In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

20 Sep

Amnesty International reports that Syrian civilians are under "relentless" and "indiscriminate" attacks from Syrian forces. In news about the anti-Islam flim, The Innocence of Muslims, Saudi Arabia has demanded that YouTube shut down access to the film within its borders; an actress in the film is suing the director and YouTube for fraud, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress; UN Secretary...

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19 Sep

Yesterday, Harold Koh, the Legal Adviser of the U.S. State Department, spoke at the U.S. Cyber Command Inter-Agency Legal Conference on the applicability of international law to cyberspace and, particularly, cyberwar/ cyberconflict. For a couple of takes on the speech, see the Washington Post here and Defense News, here. In our ongoing efforts to make full-text presentations of international...

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19 Sep

Syrian rebel forces clash with government troops near the Turkish border as UN envoy says the Syrian crisis is worsening. According to diplomats, Sudan and South Sudan have made progress on reaching a border deal. Iraq has re-opened its border to refugees from Syria, but is excluding young men from entry for security reasons. The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that UK...

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18 Sep

The group claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb that killed 12 near Kabul, Afghanistan, including nine foreigners, said the attack was revenge for the anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims. Other protests throughout Asia and the Middle East were carried out in response to the film in multiple cities in Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Azerbaijan--and as far as Britain and Australia. NATO has ordered a suspension...

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17 Sep

Story here: Investors can begin construction in six months on three privately run cities in Honduras that will have their own police, laws, government and tax systems now that the government has signed a memorandum of agreement approving the project. . . . The "model cities" will have their own judiciary, laws, governments and police forces. They also will be empowered to...

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17 Sep

The UN's High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged an end to the violence brought about by the anti-Islam film released last week, while Hezbollah's leader called for a week of protests. Myanmar's Aung Sun Suu Kyi has begun her visit to the United States and is slated to receive the highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, and meet...

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15 Sep

While U.S. embassies around the Middle East continue to face angry mobs, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing also faced its own angry (but less violent) mob today.  As China blogger Sinostand reports, hundreds of Chinese citizens threw eggs and rocks at the Japanese Embassy in protest at Japan's actions to nationalize the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea....

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15 Sep

The attacks on US embassies in the Arab world did not escape our bloggers' attention this week. Duncan Hollis posted about host states' duties to protect diplomatic and consular premises, and questioned whether Libya and Egypt could be held responsible for the attacks. Julian Ku asked which responses to the death of ambassador Christopher Stevens would be legal under US...

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14 Sep

 As turmoil continues to spread in the Middle East, Google has temporarily blocked access in Libya and Egypt to the inflammatory anti-Muslim video, invoking exceptional circumstances but not relying on its guidelines prohibiting hate speech. It will not come as a surprise to frequent readers of our blog that our own Peter Spiro is quoted as approving of Google's decision, even though it raises questions...

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13 Sep

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has begun his first European tour as president and will visit Brussels to discuss economic support, agriculture, job creation and investment in the Egyptian private sector, among other topics. Despite President Mursi’s call for calm, dozens are still protesting the film “Innocence of Muslims” outside the US Embassy in Cairo. Turmoil has reportedly spread to the US...

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12 Sep

The deplorable killing of Chris Stevens in Libya suggests a foreign relations law rationale for banning hate speech. Remember, the Benghazi protests were prompted by this film depicting the prophet Mohammed in not very flattering terms. The equation from the protesters at the US consulate in Benghazi: this film was produced by an American; we will hold America responsible for it. The...

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