From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: US: 1789 Law Has HR Abusers Nervous
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 08:15:23 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 351.0 **/
** Topic: IPS: 1789 US Law Used Agt. Indonesi **
** Written  5:36 pm  Sep 29, 1992 by fbp in cdp:reg.easttimor **
From: Foreign Bases Project <fbp>
Subject: IPS: 1789 US Law Used Agt. Indonesian General

/* Written 12:07 am  Sep 29, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "UNITED STATES: 1789 law has foreign" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: UNITED STATES: 1789 law has foreign human rights abusers nervous

washington, sep 25 (ips/jim lobe) -- a law passed by the u.s.
congress in 1789 as a weapon against pirates operating on the high
seas is getting increasingly heavy use by victims of human rights
abuses overseas.

thursday, a federal court jury in honolulu, hawaii ruled that
the estate of former philippines president, ferdinand marcos, who
died in the united states in 1989, must compensate thousands of
torture victims back home. the court will decide soon on how much
the marcos estate must pay.

last week, an indonesian general who came to boston to study at
harvard university earlier this summer was served with a lawsuit
for responsibility in the killing last nov. 12 of a young student
in east timor. the student was shot down when indonesian troops
opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in a cemetery in the capital,
dili.

gen. sintgong panjaitan, who one year ago was the top military
officer in the portuguese territory invaded and annexed by
indonesia in the mid-1970s, will now either have to leave the
united states or defend himself against the charges by the boy's
mother, helen todd.

his is only the latest of a string of cases filed since 1980
under the alien tort claims act of 1789.

besides marcos and the general, the more famous defendants
include haitian gen. prosper avril, argentine gen. carlos suarez
mason, and guatemala's former defence minister, gen. hector
gramajo, who, like panjaitan, was sued while studying at harvard.

they defendants also include officials from chile and ethiopia.

the act provides that any person -- citizen or non-citizen --
can sue any other for wrongful acts committed outside the united
states, so long as the wrong was also ''committed in violation of
the law of nations or a treaty of the united states''.

in 1977, the new york-based centre for constitutional rights
(ccr) revived the act on behalf of the family of a paraguayan man,
joel filartiga, who had been tortured and killed by police. the
alleged torturer was then residing in the united states.

a jury awarded the plaintiffs a 10.4-million-dollar judgment
which was affirmed in a landmark decision by a federal appeals
court in new york in 1980. (more/ips)

united states: 1789 law has foreign human rights abusers nervous(2-e)

united nations: 1789 law (2)

although the defendant-torturer was deported from the united
states before the verdict was upheld on appeal, the ''filartiga
principle'' has become the basis for a series of lawsuits against
alleged rights abusers.

earlier this year, however, congress decided to give it new
life in the form of the torture victims protection act which
restates the 1789 law and applies it to torture victims.

the case against panjaitan is based on both the 1789 and the
1992 laws, according to ccr spokesperson david lerner.

the case is based on a well-documented massacre which has
caused major headaches for indonesia over the past year. more than
100 people were shot down, according to most human rights
monitors, although the indonesian government has insisted there
were no more than 50 victims.

although absent at the massacre, panjaitan occupied a key
position in the chain of command from djakarta to dili.

allan nairn, a reporter for the 'new yorker' magazine and
eyewitness to the massacre, told ips friday that the general
implemented a policy of threats and intimidation against all
timorese during the months before a planned visit to the territory
by a u.n. delegation.

''they warned timorese all over the island not to meet with the
delegation or they and their families to the seventh generation
would be killed,'' nairn said by telephone.

after the massacre, a military commission disciplined some of
the officers involved, and president suharto removed panjaitan
from his post.  the latter came to the boston area earlier this
year, apparently intending to study at its business school.

after a brief stint at the john f. kennedy school of
government, however, panjaitan apparently dropped out to improve
his english, according to ccr staff attorney beth stephens, who
said her office located him through the boston telephone
directory.  since he was served with the papers on sep. 18,
however, he appears to have dropped out of sight, she said.

the victim, bamal bamadhaj, was a citizen of new zealand who
was visiting friends in east timor at the time of the massacre. he
died from multiple bullet wounds some time after the shooting,
according to nairn, who said this fitted the definition of torture
under the new protection act.

suharto himself felt the wrath of bamadhaj's family thursday
when he addressed the u.n. general assembly in new york.  after
denouncing ''ethnic cleansing'' in yugoslavia and the use of force
to acquire territory, he was surprised to hear shouting from the
gallery.  it was bamadhaj's canadian sister, li-lien gibbons who
was quickly escorted out by security officers.

unlike his general, suharto enjoys sovereign immunity. but he
might not wish to move here when he retires. (end/ips/ip/jl/yjc/92)

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

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