In association with the International Commission of Jurists

June 2006

14 Jun

Attorneys for a number of detainees suspected of ties to Islamic terrorist groups are challenging their continued detention by Canada in Canada's highest court, the Seattle PI reports. The three non-Canadians have been detained for years without being charged or without any evidence about them being released, apparently for purposes of deportation to their home countries. Because they might...

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13 Jun

Phillip Carter, an attorney, blogger, and U.S. Army captain currently serving in Iraq, gets the front page treatment today in the WSJ. Phil blogs regularly at Intel Dump and he is a thoughtful and serious guy who, by the way, is involved in very important and difficult work in trying to develop the legal system in Iraq. The...

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13 Jun

In a rare triumph for the ICJ, Nigeria and Cameroon agreed yesterday to implement the 2002 ICJ judgment awarding the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. Under the agreement, Nigeria will begin withdrawing its troops from Bakassi within 60 days. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the agreement as a "remarkable experiment in conflict prevention by Cameroon and Nigeria." And he's right,...

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13 Jun

The NYT reports that the U.S. government has invoked its "state secrets privilege" in federal court motion seeking to dismiss the main legal challenge to the NSA wiretapping program. (The ACLU complaint bringing this challenge and its various supporting memos can be found here). Although I don't have a copy of the transcript of oral argument today in the Michigan...

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12 Jun

As I reported a few weeks ago, the tiny Caribbean nation of Dominica filed a strange and seemingly ridiculous case in the ICJ against Switzerland alleging violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Today, wiser heads in Dominica prevailed and Dominica has withdrawn its application. The ICJ's docket is now down to 13 cases with two cases currently...

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12 Jun

If a priest engages in sexual abuse in Portland, Oregon, can victims of his abuse sue the Holy See? A federal district court in Oregon ruled last week that they could. In the case of Doe v. Holy See, available here, the plaintiff sued the Holy See for respondeat superior, negligence and fraud. The Holy...

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11 Jun

Today's game between Iran and Mexico is not without political controversy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly denied that the Holocaust ever occurred, has indicated his desire to attend the World Cup competition. "If you make it to the second round, then I would try to join you." According to the New York Times, "German officials have been under pressure to...

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10 Jun

I'm back, now blogging from the southern hemisphere. It's winter in Auckland — which means it's in the mid-60s. Because it's at the northern end of New Zealand, Auckland has a remarkably temperate climate, with temperatures rarely climbing higher than 85 or lower than 45. (I don't know if we have any readers in New Zealand, but...

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10 Jun

A district court in the Hague has sentenced Gus Kouwenhoven to eight years in prison for smuggling weapons for Charles Taylor in violation of a UN arms embargo. In their ruling on Wednesday, the judges said Mr. Kouwenhoven's assistance to Mr. Taylor was "crucial," and suggested his motivations were not political, but rather "guided purely by financial interests." ...

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09 Jun

Professor Louis B. Sohn died on Wednesday, June 7. He was 92. Professor Sohn was one of the most well-known American (by way of Poland) international lawyers of his generation – over the years, he taught, wrote about, and practiced international law in a wide variety of areas, including human rights, arms control, the environment, and the law of the...

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09 Jun

Al Jazeera has some of the most appalling coverage of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that one could possibly imagine for a major news network. First, there is the lead story entitled "U.S., allies hail Zarqawi killing" which reports that family members of Zarqawi's beheaded victims had "mixed reactions" to the news of his death. The article concludes with...

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