In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Criminal Law

30 May

I originally thought it was a story in The Onion, but once again truth is stranger than fiction: Top international prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, best known for pursuing war criminals, has been nominated as chief investigator at FIFA, soccer's scandal-plagued governing body, with a brief to probe match-fixing and corruption. FIFA's executive committee is due to discuss the appointment of a chief investigator...

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22 May

Evelyne Schmid, a lecturer in law at Bangor University in Wales, has taken it upon herself to convert the 2,499 page non-searchable PDF into a searchable (but, alas, still 2,499 pages) text file. She has made the file available here. We all owe her our thanks! ...

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22 May

Readers will recall that I followed the progress of my book on the Nuremberg Military Tribunals on the blog, from proposal to finished project.  I received a great deal of positive feedback on those posts, as well as some very useful feedback on the project itself.  (Also a couple of complaints that I was just being narcissistic, but you can't...

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22 May

So reports ABC News (and multiple other news outlets): The man who ran Libya's extensive spy network and was considered one of the closest confidants of ex-leader Moammar Gadhafi was indicted in Mauritania on Monday and transferred to a public jail, according to a justice official. Abdullah al-Senoussi, Libya's former head of intelligence, is wanted by the International Criminal Court, as well...

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19 May

Earlier today, Russia called on the ICC to investigate possible war crimes committed by NATO forces during its bombing campaign in Libya: The International Criminal Court should look into all cases of NATO airstrikes in Libya that resulted in civilian deaths, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "We welcome the decision of ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to consider alleged violations of international humanitarian...

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13 May

[Leila Hanafi works as regional coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. This contribution is cross-posted at the Middle East Monitor.] The ongoing post-conflict reconstruction process in Libya is reigniting a crucial debate among transitional justice advocates as to the role the International Criminal Court (ICC) can play in delivering justice and...

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11 May

Jose Rodriguez, the former CIA officer who describes the Bush administration's systematic torture regime as people "putting their big boy pants on" and who personally destroyed 92 videotapes documenting the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah because "out of context they would make us look terrible," has an op-ed for CNN today complaining about media coverage of the...

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10 May

More follies from the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed military commission: The video and audio feed from the war court at Guantanamo Bay is on a time delay so as to prevent accidental or deliberate disclosure of classified information during proceedings. As Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other alleged 9/11 plotters were being arraigned last Saturday, the feed abruptly cut out. Reporters and observers...

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09 May

So reports Mark Kersten in a blockbuster post at Justice in Conflict.  You have to read the whole thing; here is a taste: While haggling between the ICC and Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) over the fate of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi continues, Libya quietly, but controversially, passed a blanket amnesty for pro-Revolution rebels. According to Lawyers for Justice in...

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08 May

Things are getting ugly at the ICC.  The Office of Public Counsel for the Defence, which has been appointed to protect Saif Gaddafi's interests at the Court, has now moved to disqualify Moreno-Ocampo from Saif's case on the ground that he "lacks the requisite impartiality to direct the investigations and prosecutions" because of his "repeated failure to respect the presumption...

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