Has a Nobel Peace laureate ever been accused of war crimes?

Question

Nobel Prizes aren't without controversy, and I was wondering if a Nobel Peace laureate has ever been accused of war crimes.

For the purpose of this question, I will accept accusations of war crimes by countries or other international bodies including accusations dating before the peace prize was awarded.

When writing an answer, please mention at least the following points:

• Who made the accusation? Note that the question is limited to countries or other international bodies. To get an idea of what constitutes an international body (or organisation), please consider the Wikipedia page on international organisations.

• What is the accusation, which war crimes are alleged? Since there seems to be some confusion as to what war crimes are, please see this accessible article the BBC wrote on war crimes.

• Who is being accused? Note that the question is limited to Nobel Peace laureates (all of whom are listed here). Should the accusation be against an organisation that won a Nobel Peace price, that will also be in scope, even though the term laureate is normally meant to refer to people only.

Answer 1

The State Counsellor of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, has a Nobel peace prize and there are calls for some of her military leaders to be prosecuted for war crimes. She herself might also be complicit. According to Channel 4 reporting (Channel 4's interview with Professor Yanghee Lee, who is the UN Special Envoy, is available via that link):

The United Nations Special Envoy on Human Rights in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has claimed that Aung San Suu Kyi could be complicit in the systematic persecution of the Rohingya people, in what bears all the hallmarks of genocide.

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Also: Henry Kissinger isn't an angel as already pointed out in a separate answer.

(Aside: Nobel himself was considered a merchant of death, according to his pre-released obituary, when journalists mistook his brother's death for his own. This incidentally led him to create the Nobel Prize.)

Answer 2

I'm sure there's more, but here are the ones that I can remember:

Henry Kissinger

He served as the U.S. Secretary of State during both the Nixon and Ford administrations and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. He has been accused of committing the following war crime: Source

• Violating Art. 25 of Hague IV for his role in the secret American bombings in Cambodia.

  The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.

Barack Obama

He was the 44th President of the United States and received the Nobel Peace Prize just 12 days after taking office. He is accused of committing the following war crimes: Source

• Violating Art. 23 of Hague IV by killing Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and Mamana Bibi without providing evidence of either militancy or criminality and without any form of due process.

  "[...] it is especially forbidden [...] To declare abolished, suspended, or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party.

• Violating Art. 25 of Hague IV by bombing Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, Giovanni Lo Porto, and Warren Weinstein, all of whom were in undefended buildings.

  The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.

• Violating common Art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions as defined by U.S. Code § 2441 (d)(1)(b) by keeping people, especially people in northern Pakistan, in perpetual fear of death leading to severe mental suffering through the constant presence of drones and the threat of drone strikes.

  Cruel or Inhuman Treatment - The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act intended to inflict severe or serious [...] mental pain or suffering [...] upon another within his custody or control.

• Violating common Art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions as defined by 18 U.S. Code § 2441 (d)(1)(d) by intentionally killing Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and Mamana Bibi, by inadvertently killing Giovanni Lo Porto and Warren Weinstein during an attack on an undefended building, and by inadvertently killing eight bystanders during the drone strike on Abdulrahman al-Awlaki.

  Murder - The act of a person who intentionally kills [...] or kills whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities.

• Violating common Art. 3 of the Geneva Conventions as defined by 18 U.S. Code § 2441 (d)(1)(e) by inadvertently injuring the grandchildren of Mamana Bibi who were near the drone strike.

  Mutilation or Maiming - The act of a person who [...] injures whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities.

Answer 3

The closest I can think of is Henry Kissinger. He has accused by many of war crimes, with a judge in Argentina considering him a 'defendant or suspect'.

Answer 4

To add to the list, Yasser Arafat was jointly awarded the Noble Peace Prize with two others in 1994, and has been later accused formally and informally of war crimes, terrorism, etc. For example:

Seven French relatives of Israelis killed by Palestinian suicide bombers filed a complaint against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a French court. They accused Arafat of genocide, crimes against humanity, murder, and criminal conspiracy, saying he personally masterminded a strategy of terrorism against Israelis.

• Arafat accused of war crimes. The Week. 2007

Under a controversial Belgian law that was later amended to apply only to Belgians thereby dropping many cases including ones against Arafat, Arafat was generically charged with creating an environment of terrorism.

The case against Mr Arafat does not relate to one single incident but seeks to hold him personally responsible for the death of "thousands of terror victims" since he "began operations in 1966", and accuses him of murder, genocide and crimes against humanity.

• Israeli victims charge Arafat with terrorism. The Guardian. 2001

If you search for them, you will find no shortage of such opinions and charges against Yasser Arafat. To my knowledge, no "guilty" verdict has ever been passed by any internationally recognized court.

In light of this list, it would seem peace is a dirty business.

Answer 5

Ethiopia's Abli Ahmed won the Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea.

However, since the start of the Tigray rebellion, there have been accusations of war crimes committed by forces under his control.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tigrayan civilians had been targeted in "a relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing" in the long-contested western Tigray region since the outbreak of Ethiopia's war in November 2020.

Answer 6

The news of the death of Henry Kissinger reminded me of the contradiction and I was going to ask the same question. There are a lot of controversies, but nobody made a complete list. My list is not complete as well, so it will be just a partial answer.

Henry Kissinger He took responsibility for the bombing in Cambodia although he claimed that he initially opposed the operation he gave the final approval. There are also many bombing in Vietnam that targeted mainly civilians. Although they were not considered illegal because they were approved by the congress. Then there is the indiscriminate usage of Agent Orange which caused thousand of deaths among the civilian population, births of children with deformities and famines that lasted long after the end of the war.

Barack Obama. He was accused for starting the policy of the Drone targeted killings. Note: the drone policiy is always associated with high profile cases. But in truth those cases are used to justify the policy, the real problem are all the other cases, people killed without trial that go unreported by the media.

Menachem Begin first was wanted by the Palestine Police Force for his actions during his militancy in the Irgun. Then, as the Prime Minister of Israel, he was at the top of the chain of command when the massacres of Sabra and Shatila happened.

Abiy Ahmed was accused for the conduct of the Tigray War.

I see that other answer mention Yasser Arafat, he is a candidate for this list, but I don't know if the linked accusations were supported by evidence. Another gap is the status of the winners in the fist 60 years of the prize, but given the presence of people like Theodore Roosevelt I can bet that even in the early history the prize was not free from controversies.

Answer 7

Nelson Mandela won the peace prize in 1993. He was taken of the terrorist watch-list of the USA in 2008. This is fifteen years later after every other natuon had decoded Mandela was a secular saint.

The US State Department put the ANC (the African National Congress - and pretty much moribund until Mandela joined it) on its terrorist watch list the first time in 1988. This was soon after the aparthied regime in Praetoria had declared the ANC a terrorist organisation. They were simply following what Aparthied South Africa wanted. Well, once a slavery-owning, segragationist Jim Crow nation - always one it seems. Five months later, they declared the ANC amongst the 52 most dangerous in the world and stated that they "targetted civilians". A bit rich coming from a nation that visited a nuclear holocaust on 170, 000 men, women, childten and babies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What was it that Martin Luthor King said?

[The USA government] is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.

Anyway, we all know the history. South Africa dismantled its apartheid system and Nelson Mandela walked free. But the USA officially had him listed as a terrorist for fifteen more years. That nation sure knows how to bear a grudge.