Afghanistan's human rights progress has been thwarted by armed conflict, censorship, abuse of power, and violence against women, according to a report delivered Thursday to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay . The report says that addressing these problems requires addressing poverty, and that the Afghan [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Connecticut on Thursday reversed a former Navy signalman's conviction for material support of terrorism. Judge Mark Kravitz set aside the conviction of Hassan Abu-Jihaad, finding that the facts of the case did not support the jury's determination that Abu-Jihaad had provided either "physical assets" [...]
A Singaporean member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group admitted his role in plotting the foiled 2001 attack of an Indonesian airport, while testifying at the trial of two Indonesian terrorist suspects in the South Jakarta District Court Thursday. Mohammad Hassan bin Saynudin said that in 2001, he and other JI operatives planned to [...]
Former White House advisor Karl Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers will provide testimony before the US House Judiciary Committee concerning the firing of US Attorneys , allegedly for political reasons, the committee announced Wednesday after reaching an agreement with Bush administration officials. The agreement between the previous administration and chairman of the [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that UK regulations permitting mandatory retirement policies for workers who reach the age of 65 do not violate an EU anti-discrimination law. The case was originally brought by the group Age Concern England , which argued that the UK regulations violate a European Commission directive that prohibits [...]
The Zimbabwe High Court ruled on Wednesday that the Southern Africa Development Community Tribunal (SADC Tribunal) is not superior to the courts of the individual SADC member countries, in a decision invalidating a SADC Tribunal ruling in favor of white Zimbabwe farmers whose lands were expropriated by a government land reform program. The case was [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Bruce Miller of Western New England College School of Law says that despite the Obama administration's intent to criminally charge Ali Al-Marri in a US court, his challenge to his detention as an "enemy combatant" continues to present a live case which the Supreme Court is obliged to adjudicate… On Friday, February [...]
The US is resuming active participation as an observer in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) , according to interim Charge d'Affaires to the US Mission in Geneva Mark Sorella in his address to the council Wednesday. Sorella said that the US is committed "to work alongside all those working in good faith to promote [...]
Italy formally agreed to abolish the death penalty for all purposes by ratifying Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights , the Council of Europe (COE) announced Tuesday. Italy is the 41st of the COE's 47 member states to adopt the provision, following France, which adopted it in 2007. The remaining six states [...]
Chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for the creation of a truth commission to investigate the national security policies of the George W. Bush administration at a hearing Wednesday. Leahy said a nonpartisan inquiry "could focus on the issues of national security and executive power in the government's counterterrorism efforts, [...]
