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MPAC Bulletin comment – December 14, 2007
MPAC wants to end torture
Earlier this week, the Muslim Public Affairs Council joined the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School by signing an amicus brief filed in Yousuf et al. v. Samantar. Currently on appeal, the outcome of this case will have serious consequences for whether survivors of torture can seek justice in U.S. courts.
This case was brought by torture survivor Bashe Abdi Yousuf who, in 1981, was arrested for being a member of a community organization that worked to improve schools and hospitals in Somalia. Yousuf was charged with high treason and severely tortured and tried in a makeshift Somali court, then forced into seven years of solitary confinement in Mogadishu.
Yousuf et al. v. Samantar alleges that Ali Samantar, who served as Somalia's Minister of Defense from 1980 to 1986 and then as Prime Minister from 1987 to 1990, was responsible for the abuses, and/or that he "conspired with, aided and abetted, or engaged in joint criminal enterprise with subordinates win the Armed Forces and security forces who carried out the abuses." Both Yousuf and Samantar currently reside in the United States.
This "friend of the court" brief addresses how the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit district court would adversely affect the ability of future torture survivors to seek justice in suits against former government officials under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Statute.
The Torture Victim Protection Act is a statute that allows individuals to file civil suits in the United States against other individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, commit torture and/or extrajudicial killing. The Alien Tort Statute grants U.S. district courts original jurisdiction in any civil action by an alien for a tort - or injury sustained by the plaintiff - only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. Under the internationally recognized "command responsibility" doctrine, a military commander may be held responsible for abuses by subordinates if the commander knew or should have known about those actions and failed to take measures to prevent such abuses or punish the offenders.
MPAC opposes the use of torture in any and all circumstances and supports the rights of torture survivors to hold the accused party responsible for wrongdoing. It is important that government leadership exercise transparency with regard to upholding justice and enforcing the rule of law, particularly in cases of abuse. The willingness of government entities, social justice groups, and civil rights organizations to support victims of torture is immensely important to establishing justice and maintaining the standard of accountability.
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