Search results for ""Author Antonio Cassese""

This is a first-hand account of the often appalling conditions in prisons, police stations, psychiatric institutions, detention centres and other places where individuals are deprived of their liberty. It is based on extensive inspections in many countries in Europe, including the UK, France, Spain, Greece and Turkey, by a group of inspectors who had hitherto unparalleled access to institutions of detention. Inhuman States is a gripping account of the seamy side of Europe, of those 'social dustbins' that most people tend to ignore and of the practices - including torture - which take place within them. But it is also a book about some general concepts - what is 'human'? What should 'inhuman' or 'degrading' mean? Should general standards be uniformly applied to countries with diverse traditions, legal systems and conditions of life? This book is also a forceful plea for a better and more civilized Europe. Cassese argues that Europe should be unified not only in the field of markets, banks, lawyers, and commerce: an effort should also be made to set out and implement at least some common European standards of justice with regard to those places of detention where each country relegates its misfits, deviants and all those who are thought to imperil the social fabric.

Read more less

This book is a highly original analysis of terrorism and its implications for international law and politics. Terrorism has introduced an explosive element into international politics. It can trigger crises which strain the relations between states – a strain which can reach breaking point if states allow their national interests to prevail. Cassese focuses on the Achille Lauro affair and uses this as an episode to illuminate the behaviour of modern states in response to terrorism. On 7 October 1985, four members of the Palestine Liberation Front hijacked an Italian transatlantic liner, the Achille Lauro, as it was sailing on a pleasure cruise off the coast of Egypt. In the days that followed, one dangerous and unforeseen event followed another, and the lives of the hostages hung by a thread. As states hastened to respond to unanticipated events they hovered on the brink of crisis and conflict. The United States was first swept by fury at the murder of one of its citizens, then by euphoria as its fighter planes intercepted an Egyptian airliner thought to be carrying the terrorists. Using a wealth of unpublished documents and material collected from the interviews with government officials and diplomats concerned in the affair, Cassese reconstructs this complex series of events and examines the actions of the states involved – the USA, Italy and Egypt among others. He shows how a range of pressures – military, diplomatic, psychological and legal – led various states to behave as they did, also explaining why some states, in particular the USA, allowed political considerations to override legal imperatives. This book, by one of the leading authorities in international law, will be praised as a major contribution to current debates on the nature of terrorism and its implications for the practices and policies of nation-states.

Read more less

The third edition of Cassese's International Criminal Law provides a clear account of the main substantive and procedural aspects of international criminal law. Adopting a combination of the classic common law and more theoretical approaches to the subject, it discusses: · the historical evolution of international criminal law; · the legal definition of the so-called core crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide) plus aggression, torture and terrorism; · the forms and modes of criminal responsibility; and · the main issues related to the prosecution and punishment of international crimes at the national and international level, including amnesties, statutes of limitations and immunities. Cassese guides the reader through a vast array of cases and materials from a number of jurisdictions, providing thought-provoking analysis that brings the political and human contexts to the fore. The International Criminal Court and all the other modern international criminal courts are fully covered, both as regards their structure, functioning and proceedings and as far as their case law is concerned. Online Resource Centre Case materials: Key international documents and foreign legislation relating to chapters of the textbook Your questions answered: responses to questions from international law students Web links: Links to web sites relating to topics within the text

Read more less