An Algerian court on Monday sentenced former Guantanamo Bay detainee Abdul Aziz Naji to three years in prison for his participation in a foreign extremist group affiliated with al Qaeda. The sentence was less than the 10 years in prison and USD $6,330 fine sought by the prosecution. Naji was captured in 2002 near Kashmir [...]
A French judge has requested access to information from Guantanamo Bay in order to investigate allegations of torture being made by three French citizens. Judge Sophie Clement requested access to documents, as well as access to individuals who had contact with the men during their arrest and detention by the US government. Clement is specifically [...]
The Maldives military Monday arrested the chief justice of the nation’s criminal court after he released a detained opposition leader. Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested for corruption in an unprecedented move by the military that has sparked street protests and prompted all the country’s courts to boycott sessions. Opposition activists claim the arrest was made [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Tuesday blocked the deportation of a Muslim cleric from the UK to Jordan. Abu Qatada is a Palestinian-Jordanian Islamic scholar who fled the Middle East under persecution to London in 1993, where he was granted political asylum. The ECHR has blocked deportation on the grounds that the evidence [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Friday in US v. Bormes to determine whether the federal government has sovereign immunity for damages arising from the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) . The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in 2010 that the Little Tucker Act waived sovereign immunity for money claims against [...]
JURIST Guest Columnists Matt Eisenbrandt, Legal Director for the Canadian Centre for International Justice, and Katherine Gallagher, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, say the Canadian government not only rejected the opportunity to prosecute George W. Bush, they improperly removed private citizens’ ability to bring criminal proceedings as allowed by Canadian [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist David Feldman of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law says that there is a growing trend in the UK to hold government actors responsible for violations of international law in the national courts, which should result in more transparent and open government policies…
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday called on Egypt’s newly elected parliament to pursue an agenda to reform nine areas of Egyptian law that impede freedom and restrict rights. Some of the reforms urged include ending the state of emergency, reforming police law and expanding freedom of expression. In the report, HRW said: Over the [...]
JURIST Columnist Charles Jalloh of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that Léon Mugesera, who allegedly incited genocide in Rwanda and subsequently obtained asylum in Canada, must finally be deported to Rwanda to face trial for his role in the 1994 genocide… Léon Mugesera, the Rwandan refugee in Canada who gave an inflammatory [...]
The Philippine Senate on Monday began the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona for violating the constitution and the public trust in connection with the trial of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , who originally appointed Corona to the Supreme Court. There are eight charges against Corona, including failure to disclose his personal finances [...]
