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 [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan will investigate the suicide bombing that took place during the parade welcoming home exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto earlier this month, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry said Wednesday. Chaudhry said that the court will undertake its own investigation beginning with a hearing on Thursday, despite the Pakistan government's [...]
Three political leaders in Spain's Basque region, including the president of the region, were ordered to stand trial Tuesday for meeting publicly with members of the Batasuna party to negotiate an ETA ceasefire. The Batasuna party is alleged to be a front for the illegal Basque separatist militant group ETA, which has been blamed for [...]
The UK Law Lords ruled Wednesday that the government can continue to impose control orders on terror suspects in lieu of detention, but said that some elements of the orders issued under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 violate human rights. In a series of decisions – Secretary of State for the Home Department v. [...]
