Special Features

ABA Releases Report on Exploring Counterterrorism Detention Alternatives

01 October 2009

ABA Releases Report on Exploring Counterterrorism Detention Alternatives

By Mario A. Flores
Special Features Editor, Impunity Watch Journal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In June of this year, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security brought together a group of legal experts, scholars and practitioners in the field of national security law for a day-long workshop on “Exploring Counterterrorism Detention Alternatives.” The workshop focused on whether new or different detention authority is necessary and wise for effective counterterrorism policy.

This is the third workshop that the ABA has sponsored as part of their series “Due Process and Terrorism.” The workshop that initiated the series was held in October 2007. The next one was in April of this year and focused on “Trying Terrorists in Article III Courts.”

The ABA then releases post-workshop reports that compile the insights and experiences of the expert practitioners and scholars who participate in the discussions.

To read the reports, please click on the following links:

Exploring Counterterrorism Detention Alternatives – September 2009

Trying Terrorists in Article III Courts – July 2009

Due Process and Terrorism – November 2007

IHRDC Releases Report: Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists

IHRDC Releases Report: Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists

Press Release – September 14, 2009

CONNECTICUT, United States – The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) today published witness statements by three Iranian bloggers and cyber-journalists who were arrested and detained by the Iranian government in 2004 and 2005.  The witness statements are the results of interviews conducted by IHRDC staff in 2008 and 2009.

Two of the journalists—Roozbeh Mirebrahimi and Omid Memarian—were active cyber-journalists residing in and around Tehran at the time of their arrests. The third witness—Arash Sigarchi—was the Editor-in-Chief of Gilan-e Emrooz in the northern Iranian city of Rasht. They were charged with (and convicted of) moral, press, and national security crimes. The statements, published under the title, Forced Confessions: Targeting Iran’s Cyber-Journalists, describe, in detail, the journalists’ arrests, detention, torture, forced confessions and eventual convictions.

The experiences of these journalists are not unique. In conjunction with the IHRDC reports Ctrl+Al+Delete: Iran’s Response to the Internet (May 2009) and Covert Terror: Iran’s Parallel Intelligence Apparatus (April 2009), these statements expose a network of Iranian government actors—including members of the security and parallel intelligence forces, the Judiciary, and state-run media outlets such as Kayhan newspaper and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting—responsible for silencing voices of dissent in cyberspace.

Their experiences are also particularly relevant at this time.  In an apparent effort to crush any expression of dissent or even disagreement following the disputed presidential election on June 12, the Islamic Republic continues to shut down newspapers, arrest, detain and torture editors and journalists, and arrest and charge Iranian bloggers with crimes such as using the internet to organize demonstrations.

IHRDC continues to call on the United Nations to investigate these and other human rights violations committed by the Iranian government.

IHRDC is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut that was founded in 2004 by a group of human rights scholars, activists, and historians.  Its staff of human rights lawyers and researchers produce comprehensive and detailed reports on the human rights situation in Iran since the 1979 revolution.  The Center’s goal is to encourage an informed dialogue among scholars and the general public in both Iran and abroad.  The human rights reports and an archive of documents are available to the public for research and educational purposes on the Center’s website.

Case Western Reserve University School of Law War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Case Western Reserve University School of Law War Crimes Prosecution Watch

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is prepared by the International Justice Practice of the Public International Law & Policy Group and the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.


Volume 4, Issue 12 – September 14, 2009



On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law honored the memory of professor and former Nuremberg prosecutor Henry T. King, Jr. (1919-2009).

Please visit http://law.case.edu/lectures/index.asp?lec_id=214 to learn about Professor King and to view the webcast of the memorial honoring his legacy and achievements.


AFRICA

International Criminal Court

  • Central African Republic & Uganda
  • Darfur, Sudan
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Uganda (Truth & Reconciliation & Domestic Prosecutions / Non-ICC)

EUROPE

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Iraqi High Tribunal

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

United States

REPORTS

UN Reports


War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world.  If you do not want to receive future issues of War Crimes Prosecution Watch, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Chautauqua Declaration

05 September 2009

Chautauqua Declaration

The issuance of the Chautauqua Declaration marked the culmination of the proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs held on August 31 – September 1, 2009. The subject was titled: “Honoring Women in International Criminal Law: From Nuremberg to the ICC (International Criminal Court)”. For further information on the Chautauqua Declaration, please visit www.roberthjackson.org.

Impunity Watch Annual Symposium: ‘American Warlord’ the Prosecution of Chucky Taylor

March 2009

24 March 2009

Impunity Watch Annual Symposium: ‘American Warlord’ the Prosecution of Chucky Taylor


Impunity Watch is hosting a symposium to discuss the legal and political ramifications of Chucky Taylor’s war crimes prosecution. The discussion will feature Johnny Dwyer of Rolling Stone Magazine, who wrote an article for that magazine about Chucky Taylor, Professor Evan Criddle of the Syracuse University College of Law and Doctor Nancy Snow of the Newhouse School. The symposium will be held on April 3rd from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm at the Syracuse University College of Law in room 201. This event is free and open to the public. We encourage everyone who is able to come and attend.