An Iranian court sentenced one person to death and eight others to prison on Tuesday for their involvement in protests last December. The men were arrested for participating in protests that interrupted the Shia Muslim celebration of Ashura. The unidentified man sentenced to death becomes the twelfth person to receive capital punishment for involvement in [...]
Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan will assume the role of president after the parliament voted on Tuesday for him to take over for ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua . Jonathan reluctantly accepted the presidency under the circumstances and asked for the country to pray for Yar'Adua as he continues to battle a heart condition. The parliament's [...]
Former Intel Capital executive Rajiv Goel pleaded guilty to insider trading charges on Monday in connection with the probe surrounding Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and former hedge fund consultant Danielle Chiesi. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York alleged that: From 2007 through 2009, Goel and Rajaratnam (who [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will consider a petition from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) calling for an investigation into recent violence in Jos, Nigeria, according to a response letter sent to SERAP Monday. SERAP lawyer Femi Falana welcomed the ICC's response, saying: This is an important decision; we look forward to the [...]
The Philippine Department of Justice (PDOJ) on Tuesday charged 197 people with murder in connection with the November massacre in the semi-autonomous Maguindanao province that left 57 dead. Among those charged is Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former political ally to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo , head of a Muslim clan, and former governor of Maguindanao province. [...]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament on Tuesday and called for early parliamentary elections. The country's parliamentary elections could now be conducted as early as April 8, with the new parliament convening as early as April 22. It is believed that Rajapaksa is trying to harness momentum from the presidential election in January, in [...]
Billy Corriher : "Attorney General Eric Holder is standing firm on the decision to try Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the attempted Christmas Day bomber, in a criminal trial. Some senators critical of the decision not to use military tribunals have gone so far as to introduce legislation to block funding for civilian trials for terrorism suspects. [...]
The government of Bahrain has reverted to using torture to gain confessions from detainees after a decade of reform banning such practices, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW conducted interviews with 20 former detainees who claimed that they had suffered torture and ill-treatment as early as 2007. The [...]
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the country's five-year-old social welfare benefit law is unconstitutional. The benefit, known as Hartz IV, merges unemployment and social assistance programs and is only granted where individuals do not have sufficient means, income, or property of their own. Under the current structure, the standard benefit for single adults [...]
The African Union (AU) on Monday called for a hybrid court of Sudanese and foreign judges to hear trials of individuals accused of war crimes in Darfur . The AU Implementation Panel, led by former South African president Thabo Mbeki , renewed its request for the combined court a week after the International Criminal Court [...]
