A US district court judge Thursday released two US Marines who had previously been jailed for refusing to testify about the deaths of Iraqi detainees during the November 2004 offensive in Fallujah . Marine Corps Sgt. Ryan G. Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson were held in contempt of court in June and May, respectively, after [...]
Officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told journalists Thursday that the trial of Congolese ex-militia leader Thomas Lubanga would proceed as planned after evidentiary problems which had threatened the case were settled, according to AFP. Late last month, the ICC imposed an indefinite stay on Lubanga's war crimes trial after it found that the [...]
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Thursday that the administration is still working to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center , but suggested that a recent US Supreme Court decision could lead to the release of "dangerous detainees" into the US. The Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush last month that "enemy combatants" have [...]
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said Thursday that there may be applications of Sharia law in the British legal system during a speech at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre . Phillips' comments were in support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , who controversially [...]
US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad submitted a draft resolution in the UN Security Council Thursday calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe's newly reinstalled president Robert Mugabe and eleven of his government and security aides. The sanctions are said to include an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, and travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe [...]
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the Mongolian government to "exercise the utmost restraint" in dealing with protests of the country's recent parliamentary elections. President Nambar Enkhbayar on Tuesday instituted a four-day state of emergency following protests in which at least five have been killed and more than 700 [...]
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Thursday blasted a proposed plan that would allow Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents to consider a person's race, religion, or ethnicity in deciding whether to open a terrorism investigation. CAIR decried the plan as "unconstitutional and un-American," saying that it could allow security agents to target Muslims and [...]
Yemeni officials met with a visiting US delegation Thursday to discuss the possible transfer of Yemeni detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay . A major impediment to the negotiated release and repatriation of Yemeni detainees – who make up the largest single group of nationals at the prison – has been concern that they might [...]
The US District Court for the District of Columbia Wednesday chose Judge Thomas Hogan to preside over the habeas corpus appeals of Guantanamo Bay detainees seeking to challenge their detention in federal court under the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Boumediene v. Bush. Hogan will rule on procedural issues common to all cases. Also on [...]
Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan strongly criticized the Bush administration's Pakistan policy during a visit to the US this past week, arguing that its refusal to condemn President Pervez Musharraf's November 2007 declaration of emergency law and his concomitant ouster of superior court judges is harming relations between the countries. On Tuesday, [...]
