YOUSUF v. SAMANTAR

No. 07-1893.

552 F.3d 371 (2009)

Bashe Abdi YOUSUF; Officer John Doe 1; Jane Doe 1; John Doe 2; John Doe 3; John Doe 4; Aziz Deria, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Mohamed Ali SAMANTAR, Defendant-Appellee. Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School; American Friends Service Committee; Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights; Consistent Life; Earthrights International; Dolly Filartiga; Florida Center for Survivors of Torture; Global Lawyers and Physicians; Human Rights First; Human Rights Watch; Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Sister Dianna Ortiz; Program for Survivors of Torture and Severe Trauma; Program for Torture Victims; Rocky Mountain Survivors Center; Survivors of Torture, International; The Shalom Center; Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International; World Organization for Human Rights USA; International Rights Advocates; International Human Rights Clinic, Human Rights Program of Harvard Law School; United States Member of Congress and Law Professors, Amici Supporting Appellants.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Decided: January 8, 2009.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

ARGUED: Tara M. Lee, Cooley, Godward & Kronish, L.L.P., Reston, Virginia, for Appellants. Frederick B. Goldberg, Bethesda, Maryland, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Robert R. Vieth, Sherron N. Thomas, Cooley, Godward & Kronish, L.L.P., Reston, Virginia; Maureen P. Alger, Cooley, Godward & Kronish, L.L.P., Palo Alto, California; Pamela Merchant, Moira Feeney, Center for Justice & Accountability, San Francisco, California, for Appellants. Julian H. Spirer, Spirer & Goldberg, P.C., Bethesda, Maryland, for Appellee. Tyler Giannini, Harvard Law School, International Human Rights Clinic, Human Rights Program, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Torture Survivors Support Organizations, Human Rights Organizations, Religious Organizations and Torture Survivors and Their Family Members, Amici Supporting Appellants. Deena R. Hurwitz, Germaine S. Dunn, Kerry M. Shapleigh, University Of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia, for United States Member of Congress and Law Professors, Amici Supporting Appellants.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge TRAXLER wrote the opinion, in which Judge KING joined. Judge DUNCAN wrote a separate concurring opinion.


OPINION

TRAXLER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs, all of whom are natives of Somalia, brought this action under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, see Pub.L. 102-256, 106 Stat. 73 (1992), and the Alien Tort Statute, see 28 U.S.C. § 1350, seeking to impose liability against and recover damages from Defendant Mohamed Ali Samantar for alleged acts of torture and human rights violations committed against them by government agents commanded...

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