Jihad Jane- Photo Via Fox News
Today the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment in the “Jihad Jane” a.k.a. “Fatima La Rose” a.k.a. Colleen R. LaRose case. Jihad Jane is alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to use the internet to recruit terrorists to engage in acts of violent jihad, to include murders overseas.
The Press Release notes that: The indictment charges that LaRose (an American citizen born in 1963 who resides in Montgomery County, Pa.) and five unindicted co-conspirators (located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the United States) recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.
The indictment further charges that LaRose and her unindicted co-conspirators used the Internet to establish relationships with one another and to communicate regarding their plans, which included martyring themselves, soliciting funds for terrorists, soliciting passports and avoiding travel restrictions (through the collection of passports and through marriage) in order to wage violent jihad. The indictment further charges that LaRose stole another individual’s U.S. passport and transferred or attempted to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism.
In addition, according to the indictment, LaRose received a direct order to kill a citizen and resident of Sweden, and to do so in a way that would frighten “the whole Kufar [non-believer] world.” The indictment further charges that LaRose agreed to carry out her murder assignment, and that she and her co-conspirators discussed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her blend in while carrying out her plans. According to the indictment, LaRose traveled to Europe and tracked the intended target online in an effort to complete her task.
March 8, 2010 —
On Thursday March 11th the University of Arkansas Little Rock Law Review will be hosting a symposium focusing on prisoners’ rights. I will be appearing on the panel addressing prisoners’ rights and international law.
The symposium will feature three panels throughout the day, each focusing on different issues surrounding prisoners’ rights.
- Domestic Prisoners’ Rights – Members of this panel will examine the rights of prisoners in our domestic prison system, and will discuss topics ranging from prison conditions, to the kinds of educational and health access prisoners should be afforded.
- International Prisoners’ Rights – The second panel of the day will focus on international prisoners’ rights issues, including the differences in treatment between domestic and foreign prisoners, and how the international community should treat child soldier prisoners.
- Women Prisoners’ Rights – The final panel of the day will discuss prisoners’ rights as how they pertain specifically to women, including the problem of sexual abuse of women prisoners, a female prisoner’s right to an abortion, and health care concerns involving pregnant prisoners.
The full program is here.
February 22, 2010 —
On February 22, at Noon I will be giving a speech at Temple University. The topic of the speech is “What to do about Guantanamo?” My remarks will focus on the challenges associated with closing the detention facility, and the broader challenges of detaining and trying suspected terrorists.
February 18, 2010 —
Tim Waters at IU Bloomington has arranged a fantastic conference beginning tomorrow and running through Sunday. The conference will ultimately result in a book, and given the participants and topics it will likely be required reading for students, scholars and practitioners. Here are the topics:
determining the proper role of historical truth-telling in war crimes trials;
measuring the impact of trials in affected communities;
refining prosecutorial and judicial strategy in designing war crimes trials;
devising case management and institutional design lessons for complex leadership trials;
regulating access to trial archives by historians, victim communities and other courts;
and considering the relationship between formal, legal processes and broader post-conflict transitional justice initiatives.
The full conference website is here.
On February 25, 2010 
