Richard Dieter : "The United States is often rightly seen as a world leader in human rights. But we have become increasingly isolated from the international community in one respect – our persistent use of the death penalty. The worldwide trend is clearly away from capital punishment. The United Nations, a recent World Congress in [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Samantar v. Yousuf on whether a foreign state's immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act extends to an individual acting in an official capacity on behalf of the foreign state. The plaintiffs allege that former Somali defense minister and prime minister Mohamed Ali Samantar committed acts [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Wednesday submitted to ICC judges the names of 20 senior political and business leaders who “bear the gravest responsibility” for the deadly violence perpetrated after Kenya’s 2007 presidential election . According to Moreno-Ocampo, the 20 officials, whose names are confidential, organized and financed the post-election attacks [...]
An Iranian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for a 20-year-old student who took part in anti-government protests in December. Mohammad Amin Valian was convicted of Moharebeh, which means waging war against God and is punishable by death under Iranian law. At trial, Vilian testified that he threw stones at the security officers [...]
Former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Wednesday criticized Russia's justice system as an "assembly line" that inevitably finds the government's political enemies to be guilty. In an article published in the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta , Khodorkovsky warned that the current system must be reformed before change occurs "in Russia's traditional way," with violence. The [...]
The Spanish National Court on Tuesday sentenced a former Basque separatist party leader to two years in prison for promoting terrorism. The court found that comments made during a 2005 speech by Arnaldo Otegi, a former leader of Batasuna , the political wing of ETA , praised the terrorist acts committed by other ETA members. [...]
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna filed a motion with the state Supreme Court Tuesday announcing the adoption of a single-drug execution method. The state had previously used a three-drug cocktail to lethally inject those sentenced to be executed. The change comes as three death row inmates are challenging Washington's previous execution method that included the [...]
A court in East Timor on Wednesday sentenced 24 individuals for the attempted assassination of the country's president and prime minister in 2008. The individuals, former government and military officials displaced after civil unrest resulted in a change in government in 2006, had been accused of attacking President Jose Ramos-Horta at his home in the [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency appeal to prevent Washington DC's same-sex marriage law from taking effect. Chief Justice John Roberts, acting as circuit justice for the DC area, denied an application requesting a stay pending further review of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 . The [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Don Rothwell of Australian National University College of Law says that in the context of unpromising diplomatic negotiations between Japan and Australia with regard to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean area, the Australian government will likely be left with no choice but to file suit against Japan in the International Court [...]
