The bottom-line first.
I believe the world would be a better place if those guilty of terrible human rights violations would be held accountable under international law.
Not everyone agrees.
Mohammed Ali Samantar is the only living vestige of the Barre regime, the last government in two decades to exercise central control over Somalia and, not coincidentally, the last that was impudent enough to try. When Siad Barre was finally overthrown in 1991, Samantar, who had served as defense minister and prime minister, fled, in a storm of bullets, to Italy. He eventually made his way to Fairfax, Virginia, where he lived in suburban obscurity until a group of Somali nationals discovered him, hired a lawyer, and sued for damages.Source
Odd that Mohammed Ali Samantar has found an ally in the Anti-Defamation League, a group that describes itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all."
According to his accusers, the Barre regime committed unforgivable acts of violence against them and their families, offenses spanning a range of brutality from arbitrary detention, to torture, rape and extrajudicial killing. Samantar was allegedly aware of the crimes being perpetrated against civilians and yet failed to stop them.
The suit was dismissed by a federal district court and then reinstated by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. It is now pending before the Supreme Court, where a peculiar coalition of defenders is urging reversal. Among them, to the confusion of some observers, are five prominent pro-Israel organizations, each with a professed interest in keeping Samantar out of court. In joint amicus briefs, the groups insist that as a former government official, Samantar should be immune from suit. To hold otherwise, they warn, would violate international law and set an inviting precedent for Israel’s enemies and their supporters in the human rights community. -- Strange alliance at Supreme Court: Pro-Israel lobby defends alleged Somali war criminal
Besides the ADL, briefs filed to prevent any accountability for Samantar include the American Jewish Congress and the Zionist Organization of America. (Listed here). Also filing a brief in support of ending the civil case is Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Is this an odd alliance or what?
It's called "lawfare". It's the fight against human rights and international law. It is a threat to the Israeli policy of dispossession and oppression of Palestinian rights. The "danger" is that people might be "taking international law too seriously". (see here)
Some also see it as a threat to the United States:
It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so–because over the long term... those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States.- - John Bolton, as quoted in Harpers
Imagine. Imagine if were able to call into account US leaders that made policies that supported torture. Leaders that called for wars of aggression against nations not engaged in any hostile action against the US. Imagine if we were to someday see them made to answer in court.
Imagine if it were also applied to leaders of other nations, not only Somalia but also Israel, and Great Britain.
At the anti-human rights conference cited above:
Speaker Anne Herzberg rose to assail "NGO Lawfare." She catalogued a series of litigations brought by human-rights organizations in courts around the world, in which policies or actions of the Israeli government were challenged as unlawful, sometimes successfully but more often not. These organizations are promoting a "radical agenda" she argued—"anti-state," "anti-democracy," and "anti-American." The organizations attacked included the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.
Those are scary organizations for those who support the right of States to do what it wants, to preserve the status quo (or to impose an injustice) "by any means necessary".
i find myself on the side of those who were tortured, those who are misplaced, those that are imprisoned, those that are dispossessed of their homes without cause, those that are subject to bombings and military attacks.
I do want the power of nation-states to be constricted. Long-live the cause of human rights. Let's make national leaders accountable.