Mohammad Al-Oraibi, the presiding judge at the Anfal trial, has ordered the arrest of one of the defense attorneys, Badie Arif Ezzat, for criminal contempt of court. The charges stem from Ezzat's criticism of the Dujail trial on Iraqi television, which Judge Al-Oraibi apparently believed was directed at the Anfal trial. Ezzat could face seven years imprisonment if...
I have posted a substantially rewritten version of my essay "Retreat from Nuremberg: The Leadership Requirement in the Crime of Aggression," which has been accepted by the European Journal of International Law. Any comments or criticisms would be most appreciated, as the final draft is due to the journal relatively soon. The abstract of the essay, which can be downloaded...
A promising new blog has joined the international-law blogosphere. Here is AIDP Blog's self-description, edited for length:The AIDP Blog is the official blog of the American National Section of the AIDP (L’Association Internationale de Droit Penal/The International Association of Penal Law). The AIDP Blog will provide a forum for expert debate and thought-provoking commentary on contemporary issues of...
Der Spiegel has an interesting article today about Germany's decision to forward to Interpol arrest warrants for 10 CIA agents involved in the kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen. Not surprisingly, the U.S. is unhappy about the decision, which means that the agents will now be hunted internationally:The German investigation into what exactly happened to...
I know absolutely nothing about intellectual property, but Bolivia's current efforts to trademark "coca" strike me as rather odd:Companies such as Coca-Cola Co. could be barred from using the word "coca" in their brand names under a measure endorsed by a panel that is helping rewrite the Bolivian constitution. The coca committee of the assembly that is overhauling the constitution has...
As has been widely reported, Chiquita Brands International has been fined $25 million for paying designated terrorist groups in Colombia not to attack its workers:US authorities charged Chiquita Wednesday with paying 1.7 million dollars between 1997-2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group on the US list of terrorists. Chiquita, through its subsidiary C.I. Bananos de...
In a welcome move, Egypt has named its first female judges:Mukbil Shakir, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, appointed 31 women to judge or chief judge positions in Egypt's courts, the official Middle East News Agency said, quoting Shakir's decree. The move is expected to give a boost to President Hosni Mubarak's political and social reforms that have been widely...
Last month, a British military judge dismissed charges against five of seven British soldiers accused of mistreating an Iraqi prisoner who died in their custody. At the time, the judge refused to explain the reasoning behind his decision to take the case away from the seven-officer jury, saying only that the prosecution had failed to introduce evidence of the...
Various news items to report:As expected, the Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Saddam's Vice-President, Yassin Ramadan, to death last month. The IHT's re-sentencing hearing was as flawed as the trial itself; according to Human Rights Watch, "[t]he less than 30-minute hearing was held by a panel of five judges, three of whom had not previously participated in hearing evidence against...
It's not international law, strictly speaking, but I rarely get to defend Bush's executive power so I'm making an exception. A very prominent liberal blogger suggested today that Bush would violate the Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency if he pardoned Scooter Libby anytime soon:[Y]esterday, when Tony Snow was asked about the possibility, he refused to rule a pardon...
Jean Baudrillard, the great postmodern philosopher who once described the U.S. as "the only remaining primitive society," died yesterday at age 77. Here is a snippet of his obituary in the New York Times:The author of more than 50 books and an accomplished photographer, Mr. Baudrillard ranged across different subjects, from race and gender to literature and art to...
A couple of days ago, I criticized Julian's claim that the ICC's involvement in Darfur makes the situation there worse. I still believe that, on balance, the ICC's involvement is positive. Nevertheless, articles like this give me pause:Aid workers fear war crimes accusations made by the International Criminal Court against two Sudanese suspects could hamper their work in...
