Scott Horton is a New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 attorney known for his work in human rights law and the law of armed conflict, as well as emerging markets

Emerging markets

Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...

 and international law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

. He graduated Texas Law School in Austin with a JD

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 and was a partner in a large New York law firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. He "has advised sovereigns on the pursuit of kleptocratic

Kleptocracy

Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often without pretense of honest...

 predecessors." In April 2007, he joined Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

as a legal affairs and national security contributor, and he currently authors the No Comment blog at Harper's Online

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

.
Horton has also written for American Lawyer,
"the Web's leading legal news and information network" and The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...

and has been interviewed on Antiwar Radio.

Horton is an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

, as well as a co-founder of the American University in Central Asia and of Sanghata Global. Horton is a former president of the International League for Human Rights

International League for Human Rights

The International League for Human Rights is a human rights organization with headquarters in New York City.Claiming to be the oldest human rights organization in the United States, the ILHR defines its mission as "defending human rights advocates who risk their lives to promote the ideals of a...

, and he recently contributed to a report which asserted, like most mainstream Western voices, that human rights standards apply to detainees captured by the U.S. in the War on Terrorism

War on Terrorism

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

. He "served as counsel to Andrei Sakharov

Andrei Sakharov

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...

 and Elena Bonner, among other activists in the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

."

Bilal Hussein case

Horton was hired by the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 to represent Bilal Hussein

Bilal Hussein

Bilal Hussein is an Associated Press photojournalist based in Fallujah, Iraq who had been detained by U.S. forces, suspected of aiding insurgents in Iraq. He was handed over to face charges in the Iraqi Central Court, reportedly over the circumstances of his photos supplied by the U.S. military...

, a Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

–winning photojournalist who was detained without charges by the US military for over a year.

Matthew Diaz case

Horton has written blog posts on the Harper's Magazine web site regarding the case of Guantanamo Bay detention camp whistle blower Lt. Commander Matthew Diaz

Matthew Diaz

Matthew Mark Diaz is a former active-duty Lieutenant Commander and Judge Advocate General's Corps officer in the United States Navy. In mid-to-late 2004, Diaz served a six month tour of duty in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as deputy director of the detention center's legal office...

.

Raymond Azar

On August 28, 2009 Horton asserted that the treatment of Raymond Azar

Raymond Azar

Raymond Azar is a citizen of Lebanon who was captured by American security officials in Afghanistan.He is notable because he is reported to have undergone abusive treatment at the United States' Bagram Theater Internment Facility in April 2009 that had been explicitly prohibited by United States...

 in Bagram Theater Internment Facility

Bagram Theater Internment Facility

The Parwan Detention Facility , also called the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, is a United States-run prison located next to Bagram Airfield in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan.It was formerly known as the Bagram Collection Point...

 in April 2009 by Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 officials was identical to the now prohibited torture techniques CIA snatch teams had once used on "high value detainees" in the war on terror.

External links

• Articles by Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine
• Sanghata Global