There are two fundamental realities regarding the Israeli administrative detention process: 1) the individual (detainee) cannot confront his accuser 2) the individual (detainee) involved in planning terrorist actions is detained prior to carrying out an act of terrorism. Balancing these two is essential to lawful implementation of a measure, which by its very...
Bridget Crawford of Pace Law School and the Feminist Law Profs blog passes along the following call for papers for an upcoming symposium focused on comparative constitutional approaches to national security: Pace International Law Review 2009-2010 Symposium Call for Submissions Pace International Law Review is planning a symposium entitled Comparative Constitutional Law: National Security Across the Globe to be held in November of...
I am watching with fascination the Iranian protesters respond to the apparent election fraud in Iran. There are so many wonderful new media sources that it is difficult to keep up with the developments. Here's one old media outlet that provides a good list of new media sources. President Obama is in a pickle. ...
In the latest chapter of its attempt to consolidate its power over Georgia regarding the South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia has vetoed the continuation of the UN mission in the region. According to the AP: Russia has exercised its veto power in the U.N. Security Council and brought an end to the nearly 16-year-old U.N. observer mission in Georgia and breakaway...
David Bernstein is back with another attack on Human Rights Watch. This time, he's up in arms that an HRW official had the temerity to criticize Israel in Saudi Arabia during a fundraising dinner: A delegation from Human Rights Watch was recently in Saudi Arabia. To investigate the mistreatment of women under Saudi Law? To campaign for the rights of homosexuals,...
[OJ ed. Note this post was submitted before comments to Mr. Guiora's first post were received.] In Monday’s post, I presented the fundamental principles of administrative detention. Today, I will discuss the process and considerations when to apply the measure as developed over the course of years in Israel with respect to a specific individual. The measure is applied in...
Scott Horton has a typically must-read post today at Harpers.com on Jose Padilla's lawsuit against John Yoo, which, happily, just survived a motion to dismiss and appears to be headed to trial. Scott takes apart the state-secrets defense advanced by both Yoo and -- predictably -- the secrecy-obsessed Obama administration. Here's a taste: In seeking dismissal, Yoo argued that the case...
Next month is the 40th anniversary of the so-called "Soccer War" between El Salvador and Honduras, made famous by an elegaic essay by Ryszard Kapuscinski. (See also this clip, in Spanish Catalan.) In the midst of heated disputes over immigration, trade, border delineation and other issues, the two countries played each other in three qualifying games for the World Cup, one held in each...
We're delighted to have Professor Amos Guiora join us this week as a guest blogger at Opinio Juris, where he'll be discussing what lessons U.S. lawyers and policymakers might draw from the Israeli experience in administrative security detention. As many regular OJ'ers know, Professor Guiora is an expert on comparative counterterrorism law and has published extensively both in the United...
I would like to thank everyone at Opinio Juris for inviting me to guest blog this week on detention policy issues facing the Obama Administration, the Congress, and the courts. Needless to say, I hope my comments contribute to the debate and I welcome comments/feedback from readers. The discussion below addresses both detainees presently held and those detained who will be...
Florence Hartmann's contempt trial began today at the ICTY. Hartmann, a celebrated journalist who served as the Tribunal's spokesperson from 2000-2006, is charged with knowingly disclosing confidential Tribunal information: On 10 September 2007, a book entitled Paix et Châtiment, authored for publication by Florence Hartmann, was published by Flammarion. Pages 120-122 of the book Paix et Châtiment in particular disclose information...
Maybe it's too soon after finals for some of you, but for those still willing to undergo examination, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has a short on-line quiz on international humanitarian law (IHL). You can access it here. It's issued in concert with a major conference the Center is hosting later this week on Hamas, the Gaza War, and Accountability...
