Manuel Alvarez-Rivera : "When voters in Spain's Basque Country go to the polls next March 1st to elect members of the self-governing community's 75-seat regional parliament, they will have a choice of fifteen parties taking part in the contest. However, for the first time since the region regained its devolved government in 1979-80, following the [...]
Counterterrorism policies adopted by countries around the world since 2001 pose a "serious threat to the integrity of the international human rights legal framework," according to a report issued Monday by a special panel of human rights experts convened by the International Commission of Jurists . The panel, Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and [...]
The French Council of State , France's highest court, ruled Monday that the French government bore responsibility for deporting Jews during World War II, while denying further reparations for individuals. The council was asked by the Paris administrative court to issue an advisory opinion in the case of a Holocaust victim's daughter who was seeking [...]
Criminal proceedings against Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer general and cabinet member-designate Roy Bennett were delayed Monday, as members of his party continued to protest his arrest . According to the MDC, Bennett faces charges under Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act for "attempting to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage." Bennett, who [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday granted in part the prosecution's motion to amend the indictment against former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic . Karadzic is now charged with two counts of genocide instead of one, with the first count referring to the crimes committed in [...]
UK resident and Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed was found by British authorities on Sunday to be healthy enough to return to the UK if the US government acquiesces to the request for his release. A group sent to the prison by UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) , which included a doctor, worked with [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that the Russian government was guilty of infringing on US missionary Patrick Nolan's religious freedoms and other human rights by expelling him from the country in 2002 under national security pretenses. The court found that the government violated Article 38 § 1 of the European [...]
Venezuelan voters approved a constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits in a national referendum Sunday. President of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Tibisay Lucena reported that the amendment passed with 54.36 percent of the vote and went on to congratulate Venezuelans on the high voter turnout and orderliness of the voting. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [...]
An appeals court in Afghanistan on Sunday upheld a lower court's decision to sentence two men convicted of translating the Koran to 20 years in prison. The three-judge panel ruled that the men were guilty of modifying the Koran, but did not issue the maximum punishment of death. Muslim clerics viewed the free distribution of [...]
Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party treasurer general Roy Bennett has been indicted on terrorism and other charges, a lawyer for Bennett said Sunday. Bennett, who was scheduled to be sworn in as deputy agriculture minister in the country's new coalition government last week, is accused of funding the purchase of fire arms and [...]
