US President George W. Bush imposed new sanctions on 12 Myanmar businesses and individuals in an executive order issued Friday. Included in the order freezing US-held assets and blocking certain property transactions were designations by the Treasury department of an additional 11 leaders of the Myanmar military junta who were subject to existing sanctions and [...]
Two US Marines were ordered Friday to face court-martial hearings for their actions in connection with the killings of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha in November 2005. Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani is charged with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order based on the allegations that he failed to properly investigate shootings. [...]
Giovanni Di Stefano provides exclusive video commentary for JURIST on the current circumstances of his client Ali Hassan al-Majid and the implications of al-Majid's planned execution:
Gabor Rona : "I previously commented on JURIST about the flaws in the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review's recent decision to reinstate the Guantanamo Military Commission proceedings against Omar Khadr, who is charged with murder of an American soldier, attempted murder, providing material support to terrorists and spying. Khadr was 15 years old when [...]
White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto attempted Friday to deflect widespread criticism of US Attorney General-nominee Michael Mukasey's refusal to say whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Thursday . Mukasey refused to be pinned down on the issue, merely suggesting that if waterboarding is [...]
Seymour Lazar pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction of justice, subscribing to a false tax return and making a false declaration for his role in the Milberg Weiss kickback scheme where the firm is accused of paying up to $11.3 million in illegal kickbacks since 1984 to individuals, including Lazar, to serve as lead plaintiffs in [...]
The Georgia Supreme Court granted a stay of execution Thursday to convicted killer Jack Alderman. The death row inmate was scheduled to die Friday at 7PM ET and had already selected his last meal. The court said it granted the stay pending a US Supreme Court ruling in Baze v. Rees (07-5439), a case challenging [...]
Former US military police commander Lt. Col. William Steele was sentenced to two years in prison Friday after being convicted of unauthorized possession of classified documents, failing to obey an order, and conduct unbecoming an officer by having an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter. Earlier Friday, Steele was found not guilty of more serious charges [...]
UK lawmakers will investigate whether the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has secretly held terror suspects on a sovereign British territory in the Indian Ocean, the Guardian reported Friday. The House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee will look into the long-standing allegations of interrogations by the CIA on the island of Diego Garcia, which has [...]
Serbian police arrested four members of the Scorpions paramilitary group suspected of crimes committed in Kosovo during Serbia's 1998-1999 war with ethnic Albanian separatists, the Serbian Interior Ministry announced Friday. Several members of the Scorpions, one of the most brutal paramilitary groups active in the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, have already been convicted of [...]
