UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to reinstate dismissed judges and lift media restrictions imposed after Iloilo suspended the country's constitution. Pillay said that the 5-year interim government declared by Iloilo and the reappointment of Commodore Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama were improper uses of emergency [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the Pakistani government to reverse a recently signed ordinance that imposes Islamic Sharia law in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) area of Swat, saying it poses a "grave threat" to human rights by putting the Taliban and its affiliates in administrative control. HRW said that the Nizam-e-Adl [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that America needs to renew its commitment to the rule of law in fighting international terrorism and protecting national security. In an address to the West Point Center for the Rule of Law , Holder praised lawyers from the Judge Advocate General Corp defending detainees at Guantanamo Bay [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that it has limited electronic surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) . The annoucement comes after the NSA was found to have exceeded its legal authority in reviewing private communication between US citizens. The DOJ said that it has taken "comprehensive steps" toward eliminating the [...]
The Washington State House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 62-35 to approve a bill granting same-sex couples the same rights and benefits of married couples in the state. The law effectively construes statutory gender specific terms such as "husband" and "wife" to be gender neutral, making them applicable to individuals in same-sex domestic partnerships, but stops [...]
Israel will not comply with a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation into possible war crimes that were committed during recent fighting in the Gaza Strip , according to Wednesday statements by Israeli government officials. The probe was originally approved by the UNHRC in January, which recently appointed South African judge Richard Goldstone to head the [...]
Venezuela will renew calls for the US to extradite anti-Castro Cuban exile and Venezuelan national Luis Posada Carriles following a new indictment ordering Posada to stand trial in Texas, Venezuelan lawyer Jose Pertierra said Wednesday. Posada, who is wanted by both Venezuela and Cuba for his alleged involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban [...]
US Army Master Sgt. John Hatley was convicted of murder and conspiracy in court-martial proceedings Wednesday for the killing of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners in 2007 and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Hatley was acquitted of obstruction of justice and also of murder for the separate death of a seriously wounded Iraqi [...]
A judge in India on Wednesday removed the defense lawyer from the trial of an accused gunman in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks , citing a conflict of interest. Judge M.L. Tahiliyani said Anjali Waghmare could not represent Ajmal Kasab in the special court trial because she had agreed to represent a victim of [...]
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Wednesday appointed former federal prosecutor Alan Bersin as assistant secretary for international affairs and special representative for border affairs to oversee illegal immigration and anti-crime efforts along the country's borders. Bersin's duties will include improving relationships with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and international, state, and [...]
