From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Oct 06 2009 - 08:33:21 EDT
Page last updated at 10:00 GMT, Monday, 5 October 2009 11:00 UK
Key cases before US Supreme Court
DISPUTE OVER HUMAN RIGHTS CASE AGAINST EX-SOMALIAN PM
The Supreme Court will consider whether a human rights case against former
Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Samantar should be allowed to proceed.
The lawsuit alleges that Mr Samantar, who now lives in the US state of
Virginia, was responsible for killings, rape and torture while defence
minister and prime minister under the authoritarian regime of Siad Barre in
the 1980s and early 1990s.
A district court threw out the case in 2007, ruling that Mr Samantar was
immune from prosecution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. But an
appeals court disagreed, ruling that the law did not extend to individuals,
only to countries and their agencies.
The justices will have to decide whether an individual acting in an official
capacity for a foreign state is immune from prosecution.
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