Friday, March 15, 2019

Here we go again -- this time in Jordan

Jordan is trying a big fake-cigarette-branding case in a hybrid military court. Defense objections to the forum have been overruled. Details here. Excerpt:
In the opening session of the trial into a $200-million fake-brand cigarettes case, broadcast on live television, lawyers on Sunday representing 29 former officials and businessmen, including a former minister, called into question the jurisdiction of the country’s state security court – a military-civil hybrid tribunal normally reserved for terrorism cases and militant acts – to try men for a “customs case” and economic crimes.

After a recess, the court threw out the defence’s claims that the trial was unconstitutional, reiterating that the military tribunal had jurisdiction on a corruption case affecting the country’s national interests.
Human rights norms strongly disfavor the trial of civilians by military courts.

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