Search: Complementarity SAIF GADDAFI

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller wrote about Niger’s offer to extradite Saadi Gaddafi to the ICC, should this be requested. Kevin also discussed the conditions attached by the UK for a vote in favour of Palestine’s “non-member state” bid in the UN General Assembly. The requirement that the Palestinian authority does not apply for ICC or ICJ membership most likely proved to be a dealbreaker, as the UK ultimately abstained. Following the vote, Kevin argued that Palestine can accept the ICC’s jurisdiction retroactively by making a simple...

...approach to hate speech is not a prerequisite to functioning democracy. On the contrary, our European friends would argue that democracy is better served by banning such material. Either way, our exceptionalism on this score doesn’t serve us very well. This isn’t any sort of apology for the killing (especially ugly given Stevens’ dedication to the rebel effort against the Gaddafi regime). In the first instance, it’s a recognition of international realities: do we want to take hits like this so that films like that can be made? In the...

...EU now investigating alleged subsidies to Chinese manufacturers. Germany, France and the UK have condemned the approval of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as an obstacle to realizing a two-state solution. Reuters and the BBC analyse outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao’s speech at the opening of the 18th Party Congress. The Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has urged Libya not to grant amnesty for war crimes committed during last year’s uprising against the Gaddafi regime. Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of 31 activists that have...

Interesting: Today FIDH and LDH filed a criminal complaint, together with an application to join the proceedings as a civil party against persons unknown before the Court in Paris concerning the responsibility of the company Amesys, a subsidiary of Bull, in relation to acts of torture perpetrated in Libya. This complaint concerns the provision, since 2007, of communication surveillance equipment to Gaddafi’s regime, intended to keep the Libyan population under surveillance. Up until now, there has been very little activity in foreign courts seeking to sue or hold companies legally...

...have been paid to shill for delisting — supporting “good” terrorists is, of course, one of the few bipartisan acts still possible in the U.S. — are guilty of providing material support to terrorists, a felony punishable by life in prison. They will never be prosecuted, of course; now that MEK’s history of violence (all of six months old) has been consigned to the memory hole, Obama’s hypocritical “look forward, not backward” mantra automatically applies. BONUS TRIVIA: The MEK’s lobbying firm, Brown Lloyd James, has also worked for Gaddafi and...

...that Palestine has secured the support of the Non-Aligned Movement, Arab and Islamic states. Poland has given information over to judges from the European Court of Human Rights regarding the investigation into secret prison sites, allegedly used to interrogate and sometimes torture al-Qaeda suspects, operated by the US on Polish soil. Human Rights Watch has come out with a report detailing US torture and rendition of opponents of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime (report found here), including using the waterboarding technique on suspects. Columbia has named its team for...

The UN has urged Sudan to strengthen human rights efforts with respect to two recently detained political opposition figures. Rebels have captured Syria’s biggest hydro-electric dam and battled army tank units near the center of Damascus. Libya has claimed it is competent to try ex-spy chief under Gaddafi’s regime, Abdullah al-Senussi, though the ICC has called for his extradition to The Hague. The lower house of the French parliament has approved a bill 320-299 to legalize same-sex marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children. The UN is hoping to...

Reacting to the still-imminent fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, U.S. presidential candidate (and likely future president if you believe these polls) Mitt Romney has called for the extradition of the mastermind of Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, to the United States. The demand raises an interesting dilemma. Megrahi was tried and convicted in a special Scottish tribunal set up specifically for the Lockerbie case. He was serving time, and then released in the belief he was terminally ill. He miraculously recovered, however. In any event, is there...

...fact, China’s principal oil production company, CNOOC, completed its first deepwater production rig—destined for use in the South China Sea—in May of this year. Although China is the destination of 12 percent of Equatorial Guinea’s oil exports, it will not be in a position to displace Western oil companies for years to come. The seizure of Teodorín’s assets in the United States is unlikely to speed the departure of the man who, since Gaddafi’s demise, is the longest-surviving dictator in Africa, nor is it likely to spur dramatic progress toward...

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin accused the ICC of fiddling while Libya burns, and relayed news in the Libyan press that Al-Senussi’s and Gaddafi’s trial will start mid-April. He also analysed whether Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s possible representation of LRA victims at the ICC would amount to a conflict of interest. Roger followed up on his earlier post about using trade remedies to enforce arbitration awards to argue that these remedies are WTO compliant. Kristen discussed sanctions against Russia and Julian asked whether the US’ spying on Huawei violates international law....

...since the uprising against Gaddafi and Kosovo marking five years of independence. Arusha has given a plot of land to the International Criminal Court for it to build the African Chapter of the International Criminal Court, in a bid to attract international organisations and temper the impact of the ICTR’s depature. The Russian Foreign Affairs Minister has finally returned the call to John Kerry, after keeping him waiting for six days to discuss Syria and North Korea’s recent nuclear test. Venezuela’s Foreign Minister has stated that they are willing to...

...agrees to unrestricted international oversight over its nuclear facilities. Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election campaign has been rocked by allegations that his 2007 presidential campaign received financial support from Gaddafi. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Dominique Strauss-Kahn explains why he thinks that the public fallout from last year’s Sofitel scandal was orchestrated by his political opponents. In response, President Sarkozy has challenged DSK to take his complaints to court. Mali’s military leaders have rejected ECOWAS’ transition plan and Human Rights Watch is alleging the commission of war crimes by Northern...