The ‘most wanted’ leaders by the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands.

Established in 2002, the ICC is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

One of the latest arrest warrants was issued for   I s r a e l i Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as H a m a s leaders over alleged war crimes in the Middle Eastern conflict.

That makes Netanyahu the fourth world leader for whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant. These are the other wanted world leaders:

The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

The Kremlin, however, called the move meaningless and has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during the invasion of its neighbour, according to Reuters.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir (pictured left) in 2009, accusing him of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, where an estimated 300,000 people were killed and more than 2 million displaced.

Bashir and some of his allies were jailed in Sudan after a popular uprising in 2019, but were never sent to The Hague. According to the army Bashir was moved from prison to a military hospital in April last year, Reuters reported.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for the former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (pictured) in 2011 along with his son. Muammar, however, was captured and shot in October that year.

Days after his father was killed, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (pictured right) was caught by fighters from Zintan, where he remained in captivity until he was released under an amnesty law in 2017.

Another well-known figure in the ICC’s ‘most wanted’ list, although not a world leader, is Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. He’s the court’s longest standing fugitive whose arrest warrant for 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity was issued in 2005.

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