A fact finding team for human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on Monday accused Israel of war crimes , citing the use of white phosphorous in the midst of a dense civilian population. White phosphorous is a highly explosive substance that can burn into human skin and muscle and can cause serious wounds as well [...]
Delivering his inaugural address Tuesday in Washington DC shortly after taking the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama insisted that his administration would pursue US national interests without sacrificing basic legal principles enshrined in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Taking an apparent swipe at some of [...]
Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr admitted throwing a hand grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, according to the pre-trial testimony Monday of an American intelligence official. The official, identified as Interrogator 11, said Khadr expressed pride in learning he had caused the death of an American. Khadr's attorneys contend there are photographs and [...]
In one of his final acts as President of the United States, George W. Bush on Monday commuted the sentences of two former border patrol agents convicted of the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. The two former agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos , are expected to be released from prison in March. [...]
The US District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment on Monday in favor of Vice President Dick Cheney , giving Cheney broad discretion over which vice presidential records should be preserved. The lawsuit, initiated by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against Cheney and the Executive Office of the President [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor David Crane of Syracuse University College of Law, former Chief Prosecutor for the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, says that following a period when the United States on the world stage was like a blinded giant swinging a bludgeon in all directions with little thought, it is high time for the [...]
Prominent Russian human rights lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, was shot dead by a masked gunman in Moscow on Monday. Markelov, known for his work on high profile human rights cases including representing journalist Anna Politkovskaya , was protesting the early release of Colonel Yuri Budanov . Anastasia Baburova, a journalist covering Markelov for the Russian newspaper [...]
Jonathan Tracy : "Several reports, including the recent Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody , confirm that U.S. agents committed or tolerated abuses. Further, the evidence indicates that since September 11, 2001, violations of U.S. law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law have been approved by [...]
Pre-trial hearings for five men detained at Guantanamo Bay as 9/11 conspirators proceeded on Monday despite the Pentagon's chief prosecutor's earlier request that they be delayed. Army Colonel Stephen Henley , the presiding judge, questioned Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Wallid bin Attash, Mustapha al-Hawsawi and Ramzi bin al-Shibh regarding their requests [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Monday ruled that the United States violated the court's March 2004 order when the state of Texas executed José Ernesto Medellin Rojas in August last year. The ICJ held in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America) that the US had breached its obligations under [...]
