War Crimes

Lyle Denniston has this summary of pending Supreme Court litigation dealing with the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process.

In brief, the high Court will issue a decision in the next month - in the
Boumediene and Al-Odah cases - which will address the CSRT’s. In both, the court will be asked to determine whether Guantanamo detainees are entitled to habeas relief regardless of the Military Commissions Act, which established the CSRT’s as an alternative to habeas review and divested federal courts of jurisdiction to hear detainees’ appeals. Shortly thereafter, the court will determine whether to hear Bismullah, a DC Circuit decision entitling detainees’ lawyers access to classified information.

Marjorie Cohn, a legal critic of the Bush administration, testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties House Judiciary Committee Tuesday on the justification of the use of harsh interrogation tactics by intelligence officers.  Cohn points to the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1991 that makes the use of torture or humiliating and degrading treatment a violation of U.S. national interests and policies. In 2002 and 2003, however, former White House counsel John Yoo briefed the Bush administration on the definition of torture, defining it in such narrow terms that it amounted only to incidents of organ failure or near death.  The Bush administration sanctioned the use of “harsh interrogation” techniques in response, including the controversial practice of water-boarding.

Cohn argues that the Bush administration is in violation of the Constitution and international law because it exempts the so-called unlawful enemy combatants from protection under the Geneva Conventions and skirts the language of the U.S. War Crimes Act.  Cohn, who teaches law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, notes the War Crimes Act makes any attempt to commit, or conspire to commit, torture is a violation of the law. She points to a closed-door meeting with former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency George “Slam Dunk” Tenet that sanctioned the use of “specific torture techniques such as waterboarding.”

“They are all liable under the War Crimes Act and the Torture Statute.  The president can no more order the commission of torture than he can order the commission of genocide, or establish a system of slavery, or wage a war of aggression,” said Cohn.  As one point of contention, barring considerations of diplomatic immunity, it is the policy of the CIA to avoid extending legal protection to its officers because a common practice of the clandestine intelligence community is to not only break the laws of other nations, but to break those of the United States, if it serves the overall national interest.

Here we go again.  The top prosecutor with the United Nations said Sunday four war crimes suspects, including Ratko Mladic, are within reach of Serbian officials.  Serbia in its bidding to ascend to the European Union faces pressure to hand over war crimes fugitives suspected of atrocities during the 1990s, including the massacre of 5,000 Mulsim men and boys in the U.N. safe-haven of Srebrenica.  Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor who replaced Carla del Ponte who said nearly the exact same thing nearly a year year, said “there is no reason to believe Mladic is not in Serbia.”

A Canadian-born citizen captured in Afghanistan during the U.S.-led counterterrorism effort there at the age of 15 can be tried for murder, a judge said.  U.S. Army Col. Peter Brownback denied an argument presented by lawyers for Omar Khadr, now 21, the he was illegally conscripted to fight for al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan and should be considered a child soldier rather than a war criminal. 

Khadr is charged with murder for throwing a grenade at a U.S. soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002. Brownback noted in his opinion that the war crime tribunal carries no stipulation regarding the age of the detainees.

His counsel, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, urged the military tribunal to drop the charges against Khadr in February.  The ruling is “an embarrassment to the United States,” Kuebler said and noted Khadr would be the first child soldier ever tried for war crimes.

In what can only be seen as a move by Pentagon lawyers to get ahead of the issue before the Supreme Court weighs in this summer, the war crimes tribunal  at Guantanamo Bay gave permission to the former driver for Osama bin Laden to communicate with his fellow inmates asking them to describe the nature of his employment for the al-Qaida leader. Counsel for Salim Hamdan argue that just because their client drove a terrorist around Afghanistan doesn’t make him a terrorist, though now that the U.S. considers conspiracy to commit a terrorist act just as grievous as actually pulling one off, that test probably won’t stand up for too long.  Regardless, his lawyers asked the tribunal to allow Hamdan to communicate with other “high-value” al-Qaida operatives at the detention facility to describe the role, if any, he played in the organization.

The Supreme Court decides a package of cases, Al Odah v. Bush and Boumediene v. Bush, this summer to determine, among other things, what rights “unlawful” combatants have in U.S. courts.

Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz  faced the Iraqi High Tribunal Tuesday on war crimes charges for the execution of 42 business men who protested rising food prices in the wake of U.N. sanctions on the former regime. Aziz, widely recognized by his coke-bottle glasses and bombastic English, surrendered to U.S. forces shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Though Aziz was one of the longest serving allies in the former regime, he largely kept out of day-to-day decisions, and, as the only Christian in the administration, left all the major decisions to his colleagues. He has been in U.S. custody since 2003 without charge and several observers say his trial is a way to vet the prosecution of former administration officials as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces rising credibility issues.

Sunday marked the two year anniversary since the International Criminal Court issued its first arrest warrants against Sudanese officials suspected of war crimes in Darfur.  To mark the occasion, Facebook (yes, Facebook) launched “Wanted for War Crimes Watch List” application to its users.  The point of the project is to generate public awareness along the lines of “America’s Most Wanted” hoping users will come forward to drive suspects from their hideouts and pressure governments to meet their international obligations.  While services such as Facebook are linked to various harassment suits and its subject to revenge seekers relishing in the anonymity of the Web, this is a good thing.  Though, on the sidebar there, there is a link to a group called

Iran’s Press TV reports “Chemical Ali” suffered a heart attack and was presumably returned to U.S. custody? Or am I reading into this.  Says he was returned to a U.S. detention facility, but reading between the lines would lead you to believe he was NOT in a U.S. detention facility when he had the heart attack.  It’s been expected his execution would happen soon and it seems Iraq and U.S. officials have been pretty tight lipped on this one.  And I welcome any and all conspiracy theories as heart attacks tend to be a favorite of the CIA.

Heart attack strikes ‘Chemical Ali’
Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:54:10

Saddam Hussein’s cousin, who is on death row, has been returned to a US detention facility after suffering a heart attack, officials say.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as ‘Chemical Ali’ for his role in using of poison gas to kill Kurdish villagers in the 1980s, was admitted to a US medical facility on Sunday.

Al-Majid, who has been sentenced to death after ouster of Saddam’s regime on the charges of genocide, went on a hunger strike to protest his prison conditions.

His lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, said al-Majid had suffered a heart attack as a result of his hunger strike.

A source from the US military confirmed that al-Majid had suffered a heart attack but said he was in stable condition and had been returned to a US detention facility on Tuesday.

Al-Majid’s execution has been delayed for months.

From EU Business.com. Seems the EU is on the hunt for information relating to the elusive Radovan Karadzic. Maybe he’s having lunch with Osama bin Laden somewhere.

 

22 April 2008, 11:17 CET

 

 

(SARAJEVO) - NATO-backed forces of the European Union said they conducted a raid Tuesday on the home of a Bosnian Serb businessman suspected of helping war crimes fugitives to evade justice.

“EUFOR conducted a search operation in the premises of Goran Marinkovic in Paprikovac district” near Banja Luka, said a statement issued by the EU peacekeeping force in Bosnia (EUFOR).

“We believe Marinkovic uses his extensive business links to fund the fugitives. We are looking for evidence of communication between Marinkovic and family and support networks” of the fugitives, it added.

The operation, requested by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was aimed at finding material or information which could help to locate fugitives and put pressure on their supporters.

Marinkovic, who owns two large trading companies, is believed to be one of the key backers of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) founded by Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic.

Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic have been on the run from the United Nations tribunal based in The Hague for more than 12 years since being charged with war crimes committed during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

The pair also face a genocide charge related to the 1995 massacre of around 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Karadzic is thought to be hiding in Bosnia’s Serb-run half or in neighbouring Montenegro, while Mladic is believed to be in Serbia.

News summary

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Jacques Verges, the lawyer for notorious assassin Carlos the Jackal, arrived in Cambodia to defend Khieu Samphan, the former head of state of the Cambodia Khmer Rouge at the war crimes tribunal there. Khieu was a prominent communist thinker prior to entering the political scene to force a eugenic campaign in Cambodia following the coup that brought the Khmer Rouge to power in the wake of the Vietnam War. His doctoral thesis, “Cambodia’s Economy and Industrial Development” preached a national autonomy that blamed wealthy industrial states for poverty in the Third World. He was arrested in 2007 following his release from hospital after suffering a stroke.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A French lawyer who defended terrorists and a former Nazi officer arrived in Cambodia on Monday to represent a former Khmer Rouge leader.

Jacques Verges declined to comment and only said “go to the court” before being whisked away in a car after his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport.

Verges will join a Cambodian attorney to argue former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan’s appeal against his pretrial detention.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal has held Khieu Samphan since Nov. 19 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from atrocities committed under Khmer Rouge rule in 1975-79.

The communist group’s radical policies led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

Khieu Samphan is one of five former leaders of the group held for their alleged roles in the atrocities. He has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Verges has won international notoriety for his past efforts in defending criminals such as Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal and Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie.

Khieu Samphan has said he has known Verges since he attended university in France in the 1950s, when both were active in student movements against French colonialism.

Khieu Samphan’s defense team also includes Say Bory, a Cambodian lawyer who used to serve on the constitutional council, the country’s highest legal body.

Say Bory said the defense is challenging both the tribunal’s grounds for detaining Khieu Samphan and its arguments implicating him in the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities.