US blogger and attorney Gopalan Nair appeared in the Singaporean Supreme Court Monday and pleaded not guilty to insulting a public servant. Nair is on trial for accusing a judge of "prostituting herself" in a defamation case brought by former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew against the Singapore Democratic Party. Under a provision of [...]
A French judge on Monday ordered the Spiritual Association of the Church of Scientology (ASES – Celebrity Centre) to appear before the Paris Magistrates Court to face criminal charges. ASES has been unsuccessfully prosecuted in French courts before, and it along with an affiliated bookstore and seven church members must now defend against charges of [...]
JURIST Special Guest Columnists Nancy Wohlforth and Fred Mason, Co-Convenors of U.S. Labor Against the War, say that the proposed Iraqi oil law would put effective control of most of Iraq’s vast oil resources into the hands of foreign companies and make a mockery of any real Iraqi sovereignty… President Bush says the Iraq war [...]
The Israeli cabinet on Sunday voted 13-11 in support of a bill to restrict the ability of the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn laws passed by the Knesset and granting the Knesset authority to revise laws overturned by the court. The controversial measure, proposed last year by Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann , would provide [...]
Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Saturday on state television plans to send a bill to the Bolivian National Congress seeking approval of a national referendum on proposed reforms to the country's constitution . The move comes days after the Morales administration refused to recognize a National Electoral Court (CNE) decision suspending the constitutional referendum, stating [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has issued a temporary stay delaying the enforcement of a district court ruling compelling the testimony of former White House Counsel and US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers before the House Judiciary Committee in connection with the US Attorneys firing scandal . The Thursday stay, which [...]
Pakistani national and provincial legislators on Saturday elected Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari as president. Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , defeated two other candidates, including retired chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, put forward by Nawaz Sharif , leader of the PPP's former coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [...]
Sarah Lazare : "Robin Long's refusal to fight in the illegal and immoral war against Iraq was a courageous act, and it is regretful that soldiers in his position do not have avenues for resisting service that do not land them in jail. The Canadian government's decision to deport Long into U.S. military custody was [...]
Three judges ousted from the Pakistani Supreme Court by former President Pervez Musharraf took new oaths on Friday. Justices Mian Shakirullah Jan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Syed Jamshed Ali rejoined the court with seniority retroactive to their removal in November. Speaking after the swearing-in ceremony, Law Minister Farooq Naek again ruled out the reinstatement of [...]
A spokesman for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Friday that the Polish government is investigating claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated a secret prison in Poland. The prison was reportedly part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, under which terrorism suspects were seized and flown to secret locations outside the US [...]
