By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Editor-in-Chief

New York, USA – Friends and colleagues today mourn the death of Dr. Henry T. King, Jr., who passed away on Saturday at the age of 89.

Dr. King perhaps is most famous for prosecuting Nazis alongside John H. Jackson during the Nuremberg Trials.  He was a recent graduate of Yale Law and only 25 years old when he was hired as the youngest Nuremberg Prosecutor.  He led the prosecution of Luftwaffe Field Marshall Erhard Milch, deputy head of the Luftwaffe under Hermann Goering, and interrogated many other significant Nuremberg defendants, including Albert Speer.

Dr. Henry King’s legal career reached far beyond his time spent prosecuting Nazis.  He went on to
work as corporate counsel for TRW Inc., eventually becoming chief corporate international counsel, and later served as counsel to the law firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey.  He served as director of the Agency for International Development (USAID) during the Eisenhower Administration and as General Counsel of the U.S. Foreign Economic Aid Program.  During the 1980s, as Chairman of the Canada-United States Law Institute, Dr. King played an integral role in facilitating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  He was also actively engaged in the American Bar Association (ABA): he was chairman of the ABA Section on International Law and Practice, U.S. chairman of a joint working group, organized by the American, Canadian, and Mexican bar associations, on the settlement of international disputes, and joined the ABA’s special task force on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

Dr. King became a professor at Case Western Reserve University, where he taught International Business and International Arbitration.  As a scholar, he published more than 70 articles on international business transactions, international arbitration, and Nuremberg related topics.  He also authored a book – The Two Worlds of Albert Speer – based on his Nuremberg experiences.

In 1998, Dr. King, along with Whitney Harris and Ben Ferencz (also former Nuremberg Prosecutors), participated in the Rome diplomatic conference to create a permanent international criminal court (now known as the ICC).  The three prosecutors are credited with convincing fellow delegates to include the crime of aggression – along with crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes – within the jurisdiction of the ICC under the Rome Statute.  He was honored by the government of The Netherlands as an official guest of the government for the inauguration of the ICC in March 2003 at The Hague.

Dr. King’s work was fueled by a passion for international cooperation and law, and a vision of a better future.  In his own words through his Case Western University faculty web page, Professor King shared this vision:

“I’m involved in “action” programs in international law and in the teaching of international law because I believe that we live in an increasingly connected international world, which we can make much better and more secure.”

A colleague of Dr. King’s shared a similar anecdote: “At a luncheon session that I attended a few months ago in which Henry reflected on insights gained over the years, he told the standing-room crowd of students that ‘the most important thing is to find some way to leave your mark for the betterment of society and the world.’  Henry left his mark in a big way.”

Dr. King was named a Fellow honoris causa of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Center for International Legal Education in 2002.  The University of Western Ontario awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.  In 2004, he was appointed Canada’s Honorary Consul General for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.  He was also a Senior Advisor to the Robert Jackson Center at Jamestown, New York.

Dr. King’s legacy will no doubt continue on through future generations of international legal scholarship.  Impunity Watch shares Professor King’s vision of an interconnected world without legal impunity from the greatest crimes committed in history.   Dr. King served as the master of ceremonies for Impunity Watch’s official web-launch ceremony in October 2007, and we are grateful for and honored by his support for our organization over the years.  The Impunity Watch Executive Board and Staff offer our condolences to his family, and we will continue to honor his legacy by daily working to keep his vision for a better world alive.

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – A recently-released Human Rights Watch (HRW) report titled “Open Secret: Illegal Detention and Torture by the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force in Uganda” details U.S.-sponsorship and involvement in providing torture training to Ugandan security agents. The most recent incident of U.S. involvement happened in December 2008, under the Bush Administration.

The HRW report notes the lack of initative from foreign partners to address the serious human rights violations occurring in Uganda. It also argues that “[t]he Ugandan government’s use of unlawful detention and torture against terrorism and treason suspects violates domestic and international human rights law. And its unwillingness to take action against those responsible, particularly JATT (the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force), is a dereliction of the government’s international legal obligations.”

In contravention to domestic law, the Leahy Amendment (a provision of U.S. appropriations legislation prohibiting U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity), the U.S. provided $5 million in training to Uganda agents. Ugandan officials subsequently punched, whipped, caned, and used electric shock on hundreds of suspects. A HRW interview with Uganda’s chief of military intelligence, Brigadier James Mugira, confirmed that Ugandan agents received training from the U.S.

The HRW report concludes: “Given the oft-cited allegations of torture and illegal detention by JATT and CMI (the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence in Uganda) by local and international human rights organizations, and by the Uganda Human Rights Commission, it is unclear how these individuals could have been eligible for U.S. funded training.”

Human Rights Watch is a major New York-based organization that documents human rights abuses around the world.
For more information, please see:

Black Star News – U.S. Provided Torture Training to Uganda – Report – 19 April 2009

Human Rights Watch – Open Secret: Illegal Detention and Torture by the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force in Uganda – 8 April 2009

Human Rights Watch – Open Secret: Role of Uganda’s Foreign Partners in the Military and Security Sector – 8 April 2009

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

After the September 11th attacks, C.I.A. operatives were allowed to utilize heightened interrogation methods. Just yesterday President Obama officially announced that his administration would not prosecute C.I.A. operatives for carrying out these controversial interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects.

Also, the Justice Department began releasing a number of detailed memos detailing the harsh techniques used against Al Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons. The interrogation methods were closely guarded secrets by the Bush administration. Yesterday’s release will be the most comprehensive public accounting to date of the interrogation program that some Obama officials have said used illegal torture.

The documents are expected to include Justice Department memos from 2002 and 2005 authorizing the C.I.A. to employ a number of aggressive techniques. The Bush administration memos authorized keeping detainees naked, in painful standing positions, and in cold cells for long periods of time. Other techniques included depriving them of solid food and slapping them. Sleep deprivation, prolonged shackling and threats to a detainee’s family were also utilized.

Among the anticipated documents are detailed 2005 memos by Stephen G. Bradbury, who acted as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and authorized the C.I.A. techniques. The documents gave legal support for using a combination of coercive techniques and concluded that the C.I.A.’s methods were not “cruel, inhuman or degrading” under international law.

Another document expected to be released this afternoon is a Justice Department memo written August 1, 2002. The memo, written by John C. Yoo and signed by Jay S. Bybee, two Justice Department officials at the time, is a legal authorization for a laundry list of proposed C.I.A. interrogation techniques.

For more information, please see:

MSNBC – CIA employees won’t be tried for waterboarding – 17 April 2009

The New York Times – Obama Releases Interrogation Memos, Says C.I.A. Operatives Won’t Be Prosecuted – 16 April 2009

The Washington Post – On Interrogation Policies, Another Delicate Compromise From Obama – 16 April 2009