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> > clip -- > > > Mohammed Ali Samantar <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Samatar>is > the only living vestige of the Barre > regime <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Somalia#Barre_regime>, the > last government in two decades to exercise central control over Somalia and, > not coincidentally, the last that was impudent enough to try. When Siad > Barre was finally overthrown in 1991, Samantar, who had served as defense > minister and prime minister, fled, in a storm of bullets, to Italy. He > eventually made his way to Fairfax, > Virginia<http://politifi.com/news/At-74-Fairfax-resident-a-former-Somali-prime-minister-may-face-warcrimes-lawsuit-240889.html>, > where he lived in suburban obscurity until a group of Somali nationals > discovered him, hired a lawyer, and sued for damages. > > According to his accusers, the Barre regime committed unforgivable acts > of violence against them and their families, offenses spanning a range of > brutality from arbitrary detention, to torture, rape and extrajudicial > killing. Samantar was allegedly aware of the crimes being perpetrated > against civilians and yet failed to stop them. > > The suit was dismissed by a federal district court and then reinstated > by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. It is now pending before > the Supreme Court, where a peculiar coalition of defenders is urging > reversal. Among them, to the confusion of some observers, are five prominent > pro-Israel organizations, each with a professed interest in keeping Samantar > out of court. In joint amicus briefs, the groups insist that as a former > government official, Samantar should be immune from suit. To hold > otherwise, they warn, would violate international law and set an inviting > precedent for Israel’s enemies and their supporters in the human rights > community. > > The arrival of the Israel lobby adds geopolitical intrigue to a case > that already read like a Ludlum thriller. And because it speaks to real and > immediate consequences, it lends concreteness to a discussion that would > have otherwise carried on in the abstract. It is one thing for a lawyer to > appeal to legal authority for the proposition that the courts of one nation > ought not sit in judgment of the acts of another; it is quite another for > five groups purporting to represent the interests of the Israeli government > to advise that doing so in this case would be to declare open season on > Israeli officials in US courts. > > It is not without some irony that organizations claiming to represent > Israel, a state conceived in the wake of unprecedented state-sponsored > violence, find their wagon hitched to the cause of an alleged war criminal. > Nor does the position square, at least not at first glance, with less > expansive interpretations of sovereign immunity advanced by the lobby’s > constituents in the past. Just this year, Israeli victims of rocket fire on > the Lebanese border sued the Iranian government, by way of its central > banks, on the theory that it provided material support to Hezbollah, the > source of the rockets. > full article -- > > < > http://www.seattlepostglobe.org/2010/03/31/a-strange-alliance-at-supreme-court-pro-israel-lobbys-curious-defense-of-alleged-somali > > > > > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
