Samantar v. Yousuf, 560 U.S. 305 (2010), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court in which the court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's immunity for a "foreign state" does not include an official acting on behalf of that state. The FSIA provides that a "foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction" of both federal and state courts except as provided in the act.
The case concerned whether Muhammad Ali Samatar, prime minister of Somalia (during the dictatorship of Siad Barre) from 1987 to 1990, could be sued in United States courts for allegedly overseeing killings and other atrocities. Samatar then lived in Virginia, and some of his victims had sued him under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.
In a previous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the former Somalian government official is not covered by, and therefore not entitled to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The Court remanded to District Court to determine whether defendant is entitled to common law immunity.
See also Jones v. Ministry of Interior for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (comparable 2006 decision of the House of Lords)
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