"But enough of praise": more on the vessel exception

David Larter of Navy Times has written further on the "vessel exception" to the right to refuse mast. It is unfortunate that the Navy has not responded to criticism (from your editor and others) over its unwarranted broad reading of the provision. Perhaps the USS James E. Williams cases will wind up in court and some federal judge will have occasion to drill down.

Inter-American Commission hearing at 2:00 p.m. today

James G. Connell and Walter Ruiz are lead defense counsel for Ammar al Baluchi and Mustafa Al Hawsawi, respectively, in United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (the 9/11 Military Commission case). The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted their petition and they will speak in the course of a thematic hearing today regarding the "Situation of human rights of persons deprived of liberty in the Guantanamo Naval Base." They are scheduled to appear at 2:00 p.m. EST (in Washington, D.C.). The hearing will be streamed live at this link: 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.oas.org_en_iachr_default.asp&d=AwICAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=Z3OE30TMXvUd_0bWpnzlytRvk40ibjhoAnWq_2k13Qo&m=3kBCu6uOOe4dzA8a_JaOVWW89sYWj1iluU1tyuMwwbk&s=O4pJqc3BfW5tq9f6zH2aqmFl8o7m7Thwmc02QBUcn20&e=

Click on the icon for the "Padilha Vidal Room."

Postscript: Your editor is watching the video right now (2:35 p.m.). The site advises that only 27 people are viewing the live video.

Non-discipline discipline

The Washington Times's Rowan Scarborough has written this story about a U.S. Army Green Beret officer whose Silver Star was revoked:

A group of House lawmakers is moving to strip the armed services’ civilian leaders of the power to revoke combat valor awards in response to Army Secretary John McHugh unilaterally canceling the Silver Star, one of the military’s highest honors, for a former Green Beret officer. 

Mr. McHugh took the action against Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who braved repeated enemy fire in Afghanistan, even though he has not been charged with any offenses. The Army now is seeking to release him with a less-than-honorable discharge. The officer plans to fight the move, his attorney [Philip Stackhouse] says. 

The secretary acted after the CIA informed the Army that Maj. Golsteyn, during a polygraph exam for a job application, told of killing a terrorist who was making improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the weapon that has killed more Americans in Afghanistan than any other. The Army also removed Maj. Golsteyn from the elite ranks of the Green Berets. 

Rep. Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who is spearheading the restrictive legislation, says he wants to prevent service secretaries from retaliating against personnel by stripping their awards in cases where there is insufficient evidence to charge them for nonjudicial, or court-martial, punishment.

Thai anti-coup activists ask for trial to be moved to civilian court

Four anti-coup activists added their voices to the chorus opposing the extensive reach of military courts in Thailand. The activists, Arnon Numpa, Sirawith Sertiwat, Punsak Srithep, and Wannakiat Choosuwan, are members of the Resistant Citizen group and were arrested at a protest on February 14. They are charged with violating directives against anti-coup activities and political assembly and are slated to be tried in the military court. The four filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking to be tried in the Criminal Court as civilians. They will also stage a 50 kilometer walk in protest. Nattapach Akhad, whose brother died during the 2010 protests, was at the Supreme Court to offer the activists his support. Akhad told the Bangkok Post, "This government had a direct role in the fatal dispersal of protesters in May 2010 . . . [but] not one military officer has been brought to justice for the blood spilt during the crackdown."

Plea by Femi Falana in Nigerian cases

Femi Falana, SAN

Femi Falana, SAN, has issued the following statement in connection with pending and completed courts-martial in which he is defense counsel:

With the support of the multinational force drawn from neighboring countries, the Nigerian armed forces have carried out successful operations against the satanic Boko Haram sect in the last couple of weeks. In the process, the terrorists have been dislodged from many of the towns and villages in the north east region illegally seized and occupied by them since last year. Although the war on terror has not been fully won, the armed forces and the federal government deserve commendation for the success recorded so far in the task of restoring the territorial integrity of the country. With the recent acquisition of vital weapons for the armed forces by the Federal Government it is undoubtedly clear that the troops have been mobilized and motivated to discharge the constitutional duty of defending Nigeria from the forces of internal insurrection and external aggression. 

In view of the disclosure by the Federal Government that it has just acquired adequate equipment for the armed forces and invited foreign instructors to train the soldiers on the use of the equipment, the officers and soldiers who had consistently demanded for weapons to fight the war have been vindicated. Therefore, the military authorities ought to discontinue the ongoing trial of officers and soldiers and set free the 70 soldiers who were convicted and sentenced to death for mutiny by two courts-martial which sat in Abuja last year. Since the alleged offence of mutiny arose from the legitimate demand of the convicted soldiers for adequate weapons to fight the rag tag army of the Boko Haram sect, the basis of their conviction and sentence can no longer be justified.In the alternative, the army authorities should conclude the case of the convicted soldiers without ant further delay. 

It would be recalled that 12 of the soldiers were convicted in September while the 58 others were convicted in December last year. Since then, the army authorities have neither allowed the convicts any access to their family members and lawyers nor compiled and transmitted the record of proceedings of the courts-martial to the Chief of Army Staff for the purpose of confirming or varying the conviction and death sentences imposed on the soldiers. This has delayed the promulgation of the findings and denied the convicts the opportunity to challenge the verdicts of the courts-martial at the Court of Appeal. As if that is not enough, the army authorities have detained the convicts incommunicado in underground cells in a military guardroom in Apapa, in Lagos State instead of committing them to prison as required by the Armed Forces Act. 

In the light of the foregoing, we call on the Chief of Army Staff as the confirming authority to confirm or vary the conviction and sentences passed on the soldiers by the courts-martial. Owing to the inexplicable delay in the confirmation or variation of the conviction and sentences the soldiers involved have not been able to file their appeal at the Court of Appeal in line with section 183 of the Armed Forces Act (Cap 20), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which stipulates that :”Subject to the provisions of this Part, an appeal shall lie from decisions of a court-martial to the Court of Appeal with the leave of the Court of Appeal: Provided that, an appeal as aforesaid shall lie as of right without the leave of the Court of Appeal from any decision of a court-martial involving sentence of death.”