Australia court rules former Guantanamo detainee can sue government News
Australia court rules former Guantanamo detainee can sue government

[JURIST] The Federal Court of Australia [official website] ruled Thursday that former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Mamdouh Habib [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] can sue the Australian government for complicity in his ill-treatment while incarcerated in Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Habib claims he suffered sleep deprivation, electrocution, and drug injections during his detainment, some of which happened in collusion with or in the presence of Australian officials. The Commonwealth of Australia, which denies the allegations, claimed the case should be thrown out because it was outside the realm of the judiciary to hear a case on the actions of foreign officials. A three-judge panel rejected this claim [BBC report] stating that torture offends the "ideal of common humanity," whether administered domestically or abroad, and can never be justified by official acts or policy. Habib said that he plans to sue the Australian government for unlimited damages.

In 2008, the Federal Court of Australia ruled against [JURIST report] Habib in his ongoing claim for compensation against the Australian government, finding that he was mistaken and was not interrogated anywhere under the control of the Australian government. Habib was detained in 2001 in Pakistan and was held in Egypt and Afghanistan before being sent to Guantanamo Bay for three years, where the US accused him of aiding terrorist militants. The US released him without charge [JURIST report] in 2005. Habib and his lawyers have repeatedly said that he was tortured while in US custody [JURIST reports].

THIS DAY @ LAW

White supremacists overthrow government in Wilmington, North Carolina

A group of white supremacists overthrew the government of Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898, killing at least dozens of Black people in the process. The city's Republican government resigned after the 500-2,000 strong white mob burned the offices of a Black-owned newspaper and terrorized black neighborhoods. The new state Democratic government passed laws in 1899 disenfranchising Black voters across North Carolina. Learn more about the 1898 Wilmington Coup.

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