The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday unsealed indictments for five Blackwater USA guards involved in the September 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians . The 35-count indictment, which was returned under seal last Thursday, charges each defendant with 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter, and one count [...]
Pakistani police on Sunday night raided a militant camp and arrested the alleged plotters of the Mumbai terror attacks . Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi , head of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) , was arrested, along with several other individuals believed to be responsible for the November attacks that left more than 170 dead. Lakhvi was [...]
Five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , the self proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks , indicated at a military commission pre-trial hearing on Monday that they wished to plead guilty to the charges against them. The judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley , read a letter from the defendants out loud in court [...]
A judge in the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong ruled on Monday that inmates have a constitutional right to vote while serving sentences. The court's decision stipulates that the justice department and the electoral commission must find a way to implement it within 14 days. A spokesman from the [...]
Human rights conditions are worsening in 12 Arab nations, according to a report published Friday by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) . The publication, which is the group's first annual report , is titled "From Exporting Terrorism to Exporting Repression," and was released to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal [...]
The Dong Da district court in Vietnam on Monday convicted eight Catholics of disturbing public order and destroying property during protests over disputed land, but gave them light sentences, letting them all go free. Seven defendants received suspended sentences of 12-15 months , and the remaining defendant received a warning. The defendants, who denied all [...]
An Iranian court has sentenced 16 former employees of the Central Bank of Iran to jail and lashes for accepting bribes. According to an Iranian state radio broadcast , the staff members were convicted of accepting cash, foreign currency, and gold in exchange for bank credit. The harsh sentences, including a reported 10 years of [...]
Leyla Zana , a Kurdish spokesperson and member of the European Union Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) , was sentenced Saturday to 10 years in prison for supporting the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) . A Turkish court in the city of Diyarbakir ruled that Zana had violated article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code and anti-terror [...]
David Raynes : "Observing from the US, what is happening in relation to drugs policy in Europe must seem truly confusing. Lurid headlines "Swiss legalise Heroin" or similar are half-truths. The reality is different. Prescribing heroin for the most chaotic addicts is nothing new, nor was it invented in Switzerland or the Netherlands, though both [...]
The Montana First Judicial District ruled Friday that terminally ill patients in the state have the right to commit physician-assisted suicide. The case, Baxter v. Montana was brought by a number of terminally-ill Montanans, their doctors, and Compassion & Choices , an organization supporting the legalization of physician assisted suicide. In their complaint, the plaintiffs [...]
