Libya Promises Payouts Over Wrongful Imprisonment

Libya’s government announced it will pay compensation to some people it had wrongfully imprisoned, the latest step in an effort to draw a line under a history of human rights abuses. The categories of ex-prisoner who will be eligible for compensation payments include people who were detained without trial and prisoners who were convicted but [...]

ECtHR: recent decisions on violation of art. 3 arising from expulsion/deportation

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has recently delivered two judgments concerning the violation of article 3 arising from the risk of ill-treatment of the claimants, if returned to their country of origin. The first case, A. v. The Netherlands, originated in an application filed by a Libyan national, Mr A., in which he [...]

Amnesty International confirms detention of at least 6 individuals transferred from secret US custody to Libya

During its visit to Abu Salim Prison on 19 May 2009, Amnesty International was able to confirm the detention at the time of six individuals transferred from secret US custody to Libya, namely: al-Mahdi Jawda, aka Ayoub al-Libi; Majid Abu Yasser, aka Adnan al-Libi; Abdelhakim Bilhadj Al-Kwaildi, aka Abdullah al Sadeq; Khalid al-Sharif, aka Abu [...]

Guantanamo update

Judge orders Yemeni freedA federal judge Wednesday 26 May ordered the Obama administration to free a Yemeni man at Guantánamo who has long claimed he was captured in Pakistan studying Koran and had no ties to al Qaeda. U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr.’s ruling of unlawful detention in the case of Mohammed Hassen, [...]

North Africa countries move against al-Qaida

(UPI) Algeria has launched a major military campaign against al-Qaida and its fellow travelers and Morocco says it rounded up a terrorist cell amid a campaign by North African states aimed at crushing the jihadists. The campaign, dubbed Operation Ennasr — Victory — followed an April 20 summit attended by the military chiefs of four [...]

CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes profile

One of the chief executives of the extraordinary rendition programme, current deputy director of the CIA, and former senior officer in the CIA’s former Directorate of Operations, Stephen Kappes,  is profiled by Jeff Stein here. (H/T Scott Horton) Lots of fascinating details here: When Obama’s intelligence transition team had visited Langley, it had gotten a [...]

Maghreb & Sahel Terrorism: Addressing the Rising Threat from al-Qaeda & other Terrorists in North & West/Central Africa

Paper by Yonah Alexander, Director of the International Center for Terrorism Studies at the Potomac Institutesfor Policy Studies. Read it here. There are four sections in this report. First, the introduction surveys recent terrorism studies with specific relevance to this paper and provides an overview of contemporary terrorism. Second, a section on Maghreb terrorism concisely [...]