After being turned away at Paris airport this Saturday, May 4, a British-Palestinian surgeon accuses Germany of wanting to prevent him from testifying about the horrors underway in Gaza before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ghassan Abu Sitta treated the wounded at al-Chifa Hospital in Gaza for a month and a half. It was while attending a conference on this subject at the French Senate that he discovered that Germany had issued a ban on the Schengen area for a period of one year.
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This Sunday, May 5, RFI was able to contact doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta by telephone, who returned to London the day before after being banned from entering French territory. Interview.
RFI: At Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris, what reason was given to you regarding your refusal to enter French territory?
Ghassan Abu Sitta : The police officers who handled my case simply told me that I was subject to an administrative inadmissibility. They told me that the Germans had entered my name into the Schengen system. In April, Germany refused me entry into its territory, but the paper they gave me at that time only stipulated a one-month ban on entry into German territory. Nothing further was then mentioned to my lawyers in Germany.
In Paris, Saturday, the day was grueling. I was treated worse than by the German authorities who had simply directed me to the departure lounge of my return flight to London. This time, I was placed in a holding cell and finally, I was escorted by armed people to my plane. The organizers of the conference in which I was to participate in the French Senate tried to resolve the problem, without success.
Read alsoA British-Palestinian doctor who came to testify about the situation in Gaza prevented from entering France
RFI: Twenty-four hours later, did you understand what had happened?
Ghassan Abu Sitta : So far I have not been given an official reason. Apparently, I am subject to an administrative inadmissibility from entering the Schengen area. If I understood correctly, there are legal prohibitions and administrative prohibitions. In the case of an administrative ban, the issuing country has no justification to give.
I believe this is an attempt by the German authorities to put pressure on the functioning of the ICC to prevent people who could become witnesses from traveling to The Hague. I am part of the investigation process led by the ICC into possible war crimes committed in the war in Gaza. I provided proof and I’m supposed to go there in a month. The Netherlands is part of the Schengen area. My lawyers are therefore in contact with the ICC, and with the German authorities, on this issue.
I was also scheduled to give a series of lectures at Dutch universities and meet with the head of the UN chemical weapons agency about the Israeli use of white phosphorus. I believe my inadmissibility is part of a concerted campaign. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said last Friday that he had come under heavy pressure from the US administration, the US Congress and European governments to prevent him from issuing arrest warrants against Benyamin Netanyahu and the leaders of the Israeli army.
Read alsoThe International Criminal Court denounces “threats” issued against him
European governments have increased arms deliveries tenfold Israel since October 7. They continue to supply weapons to Israel after the International Court of Justice ruled that it was a possible genocidal war. This shows that they are complicit, not just in supporting Israel, but also complicit in the genocidal project.
RFI : However, you are invited to speak in many European countries.
Ghassan Abu Sitta : Absolutely, I am invited to Spain, Italy, Ireland… This genocidal war is the moral crisis of the 21st century. The reason university students are protesting around the world is because everyone recognizes the horror of what is being done, except European governments and UNITED STATES.
Read alsoThe student movement against the war in Gaza continues in the United States and spreads to North America
RFI : Your colleague, surgeon Adnan al-Bursh, died in an Israeli prison on the 19 last April, according to Israeli authorities. The latter refuse to return the body to the family. Do you hope to find out the circumstances of his death?
Ghassan Abu Sitta : I worked with Adnan al-Bursh during the 2021 war, then we collaborated on training programs in Gaza and again during this war.
Doctor Adnan al-Bursh was the head of the orthopedic surgery department at al-Chifa Hospital. He had trained in the United Kingdom, where he received further training in complex limb reconstruction, an area that is sorely lacking in Gaza because of all the wars.
When the Israelis first surrounded al-Chifa, he refused to leave his patients. Eventually, the World Health Organization organized an evacuation of patients and staff. He then left for northern Gaza to work in another hospital where he was injured. He was finally arrested by the Israelis last December. Eyewitnesses reported that he had been beaten by prison guards and had wound marks on his head when they saw him in the cell.
Read alsoIsraeli army leaves al-Chifa hospital in Gaza
The Israelis still refuse to release his body to allow a proper autopsy. They refuse to allow the family to collect the body. We think they’re waiting for the body to decompose to erase the evidence. There is no legal recourse possible today
European governments spend their time trying to silence the few witnesses who live abroad. We do not expect them to put pressure on the Israelis to prevent them from silencing the witnesses they have in their prisons. Politically, Europe is complicit in the genocide.