In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

17 Dec

Last week, Julian criticized Hamdan for its failure "to defer to the executive's reasonable interpretations of the relevant statutes, treaties, and customary international law of war." Julian's use of the term "reasonable" implies that, at least in principle, the executive could offer an unreasonable interpretation of a statute, treaty, or customary rule — one that, accordingly, would not require...

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15 Dec

Although evidence that Bush and Blair lied about Saddam's WMD capabilities has been accumulating for the past couple of years, this latest revelation is still shocking:In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He...

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15 Dec

The Iraqi government's assault on the independence and objectivity of the IHT continues. The trial court was its first target: not only did Iraqi President Jalal Talabani tell reporters on the eve of the Dujail trial that Saddam had signed a written confession and "deserve[d] to be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity," high-ranking officials...

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14 Dec

Ethiopia's former dictator, Mengistu Haile Marian, has been convicted in absentia of genocide following a 12-year trial involving 72 defendants. All but one were found guilty; 34 defendants were present in court, while 25 were tried in absentia. Sentencing, which will almost certainly result in a death sentence for Mengistu, is set for December 28. Regardless, the exercise...

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14 Dec

I have just posted a short essay on SSRN critiquing the ICTR's recent decision in Prosecutor v. Karemera et al. Here is the abstract: The Appeals Chamber of the ICTR recently held in Prosecutor v. Karemera et al. that the existence of a nationwide campaign of genocide in Rwanda in 1994 is a “fact of common knowledge” of which Trial...

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12 Dec

Eric Muller, a UNC law professor and WWII historian who blogs at Is That Legal?, has posted an "open letter" to the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Foreign Ministry of Iran that recounts the fate of his great-uncle at the hands of the Nazis. It's a powerful, moving letter (with amazing photos). The letter is...

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12 Dec

As some of you may know, voting for the best law blog of 2006 is in its final week. Shamefully, Opinio Juris was not nominated — yet another example of the profession's bias against us international law types. That said, the other blog to which I contribute, The Grotian Moment, was nominated. If you used the blog...

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04 Dec

Steve Clemons of The Washington Note has a number of interesting thoughts on the winners, losers, and implications of Bolton's resignation:1. John Bolton's resignation reflects a loss of ground by Jesse Helms' inspired 'pugnacious nationalists'. It is also a clear loss for Vice President Cheney and his loyal followers. Jim Lobe captures this quite well in a piece he has...

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03 Dec

Augusto Pinochet has received last rights following a heart attack. Although still alive, he appears to be in imminent danger of death. If he dies, it will bring one of the darkest chapters in Chilean history to an unsatisfying end; as I have noted before, courts have only recently begun to strip Pinochet of the general immunity he...

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