The Department of Homeland Security's internal investigations department has reopened an investigation into the extraordinary rendition of Canadian engineer Maher Arar , DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner told a congressional subcommittee Thursday. Skinner said that new information contradicts an earlier conclusion clearing US agencies of wrongdoing in the extradition. Arar was detained in the US [...]
Japan's Ministry of Justice indicated Thursday that it would revise a law which denied Japanese citizenship to the illegitimate children of Japanese fathers and foreign mothers. The Supreme Court of Japan ruled Wednesday that Article 3 of the Nationality Law violated equal protection guarantees in Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution . Japanese Justice Minister [...]
The US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released two new reports Friday detailing increased populations in American jails and prisons . The reports show that the US prison population increased by 1.5 percent from mid-year 2006 to mid-year 2007, compared with 2 percent growth in the previous reporting period. Approximately 2.3 million [...]
The US Department of Justice filed a complaint Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against Honeywell International Inc. , alleging that the company knowingly sold more than 1,700 defective bulletproof vests to US law enforcement and military agencies during a five-year period. The DOJ also accused Honeywell of hiding knowledge [...]
A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge announced Wednesday the creation of an oversight committee designed to increase the effectiveness of the state criminal-justice system and to ensure its procedures are both reasonable and legal. Judge Barbara Hervey said that the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit would help reform the state's criminal justice system, which [...]
Mexico urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Thursday to stay the US executions of Mexican citizens until the Court can rule on the applicability of its holding in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America) , in which the ICJ ruled that 51 Mexican nationals tried in US courts had [...]
The Nicaraguan National Assembly has passed new legislation to provide increased legal protections to refugees and asylum seekers coming from other Central American countries and, increasingly, from Africa and Asia . Nicaragua occupies a strategic location on a common migratory route north to the US and Canada. The measure adopted Tuesday says refugees have a [...]
Zimbabwean police detained US and UK diplomatic envoys for several hours at a roadblock Thursday, threatening them and beating one of their drivers, according to US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee, who described the incident as an "illegal action." US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the Zimbabwean government's actions had "flouted all international [...]
A Tel Aviv court Wednesday charged former Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirschon with embezzlement for allegedly misappropriating nearly $1.2 million as head of a trade union between 1998 and 2005. Hirschon and five other union employees allegedly used the money stolen from the National Workers Organization and its subsidiary Nili to pay for personal expenses, [...]
Five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks were arraigned before a military court at Guantanamo Bay Thursday. The group includes the alleged lead planner of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , who said that he wished to represent himself and that he would welcome a death sentence as a chance to become a [...]
