Sep 30
2010
CJA: Seeking Justice for Survivors and Holding Human Rights Abusers Accountable Through Litigation
Posted by nikki | posted in News | 0 Comments
October 21, 2010
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Center for Justice and Accountability – On June 1st of this year, the Somali community celebrated a monumental victory with the 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Samanrat v. Yousuf — a case that CJA filed on behalf of five survivors of the brutal Siad Barre regime against General Mohamad Ali Samantar, Minister of Defense and Prime minister of Somalia under Siad Barre.
Exactly one month later, CJA filed a lawsuit against Carlos Mario Jimenez Naranjo (aka Macaco), leader of one of the largest blocks of the notorious paramilitary group known as the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), for overseeing extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and crimes against humanity in the Middle Magda region of Colombia.
A week after that, CJA filed a professional misconduct complaint against psychologist
Dr. John Francis Leso for his role in designing the abusive interrogation techniques used on detainees in Guantánamo. These are just a few of CJA’s active cases.
Come join us in discussing these cases as well as CJA’s other work to obtain justice on behalf of survivors and victims of human rights abuses all around the world.
Natach Fain and Kathy Roberts are both graduates from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and staff attorneys at CJA (www.cja.org). Both attorneys have wide-ranging expertise in rights, and human rights. Currently Ms. Roberts also teaches international human rights law part University of San Francisco.
Omar Abdi Yousuf, originally from Somaliland, now lives in the East Bay and is an Electrical Engineer for Caltrans. Omar is the brother of lead plaintiff Bashe Abdi Yousuf in Samantar v. Yousuf. He will share his experience of bringing the case to CJA and supporting his brother throughout the case.
Refreshments will be available. For more information and to RSVP, contact maria DeGaetano: mdegaetano [at] cja.org or 415-544-04444.
Date: October 21, 2010 6-8pm
Location: Jewish Community Federation Building, San Francisco
121 Steuart Street, 2nd floor Board Room (between Mission and Howard Streets)
Sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition