Search: Complementarity SAIF GADDAFI

...personal immunity. In 2001, the French Court of Cassation ruled against an order by the Court of Appeal of Paris in relation to the Libyan head of state, Muammar Gaddafi’s complicity in the commission of ‘crimes, regardless of [their] gravity’. The Court of second instance further characterized the decision to recommend the investigation of the complaint as a ‘disregard’ of the ‘customary law on the immunity granted to foreign heads of state […] consistently recognized by international society’. Some two years later, when a complaint was lodged by a civil...

...the summit instead. Fourteen years before, the ICC issued the first arrest warrant against a sitting head of state, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan. A second arrest warrant against Al Bashir was issued a year later. Al Bashir was the first President ever indicted by the lCC, while Muammar Gaddafi is the second, and Putin is the third. The essay will discuss the various responses of states and regional bodies to the indictments of Al Bashir and Putin including comparing the global south vs global north responses. Are these two...

...Gaddafi’s forces. In the latest statement on Syria, “responsibility” is notably absent. There is no mention of the 93,000 people killed in the conflict. Rather, the Administration’s statement focuses on the fuzzy “red line” of chemical weapons, not the humanitarian nightmare of the ongoing fighting. Action in Syria will depend, the statement made clear, on the Administration’s assessment of the threat and its appropriate response: “[W]e will make decisions on our own timeline. Any future action we take will be consistent with our national interest, and must advance our objectives….”...

...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...

...Amendment protection in the United States, and why President Obama couldn’t block the film, even if he wanted to. ECOWAS is gearing up for a tough fight in Mali against Islamist militants in the north of the country. The UN has urged Libya to institute a transitional justice strategy to rebuild and reshape a country influenced by decades of dictatorial rule under Muammar Gaddafi. After the recent meeting with President Morsy of Egypt, Foreign Policy showcases Sudan’s President, Omar Al-Bashir, as the most mobile accused war criminal in the world....

...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...

...rarity of capture operations overseas, but outlined other concerns with this approach to counterterrorism. Julian pointed out how China’s understanding of the peaceful settlement of disputes excludes international adjudication. Despite finding much to like in the PTC’s decision in al-Senussi, Kevin was troubled by the inconsistency with the Gaddafi decision on the right to counsel. He also was not impressed by the PTC invoking Libya’s security situation. Finally, Jessica wrapped up the news and listed events and announcements . Many thanks to our guest contributors and have a nice weekend!...

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...

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...

...to replace the murderous Assad regime. Regime change is not the same thing as regime improvement. Moreover, even if a new regime would be generally better than the Assad regime, that does not mean it would not do terrible things to certain disfavored groups. That is a lesson we should have learned in Libya: although no one is shedding tears for the Gaddafi regime, the new Libyan government has proven all too willing to commit atrocities against groups such as the Tawerghans. Indeed, as I discuss in this essay, there...

...Policy’s piece helps explain why Obama might be a little cold on a meeting. A Libyan judge has suspended the trial of Buzeid Dorda, a top intelligence officer in Gaddafi’s regime, after an appeal of unconstitutionality was entered by the defense. The UN has calculated that the Taliban raked in more than $400 million from various sources last year. US missions in Cairo and Benghazi were attacked yesterday, resulting in the loss of at least one State Department official, after protests broke out regarding a film allegedly offensive to Islam....

...sea, something that has led to the kind of tragedy described above by 28-year-old Emmanuel. In 2014-2018, Human Rights Watch reported that Italy and the EU committed at least 12 million euros to the migration detention centres despite numerous reports of grave human rights violations. Arrangements of this nature reportedly date back to the Gaddafi era, an endeavour the Global Detention Project described as a  ”multi-million-Euro ‘migration management’ project”. Detention centres are not the solution, let alone in the way in which they currently operate. The fact that Carola Rackete’s...