Spain’s National Court on Tuesday sentenced two Somali pirates to 439 years in prison each for their involvement in the 2009 hijacking of a Spanish fishing boat off the coast of Somalia. Pirates Cabdiweli Cabdullahi and Raageggesey Hassan Aji were apprehended by Spanish officials when they sailed away from the Alakran and were brought to [...]
The lawyer for accused Nazi guard John Demjanjuk called for acquittal Tuesday as he presented his closing arguments in a German courtroom. Defense lawyer Ulrich Busch also argued that Demjanjuk should be awarded damages for false imprisonment . Demjanjuk is accused of helping murder Jews at the Sobidor death camp during the Holocaust, but his [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo revealed that investigators have evidence that Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi committed crimes against humanity. During an interview with the Associated Press, Ocampo said he would soon be seeking five arrest warrants for various crimes committed by Gaddafi. Ocampo indicated that there is strong evidence of Gaddafi’s involvement [...]
Journalism rights group Reporters without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday released its annual list of predators of press freedom , which included the heads of state of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The list is composed of 38 world leaders and organizations, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad , Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [...]
Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi was released from jail Tuesday, nearly four months after his January arrest. Al-Turabi was jailed for calling on the Sudanese people to start a popular uprising, similar to Tunisia . Al-Turabi, the Islamist leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP), said that he was not interrogated or made aware of [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin G. Davis, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law, answers a few questions about Osama Bin Laden’s death and discusses what it might mean in terms of foreign affairs and domestic attitudes towards torture… We have learned that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. Was [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in MBZ v. Clinton to determine whether the political question doctrine deprives a federal court of jurisdiction to enforce a federal statute that explicitly directs the secretary of state how to record the birthplace of an American citizen on a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and on [...]
Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court on Monday, shortly before he was to begin a seven-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault . The 300-page appeal includes requests that Katsav’s prison term be postponed until after his appeal as well as for the court to show “special consideration” in [...]
An amendment to Chinese law abolishing the death penalty for 13 crimes passed in February by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) went into effect on Sunday. The list of crimes for which the death penalty was abolished include non-violent and economic crimes such as tax fraud; financial fraud; smuggling of precious [...]
US President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that earlier in the day a small team of US military personnel attacked a compound in which al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been hiding, killing Bin Laden and taking possession of his body. Bin Laden had topped the US list of Most Wanted Terrorists and is [...]
