My recent post on PhDs calling themselves "Dr." led one of my e-friends, Martin Holterman, to remind me that I had promised to post about my dissertation defense -- called a "viva" in the Netherlands -- at Leiden University last year. The viva was one of the greatest academic experiences of my life, so I'm happy to rectify my omission. I'll...
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...
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...
There is a friendly debate going on at Prawfsblawg about whether people who have PhDs or JSDs in law are entitled to refer to themselves as "Dr. so-and-so." Skepticism seems to be the order of the day; here are quotes from Paul Horwitz and Jeff Yates, respectively: Although I think there's a good deal to be said for obtaining JSDs or...
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...
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...
So reports the media. I, for one, am shocked: it's almost as if KSM has concluded, having been waterboarded (read: tortured) 183 times in one month, that the U.S. might not actually be committed to the highest standards of fairness and justice now. Come on, KSM. Can't bygones be bygones? Heed Obama's injunction: now is the time to look forward, not...
In the comments to my previous post, Mark Kersten (of the superb Justice in Conflict blog) asks an excellent question: Saif remains in the custody of the former rebels in Zintan, not the NTC. Further, the rebels in Zintan have consistently reiterated that they would like to see Saif tried there and not in Tripoli. Yet the admissibility challenge is from...
The Nuremberg defense pops up in the strangest places. As the NFL fans among our readers know, Commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended four New Orleans Saints players for their role in Bountygate -- a program whereby Saints players would get financial bonuses for intentionally injuring other players on the football field, essentially the most heinous crime a football player can...
Libya has now brought a formal admissibility challenge under Article 19 of the Rome Statute. The motion, written by Philippe Sands, Payam Akhavan, and Michelle Butler, is a brilliant piece of work and stands a good chance of success. I'll have much to say about the motion in the next few days, but in this post I want to focus...
Of course, that means it's been a much better week for anyone who isn't so keen on the prospect of attacking Iran. I'm not sure the nails are in Netanyahu's political coffin quite yet, but the carpenters are certainly gathering their supplies. First up, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, Chief of Staff of the IDF, rejecting the notion that Iran is...
The blog, which has been uniformly excellent to date, is dedicated to exploring maritime piracy in all its dimensions. Here is the description: Piracy is on the rise because of failed states and crushing poverty. A majority of modern pirate attacks originate in the Horn of Africa in Somalia although there is now a growing problem in the Gulf of Guinea. This...
