Rights group calls on World Court to dismiss 'messianic' pro-Israel judge

A UK-based rights monitor has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to remove Judge Julia Sebutinde, accusing her of violating the court's impartiality rules during two recent cases involving Israel.

The Ugandan jurist was the only permanent member of the court to side with Israel in votes relating to its assault on Gaza and occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) has said that Sebutinde's voting decisions were based on her religious beliefs, putting her in breach of Article 2 of the ICJ's statute, which requires judges to act independently.

AOHR pointed to remarks made by the 71-year-old judge published in Ugandan media earlier this month, where she declared that her religious beliefs compelled her to support Israel.

"The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel," she was quoted as saying at a church in the Ugandan capital on 10 August.

She also expressed a "very strong conviction that we are in the End Times" and said she was "humbled that God has allowed me to be a part of the last days".

"The signs are being shown in the Middle East. I want to be on the right side of history. I am convinced that time is running out. I would encourage you to follow developments in Israel," she said.

The organisation has written a letter to the court urging it to dismiss Sebutinde following her comments.

"The Ugandan judge has not only lost her neutrality and impartiality but has also expressed messianic religious ideas that encourage the occupation to continue the crime of genocide," the organisation said in a statement.

Sebutinde is also the vice president of the court and briefly served as its acting president earlier this year.

Israel's assault on Gaza has killed at least 62,064 people - the majority women and children – since 7 October 2023 and left most of the territory in ruins. A months-long blockade has left hundreds of thousands of people facing starvation.

Sebutinde raised eyebrows in the legal community in 2024 when she became the only judge on the court's 17-member panel to vote against all provisional measures issued to Israel in South Africa's genocide case.

The ICJ ruled that there was a "plausible" risk that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

She received backlash from her home country for her dissenting vote in the case, with Uganda's UN ambassador declaring that her ruling "does not represent the Government of Uganda's position on the situation in Palestine".

She was also the only dissenting judge to an advisory opinion which declared Israel's occupation illegal and ordered it to dismantle the settlements.

Sebutinde is currently serving her second nine-year term at the court and will step down in early 2030.