Rights Court Refuses Mexican Torture Case
MEXICO CITY -- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided Tuesday that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case of Alfonso Martin del Campo Dodd, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen convicted of murder in Mexico City 12 years ago on the basis of a confession obtained by torture.
The court ruled that it could consider only cases that occurred after December 1998, when Mexico formally accepted the international court's jurisdiction. The court, an arm of the Organization of American States, does not take appeals of its decisions.
The case was brought before the court last year by its sister organization, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which after a review concluded that Martin del Campo's human rights had been violated by the Mexican government. It recommended that Martin del Campo, who was born in Chicago, be released and that his family be compensated for his years in prison. The Mexican government refused, so the commission brought its first-ever suit against Mexico at the court.
The court's decision drew immediate condemnation from human rights groups, which said that because of a jurisdictional technicality, Martin del Campo, 39, would now likely serve the remainder of his 50-year sentence. He has exhausted his legal appeals in Mexico.
-- Kevin Sullivan
The middle East
• JERUSALEM -- Israeli cabinet ministers approved cash advances of up to $115,000 to Jewish settlers willing to leave their homes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank -- the first concrete step toward carrying out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's contentious pullout plan.
In a sign of growing tensions, Israeli police said Sharon and an official planning the withdrawal have been the targets of death threats by Jewish extremists.
Sharon wants to pull out of all 21 Gaza settlements and four small ones in the West Bank in 2005, removing 8,500 settlers from their homes. After four years of conflict with the Palestinians, Sharon says the moves are needed to improve security and preempt new international peace plans.
• NABLUS, West Bank -- Israeli troops killed at least five Palestinian militants in the West Bank city of Nablus early Wednesday, witnesses said.
A military spokeswoman confirmed operations were underway but declined to comment on casualties. "Our troops were attacked while in Nablus and returned fire," she said.
Witnesses said four of the dead men were believed to belong to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
• ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's government backed off its plan to outlaw adultery after criticism within the European Union, strident protests from opposition politicians and a march on parliament by hundreds of outraged Turkish women.
Government leaders had proposed an adultery ban as part of a major overhaul of the mostly Muslim country's 78-year-old penal code, which comes as the 25 E.U. states prepare to decide by the end of the year whether to begin talks on Turkey's appeal for membership.
