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MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, angry because the United States is rethinking an aid program, pressed Washington on Monday for billions of dollars in war reparations dating back to a 1980s civil war. The International Court of Justice, based in the Hague, ordered the United States in 1986 to pay reparations to Nicaragua for training, arming and financing Contra rebels and mining Nicaraguan ports during a conflict that killed tens of thousands of people. "The United States has not honored the judge's order," Ortega said on national television. The World Court never set a figure for compensation but...

Long after the guns fall silent in the Georgia-Russia conflict, the two countries' legal artillery is still likely still be firing away in an attempt to have the each other publicly judged guilty of war crimes, even genocide. On September 8th, the International Court of Justice begins hearings in a case filed by Georgia.The case seeks to halt Russian military action in Georgia, and accuses the Kremlin of conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing there.Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, has called the Russian forces in his country "21st century barbarians."Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, has had even harsher words...

PARIS — Georgia has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its actions in and around the territory of Georgia from 1991 to 2008, the court said in a statement.

The execution of José Ernesto Medellín Rojas by the state of Texas is a violation of international law, said Amnesty International today. "It undermines the authority of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which had ruled in favour of a stay of execution."

HOUSTON — In a case that has drawn international attention, Texas executed José E. Medellín on Tuesday night in defiance of an international court ruling and despite pleas from the Bush administration for a new hearing. The execution came just before 10 p.m. Central time, shortly after the United States Supreme Court denied a last request for a reprieve. Protesters for and against the death penalty clamored in the rain outside the Huntsville Unit, about 70 miles north of Houston, where Mr. Medellín was executed by lethal injection. “I’m sorry my actions caused you pain,” he said to the witnesses...

Medellin Execute For Rape, Murder of Houston Teens Link Only

WASHINGTON (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a last-minute appeal to the United States Tuesday to halt the scheduled execution of a Mexican national sentenced to death for murder in defiance of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) order. Jose Ernesto Medellin, 33, was due to be executed by lethal injection at 2300 GMT in the state of Texas. He was convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of two teenagers and is one 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the United States. Less than 12 hours before Medellin's planned execution, Ban called on the US government...

The United States is fast approaching a showdown over its commitment to the rule of international law as Texas prepares to carry out the scheduled Aug. 5 execution of convicted killer and rapist Jose Medellin. On July 14, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ordered the US government to "take all measures necessary" to prevent the execution of Mr. Medellin and four other Mexican nationals awaiting execution dates on death row in Texas. . . Medellin admitted involvement in the gang rape and murder of two girls. The girls, ages 14 and 16, took a shortcut home through...

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic stood before the UN war crimes court Thursday to face genocide charges, in his first public appearance since his arrest after nearly 13 years on the run. Shorn of the beard and long hair he had used as a disguise until his capture on July 21, Karadzic was again recognisable as the man who became one of the most reviled figures in the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. Wearing a dark jacket and tie, Karazdic appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to hear the 11...

Serbia's interior minister says officials found copies of Bosnian Serb government documents in the Belgrade apartment where former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic lived prior to his arrest last week. Ivica Dacic said the documents included materials on Bosnian Serb military staff meetings during the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s. He said officials turned the materials over to Serbia's war crimes court. Meanwhile, court officials say the court has not yet received Karadzic's appeal against a judicial order authorizing his extradition to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Karadzic's lawyer, Svetozar Vujacic says he mailed out...

Loony academic leftist Francis Boyle (last seen at LGF trying to impeach President Bush) has offered to represent the mullahs of Iran if they sue the US in the International Court of Justice. TEHRAN, July 22 (UPI) — A University of Illinois law professor says he has offered to represent Iran if it decides to sue the United States over threatened nuclear program sanctions.Iran’s Press TV reported Tuesday that Francis Boyle, an international law expert, is urging Iranian leaders to sue Israel and the United States through the International Court of Justice in The Hague over their ultimatum that Iran...

Excerpt - Acting on a claim by Mexico’s government that the U.S. government has not done enough to assure the treaty rights of Mexican nationals facing execution for murders in the U.S., the World Court on Wednesday ordered the U.S. — by a 7-5 vote — to stop five imminent executions in Texas. Leaving it up to the U.S. to choose the way to carry out the order, the international tribunal — formally, the International Court of Justice that sits in The Hague, Netherlands — told the U.S. only to “take all measures necessary to ensure” that Texas does not...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Mexico appealed to the U.N.'s highest court Thursday to block the executions of Mexicans in the United States, arguing U.S. officials have failed to comply with a judgment ordering a review of their trials. The International Court of Justice said Mexico asked the court for an "interpretation" of an earlier ruling to clarify its meaning when it asked the U.S. to "review and reconsider" the cases of the condemned prisoners. Until that can be done, Mexico said the United States "must take any and all steps necessary" to ensure that none of its citizens is executed,...

THE Rudd Government is preparing a case to take Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the International Court of Justice for "inciting genocide" and denying the Jewish Holocaust. Australia is the only nation pursuing Iran's despotic leader, who has threatened to "wipe Israel off the map", through international laws. The Australian revealed last October that Kevin Rudd, then the Opposition leader, promised the Jewish community before last year's election he would take legal proceedings in the ICJ against Mr Ahmadinejad. The Labor leader said it was "strongly arguable" that Mr Ahmadinejad's conduct - statements about wiping Israel off the map, questioning...

The Supreme Court Stands Alone by Thomas P. Kilgannon Dulles, Virginia -- The World Court got a whoopin last week when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of Medellin v. Texas, which involves Jose Medellin, a death row inmate convicted of rape and murder of two teenage girls in 1993. Writing the 6-3 majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts informed the wig-wearing jurists at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Texas courts are under no obligation to obey the ICJ’s ruling to give Medellin a new hearing. Medellin is a gang member and a Mexican...

WASHINGTON — President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to grant a new hearing to a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3. Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty. An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death...

This is very good news. Congrats to the state of Texas, which had to fight the open-borders lobby and the Bush administration all the way to the high court to prevent international law from superseding American sovereignty: President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to grant a new hearing to a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3. Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose...

WASHINGTON - President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3. Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty. An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row...

The State Department's top legal adviser told international lawyers on June 6 that President Bush is so committed to the primacy of international law that he has taken his home state of Texas to court on behalf of a group of Mexican killers. The Mexicans had been sentenced to death for murdering U.S. citizens, including young children. John B. Bellinger III, legal adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, cited the case, Mexico v. United States of America, in trying to convince the attorneys that the administration is doing what it can to enforce international law in U.S. courts. In...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The United Nations' highest court on Monday exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia in the early 1990s, but ruled that it failed to prevent the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica. The International Court of Justice said Serbia also failed to comply with its obligations to punish those who carried out the genocide after the Bosnian Serb army captured the U.N. enclave in July 1995, and ordered Serbia to hand over suspects for trial by a separate U.N. court. It specifically demanded that Serbia hand over Gen. Ratko Mladic, the general who oversaw...

Texas can proceed with the execution of a death row inmate notwithstanding a ruling by an international tribunal and a memorandum from President Bush directing state courts to comply with the tribunal’s decision, Texas’ highest court for criminal matters ruled yesterday. “We hold that the president has exceeded his constitutional authority by intruding into the independent powers of the judiciary,” Judge Michael Keasler wrote for the court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The case, which has been considered by the United States Supreme Court, appears quite likely to return there. In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The...

The first trial of a state charged with genocide has opened in The Hague, where Bosnia-Hercegovina will accuse Serbia and Montenegro of war crimes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing the case, which Bosnia first brought 13 years ago. It says Belgrade was responsible for crimes of genocide on its territory during the early 1990s Bosnian war. Belgrade denies its intention was to wipe out Muslims in eastern Bosnia and says there is no proof of the claims.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Generals and politicians have been convicted of genocide, but the UN's highest court will consider Monday whether a country - in this case Serbia - can be guilty of humanity's worst crime. The stakes potentially include billions of dollars and history's judgment. Thirteen years after Bosnia filed the case with the International Court of Justice, its lawyers will lay out their lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro - the successor state for the defunct Yugoslavia - charging it with a premeditated attempt to destroy Bosnia's Muslim population, in whole or part. "Not since the end...

The High Court of Justice recently ruled that the separation barrier built to protect Israelis against Palestinian terrorist attacks was morally justified as well as legal. While ordering some changes in the routing to limit the impact on Palestinians, the Israeli court rejected the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion, which called the barrier illegal. The ICJ's majority had erased the context of terrorism, and focused exclusively on distorted political claims related to the legal status of “occupied territory.” Judge Aharon Barak and his colleagues rebuked the ICJ, but could not yet bring themselves to state that international law has...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will consider today whether American courts are bound by the decisions of the International Court of Justice, a tribunal created by the United Nations and based in The Hague. Senator Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, cited today's case as one impetus for the introduction last week of a resolution in the Senate that would instruct federal courts to avoid looking to international and foreign law when interpreting the federal Constitution. Mr. Cornyn filed one of many friend-of-the court briefs in the case, arguing that the Constitution reserves the power of judicial review to federal judges,...

The Bush administration has decided to pull out of an international agreement that opponents of the death penalty have used to fight the sentences of foreigners on death row in the United States, officials said yesterday. In a two-paragraph letter dated March 7, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that the United States "hereby withdraws" from the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The United States proposed the protocol in 1963 and ratified it -- along with the rest of the Vienna Convention -- in 1969. The protocol requires signatories to let...

Prompted by an international tribunal's decision last year ordering new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death rows in the United States, the State Department said yesterday that the United States had withdrawn from the protocol that gave the tribunal jurisdiction to hear such disputes. The withdrawal followed a Feb. 28 memorandum from President Bush to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directing state courts to abide by the decision of the tribunal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The decision required American courts to grant "review and reconsideration" to claims that the inmates' cases had been hurt by the...

It's time the media and the world face the facts, set the record straight and tell the truth. United Nations corruption favors and includes an anti-Israel bias. This is why I propose renaming the morally and politically bankrupt organization a more accurate and honest moniker. Let's call it what it is. The United Nations Against Israel (U.N.A.I). The U.N.A.I is an international forum dedicated to Israel-bashing and Israel-smashing. Various and sundry branches of the United Nations Against Israel have consistently and continually endorsed Arab "Palestinian" attacks against Israel (or in U.N.A.I terminology, the use of "available means, including armed struggle"...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR In its final decision of the year, the International Court of Justice in The Hague decided that it had no jurisdiction to determine whether Serbia and Montenegro had a valid legal claim against NATO countries that participated in the intervention in Kosovo in 1999. While few people outside of Belgrade probably paid much attention, it the decision was symbolically very important: it demonstrated just how incapable the court is of resolving disputes, and what little hope the new International Criminal Court has to do much better. First, there is no doubt that, in strictly legal terms, NATO's intervention...

On July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel's security barrier was a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law. Eleven days later, the United Nations General Assembly voted 150-6 to condemn Israel and demand removal of the barrier. All twenty-five members of the European Union supported the motion.[1] The EU position would not have been so offensive had it not then undertaken an act of stunning hypocrisy. In August 2004, the EU put out tenders for companies to construct a European separation fence to prevent migration into the EU from countries excluded from...

This article was originally posted on 27 Jul 04, but considering today's UN vote regarding Israel as well as Kerry's "Global Test", this article takes on new importance. The positions taken by our so-called "allies" become far more clear after reading this, and the complete folly of what Kerry is spewing becomes even more infuriating. He has sided with our mortal enemies (yes, I know that we already knew that, this merely reinforces that conclusion). 27 Jul 04: Last Tuesday, the 25 nations of the European Union (EU) voted unanimously to support a United Nations Resolution condemning Israel’s defensive fence...

EU to build wall after blasting Israel'sWorldNetDaily.com-- (08/17/04)   'European hypocrisy is as rank as it is blatant'Just one month after the U.N. and EU launched a furious campaign against Israel's security fence, culminating in the International Court of Justice ruling that the fence is illegal, the EU announced it's planning to build a separation fence of its own, and invited Israel to participate in the construction. The fence is being built to separate recently added EU members Poland and Hungary from their new neighbors – Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The EU said the fence is necessary to "prevent the...

The world terror supporters' club, aka the UN, has told Israel to tear down its security barrier. This follows the ruling by the terror court, the ICJ, that the barrier is illegal (see below). Neither of these decisions is binding, but they are intended to build up the global demonisation of Israel as a pariah state, the necessary prelude to its destruction. Meanwhile, in the US where Christian support for Israel is so strong, the General Asssembly of the Presbyterian Church has equated Israel with apartheid South Africa and called for universal divestment from it. These developments all signal a...

Violent protests against corruption and nepotism in Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, and the threatened resignation of his prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, have forced Mr Arafat to back off from putting a relative in charge of Gaza’s security forces... Arafat is feeling the wrath of his own people, who have become increasingly frustrated at the corruption, nepotism and sheer uselessness of his crumbling regime.... Arafat has for months been resisting pressure from America, Egypt, the United Nations and other powers to merge and revamp the PA’s 12 overlapping, ineffectual and mutually hostile security forces, and to put them under the...

With the US standing firmly behind Israel, and the Arab world united against it, the UN General Assembly debated the security fence's legitimacy Friday. The debate was held under the banner, "Israel's illegal actions in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories." Amongst the speakers at Friday's debate are Palestinian envoy to the UN Nasser al-Kidwa, and Israel's Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman. First to speak was al-Kidwa. Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, informed the U.N. General Assembly that the Palestinians may seek a follow-up to the International Court of Justice advisory opinion a week ago...

Years ago, the New York Daily News ran the headline: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” Gerald Ford wasn't really telling anyone to die — the News was just characterizing the President's refusal to provide New York vital financial assistance. But on July 10, 2004 the headlines could have read: “International Court of Justice to Israelis: Drop Dead.” And that would have been, quite literally, the truth. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the United Nation's court. The ICJ has never raised serious objections to terrorism. Indeed in 1998, the ICJ sided with Libya, and against the U.S., Britain and...

Hague-wash: Court of 'Justice' ruling a joke! Aaron Klein The United Nations has outdone itself again. In an almost unanimous decision, the International Court of Justice ruled Friday that Israel's security fence – which is credited by even Hamas with keeping suicide bombers out – violates international law, and must be dismantled. The court proclaimed "[it] is not convinced" that Israel's security fence "is necessary to attain its security objectives." Palestinian leaders were, of course, overjoyed. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei described the ruling as "historic," while Yasser Arafat called the decision a "victory for justice." And when Arafat...

Euro-Nazis alive and well Joseph Farah When the euphemistically named International Court of Justice ruled last week that Israel's security fence, credited with keeping suicide bombers out of the country and dramatically reducing the number of innocent Jewish civilians killed by terrorists, was illegal and must be torn down, it showed that Nazism wasn't destroyed in 1945. Beginning in the fall of 2000, the Palestinian Authority, headed by Yasser Arafat, began a systematic campaign of violence against Israeli civilians. Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in suicide bombing attacks, all of which originated from Palestinian Authority territory. Many thousands of...

The International Court of Justice ruling last week ordering Israel to tear down the barrier it's building against terrorist incursions proves redundantly that international law isn't law: it's really politics in its most venal form. If ever a court deserved contempt, it's the ICJ. One measure of how deep our contempt for the ICJ should be has no relationship to this ruling. It comes from the makeup of the court. Of its fifteen "judges," seven come from nations which have no rule of law and allow their citizens no rights of self-determination or due process of law. These stalwarts --...

Europe and the ICJ Many things have been and remain to be said about Friday's advisory opinion on Israel's security fence by the 15-member International Court of Justice, most of it having to do with the court's jurisdiction, fitness, and reasoning. How can Israel expect justice from an international tribunal on which no Israeli jurist is eligible to serve? How can we expect it from one on which Egyptian and Jordanian judges do serve? How does the court sidestep the question of the terrorism that created the fence and then render an opinion on the legality of settlements? But all...

Israel follows its own law, not bigoted Hague decision By ALAN DERSHOWITZ The Israeli government has both a legal and a moral obligation to comply with the Israeli Supreme Court's decision regarding the security fence. After all, the Supreme Court is a creation of the Knesset and is therefore representative of all of the people – Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. Moreover, the Supreme Court has a real stake in both sides of the fence dispute. Its job is to balance the security needs of its citizens against the humanitarian concerns of West Bank Palestinians. It tried to strike that...

GAZA, July 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinians on Saturday hoped that the Friday ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, which called upon Israel to stop constructing the security wall in the West Bank, would rehabilitate them. The ICJ ruled that the security wall being built by Israel in the West Bank was in breach of international law, and called on Israel to tear it down and compensate Palestinians harmed by its construction. "Considering the wall by the International Court of Justiceil legal and contravenes with international law would make the Palestinians continue their struggle to prove...

BEAVER, W.V., July 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senator John Kerry released the following statement today regarding the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel's security fence: "I am deeply disappointed by today's International Court of Justice ruling related to Israel's security fence. Israel's fence is a legitimate response to terror that only exists in response to the wave of terror attacks against Israel. The fence is an important tool in Israel's fight against terrorism. It is not a matter for the ICJ. "I have made very clear from the start that I do not believe that the ICJ should even...

Exclusive: Int'l Court rules Israel must pull down 'illegal' W. Bank fence, compensate Palestinians Court: fence violates int'l law, must be dismantled The International Court of Justice will rule on Friday that the separation fence contravenes international law, that it must be dismantled, and that compensation must be paid to the Palestinian owners of property confiscated for its construction, according to documents obtained by Haaretz. The decision will be officially made public at 4 P.M. Friday under the heading, "Legal implications of the construction of the barrier in Palestinian occupied territory." The court has ruled that on the basis...

President Thabo Mbeki will openthe UN conference in Cape Town South Africa will host a two-day UN conference in support of Palestinian rights beginning on Tuesday, hoping that it will help advance the idea of a negotiated Middle East peace. "We hope this conference will put the message across that no military solution is possible and that the only way forward is through a negotiated settlement," said Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad on Monday. "We want this conference to help people understand what is going on in Palestine," he said. South Africa is a strong supporter of Palestinian rights and...

THE HAGUE : The International Court of Justice said it would give an advisory ruling on the legality of Israel's West Bank barrier on July 9, after hearings in the case were boycotted by the Jewish state. The ICJ, the United Nations highest legal body, heard three days of testimony in February from 15 parties arguing against the controversial barrier. The UN General Assembly called on the ICJ in December to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the barrier. Israel insists its construction is necessary to prevent infiltrations by West Bank militants, but it cuts deep inside...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Vicente Fox claimed victory Friday in his campaign against the U.S. death penalty after Oklahoma's governor spared a Mexican death row prisoner, and called on other U.S. states to follow suit. Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry commuted the death sentence of Mexican Osvaldo Torres Thursday, saying there were violations of international law in the case. Torres, 29, whose cause was taken up around the world, was scheduled to be executed Tuesday for his role in the 1993 murder of an Oklahoma couple. "We are pleased that this occurred and now we can take care of...

MEXICO CITY -- As Oklahoma makes preparations to execute a Mexican citizen for a double murder, Mexican political leaders, human rights groups and commentators are stepping up a campaign to save the death row inmate's life. Lawmakers from the nation's biggest political party planned to present a resolution today that calls for the Mexican government to try to stay the execution of Osbaldo Torres, said Rep. Carlos Jimenez, secretary of Congress' Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution will likely be supported by all parties, Jimenez said. The congressional action comes after President Vicente Fox and Foreign Secretary Luis Ernestio Derbez sent...

World Court Orders Changes in U.S. Death Penalty On March 31, the International Court of Justice, more commonly known as the World Court, ruled that the United States "should provide by means of its own choosing meaningful review of the conviction and sentence" of 47 Mexican citizens currently on death row. The case initially dealt with 52 convicted Mexican murderers, five of whom have been executed. Prior to issuing its decision, the World Court "ordered the United States to halt the execution process of three Mexicans, two in Texas, and one in Oklahoma, until the ruling," observed the London Guardian....

On March 31, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), located in The Hague, ruled in favor of suit brought by the Mexican government against the United States regarding Mexican nationals currently sitting on death row.  If, like most Americans, you consider court rulings from The Hague about as relevant as the Eurovision song contest, consider the cases of two men, the first an American citizen, the second a Mexican. In 1992, a Mexican judge sentence[d] Chicago-born Alfonso Martin del Campo Dodd to 50 years in prison for the murder of his sister and her husband, despite the fact that the...