Cause célèbre

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This article is about the legal term. For the Terence Rattigan play, see Cause Célèbre (Play).

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A cause célèbre (of which the plural is causes célèbres) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and/or heated public debate. It is particularly used for famous long-running legal cases. It is a French phrase in common usage in English.

In French, cause means a legal case, and célèbre means "famous". The phrase originated with the 37-volume Nouvelles Causes Célèbres, published in 1763, which was a collection of reports of well-known French court decisions from the 17th and 18th centuries. While English speakers had used the phrase for many years, it came into much more common usage after the 1894 conviction of Alfred Dreyfus for espionage, which attracted worldwide interest.

Often politicians and Social Gadflies will become involved so as to promote their own agendas.

Terence Rattigan wrote a 1977 play called 'Cause Célèbre', based on the conviction of Alma Rattenbury for murder in 1935.

Contents
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Top of page — See also — External links

Contents

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Top of page — See also — External links

[edit] A list of people and cases which have been considered causes célèbres

[edit] A

Mumia Abu-Jamal: The 1982 conviction of this member of the Black Panthers Party for murdering Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner has been affirmed on appeal although the original death sentence has been overturned. His supporters assert that the original trial was unfair.
Hashem Aghajari - An Iranian dissident sentenced to death for apostasy when he criticised the Islamic Republic for perverting Islam; the sentence was later commuted.
Jamil Abdullah al-Amin: Better known as H. Rap Brown, and also a former member of the Black Panthers Party, his 2002 conviction for murdering two police officers is disputed by supporters.
Anwar Ibrahim - At one time the protegé and heir apparent in Malaysia to Mahathir Mohamad, he was charged with sodomy in 2000 and convicted in a highly politicised trial after going into opposition.
Maher Arar - Holding dual Canadian-Syrian nationality, he was deported from the United States to Syria in 2002 through extraordinary rendition, and then tortured; the case strained Canada-U.S. relations.
Sami Al-Arian - A Palestinian born University Professor in the United States who was tried for assisting terrorism in 2005.
George Archer-Shee: Expelled from Osborne Naval College in 1908 for stealing a postal order for five shillings, he was eventually exonerated after the family took legal action.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide - As President of Haiti, he was deposed under mysterious circumstances amid mounting chaos in 2004; he later claimed to have been forced out by subterfuge from the United States government.
The Eliza Armstrong case - A major nineteenth century scandal in the United Kingdom involving a child supposedly bought for prostitution, instigated by William Thomas Stead for the purpose of exposing the evils of white slavery.
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni - Two Iranian teenagers hanged in 2005 for gay sex offences.
Attorney General v. X: A 1992 Irish Supreme Court case in which it was established that women can legally have an abortion if their life is in danger. The case led to three proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland.
Aung San Suu Kyi: Her political party National League for Democracy won elections in Burma in 1990, but the existing military junta annulled them and she has been under house arrest for most of the time since.
Florence Aubenas: French reporter kidnapped in January of 2005 and freed for ransom in June of 2005.
Lisl Auman - convicted of felony murder, even though she was in the back of a patrol car when the murder took place.
Sherman Austin: An anarchist who was convicted in 2003 of distributing bomb-making information; many anarchists considered him a political prisoner.

[edit] B

David Bain: A New Zealander accused and convicted of the murder of his parents and siblings despite considerable speculation that his father may have had more cause to commit the crime then commit suicide.
Marwan Barghouti - A leading Palestinian convicted by an Israeli court in 2004 of murder; supporters assert that he is in prison only for his political beliefs.
Mark Barnsley: An anarchist who was convicted of involvement in a fight in the Lake District in 1994. His friends and supporters identified class prejudice as the reason for the conviction.
Adolph Beck: Convicted twice (1896 and 1904) of defrauding women because of a resemblance to the real criminal, it was only by good fortune that the miscarriage was detected: the real criminal struck again when Beck was in jail. The case led to the creation of the Appeal Court.
Menahem Mendel Beilis: Tried for murder in Tsarist Russia in 1913, the open anti-semitism of the accusation aroused worldwide interest.
Nikos Beloyannis - Convicted by a court martial under the Greek military government in 1952 of being Leader of the Communist Party of Greece, which they had outlawed; he was sentenced to death.
Roy Bennett - A white Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change politician sent to jail for attacking the Attorney-General during a Parliamentary debate in 2004.
Derek Bentley: Convicted of a murder committed by his friend 15 minutes after he was arrested, hanged in 1953 at the age of 19 (and with a mental age of 12), the family fight to win a free pardon took 45 years.
Elizabeth Bentley: A Soviet spy who confessed to the FBI in 1945, she implicated 80 administration officials in spying and was a crucial witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee and in the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Lori Berenson: Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 in Peru for terrorism (since reduced to 20 years), supporters argue that she is a political prisoner and should be released.
Steve Biko: An non-violent anti-apartheid worker whose death in the custody of the South African police in 1977 is now accepted as murder by the South African government, although there has been no prosecution of the policemen believed to have been involved.
Birmingham Six: Six Irishmen living in Birmingham who were convicted in 1975 of killing 21 people in two bomb blasts. After expert research by television programme World In Action and two appeals, they were exonerated in 1991.
Oscar Elías Biscet: A Christian activist in Cuba who founded the Lawton Foundation, he was imprisoned in 2003 accused of links to the head of the United States interests section.
Bloody Sunday: 14 unarmed marchers were shot dead in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1972; a rapid inquiry was regarded as a 'whitewash' by the nationalist community, and a lengthy second inquiry began in 1998.
Branch Davidians: A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid on their compound in Waco, Texas in 1993 led to a 51 day siege and then a devastating fire which killed 80 members. Remaining members and their supporters believe the BATF actions were illegal.
Joseph Brodsky: Accused of parasitism by the Soviet Union in 1964, he served five years' internal exile; extracts of his trial leaked to the west showed his defiance and raised his profile.
Brown Dog affair: A 1903 libel trial verdict in favour of an academic who performed vivisection on dogs led to a backlash in which opponents of vivisection erected a bronze statue to the dead dog.

[edit] C

Jean Calas: One of the original causes, a French protestant who was convicted of murder in 1762 and killed on the wheel. His conviction was overturned posthumously but he may have been guilty after all.
Jill Carroll: American reporter kidnapped in January of 2006 and released in March of 2006.
Caryl Chessman: Convicted of kidnapping with intent to cause bodily harm on evidence that was at best shaky in California in 1948. His cause became symbolic of the movement in the United States to ban capital punishment.
Elizabeth Cass: Mistakenly arrested for prostitution in London in 1887, her supporters were unable to prove that the police had committed misconduct.
Lindy Chamberlain: Her 1982 conviction for murdering her baby Azaria (whom she said had been taken by a dingo) divided Australia for many years before being overturned in 1988.
Ward Churchill: A controversial essay arguing that victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks were not entirely innocent, but were 'little Eichmanns,' has led some to denounce this University of Colorado at Boulder academic.
Schapelle Corby: An Australian citizen imprisoned in Bali for importing cannabis in 2005, she has asserted that she is innocent.
Rachel Corrie: While attempting to disrupt an Israel Defense Forces operation in Rafah in 2003, she was killed by an IDF bulldozer. Supporters believe she was murdered while the IDF says that it was an accident.

[edit] D

Harold Davidson: A Church of England Rector more interested in helping prostitutes in London than in his parish, he was defrocked in 1932 for inappropriate intimacy but maintained his innocence.
Angela Davis: A member of the Black Panthers Party, in 1972 she was acquitted of involvement in a jail breakout; her supporters included John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Rolling Stones.
Régis Debray: A French academic imprisoned in Bolivia in 1967 for associating with Che Guevara, he was released from a 30 year sentence after an international campaign.
Dempsey, a dog who was condemned to death in 1992 under the UK's Dangerous Dogs Act, but after public outcry and an extensive legal battle was eventually reprieved.
Doctors' plot: A conspiracy to assassinate the Soviet leadership by Jewish doctors in the last days of Stalin in 1953 was fabricated in order to justify an anti-semitic campaign.
Stephen Downing: Convicted of a Derbyshire murder in 1973 while a teenager, the local newspaper editor's long campaign finally won him exoneration in 2001.
Alfred Dreyfus (Dreyfus affair): A Jewish artillery officer in the French army was convicted of espionage; Émile Zola led the successful campaign to free him, splitting the population.

[edit] E

Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow: A 2004 legal case initiated by an atheist who challenged the inclusion of "under God" in the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
Peter Ellis: A New Zealand child-care worker controversially found guilty in 1993 of sexual abuse with some of the children within his care. The case has been subject to a High Court trial, two Court of Appeal hearings, and a Ministerial Inquiry. There have also been two parliamentary petitions, two books and numerous articles about the case.

[edit] F

Katelyn Faber: Accused basketball player Kobe Bryant of rape in 2003; her name was disclosed to the public amid much debate over whether the accusation was malicious, and the case was eventually dropped when she declined to testify.
Leo Frank

[edit] G

Gang of Four: Four senior Chinese Communist officials who were removed from their posts in 1976 after the death of Mao Zedong and blamed for the Cultural Revolution.
Akbar Ganji - Imprisoned in 2000 in Iran for participating in a conference which the government had deemed non-Islamic; he was on hunger strike for 80 days in 2005 and appeals for his release came from President George W. Bush among others.
Inez Garcia
Seán Garland
Bernhard Goetz: The "Subway vigilante" who shot and injured four African American youths who were attempting to rob him in 1984; he was acquitted of the assault but opened up a debate on vigilantism.
Ehud Goldwasser
Gonzales v. Raich: A 2005 case in which the Supreme Court of the United States which decided that it is constitutional for Congress to ban marijuana even though State laws permit its use for medical purposes.
Elián González: Survivor of an attempt to enter the United States from Cuba in a small boat, relatives in Florida looked after him; in 2000 he was eventually returned back to his father in Cuba, to the fury of anti-Castro exiles.
Åke Green - A Swedish Pentecostal Christian pastor imprisoned for religious hate speech (his conviction was later overturned) when he preached against homosexuality.
Guildford Four: Four Irishmen who were convicted of a 1974 bombing which killed five; their confessions were found to have been fabricated and they were exonerated in 1989.
Katharine Gun: A translator at GCHQ who disclosed secrets about the 2003 invasion of Iraq; her prosecution under the Official Secrets Act was withdrawn after advice on the legality of war was requested under disclosure rules.

[edit] H

Mamdouh Habib - An Egyptian born Australian citizen who was arrested in Pakistan and later imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay on suspicion of terrorist links in 2001.
Yaser Esam Hamdi - Detained in Afghanistan as an enemy combatant in 2001 and sent to Guantánamo Bay, it was later discovered that he was a U.S. citizen, leading to a court case and public debate on exactly what his legal rights were.
James Hanratty: A petty thief who was convicted of a brutal rape and murder and hanged in Britain in 1962, his family and supporters have fought ever since to clear his name.
Rafiq Hariri - A Lebanese businessman and politician who had been Prime Minister twice, he was killed in a car bomb which appeared to be the work of Syrian agents, after he campaigned against the Syrian occupation.
Patrick Harrington: Won a legal battle to force the staff of the Polytechnic of North London to teach him, after they launched a boycott based on his activity in the National Front in 1984.
Marvin Heemeyer - Destroyed several buildings before killing himself as a protest against aggressive zoning ordninances.
David Hicks - Detained in Guantánamo Bay as an unlawful combatant, this Australian citizen is currently on trial before a military commission. He has challenged the lawfulness of the military trial.
Anita Hill - Colleague of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas prior to Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court. She became a public figure when during Thomas's Senate confirmation hearing she accused Thomas of sexual harassment and using coarse language.
Alger Hiss: Suspected of espionage for the Soviets, he was convicted of perjury in 1950 after denying the accusations; his guilt is still a matter of debate despite the release of incriminating evidence from the KGB archives.
Milada Horáková: A female member of Czechoslovak Parliament who was accused by Communists on trumped-up charges of conspiracy and treason and hanged in 1950.
Michel Houellebecq - A French writer charged with provoking racial hatred after writing a novel critical of Islam in 2001.
Sun Hudson: A six-month old baby whose feeding tube was removed against the wishes of his mother in 2005; campaigners contrasted his story with that of Terri Schiavo.
Darryl Hunt: Convicted of rape in 1984, DNA evidence established his innocence in 1994 although it was another ten years before he was released.

[edit] J

George Jackson: A member of the Black Panthers Party who joined while in prison, he was shot in 1971 in San Quentin State Prison. Fellow Black Panthers disputed the official explanation that he had been attempting to escape.
Richard Jewell: The security guard who discovered a pipe bomb at Centennial Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics; at first a hero, then implicated in planting the bomb, he was later exonerated.
Nkosi Johnson - A South African child growing up HIV positive who was excluded from school on medical grounds; he fought successfully to overturn the ruling.

[edit] K

Mohsen Kadivar - An academic critic of the Islamic Republic of Iran who was imprisoned for 18 months in 1999.
Zahra Kazemi: An Iranian exile photographer who died in military custory while on a visit to her homeland in 2003; her friends and supporters believe she was beaten to death by the Iranian army.
Rodney King: When pulled over for reckless driving in 1991, Los Angeles Police Department officers beat up this black motorist while not knowing they were being videotaped. When the officers were acquitted of criminal charges, riots broke out.

[edit] L

Lady Chatterley's Lover - - D.H. Lawrence novel, originally written in 1928. The book created controversy in the United Kingdom when it was released in 1960, testing an obscenity law that was passed only a year earlier.
Marie Lafarge - 19th century Frenchwoman who was accused of murdering her husband by poisoning him with arsenic. Her trial was the first one in history to be followed daily through newspaper reports and pioneered the usage of forensic toxicology, though her eventual conviction for the murder sparked debates amongst whether she was guilty or not.
Stephen Laird - American journalist who was accused of being a Soviet spy and associating with the Communist Party in the 1930's and 1940's..
Amina Lawal - Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic Sharia for adultery stemming from concieving a child out of wedlock in March 2002. Her sentence caused a major conflict between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria and outrage in Western society, particularly when organizers for the Miss World pagent refused to stage the show in the country out of protest.
Le Chi Thuc - Media spokesman of the Government of Free Vietnam who went into exile from Vietnam in 1975 and currently lives in exile in California.
Wen Ho Lee - Taiwan-born scientist accused of stealing secrets about the nuclear program in the United States and selling them to contacts in China.
Chandra Levy - Washington intern who went missing in March 2001, her body found more than a year later in May 2002. According to various media reports made at the time, she had an affair with a former U.S. Representative, Gary Condit. Her murder is unsolved to this day.
Joan Little - African-American woman who went to trial in 1974 for murdering a white prison guard in North Carolina. She has been idolized by feminists, anti-death penalty supporters and civil rights activists alike for her actions.
Jeff Luers - Anarchist and environmental activist known for setting fires to three SUVs in Oregon as a means of protest against global warming in 2000. He was given a 22 year prison term for his role in the crime, causing outrage amongst supporters who think he is being treated as a political prisoner.

[edit] M

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[edit] N

[edit] O

[edit] P

[edit] R

Abdul Rahman: Faced the death penalty in Afghanistan for converting to Christianity.
Tariq Ramadan
Eldad Regev
Kenny Richey
Paul Robeson: (1898-1976), an African-American singer/performer and political activist, could not get a passport in the 50’s because he refused to state that he was not a Communist, until in 1958 the Supreme Court ruled that a passport could not be denied based on political beliefs.
Roe v. Wade
Pete Rose
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg: American Communists who were accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, and were executed in 1953. The VENONA project later confirmed at least Julius' role.
Ruby Ridge
Coleen Rowley
Jack Ruby: The man who shot the man who shot JFK.
Salman Rushdie: Published a book called The Satanic Verses. The Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering all Muslims to kill him.

[edit] S

Sacco and Vanzetti
Henry Sacheverell
Sallins Train Robbery
Sam Rainsy
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Terri Schiavo
Scottsboro Boys
Giuliana Sgrena
Anwar Shaikh
Assata Shakur
Gilad Shalit
Natan Sharansky
Cindy Sheehan
Zach Stark (see Ex-gay)
O.J. Simpson: Heisman Trophy winner whose reputation was later tarnished when tried for murdering his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Dmitry Sklyarov
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Lynne Stewart
Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy: The infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.

Trial of Socrates

[edit] T

Orlando Tardencillas
Damilola Taylor
Arthur Allan Thomas: A New Zealand farmer arrested for the murder of two neighbours in 1970. He was later found innocent and pardoned. The case showed up several shortcomings in the New Zealand Police's investigative processes; the case was the subject of the 1980 film Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters
Tichborne Case
Ali al-Timimi
Karla Faye Tucker
Tulia, Texas drug sting