US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday responded to growing concerns over the conduct of Blackwater security escorts working for the State Department in Iraq by directing that all Blackwater USA vehicles be fitted with security cameras and that all convoys have at least one federal agent present while escorting diplomats. The State Department also [...]

A federal judge Friday overturned his previous ruling dismissing 16 lawsuits challenging the indefinite detention of about 40 terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay , in the process avoiding new limitations on lawyers' access to their clients at the US military prison. US District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina reinstated the petitions of habeas corpus after [...]

The UN special envoy to Myanmar noted what he characterized as continuing and disturbing reports of abuses being committed by security and non-uninformed elements at a meeting of the UN Security Council Friday as Myanmar officials continued the hunt for the ringleaders in recent anti-government protests. Ibrahim Gambari was reporting to the UN Security Council [...]

The Chinese Medical Association (CMA) agreed at a meeting of the World Medical Association in Copenhagen Friday to end the harvesting of organs from prisoners, except for transplant into close relatives. In a letter to the World Medical Association, the CMA promised to increase oversight of China's organ transplant practices and to clamp down on [...]

The top military prosecutor for the Guantanamo war crimes trials has resigned his post, according to a US Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman Friday. Air Force Col. Moe Davis requested a transfer from Guantanamo after complaining that an officer who served as legal advisor to the Convening Authority , who is responsible for running the [...]

National Reconciliation Ordinance, Pervez Musharraf, October 5, 2007 . Read the full text of the ordinance. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US President George W. Bush Friday defended his administration's interrogation policy, saying that the "government does not torture people" and that it "stick to US law and our international obligations." Bush was responding to Congressional demands for two 2005 Department of Justice opinion letters that reportedly endorsed harsh interrogation tactics. Bush said: I have put [...]

Spanish police arrested over 20 senior members of the Batasuna party Thursday on orders from anti-terror judge Baltasar Garzon. The reasons for their arrests have not been released, but many believe the arrests were politically motivated. The Batasuna party is alleged to be a front for the illegal Basque separatist militant group ETA , which [...]

Iraqi judge Rahdi Hamza al-Radhi, the former head of Iraq's Commission for Public Integrity (CPI) , has accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government of protecting corrupt employees and of actively attempting to "eradicate or control the Commission." During a US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Thursday hearing to assess the state of [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled Friday that a controversial presidential election slated for October 6 in the National Assembly of Pakistan and provincial assemblies may proceed, but barred the Election Commission of Pakistan from officially declaring a winner until the high court issues a ruling on whether President Pervez Musharraf was an eligible presidential [...]