The case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in April 2017 on charges of being a spy, will come before 16 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague on Monday. The 16 judges will conduct hearings in the Jadhav case till Thursday.
Of the 16 judges, three have an 'India connection': Justice Dalveer Bhandari was a judge in the Supreme Court, while James Richard Crawford has appeared in cases against New Delhi twice while Peter Tomka was the arbitrator in the Indus Waters Kishenganga case (2010-2013).
THE WEEK profiles the 16 judges of the International Court of Justice:
ICJ president Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia)
Yusuf was appointed as president of the ICJ on February 6, 2018. He was a member of the ICJ since February 6, 2009. Yusuf had worked as a legal adviser to UNESCO previously.
Vice president Xue Hanqin (China)
Xue has been a member of the ICJ since June 29, 2010, and vice president of the court since February 6, 2018. Xue Hanqin was the head of the legal law division in China and the ambassador to Netherlands before she was elected to a position of a ICJ judge.
Judge Peter Tomka (Slovakia)
The oldest serving member of the ICJ, Tomka was Slovakia’s UN ambassador. He also has an India-Pakistan connection. Tomka was the arbitrator in the Indus Waters Kishenganga case (2010-2013).
Judge Ronny Abraham (France)
Abraham was the president of the ICJ when India filed the Jadhav case. He is a legal adviser to the foreign ministry of France. A big champion of human rights, Abraham has advised the government on general international public law, European Union law, international human rights law, the law of the sea and the Antarctic.
Judge Mohamed Bennouna (Morocco)
Bennouna will be wearing his headphones to listen to Harish Salve argue Jadhav's case on Monday. Bennouna is one of the few ICJ judges who prefer French over English. A member of the court since February 2006, Bennouna had served as permanent representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations (2001-2006). Bennouna has also served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague (1998-2001); director-general of the Arab World Institute, Paris (1991-1998) and ambassador and deputy permanent representative of Morocco to the United Nations (1985-1989).
Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Brazil)
Trindade been a member of the ICJ since February 2009 and was re-elected on February 6, 2018. In the ICJ's May 2017 ruling on Kulbhushan Jadhav's execution, Trindade had concurred with Judge Bhandari. He argued in his declaration that the Jadhav case brings to “the fore the rights of the states and of individuals emanating directly from international law’’. In his opinion of seven parts, Trindade believed that this case presented an important question of international law.
Judge Joan E. Donoghue (US)
Donoghue has been a member of the ICJ since September 9, 2010, and was re-elected in February 2015. She had been part of the US Department of State. Donoghue had offered advice to then secretary of state Hillary Clinton and president Barack Obama on all aspects of international law and advice on development, interpretation and application of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
Judge Giorgio Gaja (Italy)
Gaja has been a member of the ICJ since February 2012. He has been the counsel to the Italian government in many cases including before the ICJ.
Judge Julia Sebutinde (Uganda)
Judge Sebutinde was previously a judge in the High Court of Uganda. She was conferred doctorate of Laws, honoris causa, University of Edinburgh, UK, for distinguished service in the field of international justice and human rights. She has also handled several high-profile war crime trials. Sebutinde has been a member of the ICJ since February 2012.
Judge Dalveer Bhandari (India)
Bhandari has been a member of the ICJ since April 2012 and was re-elected on February 6, 2018. Bhandari is the sole Indian on the ICJ bench. Bhandari served as a judge in the Supreme Court. He was re-elected after Great Britain withdrew its candidate, Christopher Greenwood, from the election.
It was a fiercely fought election—and is credit to India’s growing clout at the UN—as it was for the first time a P-5 country candidate lost out. Bhandari received 183 of the 193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all 15 votes in the Security Council to fill the final vacancy on the ICJ. It was a closely contested battle as 11 rounds of balloting were held with Bhandari winning in the General Assembly and Greenwood in the Security Council vote.
Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica)
Judge Robinson has been a member of the ICJ since February 2015. He has a long career in public service, working for the Jamaican government for over three decades. He became part of the UN system in 1972 when he became Jamaica’s representative to the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, a position that he held for 26 years.
Judge James Richard Crawford (Australia)
An old hand, Crawford has appeared against India twice. He represented Pakistan against India in Kishenganga Dam Dispute (Pakistan v. India) in proceedings before a court of arbitration under the Indus Waters Agreement. He also represented Bangladesh versus India in a maritime boundary dispute.
Judge Kirill Gevorgian (Russian Federation)
Gevorgian was a member of the court since February 6, 2015. He was a member of the Collegium, Director of the Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (since 2009). Gevorgian has also represented Russia as an agent in many cases before the ICJ.
Judge Nawaf Salam (Lebanon)
Salam is one of the newest judges at the ICJ. He was the ambassador and permanent representative of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York from July 2007 to December 2017. He represented Lebanon in the Security Council of the United Nations in 2010 and 2011 for its two-year term as a non-permanent member, and assumed the presidency of the Council in May 2010 and September 2011. He has also represented his country in climate change negotiations.
Judge Yuji Iwasawa (Japan)
One of the newest members of the ICJ, Judge Iwasawa has a strong human rights background. He was the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Human Rights Committee (ICCPR) (member since 2007; chairperson, 2009-2011; vice-chairperson, 2011-2013 and 2015-2017 and special rapporteur on follow-up to views 2013-2015).
Tassaduq Hussain Jillani (Pakistan)
Pakistan has appointed an ad hoc judge for the Jadhav case. A country can do that if it does not have a judge of its nationality on the bench. Jillani will now take the bench strength to 16. Jillani, who is known as a “gentleman’s judge’’, served as the chief justice of Pakistan for a year. In 2009, he was one of the few judges who refused to take oath after military dictator Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule. Jillani has supported human rights and freedom of religion.
His court took suo motu action following a petition filed by Justice Helpline regarding the Peshawar church attack in 2013, as well as other petitions filed by the Hindu community against desecration of their places of worship and press reports citing threats to the Kalash tribe by the Pakistani Taliban. On June 19, 2014, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on the protection of minorities and freedom of religion, authored by Justice Jillani in a bench also comprising Justices Azmat Saeed and Mushir Alam.