Defense lawyers for detainee Ibrahim Idris have argued that he is too mentally and physically ill to remain at Guantanamo Bay in a habeas corpus petition filed at the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Rather than contend his innocence, Idris’ court-appointed defense lawyer Jennifer Cowan is arguing that his mental and physical [...]
Czech prosecutors on Monday asked the Chamber of Deputies , the lower house of parliament, to strip former prime minister Petr Necas of his immunity so that they may investigate his part in a widespread corruption scandal . Necas resigned last month following the arrest of his closest aide Jana Nagyova , who was charged [...]
Germany’s Hagen State Court will require 92-year-old Siert Bruins, a former member of the Nazi Waffen SS to go on trial in September. Last November, Bruins was charged for the murder of resistance fighter Aldert Klaas Dijkema in 1944. Bruins and his suspected accomplice August Neuhaeuser, who has since died, are alleged to have driven [...]
Warren Hill, a Georgia death row inmate with an undisputed IQ of 70, filed motions on Monday for a stay of execution with the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the US Supreme Court . In February, the Eleventh Circuit and the Court of Appeals of Georgia issued a stay on Hill’s [...]
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on Monday filed an emergency petition with the US Supreme Court challenging the National Security Agency (NSA) telephone record surveillance program. EPIC is arguing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) exceeded its authority when it “ordered production of millions of domestic telephone records that cannot plausibly be relevant [...]
A French court on Monday acquitted French oil company Total , its CEO Christophe de Margerie and several other defendants on corruption charges in connection with a scandal involving the UN’s Iraq Oil-for-Food program . The oil-for-food program allowed the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein , which was under UN sanctions in the wake of [...]
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a bill that would reverse the currently existing draft exemption for, among others, ultra-Orthodox men. The new bill, approved by a vote of 14-0 with four abstentions, would limit the number of men who are exempted from being drafted every year. Since its foundation, Israel exempted ultra-Orthodox men studying [...]
Council of Europe (COE) Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks on Friday urged an investigation into Turkey’s “extremely disproportionate” use of police force against anti-government protesters during last month’s violent protests in the country. Muizineks acknowledged that recent statements by President Abdullah Gul referencing the responsibility of police in the escalation of anti-government protests will [...]
Radical cleric Abu Qatada was deported Sunday from London’s Belmarsh prison to the prison of Muwaggar in Amman, Jordan. Qatada was previously sentenced in absentia to life in prison for conspiring to carry out al Qaeda linked attacks in Jordan, but he will now face a retrial. Jordan’s Military State Security Court prosecutor has ordered [...]
Egyptian blogger Ahmed Douma, who had been sentenced to six months in prison for insulting ousted president Mohammed Morsi was released on Saturday, according to the state news agency MENA . The prosecution requested Douma’s release on Thursday, dropping his charges of publicly insulting Morsi in June. Despite the release order, Douma remained in custody [...]
