting the naval blockade on the delivery of food and medicine to Yemen\u2019s starving children. In turn, the\u00a0corporate media has payed lip service to the inaction of \u00a0Western governments and\u00a0their\u00a0self-proclaimed \u201cinternational community\u201d. \u00a0Both the US and Britain have sold billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia, while also advising them on the conduct of military\u00a0operations. In the words of Rep. Ron Paul<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c[Why does] Washington support Saudi Arabia \u2013 a tyrannical state with one of the worst human rights record on earth \u2013 as it commits by what any measure is a genocide against the Yemeni people?\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let us endorse this important message by Tun Mahathir<\/strong> who in the course of the last twelve years has sought to criminalize war as well as create the required legal conditions for the indictment of the political architects of modern warfare.<\/p>\n

The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2005, after having served as Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad<\/strong> initiated a pathbreaking endeavor which consisted in criminalizing all acts of war.<\/strong> This historic initiative under the helm of Tun Dr. Mahathir resulted in the formulation of \u00a0\u201cThe Kuala Lumpur Initiative \u00a0to Criminalize War\u201d<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201cKillings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace.\u00a0Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic law.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The full text of the December 2005 Declaration to criminalize war is included below.<\/p>\n

Read the Declaration carefully. It is an important document. Tun Mahathir<\/strong> \u201chas a dream\u201d that one day all wars will be abolished. The signatories of the December 2005 Declaration share Tun\u2019s resolve to criminalize war.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Open letter from Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad to the Muslim community in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Yemen<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kuala Lumpur Declaration to Criminalize War<\/h2>\n

Text of Declaration<\/strong><\/p>\n

15 December 2005<\/p>\n

THE Kuala Lumpur Global Peace Forum of concerned peoples from all five continents<\/p>\n

UNITED in the belief that peace is the essential condition for the survival and well-being of the human race,<\/p>\n

DETERMINED to promote peace and save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,<\/p>\n

OUTRAGED over the frequent resort to war in the settlement of disputes between nations,<\/p>\n

DISTURBED that militarists are preparing for more wars,<\/p>\n

TROUBLED that use of armed force increases insecurity for all,<\/p>\n

TERRIFIED that the possession of nuclear weapons and the imminent risk of nuclear war will lead to the annihilation of life on earth.<\/p>\n

To achieve peace we now declare that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Wars increasingly involve the killing of innocent people and are, therefore, abhorrent and criminal.<\/li>\n
  2. Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times of peace.<\/li>\n
  3. Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic law.<\/li>\n
  4. All commercial, financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war should be criminalised.<\/li>\n
  5. All national leaders who initiate aggression must be subjected to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.<\/li>\n
  6. All nations must strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and institute methods to settle international disputes by peaceful means and to renounce war.<\/li>\n
  7. Armed force shall not be used except when authorised by a Resolution passed by two-thirds majority of the total membership of the General Assembly of the United Nations.<\/li>\n
  8. All legislators and all members of Government must affirm their belief in peace and pledge to strive for peace.<\/li>\n
  9. Political parties all over the world must include peace as one of their principal objectives.<\/li>\n
  10. Non-Governmental Organisations committed to the promotion of peace should be set up in all nations.<\/li>\n
  11. Public servants and professionals, in particular in the medical, legal, educational and scientific fields, must promote peace and campaign actively against war.<\/li>\n
  12. The media must actively oppose war and the incitement to war and consciously promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes.<\/li>\n
  13. Entertainment\u00a0media must cease to glorify war and violence and should instead cultivate the ethos of peace.<\/li>\n
  14. All religious leaders must condemn war and promote peace.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To these ends the Forum resolves to establish a permanent Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur to \u2013<\/p>\n

    IMPLEMENT this Initiative.<\/p>\n

    OPPOSE policies and programmes that incite war.<\/p>\n

    SEEK the cooperation of NGOs worldwide to achieve the goals of this Initiative.<\/p>\n

    Signed by:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad<\/p>\n

    Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf<\/p>\n

    Prof. Francis A. Boyle<\/p>\n

    Dr. Helen Caldicott<\/p>\n

    Mr. Matthias Chang<\/p>\n

    Prof. Michel Chossudovsky<\/p>\n

    Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi<\/p>\n

    Mr Denis J. Halliday<\/p>\n

    Dato\u2019 Mukhriz Mahathir<\/p>\n

    Dr. Chandra Muzaffar<\/p>\n

    Dato\u2019 Michael O.K. Yeoh<\/p>\n

    Mr. Hans-Christof Von Sponeck<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    From Left to Right: Francis A.Boyle, Helen Caldicott, Denis J. Halliday, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Hans-Christof Von Sponeck, Michel Chossudovsky, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf<\/p><\/div>\n

    __________________________________________<\/p>\n

    Copyright \u00a9 Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad<\/a>, Global Research, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

    Go to Original \u2013 globalresearch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    28 Nov 2017 – This message is also addressed to the U.S. and its indefectible British ally which have relentlessly supported Saudi Arabia\u2019s war against the people of Yemen, a criminal act tantamount to genocide under international law. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}