Former UK shadow Home Secretary David Davis , who resigned his parliamentary position in protest over an anti-terror bill in June, won a forced by-election Friday with almost 72% of the vote. In his acceptance speech , Davis promised to stand for civil liberties and oppose what he termed "draconian" security measures: Today, the people [...]
Arab activist Sami Al-Arian was granted bail Thursday by a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia , but it is speculated that he might be detained by immigration officials upon release. The former University of South Florida (USF) computer science professor allegedly provided supported to terrorist organizations. Judge Leonie [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against leaders of the US intelligence community on Thursday, acting on behalf of rights groups and activists. Filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the action challenges the constitutionality of the newly-amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) . President George [...]
The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled . Thursday that Virginia's method of execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Virginia death row inmate Christopher Scott Emmett had challenged the procedure, arguing that there is an unacceptable risk that the drugs used in the lethal [...]
The US and coalition forces have released more than 9,000 detainees in Iraq already this year, more than were released in all of 2007, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) . The MNF-I reported that 9,047 detainees had been released in the year to date, while 8,956 were released in [...]
Former White House advisor Karl Rove Wednesday refused to testify before a scheduled Thursday hearing of the US House Judiciary Committee in defiance of a subpoena. In May, the committee subpoenaed Rove to testify concerning any involvement in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on federal corruption charges in 2005. Rove Wednesday sent [...]
South Korean prosecutors indicted two former naval officers on charges of stealing state secrets Thursday. The two men, now working for German submarine manufacturer Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft , allegedly obtained classified documents about South Korea's submarine program from a navy captain, who is also under investigation. AFP has more. Cases involving the alleged theft of state [...]
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) reached a settlement Thursday with nine Iraqi men who say they were tortured while detained by British troops in Basra in 2003. A MOD spokesman said the military had agreed to pay £2.83 million in compensation, as well as issue an apology and an admission of liability. The family [...]
Marc Rotenberg : "The Senate's vote reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of FISA. The law was enacted to make clear the circumstances under whichtelephone companies could be required by the government to turn over customer records in foreign intelligence investigations. The law anticipated not only routine exigencies but also the circumstances under which [...]
The district court of The Hague ruled Thursday that it does not have jurisdiction to hear a case against the UN for its alleged failure to protect civilians during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre . Srebrenica survivors who filed the lawsuit alleged that both the Netherlands and the UN were liable for their failure to protect [...]
