The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sunday denied entry to and deported the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk . Falk was attempting to enter Israel in his official capacity for the first time since assuming his position in May. As special rapporteur, Falk [...]
Former Illinois Governor George Ryan on Friday issued his first public apology for the crimes that resulted in his imprisonment. Ryan's apology comes in the wake of last week's arrest of current Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges. In a letter that will be added to his clemency petition filed recently with the White House, [...]
The Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) is inefficient and ineffective, with detainees waiting months or years for trials that do not meet international fair trial standards, according to a report released Sunday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . The report, titled "The Quality of Justice: Failings of Iraq's Central Criminal Court," alleges that the [...]
US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Sunday told the BBC that before closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay , President-elect Barack Obama must have a plan for dealing with the detainees. In an appearance on The Andrew Marr Show, Chertoff said that there must be a system in place for determining whether [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Maria Alvanou of the Hellenic Police Officers Academy says that the riots that followed the recent police shooting of a Greek teenager in a troubled district of Athens highlight major problems facing Greek police forces and the need for tougher legislation and implementation of laws against police brutality and abuses… On [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Peter Margulies of Roger Williams University School of Law says that the cases of Arar v. Ashcroft, heard en banc by the Second Circuit last Tuesday, and Iqbal v. Ashcroft, argued before the US Supreme Court last Wednesday, reveal major flaws in the policies of the Bush administration but provide a valuable [...]
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday voted down a challenge to the constitutionality of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar's appointment, as Pakistani Law Minister Farooq H. Naek defended Dogar as the lawful chief justice. The PBC unanimously adopted a measure denouncing as illegal the November 2007 declaration of emergency rule by then-Pakistan president Pervez [...]
Rape and sexual warfare have been employed by the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as by rebel groups, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report released Friday. The report, based on an AI research mission to North Kivu , said that army units engaged in looting, killing, and rape [...]
The Russian Duma Friday approved by 355-85 a bill that would end jury trials on charges of terrorism and treason . Ostensibly directed against lenient juries , the bill is excepted to be quickly approved in the Federation Council , the upper house of the Russian parliament. The measure may have only limited effect given [...]
Richard C. Dieter : "Death penalty cases are taking longer to resolve. In 2007, the average time between sentencing and execution was 12.7 years, the third year in a row in which the time was over 12 years. Many cases, like Cone v. Bell, which was recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, take much [...]
