The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday rejected the appeal of former Bosnian Serb paramilitary leader Dragan Zelenovic contesting his 15-year sentence on rape and torture charges. Zelenovic had asked the court to reduce his sentence due to his guilty plea and his cooperation with prosecutors, but [...]
The Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) violated a confessed al-Qaeda operative's civil rights, according to the Security Intelligence Review Committee in an oversight report to the Canadian parliament Wednesday. Canadian citizen Mohammed Mansour Jabarah was detained without access to counsel, and his confession amounted to a violation of his right against self-incrimination under the Canadian [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments Wednesday in an en banc rehearing of its earlier ruling that the military cannot seize and imprison civilians lawfully residing in the United States and detain them as "enemy combatants" . In June, a three-judge panel rejected government arguments that the president was [...]
The chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that an executive business meeting will be held November 6 to consider the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US attorney general. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that the date was selected to allow committee members "an opportunity to consider the recently received written responses" [...]
Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe Wednesday dismissed claims made earlier this week by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak that torture was widespread and routine throughout Sri Lanks. Samarasinghe said that in meetings with officials in Sri Lanka , Nowak indicated his use of the phrase "widely practiced" meant that torture allegations [...]
Spain's Congress of Deputies Wednesday passed legislation condemning the coup and subsequent fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco , overcoming opposition from conservatives that the bill would reopen controversies best left in the past. If passed by the Spanish Senate , and published in the official government gazette, the "Law of Historical Memory" will condemn [...]
One of the six men arrested in May for plotting an attack on a New Jersey military base pleaded guilty Wednesday to "conspiring to provide firearms and ammunition" to the others, whom he knew to be illegal immigrants. The other men allegedly plotted to kill soldiers at numerous military bases, including New Jersey's Fort Dix [...]
A California state judge issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday invalidating May revisions to the state lethal injection protocol . Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor of the Marin County Superior Court said that the proposed changes qualified as a regulation, and thus did not conform to the California Administrative Procedure Act because there had been no opportunity [...]
A Spanish court Wednesday convicted three men of murder for their roles in the 2004 Madrid train bombings , and found 18 others guilty on other charges. Seven others were acquitted, including accused mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed . Those convicted of murder – Jamel Zougam, Otman el Ghanoui, and Emilio Trashorras – each received [...]
Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, the outspoken US Marine Corps chief defense lawyer for the western US, is resigning from his post effective May 1, 2008, calling the military legal system at Guantanamo Bay "horrific" and a "sham" and urging corrective action to address abuses within the general military justice system, NPR reported Tuesday. While working [...]
