The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC), also known as the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, is a local non-governmental organisation established in 2007 by Mahathir Mohamad to investigations of allegations of war crimes in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Palestinian territories

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. Initial hearings are scheduled to be heard on November 19-22, 2011.

The KLWCC was purportedly instigated as an alternative to the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

 in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, which Matahir accused of bias in its selection of cases to cover. The KLWCC has been criticised by a former United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 senior official and activists, who say the body lacks legitimacy.

Governance

The governance body of the KLWCC was established to oversee and investigate complaints from victims of wars and armed conflict in relation to crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other like offences as recognized under International Law. Members of the governance body include:

• Mahathir Mohamad (Chairman)
• Alfred Webre
  Alfred Webre
  Alfred Lambremont Webre, J.D., M.Ed. is an author, lawyer , futurist, peace activist, environmental activist, and a space activist who promotes the ban of space weapons. He was a co-architect of the Space Preservation Treaty and the Space Preservation Act that was introduced to the U.S...
  
  
• Richard Falk
• Zacharia Yatim - retired Malaysian Federal Court judge
• Tunku Sofiah Jewa - lawyer and author of numerous publications on International Law
• Salleh Buang - former Federal Counsel in the Attorney-General Chambers
• Niloufer Bhagwat
• Shad Saleem Faruqi
  Shad Saleem Faruqi
  Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi is a Malaysian Emeritus Professor of Law who has served Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam, Selangor in various capacities from 1971 onwards...
  
   - prominent academic and professor of law.

Malaysian lawyer Yaacob Hussain Marican said the tribunal would convene a preliminary hearing on 19th November 2011 to determine the validity of charges that George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 and Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

 committed crimes against peace and violated international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

 in the Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 invasion. Mr Yaacob said the effort is modelled on a 1967 Vietnam war crimes panel

Russell Tribunal

The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal or Russell-Sartre Tribunal, was a public body organized by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre...

 co-ordinated by philosophers Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...

 and Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...

.

On 22 November 2011 the Tribunal found both Bush and Blair guilty of crimes against peace.