A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerian Guantanamo Bay detainees. In the first ruling on detainees' rights since the June Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush , Judge Richard Leon decided that the government's evidence was insufficient to persuade him that [...]
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has been ordered to stand trial for "complicity in slanderous denunciation" in connection with the a long-running political scandal know as the Clearstream Affair . De Villepin is accused of having orchestrated the release of a fabricated list of government officials and business people who profited from illegal [...]
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg released a report Thursday saying that "French detention and immigration policies risk reducing human rights protection." laying out the findings of his visit to France in May, Hammarberg expressed specific concern with overcrowding and poor conditions in detention facilities already noted in a February memo , [...]
Media reports that Clinton-era Deputy US Attorney General Eric Holder has been selected for nomination to the position of US Attorney General by President-elect Barack Obama prompted the the Republican National Committee (RNC) to circulate an e-mail Wednesday criticizing Holder for his role in the 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich . The email, [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday filed a government motion asking a federal judge to review the procedure for handling appeals by detainees being held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay . The DOJ claims that the current rules, as established by US District Court for the District of Columbia Chief [...]
Lakhdar Boumediene, et al., v. George W. Bush, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, November 20, 2008 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
US Army prosecutors said Wednesday they would be filing new charges against Mohammad al-Qahtani , a Saudi Arabian citizen being held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay . Al-Qahtani is known as the "20th hijacker" for his alleged role in the 9/11 attacks . This will be the second time the Department of [...]
The UK House of Commons on Tuesday gave final approval to the Climate Change Bill , which requires the country to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050. The bill, heralded as the first binding legislation of its kind, also provides for the creation of a Committee on Climate Change [...]
The Supreme Court of California on Wednesday agreed to hear challenges to Proposition 8 , the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, while refusing a petition to stay its enforcement. The court will begin hearing arguments in March to determine whether Proposition 8 violates the state constitution and, if not, [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Wednesday upheld a grant of summary judgment for the plaintiff by the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island in an action seeking the return of a painting confiscated from a Jewish art gallery owner in Germany immediately prior to the Holocaust . [...]
