The amendment was proposed by the Justice and Development party after the president accused the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic party (HDP) of being an arm of outlawed Kurdish rebels and repeatedly called for their prosecution on terror-related charges.
(The Post has a story on how their prosecution was mishandled).
While it has been clear since 2008 that the Tinners acted as American spies, the announcement by the Swiss magistrate on Thursday, recommending their prosecution for nuclear smuggling, is a turning point in the investigation.
They focused their prosecution on the soda machine incident, portraying it as reckless and potentially injurious to others.
A counterargument came from Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor, writing in the legal blog, the Volkh Conspiracy, that federal prosecutors had based their prosecution on "a fair reading of the law".
The late Claude Chabrol (who died last year) made an extraordinarily cynical and riotous film, near the end of his life, on such cases and their prosecution: "The Comedy of Power," from 2006.
Ireland has arrested the alleged leader of the Real I.R.A., the splinter group that blew up the market center of Omagh three years ago, and Irish and British officials said this week that they planned to base their prosecution on the testimony of an American sympathizer turned informer.
They have exhausted their direct appeals but are asking the Texas courts to free them nonetheless, on the theory that their prosecutions were racially biased and that prosecutors did not turn over important information about Mr. Coleman to their lawyers.
"Captured women and girls were raped... AFRC/RUF also physically mutilated men, women and children, including carving 'AFRC' and 'RUF' on their bodies," the prosecution said in its indictment.
Those pushing for the deletion of article 124, such as Amnesty International, refer to it as a "licence to kill", pointing out that its effect is to permit states to shield their citizens and others on their territories from prosecution for war crimes.
