Associated Press v. US Department of Defense, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, January 5, 2009 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian on Monday appealed a Taiwan High Court order that he be detained while awaiting his trial on corruption charges . The court made the decision last week, overruling a district court decision , citing risks of flight, collusion, and interference with other witnesses. Lawyers for Chen said the decision was politically motivated , and [...]

Pakistani officials Saturday announced the re-capture of high-level Taliban operative Ustad Mohammed Yasir in the northern city of Peshawar near the Afghan border. Yasir served as senior aide and spokesman to Taliban leader Mullah Omar . He was first arrested in 2005 by Pakistani officials and handed over to Afghanistan, but was released in a [...]

South Korea's minority Democratic Party filed a criminal suit Sunday after Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o on Saturday ordered security guards to end a sit-in by the minority party, which led to dozens of injuries. Democratic Party officials allege abuse of power by the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and filed suit against Kim, Chief of [...]

Australian acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Saturday officially announced Australia's rejection of a US request to accept foreign Guantanamo detainees. This was the second request by the Bush administration regarding Australia's acceptance of prisoners of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and came in response President-elect Barack Obama's vow to close the prison. The first [...]

Imprisoned Zimbabwe human rights activist and head of Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) Jestina Mukoko has allegedly been tortured and forced by prison officials to ingest drugs, according to a report in South Africa's Sunday Independent. The torture and poisoning has allegedly taken place in Mukoko's solitary confinement cell at Chikurubi Maximum Security prison where she [...]

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Friday signed a controversial media bill into law that gives power to a communication commission to regulate broadcasting with threats of fines or incarceration. The Communications Amendment Bill of 2008 allows the minister of information to control aspects of broadcast content. Kibaki stated that his assent to the bill was [...]

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) on Friday charged Captain Robert Semrau with second-degree murder in the killing of an Afghan citizen. Semrau is specifically charged under the National Defense Act with shooting, with the intent to kill, an unarmed Afghan male in the Helmand province of Afghanistan in October. Semrau was stationed with [...]

A Zimbabwe judge ruled Friday that Zimbabwe Peace Project leader Jestina Mukoko and 31 other activists charged with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe must remain in jail over the weekend. High Court Judge Alphias Chitakunye denied a motion for the activists' immediate release, and held that they must remain in custody until they appear [...]

Human rights group Amnesty International USA on Friday accused the US of insufficiently responding to the Gaza crisis in a letter sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice . The letter claimed that the US response has been "lopsided," and urged Rice to push all parties to an immediate cease-fire: Amnesty International USA is particularly [...]