JURIST Guest Columnist Haider Ala Hamoudi of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that the much-discussed ideological divide between Shi'is and Sunnis in Iraq is actually more subtle and complex than is usually depicted… There has been a great deal of focus in the news recently on what the difference is between a [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled 10-3 Friday to reinstate suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to the top court, holding that President Pervez Musharraf's March 9 suspension order was illegal. The court dismissed all charges of misconduct against Chaudhry. Many Pakistani lawyers and opposition leaders have alleged that Chaudhry's suspension was an indirect bid by [...]
US District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled in Chicago Thursday that Canadian-born financier and former media mogul Conrad Black will not have to await his November 30 sentencing in jail. St. Eve nonetheless put restrictions on Black's mobility, holding that in the interim he will only be allowed to travel to Chicago or to West [...]
US District Judge John Bates Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against members of the Bush administration brought by Valerie Plame , the former CIA operative whose disclosed identity precipitated the 2003 CIA leak scandal , ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction over her tort claim. Bates said that relief for Plame's claim was only available administratively [...]
UK parliamentarians on the Constitutional Affairs Committee called Thursday for reforms to the role of the Attorney General for England and Wales, saying conflicts between political and legal aspects of the position make it "not sustainable" . The MPs cited the conflicts as the reason for the controversial dropping of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [...]
Russia expelled four British diplomats and suspended counter-terrorism cooperation with the UK Thursday in response to Monday's expulsion of four Russian diplomats from the UK in protest over Russia's refusal to extradite Russian citizen Andrei Lugovoy for the poisoning-murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. The UK expressed disappointment in the [...]
The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) Thursday sentenced three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council to at least 45 years of imprisonment each . Brima Bazzy Kamara was sentenced to serve 45 years, while Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu were each sentenced to 50 years after being convicted of [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Thursday ruled against Russia in the case of a former KGB agent who was detained under conditions that the court said "amounted to degrading treatment" . The ex-agent, Mikhail Trepashkin , was arrested in 2003 on charges of illegally possessing a gun, days before he was supposed to [...]
Counsel for suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday asked the judge's former colleagues to reinstate him or else risk further destabilizing the country. Lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan added that the court's decision, expected Friday, must be clear. Several protests against Chaudhry's suspension have resulted in injuries and death. On Tuesday, [...]
Former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra filed a lawsuit Thursday against Thailand's Assets Examination Committee (AEC) for its seizure of Thaksin's family assets , demanding that the AEC terminate its freeze of approximately $2.1 billion in assets and seeking an additional $1.7 billion in compensation. AEC chairman Nam Yumyaem expressed indifference to the lawsuit, saying [...]
