Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair could face trial in Scotland for his war crimes in Iraq after the proposal was backed by Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).
Margo MacDonald, an independent MSP, called for the alteration of the International Criminal Court (Scotland) Act 2001, asking the law to consider an aggressive war with the intention of changing a regime as illegal.
The suggestion to try Blair gained support from backbenchers of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Annabelle Ewing, Gordon MacDonald, John Finnie, Chic Brodie and Jim Eadie.
Jim Sillars, husband to a former SNP deputy leader called on bold Scottish MPs to “introduce retrospective legislation to indict the former prime minister on war crimes.”
“Blair knew aggressive war was a crime. He believed he was safe, there being no legal system that could touch him. There is one now – ours,” he added.
Last week, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for Blair and former US president George W. Bush to be tried at the International Court of Justice at The Hague for war crimes in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize winner said that the former leaders of the UK and the US would have already faced trial, if they were former African leaders. Tutu also stated that the death toll in Iraq alone was sufficient for Blair and Bush to be prosecuted.
BGH/SSM/HE