A Malawi court on Saturday barred former president Bakili Muluzi from participating in the upcoming election. The court held that the Malawi Constitution prohibits Muluzi from running for office after serving two consecutive five-year terms beginning in 1994. Article 83 of the Malawi Constitution provides that the president, vice president and second vice president "may [...]
Canadian Attorney General Rob Nicholson introduced legislation Friday into the Canadian House of Commons to amend the Identification of Criminals Act . If the proposed amendment passes, it would provide for the fingerprinting of those arrested but not yet charged as well as other changes in response to the evolving needs of the Canadian criminal [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Friday denied the petition of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (D) and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy for an en banc rehearing of their convictions on charges of corruption. The petitioners cited as grounds for rehearing the court's alleged misinterpretation of 18 USC § 1512(b)(3) [...]
The government of Myanmar has disbarred a lawyer who sought to represent jailed democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi in her upcoming trial. The government cited Aung Thein's previous four-month jail term for contempt of court as the reason for the disbarment. Aung Thein was jailed for allowing his clients, student activists and members of [...]
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Leon Panetta on Friday defended information the CIA gave to Congress on the use of interrogation techniques during the Bush administration. In response to statements made by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) , in which she claimed to have been misled by the CIA, and the [...]
Texas Border Coalition v. Napolitano, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, May 15, 2009 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on the US government to make "fundamental changes to reduce civilian casualties" in Afghanistan after attacks last week reportedly left more than 140 civilians dead. HRW said that a review announced by chief of the US Central Command General David Petraeus must result in "measures that genuinely minimize [...]
US officials said Friday that Algerian Guantanamo Bay detainee Lakhdar Boumediene has been released and sent to France . Boumediene was the named plaintiff in the US Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush , in which the Court held that Guantanamo detainees could challenge their imprisonment in federal court through the use of habeas corpus [...]
US President Barack Obama announced Friday that he is reinstating the controversial military commission system to try some Guantanamo Bay detainees. Obama said that there will be changes to the system to increase defendants' rights, including barring statements obtained under harsh interrogation methods and making it more difficult to introduce hearsay evidence. The administration will [...]
CACI International, Inc., et al. v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, May 14, 2009 . Read the full text of the decision . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
