US authorities have delivered Ali Hassan al-Majid , better known in Western media as "Chemical Ali," to a location near a prison gallows in Baghdad where he is expected to be transferred into Iraqi custody to be executed, an Iraqi police official said Wednesday. Al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein, was sentenced to death by [...]
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned home to Pakistan Thursday after nine years of self-imposed exile in Great Britain and Dubai following corruption charges. Bhutto, who continued to lead the Pakistani People's Party during her exile, is a political rival of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf , but Musharraf earlier this month signed a "reconciliation [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says that US Attorney General nominee Judge Michael Mukasey should take a more forthright stand on the criminality of torture committed by US personnel acting under executive authorization in the "war on terror"… Many of us are closely watching the confirmation hearing [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Moeen Cheema, professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan, says that in its forthcoming ruling on the legal validity of General Pervez Musharraf's candidacy in the country's recent presidential election, the Pakistan Supreme Court is being urged to declare that democracy has a minimal [...]
Jessica Montell : "Much of Professor Dugard's report simply reiterates what B'Tselem has documented extensively over the past several years: in many spheres the human rights situation for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories has deteriorated. This is patently clear in the Gaza Strip, where 1.5 million people are trapped in a virtual prison, in crushing [...]
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Wednesday debated a set of proposed amendments to the constitution, including reforms that would eliminate presidential term limits and augment the president's emergency powers. In August, the proposed amendments passed a preliminary vote in the Assembly; after the current round of debates, the constitutional reforms will be subject to a [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon issued an order staying the execution of Virginia death row inmate Christopher Scott Emmett , who had been scheduled to be put to death at 9 PM ET. The Court stayed the execution "pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the [...]
The High Administrative Court of Ukraine has delayed validating the results of the Sept. 30 parliamentary election pending the outcome of a legal challenge by the Communist Party of Ukraine , a court spokesperson said Wednesday. The Communist Party argues that the vote was invalid due to alleged violations surrounding voting abroad. The announcement came [...]
Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea on Wednesday asked the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) to release him on bail. Nuon Chea's family earlier this week expressed concern over his health and urged the tribunal to release him into their custody. He is currently being held at a tribunal detention center awaiting [...]
US Attorney General nominee Michael B. Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that he opposes presidential authorization of torture, calling the controversial "Bybee Memo" "unnecessary" and "a mistake." The 2002 memo, in which the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel defined torture as physical pain equivalent in "intensity to the pain accompanying serious [...]
