The Murder of Shireen Abu Akleh: How Does Law Protect the Journalist in a War?

Abstract

The murder of journalists is one of the war crimes. The killing of journalists is also a form of suppressing the freedom of expression inherent in every citizen. Shireen Abu Akleh is a journalist from Al Jazeera who was killed by Israeli army fire while reporting on the armed conflict between Israel and Palestine in May 2022. Due to the heinous act, the Palestinian government submitted a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be able to solve the murder case. Meanwhile, the Israeli government denies the accusations despite the existence of sufficient evidence. The research aims to explain the present circumstances regarding the Abu Akleh murder case and how it is examined under international law. In addition, normative legal research is used as a research method in the research. The research also emphasizes the chronology of Abu Akleh's murder and how international law regulates the legal procedure in order to raise justice. Moreover, the Palestinian government submits a complaint to the ICC to initiate the judicial process for the Abu Akleh murder case. The United Nations has already said in an official declaration that the Israeli army was responsible for the murder of Abu Akleh. In conclusion, Israel Government has to be responsible for the action of murder related in line with the collection of the latest evidence and respectable international law.