Court Rules Against Palestinian Torture Victim
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a request by the family of an American allegedly tortured to death while in Palestinian custody to sue under the Torture Victim Protection Act.
The family of American citizen Azzam Rahim sought to sue the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act after Rahim was arrested and allegedly tortured to death during a 1995 visit to the West Bank.
The question of the case was whether the law could apply to organizations, in addition to “individuals.
According to the New York Times, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the court opinion handed down this week that “an officer who gives an order to torture or kill is an ‘individual’ in that word’s ordinary usage; an organization is not.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
