The US Sentencing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to give retroactive effect to an earlier amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that will reduce penalties for crack cocaine offenders . The amendment, which took effect November 1, was intended to narrow the disparity between sentences for powder and crack cocaine offenses. Under the Sentencing Reform Act [...]
Robert Pickton , accused of the deadliest string of serial killings in Canadian history, was sentenced by a British Columbia judge Tuesday to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. The sentence was the maximum authorized by Canadian law for second-degree murder. Pickton was convicted Sunday in connection with the deaths [...]
In Re: Motion for Release of Court Records, United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, December 11, 2007 . Read the full text of the memorandum opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
CIA Director Michael Hayden appeared before the US Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed session Tuesday to testify about the CIA's destruction of videotapes allegedly showing the harsh interrogation of "high value" terror suspects. Panel members noted that major questions still remained following Hayden's testimony, including who actually authorized the tapes' destruction and why Congress [...]
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) Tuesday ruled against publicly releasing documents regarding the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance program , finding that the documents deal with national security secrets. In August, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion with FISC, asking the court to "disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope [...]
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday for abuse of authority in the last months of his 1990-2000 rule. Fujimori was convicted of ordering a warrantless search in 2000 on the apartment of the wife of former Peruvian Intelligence Director Vladimiro Montesino . Prosecutors alleged that the search was [...]
Cuba will sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the first quarter of the coming year, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Monday during an event to mark International Human Rights Day. He also said Cuba would join the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , and that the [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Tuesday ruled that labor unions can try to prevent employers from hiring cheaper labor from other EU countries, but limited workers' right to strike. The court found that workers were entitled to strike to protect existing jobs or to preserve existing employment conditions, but that they could not prevent [...]
Prosecution and defense lawyers said Tuesday that they will be ready to present evidence when the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumes in January at the Special Court for Sierra Leone . Taylor's trial began in June, but proceedings were postponed to allow Taylor's new defense team more time to prepare. [...]
A former Guantanamo detainee who alleges he was tortured when the CIA handed him over to Moroccan interrogators has asked the UK government to ensure that photographic evidence of his torture is preserved, according to Tuesday reports. Ethiopian Binyam Mohamed says that in 2002 US forces "outsourced" his interrogation to Moroccan agents, who tortured him; [...]
