Cherif Bassiouni is one of the most important figures in international human rights and humanitarian law. He's the former Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, appointed by the UNHCHR. He's been in a number of UM Human Rights Commissions. He has even been nominated for the Nobel Prize. And he's being watch by the FBI. And according to an appeals court, at least, well they should. A view that the US Supreme Court seems to agree with.
If Bassiouni, as important as he is, and as open as his work is (after all, he is reporting to the UN) is under constant observation - what can be said about the rest of us? We've heard about police departments infiltrating local peace organizations, and most of us in the human rights world, I imagine, assume are being observed as well. The FBI probably knows an awful lot about my fights with my husband, my frustrations with my kids and my views on local politics. They probably know much less about my actual sources and work - PGP is a wonderful tool -, but still, it could be never wracking to know they are watching you. And they are doing so while you pursue perfectly legal, morally imperative activities.
Apparently there isn't much we can do about it, at least legally.
The Associated Press
27 November 2006
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to consider case involving professor and his FBI file
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to
consider the case of a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated law professor who wants the U.S. government to expunge his FBI file.
A federal appeals court found that information the government gathered
on Cherif Bassiouni is pertinent to authorized law enforcement activity
as part of President George W. Bush's campaign against terror. The records are important for evaluating the reliability of FBI intelligence sources, the appeals court found.
The government argued in the lower courts that even though Bassiouni
is not a member of any terror organization, agents probably will
continue to receive information about him because of his travels
in the Middle East.
Bassiouni, an Egyptian who teaches in the United States, is
serving the United Nations as an independent expert on human rights
in Afghanistan and was chairman of the U.N. Security Council's
commission to investigate war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
In 1999, Bassiouni was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for
his work on international criminal justice and for his contribution
to the creation of the International Criminal Court.
Bassiouni was among the U.N. human rights experts expressing
concern about possible irreversible psychiatric symptoms insome
terrorism suspects from virtual solitary confinement at the
U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The case is Bassiouni v. FBI, 06-142 ____________________________________________________________________
BASSIOUNI, MAHMOUD C. v. FBI
06-142
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
November 27, 2006, Decided
JUDGES: [*1] Roberts, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito.
OPINION: The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
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