Human Rights

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Australian Government Settles Habib Claim arising out of Rendition and Torture and Orders Inquiry

January 18, 2011

Ben Batros & Philippa Webb

Ben Batros is Legal Officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative and a former Senior Legal Officer, International Crime Branch, Australian Attorney-General’s Department. Philippa Webb is Visiting Assistant Professor at Leiden University and former Special Assistant to President of the International Court of Justice. It was reported late last week that the Australian government has settled a claim brought against it by one of its citizens, Mahmoud Habib, arising out of his detention, rendition and torture by US and other foreign authorities (link). The government will not disclose how much it paid Mr. Habib. Over a three-and-a-half year period, Mr. Habib had been detained by Pakistani authorities, then transferred by the US to Egypt, to a military base in Afghanistan, and finally on to Guantanamo Bay where he was detained until his release (without charge) in January 2005. Mr Habib alleges that he suffered a range of mistreatments amounting to torture and inhumane treatment. Instead of suing the foreign agents directly responsible for the alleged abuses or pursuing a criminal prosecution, Mr.

More on Nada v. Switzerland

December 23, 2010

Marko Milanovic

As our readers are aware, currently pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights is the fascinating case of Nada v. Switzerland. It concerns an Italian national resident in the Italian enclave of Campione in Switzerland, who was placed at Switzerland's request on a terrorist suspect list by the UNSCR 1267 Committee, and subjected to targeted…

Philippine Supreme Court Silencing Dissent?

November 9, 2010

Christian Tams

Given the wide coverage of the Calvo-Goller/Weigend/Weiler saga, EJIL Talk readers will be well aware of the topic of challenges to academic freedom. This post seeks to draw readers’ attention to another instance involving risks of an altogether different degree, and to raise awareness for what seems to be a worrying attempt, by a court, to silence dissent among academics:…

The untidy dystopias of anti-terrorism: Italian State Secrets, CIA Covert Operations, and the Criminal law in the Abu Omar Judgment

August 12, 2010

Francesco Messineo

Francesco Messineo will join Kent Law School (Canterbury) as a Lecturer in Law in October 2010. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. Between 2004 and 2006, he was the Refugee Coordinator of the Italian Section of Amnesty International. His most recent publications include an aritcle in the Journal of International Criminal…

UK Supreme Court Decides R (Smith) v SSD

June 30, 2010

Marko Milanovic

Today the UK Supreme Court decided R (Smith) v Secretary of State for Defence [2010] UKSC 29 (press summary), yet another fascinating addition to the unfolding saga on the extraterritorial application of human rights treaties. The plaintiff was the mother of a UK soldier stationed in Iraq who died there from a severe heatstroke. She demanded an inquiry…

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