nationalsecuritylaw United States v. Alwan (W.D. Kentucky Sep. 27, 2011) (denial of motion to dismiss)

* United States v. Alwan (W.D. Kentucky Sep. 27, 2011) (denial of motion to dismiss)

District Judge Thomas Russell has denied defendant Waad Ramadan Alwan’s motion to dismiss counts 1 and 2 of the indictment against him, in a much-discussed prosecution involving individuals accused of having been insurgents in Iraq who attacked American troops. The eleven page opinion holds as follows:

(i) 18 USC 2332 and 2332a have extraterritorial application, and there is no implied exception precluding their application to contexts of armed conflict overseas; and

(ii) neither is limited by Article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires Occupying Powers to permit the courts and legal system of an occupied territory to continue to function subject to certain limitations; nothing in Article 64, the court concluded, precludes concurrent jurisdiction as in this case.