BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:When States Take Hostages: Responding to Iran and other Perpet rators X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20261011T054803Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_47678226079404 DTSTART:20241024T160000Z DTEND:20241024T200000Z DESCRIPTION:Join us on Thursday\, October 24th for a program investigating the legal and policy challenges associated with the rise of state hostage taking.\n\nStanford University is teaming up with the Center for Strategic and International Studies to tackle an evolving foreign policy problem: s tate hostage taking. Taking hostages is not a new behavior. For more than 70 years\, violent kidnapping and holding civilians for ransom has been a paradigmatic tactic of non-state actors like Al Qaeda. But the problem is rapidly changing. In the place of terrorist groups\, states—particularly adversary states like Iran\, Russia\, China\, Syria\, and Venezuela—are now responsible for 90 percent of new American hostage taking cases. The problem is also getting worse. The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation estima tes a 175 percent increase in the number of Americans taken hostage by for eign governments over the past decade. Increasingly\, hostage taking is em erging as an asymmetric tactic of interstate conflict. But existing struct ures of international law make it hard for democratic countries to deter t he practice. And the fundamental vicious cycle endures: Engaging with adve rsaries and making deals to bring citizens home incentivizes further hosta ge taking.\n\nCo-hosted by Stanford Law School\, Stanford’s Moghadam Pro gram in Iranian Studies\, and the Center for Strategic and International S tudies.\n\nAGENDA\n\nView the full agenda\n\n9:00 am – 10:15 am\nState P erspectives on Iranian Hostage Taking\n\nIran has long viewed hostage taki ng as a tool of statecraft and source of revenue. Former IRGC commander Mo hsen Rezaee\, now vice president for economic affairs\, admitted as much i n a 2021 interview. He suggested that Iran could address its economic need s by simply taking 1\,000 American troops hostage\, then demanding $1 bill ion dollars each for their release.\n\nThe urgency of bringing hostages ho me is clear to Western states. But U.S. and European officials face diffic ult choices. Making payments to adversary states—even simply returning b locked assets they own—incentivizes additional hostage taking. Also\, th ere is a risk that funds transferred to state adversaries will be used to support malign activities. For example\, the U.S. State Department insists that the $6 billion made available to Iran in a September 2023 prisoner s wap cannot be used to fund terrorist activities. But former Iranian presid ent Ibrahim Raisi told NBC in an interview that Iran would use the unfroze n funds “wherever we need it.”\n\nOur first panel will examine the pol icy consequences of states’ perspectives on hostage taking. Panelists wi ll compare U.S.\, European\, and Iranian views to analyze their competing interests and approaches. The panel will also explore how legal innovation s could change political and policy calculations.\n\nTara DenhamDani Gilbe rtAbbas MilaniAbram PaleyModerator: Jon Alterman10:30 am – 11:45 am\nHos tage Taking and International Law: New Thinking\n\nOur second panel will e xamine the international law dimensions of hostage taking and discuss chal lenges to holding states legally accountable. The discussion will explore novel strategies to overcome the accountability gap\, including through li tigation in U.S. federal courts (and potentially the domestic courts of ot her states) and through international institutions. Both offer a unique se t of advantages\, drawbacks\, and challenges\, and each are rapidly changi ng as legal scholars and practitioners push the boundaries. Legal innovati on may provide new opportunities to establish meaningful deterrence agains t Iran and other would-be state hostage takers\, with substantial implicat ions for foreign policy dynamics.\n\nDavid BowkerJohn Bellinger IIIChimèn e KeitnerModerator: Daniel Sharp12:00 pm – 1:00 pm\nHeld Hostage in Iran : A Keynote Fireside Chat with Jason Rezaian & Allen Weiner\n\nJason Rezai an\, a Bay Area native\, who was the Washington Post’s bureau chief in T ehran when the Iranian regime took him as a hostage. The Islamic Republic held Jason in its notorious Evin Prison for 544 days where his captors sub jected him to physical and psychological torture. Iran claimed Jason was a spy.\n\nIn the six years since he returned to the United States\, Mr. Rez aian has turned his suffering into advocacy. With Dr. Jon Alterman\, he co -leads the CSIS Commission on Hostage-Taking and Wrongful Detention\, a bi partisan initiative in Washington\, DC\, that seeks innovative solutions t o the crisis. Through CSIS and in his role as a Washington Post Global Opi nions columnist\, Mr. Rezaian works to confront the challenge of state-spo nsored terrorism.\n\nMr. Rezaian and Stanford Law School’s Allen Weiner will take part in a discussion regarding Mr. Rezaian’s experience as a h ostage\, his assessment of the hostage-taking crisis\, and possible policy options to counter it.\n\nJason RezaianModerator: Allen WeinerSPEAKERS\n\ n\n\nJon Alterman\n\nJon B. Alterman is a senior vice president\, holds th e Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy\, and is di rector of the Middle East Program at CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS in 2002\, he served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State and as a special assistant to the assistant secretary of state f or Near Eastern affairs\, and from 2009-2019 he served as a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel. In addition to his policy work\ , he often teaches Middle Eastern studies at the Johns Hopkins School of A dvanced International Studies and the George Washington University. Earlie r in his career\, Alterman was a scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace an d at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a legislative aide to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY) responsible for foreign policy and de fense. From 1993 to 1997\, Alterman was an award-winning teacher at Harvar d University\, where he received his Ph.D. in history. Alterman has lectur ed in more than 35 countries on five continents on subjects related to the Middle East and U.S. policy toward the region. He is the author or coauth or of four books on the Middle East and the editor of five more. His opini on pieces have appeared in the New York Times\, Washington Post\, Wall Str eet Journal\, Financial Times\, and other major publications. He is a form er international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations\, wher e he is now a life member. He received his A.B. from Princeton University ’s School of Public and International Affairs.\n\n\n\nJohn Bellinger III \n\nJohn B. Bellinger III is a partner at Arnold & Porter LLP in Washingto n\, DC\, where he serves as co-chair of the firm’s Global Law and Public Policy group. There\, he advises sovereign governments and companies on a variety of international law and U.S. national security law issues. John is also an adjunct senior fellow in International and National Security La w at the Council on Foreign Relations. A globally recognized expert on int ernational law\, John joined the firm in 2009\, after serving as the Senat e-confirmed legal adviser for the Department of State and senior associate counsel to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Counc il (NSC) at the White House in the Bush administration. Before his confirm ation as legal adviser\, he managed Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s Senate confirmation and codirected her State Department transition team. He previ ously served as counsel for national security matters in the Criminal Divi sion of the Justice Department during the Clinton administration\, as spec ial counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence\, and as a spec ial assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence\, William H. Webster . Bellinger received his J.D. from Harvard Law School\, his M.A. in foreig n affairs from the University of Virginia\, and his A.B. from Princeton Un iversity’s School of Public and International Affairs.\n\n\n\nDavid Bowk er\n\nDavid W. Bowker is chair of the International Litigation Practice at WilmerHale. There\, he has spent nearly 20 years working on litigation an d arbitration matters on behalf of U.S. and foreign companies\, foreign st ates\, individuals\, and others before international arbitration tribunals and U.S. state and federal courts\, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a vice president of the American Society of International Law\, an outs ide director of the non-profit organization Hostage US\, an adjunct profes sor at U.C. Berkeley School of Law\, and a member of the American Bar Asso ciation\, International Bar Association\, and American Law Institute. Alon g with Georgetown Law Professor David Stewart\, he recently co-authored Ri stau’s International Judicial Assistance: A Practitioner’s Guide to In ternational Civil and Commercial Litigation\, published by Oxford Universi ty Press and the International Law Institute in 2021. Before joining Wilme rHale\, Mr. Bowker served as the attorney-adviser for the Law of Armed Con flict in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that\, he worked on counterterrorism in the Office of Global Affa irs and Multilateral Issues on the National Security Council staff. He rec eived his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law \, his M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts Unive rsity\, and his B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles.\n\n \n\nTara Denham\n\nTara Denham is the Assistant Deputy Minister of Emergen cy Management\, Legal and Consular Affairs (CFM) & Senior Official for Hos tage Affairs. The branch contributes to timely\, whole-of-government coord inated responses to international emergencies\; provides leadership on con sular policy\, assistance to Canadians abroad and travel advice\; and over sees the department’s security and readiness. The branch also includes t he international law bureau\, which provides strategic advice on a wide ra nge of international legal issues. Previously\, Tara was the was the Direc tor General for Human Rights\, Freedoms and Inclusion at Global Affairs Ca nada and the Senior Official on cyber\, digital\, and emerging technology policy issues\, which led Canada’s foreign policy engagement on inclusio n\, democracy and human rights\, and its digital and cybersecurity dimensi ons. Tara took on the role of Women’s Champion in October 2023 and is ho nored to continue to advocate and support the amazing efforts of the Women ’s Network in the department.\n\nPreviously\, Tara worked in both policy and programming areas within Global Affairs Canada\, including as Directo r General of the Ukraine Strategic Action Team\; Head of Evaluation\; and Director of the Centre for International Digital Policy where she spearhea ded the creation of the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism during Canada’s Pres idency in 2018. She has also managed programming teams\, including the por tfolios of the Middle East\, Afghanistan\, democracy and human rights\, an d peace support operations. She has been deployed to Afghanistan as the Ch ief of Staff to the Representative of Canada to Kandahar (2009-2010).\n\nT ara has worked in Global Affairs Canada for 20 years\, and previously work ed in the non-governmental sector. Ms. Denham has a Master’s degree from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs\, with a focus on con flict studies.\n\n\n\nDani Gilbert\n\nDani Gilbert is an assistant profess or of political science at Northwestern University. Her research explores the causes and consequences of hostage taking in international security in cluding projects on rebel kidnapping\, hostage recovery policy\, and hosta ge diplomacy. In 2023\, Dr. Gilbert was selected to serve on the Bipartisa n Commission on Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention at the Center for St rategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington\, D.C. Before joini ng the faculty at Northwestern\, she was the Edelson Fellow in U.S. Foreig n Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for In ternational Understanding at Dartmouth College\, an assistant professor of military & strategic studies at the United States Air Force Academy\, and a Minerva-Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. From 2009 to 2013\, Dr. Gilbert served on Capitol Hill as a seni or legislative assistant and appropriations associate. Her current book pr oject examines why and how armed groups kidnap during civil war\, which re ceived the American Political Science Association’s 2021 Merze Tate Awar d for the Best Dissertation in International Relations\, Law\, and Politic s. She received her Ph.D. in political science from George Washington Univ ersity\; M.A. from the George Washington University and the London School of Economics\; and B.A. in ethics\, politics\, and economics from Yale Uni versity.\n\n\n\nChimène Keitner\n\nProfessor Chimène Keitner is the Mart in Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California Davis School of Law. She is a leading authority on international law and civil l itigation and served as the 27th counselor on international law in the U.S . Department of State. Chimène has authored two books and dozens of artic les\, essays\, and book chapters on questions surrounding the relationship s among law\, communities\, and borders. Her work has focused on a range o f issues including jurisdiction\, extraterritoriality\, foreign sovereign and foreign official immunity\, and the historical understandings underpin ning current practice in these areas. Among other professional service\, C himène has served on the Executive Council of the American Society of Int ernational Law (ASIL) and as co-chair of the ASIL International Law in Dom estic Courts Interest Group. She is a member of the American Law Institute and an adviser on the ALI’s Fourth Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. She is also a founding co-chair of the Internat ional Law Association’s Study Group on Individual Responsibility in Inte rnational Law. Professor Keitner received a J.D. from Yale Law School\, bo th a D.Phil. and M.Phil. in International Relations from Oxford University \, and an A.B. in History and Literature from Harvard University.\n\n\n\nA bbas Milani\n\nAbbas Milani is the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director o f Iranian Studies at Stanford University and a professor (by courtesy) in the Stanford Global Studies Division. He is also one of the founding co-di rectors of the Iran Democracy Project and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. His expertise includes U.S.-Iran relations as well as Iranian cultural\, political\, and security issues. He taught at Tehran Universit y’s Faculty of Law and Political Science until 1986\, where he was also a member of the Board of Directors of the university’s Center for Intern ational Relations. After moving to the United States\, he was the chair of the Political Science Department at the Notre Dame de Namur University fo r 14 years. He was a visiting research fellow at the University of Califor nia\, Berkeley’s Middle East Center for eight years. He has published mo re than twenty books and two hundred articles and book reviews in scholarl y magazines\, journals\, and newspapers. His most recent books include A W indow into Modern Iran: The Ardeshir Zahedi Papers at the Hoover Instituti on Library & Archives. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawai’i and his B.A. in political science and economics f rom the University of California\, Berkeley.\n\n\n\nAbram Paley\n\nAbram P aley is the deputy special envoy for Iran since March 2023. Prior to that\ , he was Middle East advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris. A career mem ber of the Foreign Service\, Abram has served at the U.S. embassies in Chi na\, Saudi Arabia\, Iraq\, and Israel and in Washington in the Bureau of N ear Eastern Affairs. Abram served as director for Yemen at the National Se curity Council from February 2014 to February 2015. He has a B.A. from New York University and an M.A. from Texas A&M University.\n\n\n\nJason Rezai an\n\nJason Rezaian writes for the Washington Post’s Global Opinions sec tion. Previously he was the Post’s Tehran bureau chief from 2012 to 2016 . In July 2014\, he was arrested by Iranian authorities and imprisoned for 544 days until his release in January 2016. Before joining the Washington Post he wrote for many U.S.-based and international publications includin g TIME\, Foreign Policy\, the San Francisco Chronicle\, Slate\, GlobalPost \, and Monocle. Rezaian’s memoir\, Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian P rison\, was published in January 2019 by Anthony Bourdain Books\, an impri nt of Ecco Books. In collaboration with Crooked Media\, Gimlet Media\, and A24\, he adapted it as a nine-episode narrative audio series\, which is a vailable as a Spotify original podcast. Since 2018 Rezaian has been a CNN Global Affairs contributor. Among his other television credits are appeara nces on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown\, Face the Nation\, CBS Morning Ne ws\, Amanpour\, Reliable Sources\, United Shades of America\, and PBS News Hour. Rezaian is the winner of several journalism awards. He was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University\, class of 2017\, and a Terker distinguished fellow at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affa irs. Rezaian received his B.A. from the New School.\n\n\n\nDaniel Sharp\n\ nDaniel Sharp is a second-year J.D. candidate at Stanford Law School and a n adjunct fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He conducts research at the nexus of int ernational law and international relations on hostage diplomacy\, for whic h he was made a Defense Innovation Scholar with the Gordian Knot Center fo r National Security Innovation in spring of 2024. Danny served as a law cl erk to Justice Règis Rukundakuvuga\, President of Rwanda’s Court of App eal\, during his 1L summer. Before law school\, Danny was an Associate Dir ector and Associate Fellow with the Middle East Program. Danny worked for a macroeconomic development advisory firm in Jordan prior to joining CSIS. He holds a B.A. in Near Eastern studies from Cornell University.\n\n\n\nA llen Weiner\n\nAllen S. Weiner is an international legal scholar whose res earch and teaching focus on international security and conflict resolution . In the international security realm\, his work spans such issues as inte rnational law and the response to contemporary security threats\, the rela tionship between international and domestic law in the context of armed co nflict\, the law of war (international humanitarian law)\, just war theory \, and international criminal law (including transitional justice). In the realm of international conflict resolution\, his multidisciplinary work a nalyzes the barriers to resolving intractable political conflicts\, with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His work on misinfo rmation and disinformation includes a focus on the potential harmful uses of social media in conflict settings\, including war zones. Weiner’s sch olarship is informed by deep experience\; he practiced international law i n the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser for more th an a decade\, advising government policymakers\, negotiating international agreements\, and representing the United States in litigation before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia\, the Internatio nal Court of Justice\, and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. He rece ived his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his B.A. from Harvard Universit y. GEO:37.423877;-122.167441 LOCATION:Law School SUMMARY:When States Take Hostages: Responding to Iran and other Perpetrator s URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/when-states-take-hostages CATEGORIES:Lecture/Presentation/Talk END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR