JURIST - Paper Chase: Spanish anti-terror judge criticizes US tactics

[JURIST] In an apparent dig at the US, a veteran Spanish anti-terror judge emphasized the necessity of international cooperation, law and reason in the pursuit of terrorism Thursday in a special UN-sponsored meeting in New York [RealPlayer video]. Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], an investigating judge for Spain's National Court, said "Terrorism is a crime, it's not a movement ... In a war, we have to defend ourselves, and this is today distorting the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism." Without explicitly naming Washington, Garzon spoke of the lack of response to Spain in its attempt to extradite three Spaniards charged with crimes in Spain and being held at a US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Speaking on the same platform, Chief of the US Department of Justice Counter -Terrorism Section [official website] Barry Sabin responded by agreeing that the threat of terrorism must be pursued through law enforcement, with legal tactics and with international cooperation. Reuters has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...