Joshua Rosenzweig : "The recently-published statistics for 2006 on political arrests in China are especially troubling, as they indicate the reversal of a three-year trend from 2003 to 2005 in which such arrests declined substantially. It is not entirely obvious why political arrests doubled in 2006 compared to the previous year, but it fits with [...]
Spanish police Friday arrested at least 40 of 56 defendants accused of supporting Basque separatist group ETA in 2005, according to a court official cited by AP. Forty-six found guilty of belonging to various organizations are believed to have provided financial, political, media, and international support to ETA. Those arrested have been out on bail [...]
Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Per Stig Moeller said Friday that Denmark has rejected a US request to accept the transfer of several detainees from Guantanamo Bay . Moeller said that the detainees could be potential security risks. Approximately 70 detainees have been cleared for release , but the US has not yet found nations [...]
A Rwandan court has ordered that a defense investigator for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) be provisionally released from police custody, according to Friday media reports. Leonidas Nshogoza was arrested in June 2007 for allegedly bribing witnesses and "minimizing" the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Prosecution spokesman Jean Bosco Mutangana said Nshogoza will remain [...]
The Federal Court of Canada Thursday struck down a refugee agreement between Canada and the US, noting that the US does not meet international refugee protection requirements or respect international conventions against torture. Justice Michael Phelan essentially nullified the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement , which barred foreign refugees who first arrived in the US [...]
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen said Thursday that the state will wait until the US Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injections before modifying the state's execution protocols in accordance with a September federal court ruling . Though Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper plans to appeal the September court decision which struck down already [...]
Britain's Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission Friday ruled that the UK should remove the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI) from its list of terrorist organizations. PMOI is Iran's main political opposition organization and part of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) , an umbrella coalition of Iranian opposition groups. The commission ruled there [...]
European Union (EU) lawmakers adopted a legislative report Thursday to tighten gun control laws and establish an extensive firearms database. The new rules are the result of 18 months of negotiations between the European Parliament , national governments and gun advocates. The rules would prohibit anyone under 18 from buying a gun with the exception [...]
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled Friday that the government cannot proceed with plans to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip this weekend. The court did allow, however, a continuation of fuel supply cuts to the region, which began last month. According to AP, the three-judge panel wrote that "we were not convinced that the decision [...]
The special Constitutional Assembly in Ecuador charged with rewriting Ecuador's constitution suspended Ecuador's congress Thursday pending approval of a new charter in a nation-wide referendum, expected late next year. The special assembly, controlled by leftist President Rafael Correa , will assume legislative duties until the new constitution is approved and the special assembly calls general [...]
