Noted without sarcastic comment:The Serbian Defense Ministry has announced an agreement to sell $230 million in military equipment to Iraq. In September and November, Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi became the first top Iraqi official to visit Belgrade since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic had close ties to fellow former dictator, Saddam Hussein of Iraq. During his trips, Obaidi discussed developing a...
I thought that I Am Legend was at the top of my Christmas movie list — but then I read about My Enemy's Enemy, a new documentary by Kevin Macdonald that explores the possibility that the capture and subsequent murder of Che Guevara in Bolivia was orchestrated by...
It's been a tough December for Alberto Fujimori, the former President of Peru. Two weeks ago, a Peruvian court sentenced him to six years in prison for ordering an illegal warrantless search of an apartment owned by the wife of his murderous intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos — the first time a former Peruvian head of state has been convicted...
I don't know very much about French legal education, but I'm still surprised by this article, which claims that because France lacks a first-rate law school, the most prestigious French law firms are now requiring their new hires to have an American or British law degree:It isn't easy for corporate law firms to find qualified law-school graduates in the land...
It is difficult to imagine what the Nuremberg Trial would have been like without Justice Robert Jackson. I still get chills when I read the final paragraph of his summation, which ranks as one of the great closing arguments in legal history:[T]hese defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring...
I have posted a substantially revised and expanded version of my essay "What Happens to the Acquitted?" on SSRN. Here again is the abstract of the essay, which is forthcoming in the Leiden Journal of International Law:According to the ICTR, Emmanuel Bagambiki is an innocent man. The Trial Chamber and the Appeals chamber have each unanimously acquitted the former...
As I have noted before, human-rights groups have consistently and justifiably criticized the ICTR for failing to take seriously the systematic sexual violence committed against women during the 1994 genocide. Similar criticisms are now being leveled at the ICC regarding its investigation of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo:Congolese activists have launched an appeal at the...
Apparently, the British are a little rusty when it comes to US constitutional law. They're shocked — just shocked! — to learn that the US can kidnap a British citizen suspected of a crime other than terrorism even though the US and UK have an extradition treaty:A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal...
Well, that was quick. Amazing what a change of administration can do:Kevin Rudd has started his prime ministership with a bang, ratifying the Kyoto Protocol as his first act of government hours after being sworn in. Mr Rudd’s signing of the climate agreement yesterday brought applause from environmental groups and delegates at the United Nations climate conference in Bali. It leaves...
In my post yesterday on the controversy over the pending execution of Chemical Ali and his two co-defendants, I argued that the Iraqi Constitution gives the President of Iraq, and not the Presidency Council, the authority to ratify death sentences. Earlier today, I received a friendly e-mail from a US official involved in the drafting of the Constitution...
The death penalty, I think it's safe to say, has been a disaster in Iraq. The Iraqi government's early and unwavering insistence on permitting the Iraqi High Tribunal to impose the death penalty effectively ended international involvement with the Tribunal. Then the IHT executed Saddam before his conviction became final — and turned him into a martyr in...
As has been widely reported, new Australian PM Kevin Rudd has promised to sign the Kyoto Protocol and remove the country's 550 troops from Iraq. Good news on both fronts — as is a third promise that has received less media attention: a formal apology to Australia's aboriginal population for the many historic injustices they have suffered:Mr Rudd's pledge...
