The Supreme Court of Thailand on Monday convicted ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of corruption charges related to a 2003 purchase of land by his wife Pojamarn Shinawatra from the government-controlled Financial Institutions Development Fund . Thaksin was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of power for using his position to secure a [...]

Jamal Kiyemba, Next Friend, et al., v. George W. Bush, President of the United States, et al., US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, October 20, 2008 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote in a report issued Monday that the Iranian government has made limited progress in some areas of human rights but that other areas such as basic freedoms, minority rights and the justice system still need to be improved. The report noted that there have been marked improvements in per capita [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Monday issued an order further delaying the release of 17 Uighur detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay as it set an expedited schedule for hearing an appeal by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) . A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to stay this [...]

Outgoing UK Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald warned Monday against the expansion of government power in gathering intelligence and prosecuting suspected terrorists. In a speech delivered in London Macdonald speculated that present decisions about how the government should use technology are likely to be permanent — an apparent reference to the proposed Communications Data [...]

US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) head Scott J. Bloch announced in a letter to President George W. Bush Monday that he will resign when his five-year term ends in January. Bloch could remain head of the OSC for one year after his term expires or until the Senate confirms his replacement, but the letter [...]

The German cabinet on Monday approved legal conditions that the government will impose on banks that receive financial assistance through the German financial rescue bill . The rescue bill , signed into law on October 17, will provide up to 400 billion euros to stabilize and revive the market through loan guarantees, up to 80 [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday appointed a special master to investigate and oversee a water rights case brought by Montana against Wyoming and North Dakota. Montana officials argued in February 2007 filings that Wyoming officials breached the 1950 Yellowstone River Compact by failing to keep consumption of water from the Tongue and Powder rivers [...]

Malcolm Nance : "On Friday the Department of Defense released news of a revision to the 2005 DoD directive regarding the interrogation of prisoners by a wide range of non-DoD agencies and persons. This recent change, promulgated by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England on October 9, represents what appears to be a sudden outbreak [...]

Bennett H. Klein : "The Kerrigan decision is significant as being the third judicial opinion in the country to rule that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates state constitutional provisions. After the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 Goodridge decision, there was almost a five year gap between the time that California in May [...]