Strict French anti-terrorism laws violate European and international human rights standards, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) Wednesday. In particular, the report criticized a French law criminalizing "association in relation to a terrorist undertaking," which HRW says allows prosecutors and law enforcement officials to detain terrorism suspects without cause and undermine [...]
Disagreements between the United States and Iraq are still blocking a permanent Status of Forces Agreement regarding the role of American troops in Iraq and could delay a deal past the expiration of the UN mandate for coalition forces in Iraq at the end of the year, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari indicated Wednesday. Last [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Islamic charity that alleged it was the subject of an illegal wiretap by the National Security Agency (NSA) . The government argued that the NSA did not need to obtain a court order before eavesdropping [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protected an anti-abortion group's right to display graphic pictures of early-term aborted fetuses outside of a California middle school. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBER) , a pro-life advocacy group, filed a lawsuit in federal court in 2003 against the [...]
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Thursday struck down the war crime conviction of former senior Bosnian Muslim military commander Naser Oric . In June 2006, Oric was convicted of war crimes for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serb prisoners in Srebrenica by military [...]
The Supreme Court of Panama has declared unconstitutional 183 pardons issued in 2004 by then-outgoing president Mireya Moscoso . Among the pardoned had been four Cubans – including Luis Posada Carriles – charged with a 2000 assassination attempt against then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and 87 journalists charged with libel or defamation. The high court judges [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday that it had mistakenly failed to brief the Supreme Court on the existence of a military law allowing capital punishment for child rape before the court decided the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana . In Kennedy, the court held 5-4 that a death sentence constitutes cruel and [...]
The US Department of Defense (DOD) announced Wednesday that it will transfer two Guantanamo detainees to Algeria. The unnamed individuals are among the more than 65 Guantanamo detainees that government officials have declared eligible for transfer. About 265 detainees remain at the base. Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz indicated in March that officials from his [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Wednesday reversed a district court ruling and found that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may qualify as a disability under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 . The plaintiff in the case, Martin Desmond, alleged that he was forced to resign from the FBI New Agent [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Wednesday ordered the release of Congolese ex-militia leader Thomas Lubanga after finding that past prosecutorial misconduct would prevent him from having a fair trial. The release order will go into effect in five days, barring an appeal by prosecutors and assuming the completion of transfer arrangements with a "state that [...]
