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Archive For Entries On International Criminal Law

AFTER THE SPEAKER’S RULING: Open Letter on the House of Commons Process for Examining Documents on Afghan Detainees Produced Pursuant to the House of Commons Order of December 10, 2010

(The Court returns after a week transitioning from our 2009-2010 academic-year editorial team to our summer editors. We thank our readers for their patience during this break. From May 3 through to the end of August, we move to our summer publication schedule of three postings per week [usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays] with occasional [...]

Baltasar Garzon’s Indictment: Is Universal Jurisdiction on Trial as Well?

Baltasar Garzon, universal jurisdiction’s singular Spanish exponent, has been indicted for exceeding his domestic judicial purview. As noted briefly in TheCourt.ca last week, Garzon, the investigating magistrate who began proceedings against, inter alia, General Augusto Pinochet, Argentinian “dirty war” generals, al Qaeda members, suspected Basque terrorists, and the “Bush Six”, has been brought to legal [...]

Raising the Burden of Proof: The Prosecutor v. Omar Hussein Ahmad Al Bashir

Last Wednesday, hope for justice in Darfur was renewed with the news that the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) opened the door for an arrest warrant on the charge of genocide to be issued against Sudanese President Omar Hussein Ahmad Al Bashir. The Prosecutor hopes to add genocide to the existing arrest [...]

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: Enemy Combatant or Criminal?

If the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab doesn’t ring a bell, you might know him better as the “Christmas Day bomber”. On December 25, Abdulmutallab managed to avoid the “rigorous” airline security in Amsterdam and boarded Flight 253 heading to Detroit with explosives strapped to his underwear. As Flight 253 began its descent towards Detroit, Abdulmutallab [...]

Bil’in and Yassin v. Green Park International Ltd. : Quebec Court Acknowledges War Crimes as Potential Basis for Civil Liability, Claim Ultimately Fails on Forum Non Conveniens

On September 18, the Superior Court of Quebec released its decision in the novel and intriguing case of Bil’in (Village Council) v. Green Park International Ltd., 2009 QCCS 4151. The plaintiffs sought to claim against a Quebec corporation and its sole director for participating in war crimes allegedly committed in the West Bank. However, Superior [...]