Amnesty International Friday condemned Egypt for plans to deport approximately 1,200 detained Eritrean refugees despite the possibility that they may face torture in their home country. The group called for Egypt to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to communicate with the refugees to investigate their claims for asylum; UNHCR said that the [...]
A US District Court Judge Thursday ordered US Marine Corps Sgt. Ryan G. Weemer jailed for refusing to testify about the deaths of Iraqi detainees during the Multinational Force-Iraq's November 2004 offensive in Fallujah . Weemer reportedly refused to testify about the role of former Marine Sgt. Jose Nazario before a federal grand jury Thursday [...]
Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said Friday that a referendum to ratify the new EU reform treaty has failed, with early results showing 53.4 percent of Irish citizens voting against it . The result could halt European Union plans to implement the instrument, properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon , as it cannot take [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour Thursday commended the US Supreme Court for its ruling that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees classified as enemy combatants. Arbour, who in August 2007 submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of the detainees, said that the court's "recognition [...]
The Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) , the national army of the republic of Rwanda, said Thursday that it has arrested four of its officers in connection with the killings of 13 clergyman and two civilians during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide . The arrests followed investigations by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the [...]
Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice introduced new federal copyright legislation in the House of Commons Thursday. The reforms update the existing law by taking into account new technologies developed over the last decade and setting tough new penalties for uploading and downloading copyrighted material and breaking "locks" on protected devices like cellphones and DVDs. Prentice [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday released a report outlining plans to give the European Union (EU) a greater role in implementing the rule of law in Kosovo. The report, delivered to the UN Security Council, stated that the UN will scale down its Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) , turning over increased policing and judicial responsibilities [...]
US President George W. Bush Thursday expressed disappointment at the Supreme Court's ruling that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo Bay detainees. Bush pledged that administration officials would honor the ruling, but said that they would also study it to determine if other legislation could be passed to better [...]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Friday said that the proposed version of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) , which will govern the legal status of US troops in Iraq beginning in 2009, violates Iraqi sovereignty. Al-Maliki told reporters that he particularly objects to provisions that would grant total legal immunity to US troops, allow the [...]
The UK shadow Home Secretary resigned his parliamentary seat Thursday in protest at House of Commons passage Wednesday of an anti-terror bill that would allow authorities to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days . Conservative Party frontbencher David Davis called the Labour Party government's bill an "insidious, surreptitious and relentless erosion [...]
