Center for Constitutional Rights

Groups urge Clinton to intervene in case of jailed rights defender



Madame Secretary, we respectfully request that your office investigate the arrest, unlawful treatment, and detention of Mr. Makhoul and use its considerable diplomatic influence to bring an end to his arbitrary detention and to ensure that Israel, a leading recipient of US military and economic aid, comply with its commitment under US law and international legal norms. 

US Judge Dismisses War Crime Case Against Avi Dichter



On May 2, 2007, a federal judge dismissed the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case against senior Israeli official Avi Dichter for his role in dropping a one-ton bomb on a Gaza City apartment building, killing 15 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others. The lawsuit, Matar v. Dichter, was filed against Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS), on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in the bombing. 

Lawsuit filed against Israeli General in U.S. Court for war crimes



On December 15, 2005, in New York, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) served process papers on Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Ya’alon, former Head of the Intelligence Branch and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), for war crimes and other human rights violations. The class action lawsuit is in connection with the hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries in the 1996 shelling of a United Nations compound in Qana, in the south of Lebanon. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and process was served on the defendant this afternoon in Washington DC. The charges include war crimes, extrajudicial killing, crimes against humanity, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

Former director of Israel's General Security Service sued in New York for death and injury of over 165 in Gaza



The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) brought a class action lawsuit today against Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel�s General Security Service (GSS), on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in a 2002 air strike in Gaza. The attack occurred just before midnight on July 22, 2002, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped a one-ton bomb on al-Daraj, a residential neighborhood in Gaza City in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The attack killed seven adults and eight children, including plaintiff Ra�ed Matar�s wife and their three young children and plaintiff Mahmoud Al Huweiti�s wife and two of their young sons. It injured over 150 others, including plaintiff Marwan Zeino, whose spinal vertebrae were crushed. 

Palestinians join human rights lawsuit against Caterpillar, Inc.



The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and partnering law firms today added members of four Palestinian families as plaintiffs to their federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc., charging the company with responsibility for human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The new plaintiffs are joining the case brought by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist and student who was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003. 

Family of Rachel Corrie files suit against Caterpillar, Inc.



March 15, 2005, New York, NY — The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and partnering law firms today filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc. on behalf of the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American peace activist and student who was run over and killed by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western Federal District of Washington, alleges that Caterpillar, Inc. violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) that it knew would be used to demolish homes and endanger civilians.