On September 24, 2012, the UN General Assembly held a High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law during its 67th Session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This was the first-ever high-level meeting by the General Assembly devoted to the Rule of Law and took place a day before the general debate opened. The meeting was over-subscribed with approximately
Read moreYesterday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued its judgment in Nada v. Switzerland [GC], no. 10593/08, a case concerning a Swiss entry and transit ban imposed on Mr. Youssef Moustafa Nada, an Italian and Egyptian citizen, by virtue of his inclusion in 2001 on a list of individuals and entities purportedly associated with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda
Read moreOn September 8, Adnan Latif became the ninth Guantánamo Bay detainee to die in U.S. custody. [NY Times] The military publicly announced Latif’s identity today, the eleventh anniversary of the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001. Those terrorist attacks gave rise to a more public, aggressive and extensive “war on terror” whose features have included the use of “black sites”
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The U.S. Government has sought to curtail the scope of the Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush and claim authority to decide when Guantanamo detainees may or may not be granted access to legal counsel. As reported by SCOTUS Blog: The Obama Administration conceded to a federal judge early Tuesday that it is cutting back on the legal rights
Read moreToday marks the tenth year anniversary of the United States government’s use of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to hold individuals suspected of supporting or being associated with al Qaeda or other groups – some, but not all, of which were designated terrorist groups by the U.S. government. See Mark Denbeaux et al., Report on the Guantanamo Detainees:
Read moreEx Commander of the Third Corps of the Army, Luciano Menéndez, and former Chief of Police for the province of Tucumán, Roberto Albornoz, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a federal court in Tucumán, Argentina on Wednesday for their role in the extrajudicial executions of five suspected Montonero militants in May of 1976. [Tucumán Noticias; Clarín; RNW] This is Menéndez’ sixth
Read moreThe United Kingdom’s Home Office has published its Review of Counter-Terrorism and Security Powers: Review Findings and Recommendations, an analysis of British counter-terrorism measures – including pre-charge detention, control orders, deportation of foreign nations, stop and search, and surveillance – in light of the country’s Human Rights Act and obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. [UK Human Rights
Read moreAhmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first Guantánamo detainee to be tried in U.S. civilian court and who was convicted late last year on one of over 280 charges related to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
Read moreLori Berenson’s release from prison on parole has been upheld by a Peruvian appellate court, following an appeal by the prosecutor, which sought to require her to spend the final five years of her sentence in prison. [Jurist] Berenson’s parole was revoked when authorities failed to confirm Berenson’s address, but her release was ordered again three months later. The prosecutor
Read moreThe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights begins holding hearings today in its 140th Period of Sessions. Issues to be discussed today include the Situation of Environmentalists in Mesoamerica, and Discrimination against the Transsexual, Transgender, and Transvestite Population in Brazil. See the week’s schedule of hearings here. Webcast of some hearings is available here. The role of humanitarian aid in contributing
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