Locked Up Abroad

It isn't just Amanda Knox or the hikers in Iran. Why even the average American tourist should worry about being detained abroad.

BY LOUIS KLAREVAS | OCTOBER 4, 2011

Anyone who has ever watched an American cop show on TV knows that when you're arrested in the United States, you have the right to legal representation. But did you know that when you're arrested and jailed in a foreign country, you're also likely to have the right to consular representation?

More than 170 states have agreed, in the event that a foreign citizen is arrested in their country, to inform the respective foreign government of the detention. The right is one of basic decency, as getting arrested abroad can be quite intimidating. It's scary enough when you don't speak the language. It's downright overwhelming when you don't know the intricacies of the criminal justice system.

Just imagine, for instance, if you were an American studying abroad in Italy -- remember Amanda Knox? -- or working in Syria and were arrested on suspicion of a serious crime. How would you plead your innocence? How would you navigate your case through the courts? How would you find a good attorney and arrange payment of your legal fees? Add to this that you're not likely to be detained in a jail whose conditions are on par with those in American prisons, and it's no surprise that foreigners arrested overseas often suffer physical decay and mental anguish.

This is exactly what the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), which entitles an individual arrested in a foreign land to receive the aid of his or her consulate, is designed to address. Under its terms, not only must the consulate be informed of the detention "without delay," but the consulate "shall have the right to visit a national ... who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation." That is, unless the detaining government opts to ignore these obligations and rights -- a practice that is increasingly having a detrimental effect on foreigners arrested in the United States and, reciprocally, on Americans arrested abroad.

***
 

When Americans Sarah* Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Joshua Fattal were arrested by Iranian authorities in July 2009 on espionage and trespass charges after hiking along the Iran-Iraq border, they became the latest pawns in a game of one-upmanship between the United States and Iran -- a game that put the issue of VCCR obligations front and center.

Shourd was released in September 2010 on medical grounds, and the two men received their freedom one year later, after the government of Oman reportedly paid a total of $1.5 million in "bail" for all three.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
*Correction, Oct. 6, 2011: Shourd's first name was incorrectly stated as "Sharon." It is "Sarah."

 

Louis Klarevas is a senior Fulbright scholar in Greece, where he is working on an international law project.

KUNINO

2:45 PM ET

October 5, 2011

What exactly is the point of this lengthy story?

Since the release of Amanda Knox seems the mainspring of this article, it is worth pointing out that this young Californian's legal troubles started, after the death of her flatmate, with her lying to investigating police -- which seems the reality usually masked by saying she and her then boyfriend told authorities changing or conflicting stories, apparently in concert. And the fuss after Md Knox's conviction seems to have been both racist and sexist. Nobody cares about her boyfriend, also released this week, evidently on the principles that he's not female, and not American. In case you didn't notice, that young man was also released by the court this week. He is just as pretty as Ms Knox.

Ms Knox pleaded for her release in halting Italian this week, and, as reported in the news, spared little or no energy to express sorrow about the appalling death of her former young English friend, Ms Kercher.

Whether her changing stories confused and distracted Italian police in their search for whoever did kill the unfortunate Ms Kercher, I guess we'll never really know.

 

CAPTBOBALOU

9:43 AM ET

October 6, 2011

Clearly the point of the article is not the case of Amanda Knox

...it's about the US miserably failing it's obligations under the Vienna Convention and it's consular staff is not particularly effective in advocating for US citizens arrested abroad.

Begging the question of whether they were EVER effective in advocating for US citizens arrested abroad, I think this article represents another example of how the current institutional structure of the US Department of State fails to effectively advocate and promote US interests abroad. And may, in fact, be setup to fail.

I think the author does a great job in describing the problem. What is the solution and what does it cost?

 

RMDUENAS

9:49 AM ET

October 6, 2011

Reciprocity vs. failing to comply with internationalt treaties

FP journalists do not cease to appall me. Is Mr. Klarevas trying to say that other countries apply the principle of reciprocity by also not respecting the VCCR, just like the US does (in many cases)?

The principle of reciprocity in diplomacy apply in instances where, for example, a state imposes entry requirements to the citizens of another state. Like when the US imposed visas to Brazilian nationals. Then Brazil imposed visas, and the same burdensome application process which included photos and fingerprinting, to US citizens. This is the principle of reciprocity. Not respecting the VCCR, when a country has endorsed it, is failure to comply with international treaties; it has nothing to do with reciprocity.

Mr. Klarevas logic of "since the US does not respect the Vienna Convention, do not be surprised if other states do not respect it when they detain US citizens" has no logic at all.

Last but not least, citizens from all countries should be reminded to stay away of troubled areas all around the world. It is a simple precaution principle. If one does not want to be harmed (voluntarily or involuntarily), it is simply better to not get into harm's way. Whether guilty or not, Ms. Knox's behavior was extremely risky. She took the risk, she paid the consequences.

 

DEBTDUE

10:18 PM ET

October 7, 2011

Just about over this story.

It seems like this case gets way too much publicity, way more than it ever deserved....and the funny thing is that it does not get anywhere. We are in the same place we were last year, with the media drooling all over this girl and throwing a pity party for her. This has got to stop and she was doing something wrong, so don't give me that she is innocent and the Italians are being the bad guys. This girl was putting herself in the wrong places and associating with bad people...needless to say, when you play with fire, then you end up getting burned and this is exactly what happened to Jessica Knox. The Italians are known for dragging their feet and being useless when it comes to anything political or judiciary. This case is going nowhere fast and I hope that it falls off the face of the media coverage, yesterday. But it better late than never. Hopefully this girl know how to get rid of hickeys, because I have a feeling they are going to eat her up in prison if they haven't already. I feel bad for the girl, not so much for what she has gone through, because she might be guilty, but I feel bad that she has gotten so much coverage and been in the spotlight. Lets hope this is the last article ever written about her!

 

GROLFFF

10:43 AM ET

November 3, 2011

"she might be guilty"

How can a person who doesn't even know the name of the girl's name manage to come up with 234 words to say about her?

What a fool.

 

PRELIOCIVEDE

3:34 AM ET

November 2, 2011

No disrespect at all to

No disrespect at all to African Americans, too many of them have been accused of crimes they didn't commit but it seems that white? people have been too. I think the only reason Knox is so well known is because it's an international case. I didn't even realize the boyfriend was in the court room till the last day because we were only allowed to hear about Amanda. I'm glad she's out now too....I never thought she was guilty.