organization:new york court

  • Mahdi Hashi : Family stunned as man stripped of his UK passport appears in New York court | Mail Online
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252304/Mahdi-Hashi-Family-stunned-man-stripped-UK-passport-appears-New-York-co

    A British man who was controversially stripped of his citizenship this year by the Home Secretary has been captured by American secret agents and brought before a court in New York on terrorism charges.

    The sudden and unexplained appearance of Londoner Mahdi Hashi in an American court five months after he went missing in Africa has prompted claims that he is the victim of international kidnap or ‘rendition’.

    The former care worker, 23, lost contact with his family while staying in Somalia this year. When they began looking for him, they were told by Foreign Office officials that they could not provide assistance because the Home Secretary had issued an order depriving him of his British citizenship

    Un Britannique de 23 ans d’origine somalienne disparu et privé dans la foulée de sa nationalité réapparaît 5 mois plus tard devant un tribunal à New York pour répondre d’une accusation de terrorisme.

    Mais pour le Foreign Office, on ne sait pas si on va lui fournir l’assistance du gouvernement britannique, et de toutes façons il n’y a pas de raison de s’inquiéter outre mesure :

    The Foreign Office said it was not possible to say whether Mr Hashi would be given assistance from the Government, but added: ‘The US system meets the international requirements on human rights obligations.’

  • DOMA lawyer uses 1885 case to support the law | Gay Star News
    http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/doma-lawyer-uses-1885-case-support-law290912

    DOMA lawyer uses 1885 case to support the law
    DOMA support rests on 19th century polygamy statute
    29 September 2012 | By James Withers
    Paul D. Clement.jpg

    The lawyer defending the Defense of Marriage Act is using an 1885 polygamy case as one of the reasons why the US federal government cannot honor gay marriages.

    Paul Clement was in a New York court this week supporting DOMA’s language. The law was passed in 1996 and prohibits the US government from recognizing same-sex marriages, even in states where such unions are legal.

    According to Buzzfeed, the lawyer pointed to an 1885 US Supreme Court case involving polygamy in the then Utah territory. The court wrote that the traditional definition of marriage, one man and woman, is ’"the sure foundation of all that is stable and noble in our civilization; the best guaranty of that reverent morality which is the source of all beneficent progress in social and political improvement.’

    Clement’s clients are the Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives. They have defended DOMA cases ever since 2011 when President Barack Obama informed the Justice Department not to argue for the constitutionality of DOMA. The House may support laws, in courts, if the president refuses to do so.

    In this Second Circuit Court of Appeals case, a Edith Windsor maintains DOMA is unconstitional. The widow is suing because she was required to pay a $350,000 federal estate tax bill. The government does not recognize her marriage to a woman.

  • Amazon pollution victims to ask judge to award $8bn Chevron money | Environment | guardian.co.uk
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/16/amazon-pollution-chevron-money

    Victims of what they say is one the world’s worst environmental disasters will on Friday ask a New York court to free up billions of dollars in compensation awarded to them in a record ruling earlier this year – and oust the judge who blocked their claim.

    The $8bn fine was imposed by an Ecuadorian court in February on oil giant Chevron, on behalf of 30,000 residents of the Amazon basin whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco’s operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.

    #pollution #pétrole #Equateur