The corruption and violence permeating the Nigerian government have reached crisis levels, according to a report issued Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . Comparing the behavior of the Nigerian government to a criminal organization, the HRW report said that politicians use hired thugs to intimidate voters and critics, often staying in office for years [...]
The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) Tuesday sentenced two former leaders of Sierra Leone's Civil Defense Forces (CDF) – Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa – to six and eight years imprisonment, respectively. The sentences will run from the date they were initially imprisoned in 2003. Fofana and Kondewa were convicted last month of "murder, [...]
Pennsylvania's death penalty system is so flawed that it has denied defendants of due process and could result in wrongful executions, the American Bar Association death penalty assessment team said Tuesday. The team's report identified several problems with the Pennsylvania system, including a failure to ensure competent legal representation for the accused, racial and geographical [...]
Party allies of opposition leader and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday renewed calls for unconditional talks between Suu Kyi and junta leader Senior General Than Shwe . Members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) urged the military government to drop its condition that Suu Kyi abandon support for international sanctions against [...]
The Rhode Island Supreme Court Tuesday heard arguments in a case on whether a lesbian couple legally married in Massachusetts has the right to divorce in Rhode Island. In Chambers v. Ormiston , Rhode Island residents Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers are seeking to end their 2004 Massachusetts marriage. Lawyers for the couple argued Tuesday [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific-Atlanta , 06-43, to determine when a "secondary" actor in securities fraud, such as a bank, lawyer, or accountant, can be treated as a "primary" actor in terms of shared liability for the actions. The case was filed by cable giant Charter Communications [...]
Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report, An Analysis of Pennsylvania's Death Penalty Laws, procedures, and Practices, American Bar Association, October 9, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
A military court in Jordan Tuesday sentenced Dr. Ahmad Oweidi al-Abbadi , a former member of parliament and head of the Jordanian National Movement , to two years in prison after convicting him on charges that included slandering officials, harming the government's reputation, and violating government laws regarding e-mail practices. The charges stem from an [...]
Approximately 40 inmates in a Tanzania prison awaiting trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) began a hunger strike Monday to protest the planned transfer of three ICTR cases to the national courts of Rwanda. In September, the ICTR prosecutor asked the tribunal to transfer the cases so that the prosecution could be [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday denied without comment the petition for certiorari filed by Khaled el-Masri against the US government, ostensibly supporting the Bush administration's contention that allowing el-Masri's lawsuit to proceed would require the revelation of state secrets. El-Masri, a German national of Lebanese descent, claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [...]
