June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

WASHINGTON, June 16: The United States has secretly signed deals with at least five countries giving US citizens in those nations immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), diplomatic sources said Monday.

The so-called “Article 98” agreements have been inked with Egypt, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Tunisia and the Seychelles, the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The State Department, which has announced the conclusion of such pacts with 38 nations, declined to comment on the secret agreements but acknowledged last week that it has not identified all the countries to have signed them.

“Several other countries have signed agreements but have asked us not to identify them as signers,” the department said in a written answer to a question posed at a news briefing. “We are respecting their wishes.”

It was not immediately clear why the five nations did not want to be named, particularly when Washington is expected to make the list public in some form after July 1, the deadline for ICC member countries to agree to the pacts or lose US military aid.

The agreements are controversial, particularly in Europe where the European Union — which supports the court — has campaigned to limit the scope of deals signed with the United States by EU members or aspirants. Washington vehemently opposes the ICC, arguing it could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of US citizens including civilian military contractors and former officials.—AFP