The Tunisian government Thursday condemned torture as "reprehensible," criticizing US District Judge Gladys Kessler for blocking the transfer of a Guantanamo Bay detainee to Tunisia because he faced a threat of torture. In her decision last week, Kessler granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Defense Department from transferring Mohammed Abdul Rahman until the Supreme Court [...]
Aziz Huq : "This Monday, the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari review filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the case of Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who had been subject to the U.S. practice of "extraordinary rendition." The denial,which was made without comment by the Justices (the usual practice), means that [...]
Zimbabwe Magistrate Tinashe Ndokera on Thursday denied a motion by eleven white farmers to have their state-sponsored eviction notices thrown out, and instead ordered the men to stand trial for failing to vacate their property by the notices' September 30 deadline . David Drury, a lawyer for the farmers, argued that charges of violating the [...]
The US military is reviewing its classification of hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, according to the Associated Press Thursday. The review could allow for new hearings for inmates who were classified as "enemy combatants" and a reduction in the number of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Critics of the military's [...]
A court in Turkey Thursday convicted Arat Dink, editor of the Armenian newspaper Agos and son of the late Armenian journalist Hrant Dink , of violating Article 301 of the Turkish penal code , which bans insults against Turkish identity. Arat Dink's conviction stems from his decision to re-publish remarks written by his father before [...]
Members of parliament in Nepal opened debate at a special session Thursday to address the status of King Gyanendra and the Nepalese monarchy. The Communist Party of Nepal – Maoists (CPN-M) reiterated their desire for the monarchy to be dissolved immediately. The party announced September 18 that it would vacate the interim government and boycott [...]
Defense lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi , the only person convicted in the 1998 bombing of a Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Thursday requested access to evidence not previously provided to them that they claim could be used to clear al-Megrahi. Specifically, they are seeking disclosure of a "missing document" which allegedly [...]
Rwandan Information Minister Laurent Nkusi said Thursday that the government of Rwanda has completed setting up a commission charged with investigating the 1994 assassination of then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana . The downing of the plane carrying the Hutu leader sparked the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed in the span of [...]
Larry Frankel : " ABA study found that Pennsylvania fails to comply with over 93% of the ABA's 92 recommendations designed to improve the fairness and accuracy of the death penalty. The ABA recommends some very specific changes to the laws in Pennsylvania to minimize the risk of executing the innocent, eliminate shocking racial and [...]
Spanish lawmakers have reportedly come to an agreement on the text of the proposed anti-Franco Law for the Recovery of the Historical Memory presented to the Spanish Parliament. The legislation is aimed at healing the social wounds from the authoritarian regime of Gen. Francisco Franco that ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975 following a bitter [...]
