A criminal court in Thailand issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on charges of terrorism. Thaksin is accused of involvement in the the recent political violence in Bangkok, which left more than 80 dead and more than 1,000 injured. Thaksin has been seen as the figurehead of the pro-democracy [...]
The Obama administration on Monday backed a proposal that would prevent a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy from taking effect until the completion of a comprehensive review of the repeal's effects. The amendment to the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 would prevent the repeal from taking effect until the Department [...]
The Netherlands District Court of Rotterdam on Tuesday commenced the first European trial of Somali pirates under charges of "sea robbery" for hijacking a cargo ship registered in the Netherlands Antilles. The five accused Somali pirates were arrested last year during an attempt to forcibly board the cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden after [...]
Former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Monday testified that former president Vladimir Putin ordered the arrest of former oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky for political reasons. Testifying before the Khamovnichesky District Court, Kasyanov stated that after questioning Putin on the subject several times, he finally indicated that Khodorkovsky had funded the Communist Party without first [...]
Several international human rights and jurist organizations on Monday petitioned the UN to support Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon in his inquiry into human rights violations during the Spanish Civil War and to ask Spain to end his criminal prosecution. Garzon was suspended last week by the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) for abusing [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Curtis Doebbler, professor of law at An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine, says that climate change will ravage the African continent if its leaders do not urgently assert their peoples’ rights… Africa is the richest continent in the world, but you would not know it if you visited the home of the [...]
M. Patrick Yingling, Pitt Law '11, recently studied at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany, and is currently studying at the University of Bologna in Italy… Europe and the United States share many legal principles. But they differ as regards notions of privacy and free speech. While European media outlets have been prohibited from publishing [...]
A Kenyan constitutional court ruled Monday that inclusion of Islamic "Kadhi" courts in the nation's current constitution is illegal and discriminatory. The Kadhi court system, which elevates Islam over the country's other religions, was deemed unconstitutional because it does not coincide with Kenya's secular mandate. The court also held that supporting Kadhi courts with public [...]
US President Barack Obama sent legislation to Congress on Monday that would give the president the ability to force Congress to vote on a repeal of spending provisions once they have been signed into law. Under the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010, the president would have 45 days after signing spending legislation into law [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled unanimously in Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. that fee claimants filing lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) are not required to be a "prevailing party" in order to be eligible for an attorney's fees award under 29 USC s. 1132(g)(1) . The fee-shifting [...]
