According to Mingle 2 -- an online dating site (?) -- Opinio Juris earns the following movie rating: The rating is deserved, according to Mingle 2, because the blog contains the word "torture" 18 times, "death" 4 times, "kill" 2 times, and "gun" once. Don't let your minor children use this site without parental guidance! Hat-Tip: the inestimable Michael Froomkin at Discourse.net. ...
The judicial farce continues:An appeals court has upheld the 19-year prison sentence of a Rwandan human rights activist on genocide-related charges, failing to address the errors of a lower court judgment that violated Rwandan law and fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today. [snip] The law that established gacaca requires judges who have had a past conflict with an accused to...
Further to my earlier post -- and Jacob Katz Cogan's lengthy elaboration on it -- Colombia announced today that it would not compete for custody of Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia if the U.S. seeks his extradition. Whether the U.S. will do so remains to be seen. ...
As I read Posner and Vermeule's latest — and very interesting — posts, two questions occurred to me. Perhaps they would be gracious enough to answer them. First, Posner writes that "in terms of overall competence in the execution of the war-on-terror, the Bush administration has been reasonably successful. We know that al Qaeda and its affiliates and epigones remain...
As an interesting side note to the debate on counterrorism techniques, the American Psychological Association (APA) rejected a proposal on Sunday that would have prohibited psychologists from assisting interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and other military detention centers:Instead, the group approved a resolution that reaffirmed the association's opposition to torture and restricted members from taking part in interrogations that involved...
Vermeule and I agree one one point: "A crucial issue in this conversation is that of presidential motivation." There, however, I think the agreement ends. Vermeule's third sentence is an adequate starting point: "Yes, the executive’s capacities may be impressive, but its motivations are suspect (the suggestion often runs)." True as the second half of the argument...
Well, at least they're honest. Posner and Vermeule admit that the massive expansion of executive power that has taken place under the Bush administration is no anomaly, no temporary response to the horrors of 9/11. On the contrary, they insist that by demonstrating that "the public is more vulnerable to a devastating terrorist attack today than it has...
Here's a story you don't see everyday — a Colombian drug kingpin who wants to be extradited to the U.S.:The lawyer of a reputed leader of Colombia's biggest drug cartel said Tuesday he will travel to Washington to discuss ways to speed up his client's extradition to the United States. Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, 44, who faces three U.S. federal indictments...
I have posted a new essay on SSRN, entitled "What Happens to the Acquitted?" Here is the abstract:According to the ICTR, Emmanuel Bagambiki is an innocent man. The Trial Chamber and the Appeals chamber have each unanimously acquitted the former Prefect of Cyangugu of crimes relating to Rwanda's horrific 1994 genocide. And on July 19, Bagambiki was reunited with...
Okay, New Zealand isn't perfect. The proof: Hell Pizza, one of the country's most successful pizza chains. The company has cornered the market in offensive advertising, with the Advertising Standards Complaints Board recently upholding complaints against the following billboard — which even I find beyond the pale: But you haven't seen anything yet. The company's most recent billboard...
Fresh from the first two decisions by the Special Court, Sierra Leone faces a critical political test today — its first elections since UN peacekeepers left the country 20 months ago:Long lines were visible at most polling stations in the capital, where voters queued up with umbrellas under drizzling rain, in some cases hours before voting booths opened. Vice President Solomon...
Peggy and I have noted the seeming thaw of late between the Bush administration and the ICC, citing as Exhibit 1 the US decision not to veto the Security Council resolution referring the situation in Darfur to the Court. We might have spoken too soon — according to documents obtained via FOIA by Mark Leon Goldberg, who writes about...
