Senator Specter: The Court Must Defend Torture Victims' Rights

[Suldaanka]

The Huffingtonpost

 

Senator Specter: The Court Must Defend Torture Victims' Rights

 

Today, the United States Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case whose outcome will either uphold or nullify the rights of victims of foreign torture, including U.S. soldiers, to sue under American law.

 

The Court should take this opportunity to reaffirm America's commitment to human rights and its opposition to torture.

 

The case involves, among others, two Somalian refugees, now American citizens, who fled the brutal Siad Barre regime in the 1990s. They sued a former official of the regime living in Alexandria, Va. The Barre regime was one of the most violent and repressive regimes in the world.

 

Bashe Abdi Yousuf, a young businessman, claims to have been tortured and kept in solitary confinement for six years. Aziz Mohamed Deria is representing his father and brother who were allegedly kidnapped by the regime and disappeared.

 

They are suing Mohamed Samantar, a current resident of Fairfax, VA, and former Minister of Defense of Somalia under Siad Barre. Under Samantar's watch, the regime was responsible for the killing, rape, and torture of tens of thousands of Somalis. After the Barre regime fell in the early 1990's, Samantar, fled to Europe and then to the United States.

 

The Somalians, who are represented by the Center for Justice and Accountability, are seeking redress under the 1991 Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which bars safe haven in this country for foreign practitioners of torture by subjecting them to U.S. laws against torture.

 

Samantar's defense is that as a former government official, he is protected by doctrine of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

 

Samantar's argument directly contradicts Congress's intent and purpose for enacting the TVPA. There is no question that Congress wrote the law to hold former foreign government officials like Samantar accountable for their human rights abuses.

 

In fact, Congress was acutely aware of many government-perpetrated human rights violations during the TVPA's legislative process -- including those of the Barre regime. For example, one Senate Report recounts the extrajudicial killing of approximately 60-100 spectators at a soccer match by army units and presidential guards and the torture of "prisoners held by security forces". Another report details the summary execution of "at least 46 young men, mainly Isaaks," at a beach and complaints of torture being implemented against detainees.

 

Ironically, almost two decades after Congress passed the TVPA, the Court will for the first time consider whether former foreign government officials who ordered extrajudicial killing or torture are subject to suit in the United States under the TVPA. There is no dispute that Congress intended for the answer to be yes.

[Suldaanka]

Specter2010.com

 

Sen. Specter Files Supreme Court Brief in Torture Case

Tony Mauro

Legal Times

Jan 28, 2010

 

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) today is filing a brief on behalf of himself and two other members of Congress in a closely-watched human rights case testing whether foreign torture victims can seek damages in U.S. courts. The case, which will be argued March 3, is Samantar v. Yousuf, a dispute over the meaning of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which Specter sponsored.

 

In passing the law, Specter asserted in the brief, Congress intended "to provide redress for egregious acts that infringe human rights and are an affront to human dignity." Joining Specter on the brief were Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas.)

 

Bashe Abdi Yousuf, a Somali businessman who was tortured and imprisoned under the Siad Barre regime in Somalia in the 1980s, invoked the law in suing Mohamed Samantar, former defense minister and prime minister of Somalia. Samantar fled Somalia in the early 1990s and now lives in Virginia. Four other Somali torture victims are also part of the suit, first filed in 2004 by the Center for Justice and Accountability. At the district court level, Samantar argued successfully that he was protected from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and the suit was dismissed. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit reversed, finding that immunity under the law does not extend to individuals.

 

In his brief Specter -- who has argued before the Supreme Court -- asserted emphatically that Congress intended to cover cases like Yousuf's, and that to interpret the law otherwise would "effectively nullify" the law. The fact that the Court agreed to hear the case has fueled worry by legislators and human rights groups that the law is in jeopardy. In a floor statement on thec ase last December, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, "I am concerned that the TVPA's crucial role in protecting human rights may be weakened or even rendered meaningless."

 

Eileen O'Connor, a former CNN foreign correspondent and now chair of the Center for Justice and Accountability, said the Specter brief and others that are expected to be filed today will be important in clarifying that Congress intended to make sure that "people who commit human rights abuses cannot just come to the United States and find safe haven." O'Connor is counsel at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington.

[Jacaylbaro]

Very Interesting ......