Ref: 67/2012

Today, 15 July 2012, the Palestinian Centre
for Human Rights (PCHR) organized a closing ceremony concluding the activities
of the international criminal law moot court competition that lasted for 2
days. The ceremony concluded by announcing the winning team which is comprised
of 5 students from al-Azhar
University. The
winning students, who played the prosecutor’s role, are Muhannad Khudeir,
Mohammed Dalloul, Reem Hamad, Alaa Abu Ghosh and Mohammed Hamdan.

On Saturday, 14 July 2012, three consecutive rounds were
held, in which 6 teams competed against each other by presenting their oral
submissions, in addition to their previously submitted written submissions. Ten
students had been selected from each of the three universities participating in
the competition: the Islamic university, al-Azhar
University, and Palestine University.
Each of the university group was divided into a defense and prosecution team.
At the end of the first day, two teams were announced as winners to compete in
the second and final day: defense and prosecution from al-Azhar University.

By concluding the International Criminal Moot Court
Competition, PCHR has completed the moot court project that started in January
2012.  During the preparations for the
competition, which took place over a 6 month period, a number of international
and local legal experts intensely trained the students at the theoretical and
practical levels. The project was funded by UNDP and sponsored by OHCHR.

Judge Kolthoun Ben Kennu, who presided over the three
member jury, opened the ceremony and thanked everybody who contributed to the
success of the moot court project. Ben Kennu stressed that all the students
participating in the competition are high-achieving and noted: “I am
surprised by the distinctive and high level of the competing students. I wish
them all success and progress.”

Secretary General of the Arab Organization for Human
Rights and member of the jury, Mr. Alaa Shalabi, praised the high level of the
participating students noting: “We did not expect this expertise from the
students. We know that they received extensive training over months but what we
have seen during the competition seems to be the result of years of work”.

“This experience was wonderful and provided an
example of cooperation between academic institutions and the Palestinian civil
society organizations. I wish that this experience spreads at the level of the
Arab world,” Shalabi added.

Mr. Mahmoud Qandeel, a member of the jury, said he was
happy to be a member of the jury: “I was looking forward to visiting Gaza. I was very impressed when I met with the
competing students through whom I realized how skilled and professional Gaza is”.

“I thank the institutions that provided care to
these students and gave them this chance. I in particular thank PCHR who
implemented the project and supervised the training sessions.”

Dean of the Faculty of Law at al-Azhar University,
Dr. Abdul Rahman Abu al-Nasser, spoke in the name of the three participating
universities. He stressed that all the participating students were outstanding.
He also said: “The competing students demonstrated a high standard of
performance. They gave us confidence in the future of our people. Our students
need support and good preparation. What we have seen in these two days was a
wonderful example. We must all cooperate in order to develop and building upon
this experience in a way that achieves our goal, which is prosecution of
Israeli war criminals.”

PCHR Director, Mr. Raji Sourani, spoke on behalf of the
implementing institutions and the donors. He summarized the joint efforts made
together with the participating universities and institutions, leading to a
successful implementation of the project: “PCHR’s main objective in the
project is to pass on our practical experience in the area of prosecution of
war criminals, in light of our belief in the rule of the law, and the fact that
we will not forgive and not forget the crimes committed against our
people.”

“The theoretical and practical preparation for the
competition lasted for months and now we witness the achievement and success of
this idea in cooperation with a jury that made the training come true,”
Sourani added.

Chantal Meloni, the legal expert from PCHR, who has been
supervising the project, described the moot court project as a great success:
“This experience was interesting and what has happened is beyond our
expectations.  The performance of
students was higher than the performance of students in European universities
who are given many opportunities in this field.” Meloni added: “By
the end of the day, I hope that students are really proud of what they have
achieved and that they realize the benefit of the skills they have acquired. I
also hope that all the students are aware that the competition is not the end
but rather the beginning of their careers the field of international criminal
law.”

The moot court project was implemented for the first
time in the Gaza Strip. The project offered the law students from the three
universities a unique opportunity to receive practical training in preparing
written and oral submissions, presenting legal arguments in the context of a fictional
case, enhancing their skills in applying international criminal law principles,
in addition to understanding the International Criminal Court system,
procedures and litigation mechanism.