Thom attends Guantánamo Bay for the 9/11 trial

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In September, Thom travelled to US Naval Station Guantánamo Bay at the invitation of the Department of Defense, on behalf of the Association of Defence Counsel practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT), in order to attend the trial of the four individuals accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks.

The visit was part of an oversight programme aimed at ensuring the proceedings are held in compliance with US domestic and international human rights law. The trial is currently at a sensitive stage, following the surprise reversal by the US Secretary of Defense of a plea deal, which took the death penalty off the table for three of the remaining defendants.

Advocacy Training in South Africa

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Thom was invited by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa and The Inns of Court College of Advocacy to deliver advocacy training to lawyers from across South Africa.

Thom was part of a group of international trainers, including advocates from Malaysia and Singapore, who joined the faculty of senior South African lawyers at the Mabula Game Lodge in the Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province.

Thom is an experienced advocacy trainer, and recently delivered training to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) in The Hague.

Thom gives advocacy training at the International Criminal Court

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Thom was recently invited to deliver advocacy training to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) in The Hague, together with other trainers from Inner Temple. The training included talks on best practice for conducting both examination-in-chief and cross-examination before international criminal tribunals.

In addition to being an advocacy trainer with the Inner Temple, Thom is a member of both the International Criminal Court’s List of Counsel and the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (the ‘Rule 43’ List).

Thom to attend Guantánamo Bay as Military Commission Observer for 9/11 trials

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In May 2023, Thom will be flying to Guantánamo Bay as a Military Commission Observer for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, "the principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks, who has been detained at Guantánamo since 2006.

Thom is attending the trial on behalf of the Association of Defence Counsel practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT), with the assistance of the US Department of Defence, as part of an oversight programme to ensure the trial is held in compliance with US and international human rights law.

Thom invited to sign open letter urging UN to open query into Iran's 1988 killings

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Thom was invited to sign an important open letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling for an international inquiry into the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran.

The letter was co-signed by some 460 people, including prominent former U.N. judges and investigators, a former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Sang-Hyun Song, and Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador for global criminal justice.

The letter calls on U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 "massacre" of political prisoners in Iran, including the alleged role of its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, at that time.

For more detail, please see press coverage from Reuters. The full text of the letter is available here, together with profiles of all the signatories.