Iraq: After June 30, Detainees Must Be Charged (HRW)

[struggle4progress]

It is unlawful for the United States to hold detainees in Iraq without charge or trial while claiming it has transferred sovereignty to an Iraqi government, Human Rights Watch said today.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions permit the detention without charge of prisoners of war and other detainees only in the case of an international armed conflict—which by definition is between governments—or an occupation. Washington says that both will come to an end on June 30, meaning that the ongoing conflict between the Iraqi government and Iraqi insurgents would become a civil war. That a sovereign government may seek assistance from foreign governments does not transform a civil war into an international conflict. In the absence of an occupation or an international conflict, no one can be detained under international humanitarian law without being charged with a recognized crime. Those not charged must be released and repatriated “without delay.”
<snip>

Human Rights Watch has long called for the prosecution of former Iraqi officials responsible for war crimes and other serious violations of international law. Saddam Hussein, in particular, should also be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. However, it is essential that these legal proceedings are conducted with scrupulous respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.
<snip>

At a U.S. Defense Department news briefing on June 15, the United States provided two rationales for its decision to continuing holding detainees after June 30.
<snip>

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/17/iraq8858.htm

[Kagemusha]

1. Unless, of course, they are killed during martial law.

Little loophole.

[2Design]

2. Bush continues to thumb his nose at authorities.....and seems

to get away with it......why oh why do the repubs....continue to break our constitution for this man....

[Miss Authoritiva]

3. Well, you know, all the Administration's lawyers were so busy

writing torture memos and everybody else was busy eroding the meaning of "sovereignty" that the legal transfer of several thousand detainees, including one S. Hussein, was overlooked.

Either the interim Iraqi government will formally request US help in securing Saddam or there will be a quick trial (quicker than traffic court!) and execution in the fashion of Ceausescu. And given the tangled and potentially embarrassing ties Saddam has had with a good many government people (here and abroad), it wouldn't be surprising if the Ceausescu model is followed to nobody's great dismay.

[daleo]

4. Will there be an Iraqi Jack Ruby

To get Saddam during the handover?