Lawyers Seek Court Block on German Explosives Bound for Occupied Territories

Date: 30 October 2024 - 22:10

News ID: ۱۳۳۰۱۷

BERLIN (Dispatches) –
Human rights lawyers have filed an urgent appeal with Berlin’s Administrative Court seeking to block a 150-ton shipment of military-grade explosives aboard the German cargo ship, “MV Kathrin”, bound for the Israeli-occupied territories, Reuters reports.
The European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) said, on Wednesday, the action was filed on behalf of three Palestinians from Gaza, arguing that the shipment of primarily RDX explosives could be used in munitions for the Zionist regime’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, potentially contributing to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In August, Namibian authorities blocked the vessel, which departed from Vietnam’s Hai Phong port, from entering its main harbor, Amnesty International reported.
According to the ELSC, the RDX is intended for Israeli Military Industries, a division of Elbit Systems, the occupying regime’s largest military contractor. Elbit Systems was not immediately available for comment.
The “MV Kathrin”, owned by Germany-based Lubeca-Marine, had been denied entry at several African and Mediterranean ports, including in Angola, Slovenia, Montenegro and Malta, the ELSC said, adding that Portuguese authorities recently required the ship to switch to a German flag before it could continue.
Lubeca-Marine and Germany’s Economy Ministry, named in the case, were not immediately available for comment.