Georgetown Security Law Brief

UN welcomes new Libya electoral law

02/10/12: JURIST reports that the UN Support Mission in Libya on Thursday welcomed the new electoral law adopted by the National Transitional Council. The draft of the electoral law was finalized on Wednesday after the earlier version was revised to address criticisms of the public. The new law sets out procedures for the upcoming election to choose a national assembly. After elected, its responsibility will be to draft a new constitution for the country. The finalized law provides that 20 percent of the 200 seats (40 seats) will be reserved for women, double of what was proposed in the earlier version.

Saudi King criticizes Syria vetoes in rare blunt speech

02/10/12: The New York Times reports that the king of Saudi Arabia inserted himself directly into the Syria crisis on Friday, castigating Russia and China for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution over the weekend aimed at ending the Syrian government’s deadly repression of a nearly year-old uprising. “We are going through scary days and unfortunately what happened at the United Nations is absolutely regrettable,” King Abdullah said in a short nationally televised address. The Saudi king rarely speaks so publicly and bluntly, and his remarks appeared to reflect new concern in Saudi Arabia about the deepening sectarian parameters of the conflict in Syria.

Turkey and Iran diverge over Syria

02/10/12: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Turkey and Iran, regional heavyweights and heirs to imperial pasts, expanded trade in the past decade and papered over their traditional rivalry with diplomacy and rhetoric. Now these neighbors have staked out opposing positions in Syria, where outside players seek to sway an outcome to the bloodshed that could, in turn, alter power balances in the Middle East. Iranian-Turkish tension could grow if regional efforts to end the violence intensify as expected after Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Human rights group calls for Iraq to end executions

02/10/12: CNN reports that a human rights group expressed alarm Thursday at the pace of executions in Iraq and called for Iraqi authorities to abolish the practice. In a statement, Human Rights Watch noted that Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners since the year began 40 days ago. Fifty-one of the executions occurred in January and 14 so far this month, it said. "The Iraqi government seems to have given state executioners the green light to execute at will," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to declare an immediate moratorium on all executions and begin an overhaul of its flawed criminal justice system."

Hacked e-mails reveal Syrian spin used to defend crackdown

02/09/12: CNN reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was apparently coached on how to describe his government's brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrators just days before his appearance on an American network, according to purported e-mails of Syrian officials released by the hacking group known as Anonymous. The purported e-mails of dozens of Syrian officials as well as their account passwords were released Sunday by Anonymous hackers, who claim to have attacked the webmail server of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs.

US and Israel split on speed of Iran threat

02/09/12: The New York Times reports that amid mounting tensions over whether Israel will carry out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program, the US and Israel remain at odds over a fundamental question: whether Iran's crucial nuclear facilities are about to become impregnable. Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, coined the phrase “zone of immunity” to define the circumstances under which Israel would judge it could no longer hold off from an attack. But judging when that moment will arrive has set off an intense debate with the Obama administration, whose officials counter that there are other ways to make Iran vulnerable.

State Department says Guantánamo lawyers can’t question Yemeni leader

02/09/12: The Miami Herald reports that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is in the United States with full diplomatic immunity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s legal advisor has written the Pentagon, and should not be compelled to provide sworn testimony for the Guantánamo war court. State Department Legal Advisor Harold Hongju Koh wrote the letter Monday to the Pentagon’s chief war crimes prosecutor, Army Brigadier General Mark Martins, opposing a request for a subpoena by lawyers for an alleged al Qaida bomber facing a tribunal at the US Navy base in southeast Cuba.

UN chief says joint Syria mission and envoy discussed

02/09/12: The Seattle Times reports that the head of the Arab League plans to send observers back into Syria and has raised the possibility of a joint mission with the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. The UN chief's comments to reporters - after he briefed a closed UN Security Council session - came amid a search for new diplomatic approaches to deal with the protracted violence in Syria. Ban said he spoke Tuesday with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, who "intends to send the Arab League observer mission back to Syria and ask for UN help."

Russia says Assad still wants dialogue as shelling continues

02/07/12: The Washington Post reports that Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday that a Syrian commission has prepared a new constitution, to be voted on in a referendum, and added that President Bashar al-Assad is ready for a “dialogue” with opposition groups after months of a harsh and bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov made the statements following discussions with Assad in the Syrian capital, even as France and Italy recalled their ambassadors for consultations over the worsening crisis and shelling continued for a fifth day in the restive city of Homs.

Tensions rise as US Syrian embassy closes

02/06/12: The Washington Post reports that the State Department closed its embassy in Syria on Monday and pulled the remaining staff. The decision came after the Syrian government refused to address US security concerns amid the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, State Department officials said. Ambassador Robert Ford and 16 other employees have left the country. The United States has shuttered embassies before, often under similarly dramatic circumstances. While some embassies later reopened, several countries remain without an US embassy today.

Libya's Saif Gadhafi could be tried within weeks

02/05/12: CNN reports that Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libya's deposed leader Moammar Gadhafi, could go on trial "within weeks or months," the country's interior minister said Sunday. The investigations into the death of Moammar Gadhafi after his capture last year could also be completed soon, Fawzy Abdilal said. Saif al-Islam's case will be handed to the courts as soon as the prosecutor general completes his investigations, Abdilal told CNN in an exclusive interview. Once his father's heir apparent, Saif al-Islam was captured in November and has been held in the Libyan city of Zintan since then.

Human Rights Watch says Libyan ex-envoy dies after arrest

02/03/12: The Miami Herald reports that Human Rights Watch says that a Moammar Gadhafi-era diplomat appears to have died under torture after his arrest by a Libyan militia. The New York-based group said Friday that 62 year-old Omar Brebesh, who served as ambassador to France, died less than 24 hours after his arrest in Tripoli on January 19 by a militia from the western Libyan town of Zintan. The group says that photographs of Brebesh's body provided by the family show extensive bruising and other wounds. Rights workers say that abuses including torture, executions, and rape take place in makeshift prisons run by former rebels.

Top security and defense officials meet in Munich

02/03/12: The Boston Globe reports that the world's top security and defense officials are gathering in Munich, with uncertainty over the future of the Middle East and the implications of the financial crisis in Europe looming large. The Munich Security Conference begins Friday with officials from more than 70 countries expected to include US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It comes as Western diplomats try to overcome Russian objections to a UN Security Council resolution aimed at halting the violence in Syria.

German intelligence agency criticized for spying on lawmakers

02/02/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that that Germany’s intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is in a bad spot. First, the office came under fire after the revelation that a group of neo-Nazis had allegedly committed at least 10 killings, despite decades of intelligence monitoring. Then, the newsweekly Der Spiegel reported last month that 27 members of Parliament, all with a left-wing party, have been under observation by the intelligence service.

North Korea demands preconditions for talks with South Korea

02/02/12: ABC News reports that  North Korea on Thursday demanded several tough preconditions for resuming talks with rival South Korea. South Korea quickly called the demands made in a statement by the Policy Department of the North's powerful National Defense Commission "unreasonable." But the timing of the statement, which follows comments Wednesday by a senior US diplomat that Washington is open to diplomacy if Pyongyang improves ties with Seoul, and the change in tone after weeks of refusal to talk with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak could signal a willingness to ease tensions.

Venezuela passes anti-terrorism law

02/02/12:  The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Venezuela's congress has approved a law aimed at fighting organized crime and terrorism, though opposition lawmakers say they fear it could be used to crack down on dissent. Lawmakers allied with President Hugo Chavez say the "Law Against Organized Crime and Terrorism Financing" will help combat crimes such as money laundering, bomb threats and airplane hijackings.

ACLU sues to force release of drone attack records

02/01/12: The Washington Post reports that the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal court Wednesday to force the Obama administration to release legal and intelligence records related to the killing of three US citizens in drone attacks in Yemen last year. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, charged the Justice and Defense departments and the CIA with illegally failing to respond to requests made in October under the Freedom of Information Act.

UN chief urges Israel to halt settlements

02/01/12: CBS News reports that UN chief Ban Ki-moon pressed Israel on Wednesday to do more to get flagging Mideast peace efforts back on track, calling for a halt in West Bank settlement construction and urging the Israelis to submit concrete proposals on the key issues of borders and security ties with a future Palestine. Ban is visiting Israel and the Palestinian areas on a mission to salvage the latest efforts to restart peace talks. A month of low-level discussions between Israel and the Palestinians ended last week without any breakthroughs, and it remains unclear whether they will resume the dialogue.

Iran and Syria aided bomb and assassination plot in Bahrain

02/01/12: ABC News reports that five men arrested in November in connection with a plot to blow up the only bridge connecting the island of Bahrain with Saudi Arabia and to assassinate Bahraini politicians are allegedly tied to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and reportedly received military training in Syria, according to information leaked to the media by Bahraini prosecutors. The charges are the latest salvo in a regional struggle for power between Iran and the Arab Gulf states.

Alleged bomber's lawyer wants to question Yemeni President

02/01/12: The Miami Herald reports that Guantánamo defense lawyers for an alleged al Qaida bomber asked an Army judge on Tuesday to order Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to undergo war court questioning at a New York hospital. Navy Lieutenant Commander Stephen Reyes wouldn’t say what he wants to ask the former Yemeni strongman on behalf of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who faces a death penalty trial at Guantánamo next year. He did said he believed the chief military commissions judge could issue a subpoena that “would compel the Yemeni president to be deposed” — despite a US State Department declaration that the 69-year-old Yemeni would receive diplomatic immunity as head of state.

Human Rights Watch urges India to prosecute border soldiers for torture

02/01/12: Jurist reports that Human Rights Watch is urging the Indian government to prosecute Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers that it has long implicated in torture and extrajudicial killings near the Bangladesh border. HRW's plea comes in response to the release of a YouTube video capturing BSF soldiers stripping, tying up and beating a Bangladeshi national caught smuggling cattle from Bangladesh into India. Although Indian law requires the BSF to hand over such lawbreakers to the police, HRW contends that the soldiers "illegally detained and tortured" the man, then left him to return to Bangladesh.

US Muslims seek clemency for condemned US-Iranian

02/01/12: The Helena Independent Record reports that an American Muslim group appealed Tuesday to Iran's supreme leader to show clemency for an ex-US military translator with dual citizenship condemned to death on accusations of being a CIA spy. A letter Tuesday from the Council on American-Islamic Relations asks Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to spare the life of Amir Hekmati.

Al Shabaab kicks Red Cross out of regions in Somalia

01/31/12: CNN reports that the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab says it has banned the International Committee of the Red Cross from operating in the regions it controls, accusing the organization of distributing expired food. In a statement on Twitter Monday the group said it "has decided to terminate the contract of ICRC permanently... Following the repeated distribution of expired food and false accusations," that the organization is hindering food distribution.

Algerian re-imprisoned after Guantanamo extradition

01/31/12: The Daily Star reports that a legal charity supporting detainees in Guantanamo has condemned the conviction and sentencing of an Algerian after he was forcibly repatriated after eight years in the US Guantanamo detention center. Naji was sent back to Algeria in July 2010. He was convicted on January 16 of "belonging to a terrorist group abroad" and sentenced to three years in prison, according to the state news agency.

China sends thousands of police to restive Uighur region

01/31/12: The Voice of America reports that China says it will boost the police presence in northwestern Xinjiang province, in a push to manage the area's huge migrant population and crack down on what Beijing calls illegal religious activities. The official Xinnhua news agency says an additional 8,000 police officers will begin patrolling villages in the northwestern region. It quotes a regional Communist party official as saying the move is aimed at consolidating "the lasting peace and [social] stability in the region."

Can you be a pirate on land?

01/31/12: Slate reports that two days after US special operations forces rescued a pair of aid workers from Somali abductors, news surfaced that another American, surfing journalist Michael Scott Moore, had been “kidnapped by Somali pirates.” But the crime didn’t happen anywhere near the surf. Moore was on land, driving to a Somali airport, and his captors were described as 15 men in two SUVs. Can you commit piracy on dry land? Not as it’s defined in international law.

Opinion: Drones for human rights?

01/31/12: The New York Times features an opinion piece by Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis, in which the authors contend drones are not just for firing missiles in Pakistan. In Iraq, the State Department is using them to watch for threats to Americans. Snider and Hanis believe it’s time we used the revolution in military affairs to serve human rights advocacy.  With drones, they say, we could take clear pictures and videos of human rights abuses, and we could start with Syria.

Obama opens up about drone strikes in Pakistan

01/31/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that President Obama offered a vigorous defense of using unmanned aircraft to kill Al Qaeda operatives and other militants in Pakistan's tribal areas and, in the process, officially acknowledged the highly classified CIA drone program that US officials had refused to discuss in public until now. "I think that we have to be judicious in how we use drones," Obama said, adding that they have been used for "very precise, precision strikes against Al Qaeda and their affiliates."

UK Court upholds extradition in Iran missle case

01/31/12: ABC News reports that Britain's High Court says a retired businessman who allegedly plotted to sell missile components to Iran cannot appeal against his extradition to the United States. Two judges said Tuesday that Christopher Tappin could not take his fight against extradition to Britain's Supreme Court. US authorities allege Tappin offered in 2006 to sell Iranians specialized batteries for Hawk missiles for $25,000, not knowing that his contacts were undercover US agents.

Opinion: With its deadly drones, the US is fighting a coward's war

01/30/12: The Guardian features an opinion piece by George Monboit. He argues that if, as the US air force says, a drone’s missiles are less likely to kill civilians than those launched from a piloted plane, it must also be true that such easier and less risky deployments are more frequent.  Monboit notes that this danger is acknowledged in a remarkably candid assessment published by the UK's Ministry of Defence, which maintains that the undeclared air war in Pakistan and Yemen "is totally a function of the existence of an unmanned capability – it is unlikely a similar scale of force would be used if this capability were not available."

Papua New Guinea's mutiny leader arrested

01/29/12: Reuters reports that an army officer who led a military revolt aimed at reinstating Papua New Guinea's ousted prime minister appeared in court on Sunday on mutiny charges, police said. Retired Colonel Yaura Sasa, who led last week's attempt to restore Sir Michael Somare to power, appeared in a court charged under the criminal code with incitement to mutiny following his arrest overnight. Police spotted Sasa by chance at a lodge away from the Taurama barracks, where his supporters have been holed up with weapons since last week's failed mutiny, police media spokesman Superintendant Dominic Kakas said.

Israeli and Palestinian peace talks flounder

01/29/12: The Boston Globe reports that Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Sunday blamed each other for the impasse in newly launched peace efforts, raising doubts about whether the dialogue would continue just weeks after it began. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of spoiling the low-level talks, saying it failed to present detailed proposals for borders and security requested by international mediators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinians "refused to even discuss" Israeli security needs.

Vatican rewrites anti-money laundering, terror finance law

01/28/12: The Washington Post reports that the Vatican has rewritten its 2010 anti-money laundering law after European inspectors found that it didn’t fully meet their tough standards to combat the financing of terrorism. The new law requires the Vatican to create a list of terror organizations based on those issued by the United Nations and requires the Vatican enter into agreements with other countries to share financial information.

Legal limbo for captured pirates

01/28/12: The New York Times reports that the many navies involved in counterpiracy patrols off Africa’s northeastern shore have learned the pirates’ habits and sharpened interdiction efforts. Hijackings have declined sharply in the past year. But where interdiction ends, an enduring problem begins: what to do with the pirates that foreign ships detain?  Vessels from several navies collaborating on counterpiracy are holding a total of 71 captured pirates, but no system has been developed for prosecuting their cases.

Commentary: North Korea succession offers US opportunity

01/28/12: The San Francisco Chronicle features an opinion piece by Joel Brinkley concerning the succession of Kim Jong Un. Brinkley contends that North Korea’s elite has its own goals in mind when it presents him as a militant god-like leader. Brinkley argues that even in his first few days in office, Kim has offered indications that he may not preside over business as usual. North Korea did not go through with a predicted unprovoked attack on South Korea, and announced it would release prisoners, the first general amnesty in seven years. And then, for the first time, it agreed to allow a Western news agency, the Associated Press, to open an office in Pyongyang.

Irish may try IRA veteran over North Korean scam

01/27/12: The Omaha World Herald reports that an Irish Republican Army veteran long accused of laundering counterfeit US $100 bills on behalf of North Korea could face trial in Ireland. High Court Justice John Edwards said he has forwarded an evidence file to state prosecutors against Sean Garland, 76, who denies smuggling more than $250,000 worth of fake American banknotes from the North Korean embassy in Moscow in 1998. Edwards issued his follow-up statement one month after he rejected a 6-year-old US extradition warrant for Garland.

Egypt bans travel for US official’s son, 9 others, amid crackdown on human rights groups

01/27/12: The Washington Times reports that Egypt is preventing at least 10 Americans and Europeans from leaving the country, including the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, raising tensions with Washington over a campaign by Egypt's military against groups promoting democracy and human rights. The United States warned Thursday that the campaign raised concerns about Egypt’s transition to democracy and could jeopardize American aid that Egypt’s battered economy needs badly after a year of unrest.

Iraq will take legal action over US raid

01/26/12: The Ithaca Journal reports that Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a US raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone US Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time. Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sergeant Frank Wultrich to avoid prison.

Mubarak’s lawyer contends US and Israel plotted shooting of protesters

01/26/12: The Centre Daily Times reports that the United States and Israel plotted the killing of Egyptian protesters during last year's 18-day uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, a lawyer for his former interior minister claimed Thursday. Lawyer Mohammed el-Gendi also accused security guards at the American University in Cairo of opening fire on protesters. The university's historical main building borders Tahrir Square, which was the focus of the anti-Mubarak revolt.

New drone has no pilot anywhere, so who's accountable?

01/26/12: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Navy's new drone being tested near Chesapeake Bay stretches the boundaries of technology: It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers. What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all. Although humans would program an autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, the prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many.

Khmer Rouge tribunal halts salaries for Cambodians

01/26/12: The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that about 300 Cambodians working at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal will not be paid this month — and some have worked without pay since October — because funds from donor countries have dried up. International staff are paid by the United Nations and will continue to receive salaries. The salaries of local staff, however, are funded by contributions from donor countries, said Huy Vannak, a tribunal spokesman.

War crimes witness alleges intimidation

01/25/12: The Muscatine Journal reports that a witness in a key war crimes trial against Serbian paramilitaries charged with atrocities in Kosovo said Wednesday that he and his family are facing threats and intimidation. Zoran Raskovic told Serbia's war crimes court that he does not have the necessary protection. Raskovic alleged that the threats are coming from unidentified "powerful centers" within the security system.

Administration looking into repatriating non-Afghan detainees at US-run prison

01/25/12: The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is considering the repatriation of most, if not all, of the non-Afghan detainees held at the main American-run prison in Afghanistan, an effort to oversee their transfer before US officials relinquish control of the facility, according to administration officials. The foreign prisoners, who number close to 50, were in some cases picked up on the battlefield in Afghanistan and in others detained in third countries and taken to the prison by the CIA, according to US and foreign officials.

UN rights chief says Iraq should stop all executions

01/25/12: Jurist reports that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday condemned Iraq's execution of 34 individuals, including two women, last week. All 34 executions occurred on a single day for crimes described as terrorism-related offenses. Iraq maintains the death penalty for even non-fatal crimes, but there has been no report of a single case in which the death penalty was pardoned, according to Pillay.

US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane

01/25/12: CBS reports that US Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed. President Barack Obama himself authorized the mission two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

Serbian war criminal arrested after more than 4 years on the run

01/25/12: JURIST reports that  Convicted Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic was arrested Saturday in Bosnia and Herzegovina after being on the run since May 2007 when he escaped from a Bosnia prison. Stankovic was convicted of multiple war crimes in 2006, including rape, enslavement and torture. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutor Serge Brammertz welcomed the arrest, saying it "is significant for the victims of the grave crimes he has been convicted for."

UN Secretary General urges disarmament body to get to work

01/24/12: ABC News reports that the United Nations' secretary-general is appealing to the world's main nuclear disarmament forum to get down to work after years of deadlock, warning it that it is "in danger of sinking." Ban Ki-moon's message to the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament came as it held its first meeting of 2012. The body hasn't produced anything substantial since the 1996 nuclear test-ban treaty.

Pakistani Senate wants Musharraf tried for treason

01/24/12: CNN reports that Pakistan's upper house of parliament passed a resolution demanding Pervez Musharraf be arrested and tried for treason for unconstitutional acts during his regime, a senator said. The resolution is not binding, but is symbolic and shows the will of the senate, said Muhammad Ibrahim Khan. The resolution, passed Monday, is part of ongoing pressure on Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and has been living in exile in London and Dubai since resigning in 2008.

Scholarship: Proportionality in modern asymmetrical armed conflicts

01/24/12: Amichai Cohen of the Ono Academic College of Law has posted Proportionality in Modern Asymmetrical Armed Conflicts. The paper attempts to show that a proper interpretation of the existing principles of IHL might sometimes provide satisfactory answers to the problems posed by non-state actors. Its main argument involves the principle of proportionality, contending that commander’s determinations in this regard should be reviewed both in advance and after the fact.

ICC charges four Kenyans over 2007 unrest

01/24/12: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the International Criminal Court has charged four Kenyans, including two serious presidential contenders, with crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in ethnic violence after a disputed presidential election in 2007. The charges raised the political stakes ahead of Kenya's next presidential vote, scheduled for later this year or early 2013, but they also offered hope among citizens for an end to impunity for a corrupt political elite.