Georgetown Security Law Brief

Serbia, Croatia 'should discuss genocide lawsuits'

03/31/10: Balkan Insight reports that Croatian Ambassador to Serbia, Zeljko Kupresak, said that Serbian and Croatian governments need to discuss the possibility of withdrawing the genocide lawsuits they have filed against one another at the International Court of Justice, ICJ.

Pakistan arrests a top crime official

03/31/10: The New York Times reports that the Pakistan Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Ahmad Riaz Sheikh, a senior white-collar crime official, on Tuesday, and threatened to send the nation’s top anticorruption official to jail if he did not swiftly seek the reopening of corruption cases in Switzerland against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Human rights' new DOJ home

03/31/10: IntLawGrrls reports that the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, established within the US Department of Justice yesterday. HRSP, as it is to be known, is intended to combat human rights violations and to endeavor to bring war criminals to account.

Australia high court orders accused war criminal extradited to Croatia

03/31/10: Jurist reports that the High Court of Australia on Tuesday ordered that alleged Serbian war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic be extradited to Croatia to face prosecution. Vasiljkovic, an Australian citizen also known as Daniel Snedden, is accused of war crimes occurring during the 1991-1995 Croatian war of independence.

Judge prods Holder in secrets case

03/31/10: Politico reports that a federal judge is offering to drop disclipinary and contempt proceedings against Central Intelligence Agency lawyers and officials, including former CIA director George Tenet, over alleged abuse of the state secrets privilege in a long-running lawsuit, if Attorney General Eric Holder formally notifies Congress and the inspectors general about the alleged misconduct. Judge Royce Lamberth proposed the somewhat unusual compromise in an opinion filed Tuesday in the suit, brought by a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Richard Horn.

Dutch court upholds UN immunity for Srebrenica massacre

03/30/10: Jurist reports that The Hague Appeals Court on Tuesday upheld the UN's immunity from prosecution by rejecting claims brought by relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict.

Tennessee man pleads guilty in plot against Obama

03/30/10: The Miami Herald reports that Daniel Cowart, a Tennessee man authorities say is a white supremacist, has pleaded guilty to plotting to kill then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and dozens of other black people in 2008.

PLO wins new hearing in terror suit

03/30/10: Politico reports that a federal appeals court panel which included retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter has ordered a judge to consider the Palestinian Liberation Organization's arguments in favor of erasing a $116 million default judgment imposed against the PLO and the Palestinian Authority over a 1996 terrorist attack.

FBI gives a glimpse of its most secret layer

03/29/10: The Boston Globe reports that the FBI has opened its doors by releasing hundreds of pages of memos outlining why bureau officials have deemed certain information too hot to handle even for most top-level officials. The memos, spanning the 1950s to the 1980s, were approved for release under the Freedom of Information Act and provided exclusively to the Globe by a researcher outside the FBI who wished to remain anonymous.

UN rights committee urges Uzbekistan to investigate 2005 Andijan clashes

03/29/10: Jurist reports that the UN Human Rights Committee has called on Uzbekistan to carry out an independent investigation into the May 2005 Andijan clashes between Uzbek protesters, soldiers and police that human rights groups claim killed up to 500 people.

Freed American Expected to Return to US Soon

03/28/10: The New York Times reports that Issa T. Salomi, an American civilian who had been kidnapped and held for more than two months by a Shiite militia group, was released several days ago, and will return within a week to the United States, the American military said.

Al-Maliki's forces detain, investigate winning Sunni candidates

03/28/10: The Miami Herald reports that at least four Sunni Muslim candidates who appear to have won parliamentary seats in Iraq on the winning ticket of secular leader Ayad Allawi have become targets of investigation by security forces reporting to the narrowly defeated Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to interviews Saturday with relatives, Iraqi security forces and the US military.

Iraq contractors' families sue feds

03/27/10: The Washington Times reports that the families of three private security contractors who were kidnapped, held for ransom and beheaded in Iraq are suing US State Department over their deaths. Joshua Munns, John Cote and John Young were working for Crescent Security Group in November 2006 when they and two other co-workers were ambushed and abducted while guarding a military convoy near the southern Iraq city of Safwan.

Chicago man held in link to Al Qaeda

03/27/10: The New York Times federal prosecutors on Friday charged Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Chicago cabdriver, with attempting to provide money to Al Qaeda for explosives, and discussing a possible bomb attack on an unspecified stadium in the United States this summer.

Treasury targets Al Qaida in Iraq

03/26/10: War on Terrorism reports that the US Department of the Treasury targeted the support network of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) by designating Muthanna Harith al-Dari for providing financial, material, or technological support and financial or other services to or in support of AQI under Executive Order 13224. Executive Order 13224 freezes any assets the designated individuals have under US jurisdiction, and US persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with those individuals. Also today, the UN 1267 Committee, which targets al-Qaida and the Taliban, is adding al-Dari to the Consolidated List of individuals and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the Taliban at the request of the Governments of Iraq and the United States.

UN rights council adopts resolutions criticizing Israel

03/26/10: JURIST reports that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed three resolutions critical of Israeli practices towards Syrian and Palestinian territories. The resolutions were adopted during the 13th session of the UNHRC held in Geneva. One resolution titled "The grave human rights violations by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem" passed by a vote of 31 to 9 and made specific demands on Israel.

Judge OK's holding Yemeni who says he was clinic worker in Afghanistan

03/25/10: The Miami Herald reports that a federal judge Thursday upheld the Guantánamo detention of a Yemeni who claimed he worked in a medical clinic in Afghanistan during the 2001-2002 US invasion. Judge Royce C. Lamberth's ruling in the case of Muktar Yahya al Warafi raised the US government tally to 12 wins and 34 losses in federal lawsuits decided so far in the US District Court in Washington, DC.

Appeals court hands contractors a reprieve in FOIA case

03/25/10: The BLT reports that a federal appeals court sided with a pair of military contractors when it ordered the Defense Department not to release documents that might have revealed information about the companies’ business operations. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that department had failed to adequately explain why it believed releasing the documents, which had been subject to Freedom of Information Act requests from journalists at a newspaper and a television station in Connecticut, would not cause harm to either of the contractors. The two companies, helicopter maker Sikorsky and jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, had argued that the documents should be exempted from the request because they contained specific, detailed information about their production and quality-control processes.

Saudis arrest more than one hundred alleged terrorists

03/24/10: CNN reports that more than 100 people accused of planning attacks against police and oil installations have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said 101 people preparing attacks on police officers and 12 members of suicide cells plotting strikes on oil installations were seized over five months. The group of 101 included 47 Saudis, 51 Yemenis, one Somali, one Bangladeshi and one Eritrean.

US sends three Guantánamo captives to Georgia

03/24/10: The Miami Herald reports that the United States said Tuesday it had sent three Guantánamo detainees to the Republic of Georgia, but declined to name them. Moreover, the United States did not make clear whether the men, who had been approved for transfer by an Obama administration task force, were sent there for resettlement or for continued detention. The transfer lowered to 185 the number of foreign men held captive at the remote US Navy base in Guantánamo.

In bid to thwart al Qaeda, Libya frees three leaders of jihadist group

03/24/10: CNN reports that Libyan authorities Tuesday released three top leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, successfully concluding a three-year peace process that has produced an alliance against al Qaeda. In September, the leaders of the LIFG -- once on close personal terms with al Qaeda's leaders -- formally ended the group's nearly two decades of armed struggle against Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime in Libya. It issued a 417-page religious document, "Corrective Studies," repudiating al Qaeda's ideology.

Former Gitmo detainee leads top Taliban council

03/23/10: The Long War Journal reports that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has named two new leaders to replace the head of its leadership council, who was detained in Pakistan earlier this year. One of the two new leaders was released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in 2007. Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir and Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur have been named by Omar to replace Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Zakir is a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility who was released by the US in December 2007 and sent to Afghanistan, where he was subsequently released by the Afghan government.

Pennsylvania man's terror conviction is upheld on appeal

03/23/10: The Miami Herald reports that an appeals court has upheld the conviction of a northeastern Pennsylvania man found guilty of trying to help al-Qaida terrorists blow up fuel pipelines and refineries in the United States. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals said that the issues raised by 51-year-old Michael Curtis Reynolds were "meritless." He had alleged insufficient evidence, misstated facts and false testimony, malicious prosecution and lack of a speedy trial.

Marines' leave increased as Iraq mission winds down

03/23/10: The Miami Herald reports that beginning this fall, the Marine Corps will guarantee nearly all Marines 14 months at home for every seven months they spend in war zones, the first payoff for service members of the United States' diminishing military presence in Iraq. The Army hopes to make a similar change by the end of 2011, guaranteeing soldiers two years at home for every year they're in war zones. The change is the first concrete sign that the stress on the US military caused by the years-long engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan is beginning to ease.

Case on war zone job rights ends

03/23/10: SCOTUSblog reports that a significant test case in the Supreme Court on the legal rules that govern military contractors’ liability for employee misconduct in war zones has now ended, without any action by the Justices. In an order now shown on the Court’s docket, the Court dismissed the case of KBR Technical Services, et al., v. Jones (09-864).  This was done March 11 under the Court’s Rule 46, which allows parties to agree to end a pending case; no explanation is given for such dismissals.

Ex-Nazi guilty in wartime murders

03/23/10: The New York Times reports that a German court on Tuesday convicted an 88-year-old man of murdering three Dutch civilians as part of a Nazi hit squad during World War II, capping six decades of efforts to bring the former Waffen SS man to justice. Heinrich Boere, No. 6 on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most-wanted Nazis, was given the maximum sentence of life in prison for the 1944 killings.

US may expand use of its prison in Afghanistan

03/22/10: The Los Angeles Times reports that he White House is considering whether to detain international terrorism suspects at a US military base in Afghanistan, an option that would lead to another prison with the same purpose as Guantanamo Bay, which it has promised to close.

At AIPAC conference, Clinton pledges White House commitment to Israel security

03/22/10: The Washington Post reports that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday pledged the Obama administration's "unwavering" commitment to Israel's security, including sanctions on Iran that "bite." But she defended White House opposition to Jewish construction in a disputed area of Jerusalem as an essential part of getting peace talks back on track. Speaking before more than 7,000 delegates to the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- which is lobbying furiously against the administration's criticism -- Clinton ticked off numerous ways the Obama administration is committed to Israel's security, and offered the administration's push for peace talks as the ultimate guarantor of Israel's future viability as a democratic state.

Decision looms for US on Middle East arms supply

03/22/10: The Financial Times reports that the US is grappling with a dilemma over how to arm its Arab allies, delaying by months a request from the United Arab Emirates for information about possibly buying the showpiece Joint Strike Fighter. The UAE’s interest in the JSF, along with its acquisition of US missile defence technology, highlights the Gulf states’ concern about Iran and its determination to build military capacity.The US has armed its Arab friends for decades, but Washington has withheld the best technology to guarantee that Israel keeps a “qualitative military edge”.

Obama offer Is denounced by Ayatollah

03/22/10: The New York Times reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, sharply denounced the United States on Sunday, accusing it of plotting to overthrow the clerical leadership in a chilly response to an overture by President Obama for better cultural ties. Ayatollah Khamenei did not outright reject Mr. Obama’s offer, saying Iran would keep an eye on Washington’s intentions. But he said that so far Washington’s offers of engagement had been a deception.

EC backs regional commission on war crimes

03/22/10: Balkan Insight reports that Vincent Degert, chief of the European Commission Delegation in Belgrade, said that the EC supports the initiative to create a regional commission to establish facts about war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Netanyahu and Obama will talk on Tuesday

03/22/10: The New York Times reports that during a visit here on Sunday, the Obama administration’s Middle East envoy, George J. Mitchell, extended an invitation for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to speak with President Obama in Washington this week. The offer for a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday, which was accepted, was widely seen as a sign of an alleviation of the recent discord over new Israeli plans for Jewish housing in disputed East Jerusalem that had soured Israel’s relations with the United States.But amid the intense diplomatic activity aimed at getting the negotiations back on track, more violence flared in the West Bank on Sunday, raising tensions and further undermining confidence between the sides.

US turns a blind eye to opium in Afghan town

03/21/10: The New York Times reports that the effort to win over Afghans on former Taliban turf in Marja has put American and NATO commanders in the unusual position of arguing against opium eradication, pitting them against some Afghan officials who are pushing to destroy the harvest.

US frees detainees, but Afghans’ anger persists

03/20/10: The New York Times reports that now, in Afghanistan, detainees who are deemed not to be a threat are handed over to local elders on the understanding that it is the community’s responsibility to ensure that they stay on the right side of the law. But a reservoir of resentment remains about how the United States has handled detentions since 2001.

Obama renews call for Iran dialogue

03/20/10: CNN reports that President Obama reiterated his offer of dialogue with Tehran in a message on Saturday to mark the beginning of the Iranian new year. The online video, subtitled in Farsi, was timed to coincide with Nooroz, a festival celebrating the Persian new year. It pledged the administration's commitment to a more hopeful future for Iran.

White House extends status of Liberians in US

03/20/10: The Miami Herald reports that President Barack Obama is allowing thousands of Liberians living in the United States to remain in the country for an additional year and a half. A presidential memorandum issued Friday applies to Liberians who fled the country amid years of civil war and who are living in the United States under "deferred enforced departure status." Their stay was to have expired on March 31, but Obama is directing the Department of Homeland Security to extend it by 18 months.

AG Holder fights back against critics of Guantanamo lawyers

03/20/10: The BLT reports that Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has remained publicly silent in recent weeks as some conservatives hammered him on the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who in private practice worked on Guantanamo Bay detainee matters. Holder broke that silence, telling a group of pro bono lawyers at a conference in Washington that attorneys who advocate for unpopular clients and matters "do not deserve to have their own values questioned."

Clinton calls Israel’s moves to ease tension ‘useful’

03/19/10: The New York Times reports that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Friday that the proposals offered by the Israeli government to ease a diplomatic row with the United States were “useful and productive,” and that the Obama administration would continue talks in Jerusalem and Washington.

Gambia prosecutors charge ten over alleged coup plot

03/19/10: JURIST reports that Gambian prosecutors on Thursday charged 10 men, including top military officials, with conspiring to overthrow the government of President Yahya Jammeh. The prosecution claims the men procured arms and troops in anticipation of a military coup. Eight of the ten men charged have been under arrest since November.

GAO says White House erred on intelligence oversight

03/19/10: Secrecy News reports that the Obama Administration presented “several misstatements of law and fact” in its March 15 letter opposing legislation to enhance the role of the Government Accountability Office in intelligence oversight, the head of the GAO said in a letter to congressional intelligence committees yesterday.

Opinion: The right way to mend immigration

03/19/10: The Washington Post has a piece by US Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) outlining their draft framework for immigration reform.

UN drops Muslim Brotherhood figure from 'Terrorist Finance' list

03/19/10: Newsweek reports that the UN Security Council has quietly dropped Youssef Nada, a prominent financial and diplomatic representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, from an international sanctions list directed at curbing the activities of alleged terrorist financiers.

Gaza bank, TV station see US sanctions

03/19/10: CNN reports that the US Treasury put a bank and a television station, both from Gaza, on its terrorist-financing list, saying they were controlled by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement. Islamic National Bank provides banking to Hamas members who also finance and control Al-Aqsa Television, US officials said. The designation allows the Treasury to prohibit firms from doing business with the companies and freeze their assets in places under US jurisdiction.

Rwanda tribunal affirms genocide conviction of Hutu singer

03/19/10: JURIST reports that the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday affirmed the genocide conviction of popular Rwandan singer-songwriter Simon Bikindi. The charge was based on a speech Bikindi gave during the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which he called on Hutus to rise up and exterminate the Tutsis. Prosecutor Justice Hassan Bubacar Jallow appealed the 15-year sentence given to Bikindi in January on the grounds that it was inadequate punishment for "direct and public incitement to commit genocide." Bikindi appealed on the basis that the sentence was disproportionate to the gravity of the offense and that court erred in its evaluation of his association with extremist militia group, Interahamwe. The court rejected both appeals.

Guantanamo suspects allowed laptops while in custody

03/19/10: The Washington Times reports that the Pentagon allowed five captured al Qaeda members currently held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to use laptop computers in detention, raising concerns among security officials that the terrorism suspects could pass sensitive data to terrorists in the future. The computers, without Internet access, were provided to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspected 9/11 conspirators at the prison at the US naval base in Cuba after approval by senior Pentagon officials in September 2008. The five al Qaeda members were "provided access to stand-alone computers without Internet access in order to review discovery material provided by the government, conduct legal research and prepare for their defense" against charges related to the Sept, 11 attacks

Gaza rocket attack into Israel kills a Thai worker

03/18/10: The New York Times reports that a foreign worker in Israel was killed Thursday by a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza, according to the Israeli military, soon after the European Union’s top foreign policy official arrived here on a rare visit by such a high-ranking official.

US to buy Illinois prison even if it won't hold terror suspects, official says

03/18/10: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Obama administration plans to purchase a state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., regardless of whether Congress allows terrorism suspects to be transferred there, a Department of Justice official said Thursday.

US will undergo human rights scrutiny

03/18/10: The Washington Post reports that Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that, for the first time, the United States will submit itself to a process in which its record might be judged by some of the world's worst human rights abusers. The US will participate this fall in what is called the "universal periodic review" process, run by the UN Human Rights Council.

Two accused of taking bribes in UN contract deal with US company

03/18/10: The Washington Post reports that a UN anti-corruption task force has accused an Italian executive and a former UN official of taking bribes from a US security contractor seeking to do business with the United Nations, according to a confidential UN letter

Obama restores former Pentagon line of succession

03/17/10: The New York Times reports that the Obama administration has quietly reviewed, and revised, the sequence in which Pentagon civilian officials would take command should Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates die unexpectedly, say in a surprise attack. An executive order published without fanfare this month does away with a system for Pentagon succession instituted by former President George W. Bush, which played down the service secretaries and elevated positions held at the time by trusted aides to Donald H. Rumsfeld, who as defense secretary wanted it that way.