In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

15 Mar

According to Reuters, the Attorney General of Bolivia has charged Eduardo Rodriguez, Bolivia's former president, with treason for sending the country's only surface-to-air missiles to the U.S. to be destroyed. The legal complaint against Rodriguez was filed by Evo Morales, the current Bolivian president, who first made an issue of the secret operation in December as a presidential candidate. The...

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15 Mar

An overwhelming majority of the U.N. General Assembly has voted to replace the Human Rights Commission with the new Human Rights Council. The vote was 170 to 4, with three abstentions. Voting against the new council were Israel, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and — not surprisingly — the U.S. Iran, Venezuela, and Belarus abstained. ...

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12 Mar

According to IPS, the United States is now completely alone in opposing the U.N. proposal to create a new Human Rights Council. A significant majority of the U.N.'s 191 member states have come out in favor of the proposal, including the 25-member European Union and the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of developing nations. The proposal is also supported by...

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12 Mar

The ICC has re-elected Philippe Kirsch of Canada to a new three-year term as president. Akua Kuenyehia of Ghana was re-elected as first vice-president and Judge Rene Blattmann of Bolivia was elected second-vice president. Here is Judge Kirsch's official ICC bio: Judge Kirsch is member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988. ...

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09 Mar

A few weeks ago, I discussed the critical role accurate translations play in international trials. A recent decision by the ICTY illustrates the point: largely due to a translation error involving a single word, the Appeals Chamber has reduced the sentence of Momir Nikolic, a security and intelligence officer at Srebrenica, from 27 to 20 years. Nikolic was...

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08 Mar

On February 27th, the Algerian cabinet, with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika presiding, approved a “Decree Implementing the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation." The key provisions are Articles 44 and 45: Article 44: Citizens who, through their involvement or their determination, contributed to saving Algeria and protecting the nation’s institutions, performed acts of patriotism. Article 45: No legal proceedings may be...

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07 Mar

The BBC reports that Ali Farka Toure, the Malian bluesman whose work won two Grammys, has died. Farka Toure's death causes me great sadness; I've loved his music for more than a decade — ever since I first heard his remarkable collaboration with Ry Cooder, "Talking Timbuktu," for which he won his first Grammy. For any fan of...

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07 Mar

On February 26th, Afghanistan's National Security Court sentenced Assadulah Sarwari, the former head of the Afghani secret police, to death for ordering the execution of hundreds of anti-communist prisoners during the 1970s. Sarwari is the first senior official to be held accountable for the communist regime's systematic human-rights abuses. Although many Afghanis were understandably overjoyed by Sarwari's...

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06 Mar

A dispute is brewing between the Rwandan government and the ICTR over the fact that one of the Tribunal's appointed defense attorneys is himself on Rwanda's "most wanted" list of genocide suspects. The attorney, Callixte Gakwaya, is counsel for Yusuf Munyakazi, a former businessman who is accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Cyangugu and neighbouring Kibuye...

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04 Mar

Crisis Watch has issued its March report, which summarizes developments in 70 situations of actual or potential conflict and assesses whether the situations have worsened, improved, or remained the same during the previous month. According to the report, 8 situations worsened and 2 improved. Worsened Nigeria: Security deteriorated with upsurge in religious and political violence. Protests by Muslims against Danish...

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03 Mar

As reported by the Guardian — but largely ignored by the U.S. press — the U.S. government agreed Monday to pay $300,000 to an Egyptian man detained in New York following the 9/11 attacks and held in solitary confinement for 10 months without charge. The settlement is the first of its kind. The man, Ehab Elmaghraby, was one of 762...

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