Saddam Hussein's cousin and former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid , also known as Chemical Ali, personally killed at least 15 men suspected of participating in a Shi'a uprising in southern Iraq following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, according to testimony offered Thursday in the crimes against humanity trial ongoing at the Iraqi High [...]
The Swiss Federal Tribunal , Switzerland's supreme court, ruled Thursday that Swiss authorities cannot hand over to Russia financial documents linked to Russian oil giant Yukos , finding that the Russian prosecution of former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev was politically motivated. Referring to Khodorkovsky, the court said that facts [...]
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has refused to sign a bill that would give courts the authority to force journalists to disclose confidential sources. The Media Bill 2007 also establishes an independent council to adjudicate complaints against the media, but Kibaki specifically objected Wednesday to clause 35 subclause (4), which he said "could act as a [...]
Japan's national bar association Thursday criticized the execution of three death row inmates and called for a moratorium on the death penalty until new safeguards can be enacted to prevent wrongful executions based on dubious evidence. The Federation of Bar Associations said that flaws in the justice system create a high risk for condemning innocent [...]
Former US Attorney Bradley Schlozman , alleged to have improperly influenced decisions to prosecute voter fraud, has resigned his post in the Executive Office of US Attorneys at the Department of Justice (DOJ) , DOJ spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Wednesday. Schlozman, who previously had served as acting chief of the DOJ Civil Rights Division , [...]
A fistfight broke out between lawmakers in the Bolivian legislature Wednesday as opposition leaders tried to prevent lawmakers loyal to Bolivian President Evo Morales from bringing charges against four Constitutional Tribunal justices for overstepping their authority. The dispute, the latest in a series of disagreements between Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) and opposition lawmakers, stems [...]
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri and Mark A. Berman v. Commander S. L. Wright, USN Commander, Consolidated Naval Brig., US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, August 22, 2007 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled Thursday that former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return to the country, effectively ending the 10-year exile imposed after Sharif was deposed in a military coup led by current Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf . In its order , the court wrote: It is declared that Mian Muhammad [...]
Nepal's draft Truth and Reconciliation Commission Bill of 2007 does not meet international legal standards as currently drafted, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission for Jurists said Wednesday. The groups called the bill "seriously flawed" and said that it does not meet standards set forth in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the [...]
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a directive Wednesday to state law enforcement agencies ordering them to alert US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials when an undocumented immigrant is arrested in the state. Milgram wrote that: After an individual has been arrested for a serious violation of State criminal law, the individual's immigration [...]
