Pakistani police in Karachi used tear gas against lawyers rallying for the restoration of ousted Pakistani superior court judges on Thursday, soon after now-dismissed Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry addressed them by telephone from his official residence in Islamabad, where he is still under house arrest. Chaudhry spoke to lawyers at the [...]
The UN Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday authorizing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint four additional judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . The Security Council unanimously approved the measure to enable the ICTY to try all defendants by the end of 2008. The resolution allows the president of the [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Ali Khan of Washburn University School of Law says that Pakistan's newly-elected Parliament is authorized to pass an Emergency Bill to arrest Pervez Musharraf, charge him with treason, and prosecute him under Article 6(1) of the Constitution in his capacity as a usurper, not a lawful president subject to potential impeachment… Pervez [...]
Members of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee have criticized the European Union's terrorism watch list as unfair and opaque, saying that the process for adding names to the list should be changed, according to Wednesday media reports. The comments came during a debate on a November 2007 report by Rapporteur Dick Marty that found [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said through a spokesperson Wednesday that freedom of expression should take into account respect for religious beliefs . The comments come in response to the recent controversy over the reprinting of a cartoon depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. Ban's spokesperson added that the UN has made [...]
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is urging the US Department of Justice to charge resigning Cuban leader Fidel Castro with murder for the 1996 killings of four US aid workers, according to Wednesday media reports. In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Ros-Lehtinen said that prosecution would be possible as Castro will relinquish his immunity [...]
Kenyan opposition leaders said Wednesday that they would begin renewed demonstrations next week if the government does not make progress on writing a new constitution. Negotiations between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition candidate Raila Odinga appear to have stalled, but last Thursday both sides did agree to write a new constitution , a possible [...]
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday filed a complaint accusing former Refco Inc. CEO Phillip R. Bennett of committing civil fraud in connection with allegations that he reported false information about the futures trader's financial health. The civil fraud charges follow Bennett's guilty plea last week to every charge in his 20-count [...]
Russia Wednesday condemned a decision by the European Union to send a task force of police, prosecutors and judges into Kosovo to support the rule of law there after the expiry of the current UN mandate, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling it "in breach of the highest international law." The roughly 2,000-strong police [...]
The Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill legalizing euthanasia , in a move that could make Luxembourg the third European Union country to allow the controversial practice. Before it can take effect, the bill still has to be approved in a second reading. Provisions in the bill require that euthanasia be [...]
