Tuesday February 2, 2016
Farhan Warfaa with his attorneys. Warfaa is bringing a case against Yusuf Abdi Ali, who committed various crimes in Somaliland in the 1980s and currently resides in the US. Photograph: Center for Justice and Accountability
RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal appeals court in Virginia has affirmed a judge's decision to dismiss one count in a Somali farmer's lawsuit against a former officer who he says tortured him in his homeland.In a ruling issued Monday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let stand the judge's decision to toss the Alien Tort Statute in Farhan Warfaa's lawsuit against Yusuf Abdi Ali.The appeals panel let another claim, the Torture Victim Protection Act, move forward.
Attorneys for Warfaa argued that the dismissal of Alien Torture Statute would make the United States a safe haven for war criminals.
But the appeals judges agreed with the lower court that Warfaa's claims did not sufficiently "touch and concern" the United States to establish jurisdiction in U.S. courts.