The trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday ordered the suspension of the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for six weeks beginning after witness testimonies already scheduled for March. The postponement allows Karadzic to review 32,000 pages and 200 hours of video material that the [...]
A Nashville judge ended a four-month moratorium on executions Wednesday, declaring Tennessee’s modified method of lethal injection constitutional. In November, Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled that the state’s method of lethal injection violated the Eighth Amendment after lawyers for death row inmate Stephen Michael West revealed evidence to the court that inmates were awake [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday sentenced Somali pirate Abduwali Muse to 34 years in prison for the 2009 hijacking of the vessel Maersk Alabama. Muse had originally pleaded guilty in May to hijacking, kidnapping and taking hostages in the matter. Muse has claimed to [...]
The US Senate on Tuesday voted 86 to 12 to extend three surveillance provisions of the USA Patriot Act through May 27. The measures were set to expire on February 28. The provisions extended include roving wiretaps, “lone wolf” terrorism suspects and the government’s ability to seize “any tangible items” in the course of surveillance. [...]
District Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted a motion to amend petitions for writs of habeas corpus on Tuesday for four detainees held at Bagram Air Force Base (Bagram) . Bates’ ruling granted the amended petition on the basis of new evidence offered by the [...]
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador on Wednesday certified a slate of constitutional reforms submitted by President Rafael Correa . The court amended without explanation two of the 10 referendum questions that Correa offered last month, but otherwise authorized the proposals to proceed to the Electoral Council for approval. The proposed reforms would alter the way [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay voiced Wednesday the need for Bahrain to respect the rights of demonstrators. The announcement came after a news release Tuesday by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reporting that two peaceful protesters were killed earlier this week in Bahrain. Pillay stated that “authorities [...]
The appeals chamber of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on Wednesday issued a unanimous ruling on several procedural issues, including the definition of terrorism, in judicial proceedings relating to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri . The STL began debate on the issue earlier this month in order to determine [...]
Indiana’s House of Representatives on Tuesday approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that would ban same-sex marriages and civil unions and prohibit government recognition of those performed in other states. The proposed amendment, which passed by a margin of 70-26 , reads: “Only a marriage between one (1) man and one (1) woman shall [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s decision to grant habeas corpus to Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Saeed Hatim, blocking his release. In a per curiam opinion, the judges stated that the lower court’s decision was inconsistent with current laws on detainees, and that, since [...]
