The verdict has been delivered in the Anfal trial -- and not surprisingly, "Chemical Ali" and his highest-ranking co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced to death:Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and the former head of the Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command, earned his nickname for his alleged use of chemical weapons against the ethnic minority during efforts to crush a...
As regular readers know, Julian and I disagree about whether international law promotes or impedes the peacemaking process in war-torn countries. I do not believe that international law is an end in itself, and I acknowledge that in some situations the involvement of international organizations like the ICC can have negative consequences. But I question Julian's assumption that...
On October 16, 1975, the first full day of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, five journalists — two British, two Australian, and one New Zealander — were killed in the border town of Balibo. The official Indonesian position has always been that the journalists were accidentally killed in a crossfire as they attempted to film Indonesia's invasion of the...
In what human-rights groups are describing as a landmark case, a military court in Rostov-on-Don has convicted four Russian soldiers — three in absentia — of murdering six unarmed civilians in Chechnya:The case has been followed closely in war-scarred Chechnya, where many are outraged that no one has been brought to justice for the January 2002 killing of a driver...
Human Rights Watch provides more information on François-Xavier Byuma's "trial":Byuma, who heads an organization for the defense of childrens’ rights known as Turengere Abana, had previously investigated allegations that Imanzi had raped a young girl. Imanzi was briefly detained and questioned but never prosecuted for rape. At a first hearing on the genocide charges, Byuma was present, but refused...
I have posted a new essay on SSRN entitled "Mistakes of Legal Element, the Common Law, and Article 32 of the Rome Statute: A Critical Analysis." Here is the abstract:Article 32(2) of the Rome Statute provides that "[a] mistake of law may… be a ground for excluding criminal responsibility if it negates the mental element required by such a...
The Los Angeles Times has a must-read article today about how the CIA has been using Sudanese nationals to spy on insurgents — including al-Qaida — in Iraq:The relationship underscores the complex realities of the post-Sept. 11 world, in which the United States has relied heavily on intelligence and military cooperation from countries, including Sudan and Uzbekistan, that are considered...
From the "oy gevalt" file:A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting. Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsquently rejected, building the...
This is priceless — and uncannily insightful about the demonization of anyone who has the temerity to question the Bush administration's policies:WASHINGTON, DC — Breaking a 211-year media silence, retired Army Gen. George Washington appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday to speak out against many aspects of the way the Iraq war has been waged. Washington, whose appearance marked the...
I guess I should've held my breath after all -- the Justice Department announced today that it will appeal Judge Cardone's decision to set Posada free:One month after a stinging loss, the Justice Department Tuesday appealed a Texas federal judge's dismissal of immigration fraud charges against Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles. In May, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone threw out...
I intend to follow the Charles Taylor trial on Opinio Juris in the coming months. True international trial junkies, though, will want to add an invaluable new blog to their RSS readers: The Trial of Charles Taylor: International Criminal Justice in the Making. Sponsored by the Open Society Institute, the blog contains daily coverage of the trial, expert...
The G-8 Summit is scheduled to get underway on Wednesday, and with the summit will come protesters — as many as 100,000, according to estimates. Those intending to protest have already been tarred by the violent clashes between anarchists and the police last week at a pre-summit protest in Rostock; police in Heiligendamm are gearing up for similar protests...
