The Spanish National Court on Thursday sentenced a former Basque separatist to 10 years in prison for terrorism and trying to resurrect a banned political wing of Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) . The court found that Arnaldo Otegi acted on orders from ETA to create an organization that would replace Batasuna and serve as a [...]
The UK Parliament on Thursday approved the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill , making it more difficult for ordinary citizens to obtain arrest warrants for suspected war criminals present in the UK. The controversial act removes the exclusive power of granting arrest warrants from local magistrates, requiring that all such warrants receive approval from [...]
Two Republican Congressmen have sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asking to delay the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) , scheduled to go into effect next Tuesday. Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA), the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) , Chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, [...]
An Egyptian criminal court on Thursday sentenced three associates of former president Hosni Mubarak to prison and ordered them to pay fines after they were found guilty on charges of corruption that occurred under the Mubarak regime. Ahmed Ezz, a steel tycoon and former ranking member of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party , was accused [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday temporarily enjoined a Florida law restricting what physicians can ask or say about firearms to their patients as violative of the doctors’ First Amendment rights. Under the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA) , violating doctors risk losing their medical license [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to correct an imbalance in its investigations and prosecutions of war crimes and human rights violations. In a 50-page publication titled “Unfinished Business” , HRW assessed the choice of cases made by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in its first five [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Thursday that statements made by Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab while in the hospital following his alleged attempt to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 are admissible. Abdulmutallab argued that the conduct of the FBI agents was coercive because [...]
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Thursday that the government would repeal two strict security laws that had allowed extended detention of suspects without trial, as well as review other laws dealing with freedom of the press. The government will abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960 and the Banishment Act of 1959 [...]
Tunisia announced its intention Wednesday to plead for the return of its remaining citizens being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. A Justice Ministry representative, speaking at an awareness conference in Tunis, called for the repatriation of the five Tunisian detainees still being held at the prison and indicated the nation’s intention to send [...]
The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended the terms for prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) until December 31, 2014. In unanimously adopting resolutions 2006 and 2007 , the Security Council extended the terms of prosecutors Serge Brammertz and Hassan Bubacar Jallow . Brammertz has served as [...]
