Secret detentions and illegal transfer of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights – Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), June 8, 2007 . Read the full text of the report , Appendix 1 , Appendix 2 , Appendix 3 . Reported in JURIST's [...]

Chilean Supreme Court judge Urbano Marin Vallejo ordered the house arrest of Alberto Fujimori Friday, responding to concerns that the former Peruvian President held in Chilean custody since 2005 will try to flee the country. Judge Orlando Antonio Alvarez Hernandez, also on the Supreme Court, is currently reviewing a recommendation by Chile's chief prosecutor that [...]

Indicted US Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) pleaded not guilty Friday to charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , including bribery, racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Jefferson allegedly accepted approximately $500,000 in bribes from numerous companies both in the US and in Africa and faces a maximum sentence of 235 years in prison [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan Friday delayed its ruling on whether it has jurisdiction over the legal disputes involving the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry , putting that off until next week. Legal observers say the delay may reflect internal disagreement amongst the thirteen justices that sit on the bench. Chaudhry's defense team [...]

The New Hampshire State Senate voted 15-9 Thursday to repeal a 2003 law requiring parental notification for minors seeking an abortion . New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has indicated that he will sign the bill, which was initially passed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives on March 21 by a vote of 217-141. New [...]

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) established and operated secret detention centers in Romania and Poland between 2002 and 2005, according to a report adopted Friday by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) . The report, compiled by PACE-appointed rapporteur and Swiss senator Dick Marty , accuses certain [...]

US Marines Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner testified Thursday at the Article 32 hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani , the commander in charge of the Marine battalion implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha , that a superior officer, Lt. Andrew Grayson, ordered him to delete photographic evidence taken hours after [...]

The trial of 26 US Central Intelligence Agency agents and two former Italian intelligence officials in the 2003 abduction and rendition of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr opened in Milan Friday in the absence of all American defendants. This is the first trial based on the CIA rendition program, but US officials have said [...]

The number of death sentences handed down by Chinese courts in the first five months of 2007 has decreased following the implementation of reforms which require all death sentences to receive the approval of the Supreme People's Court , Chinese state media reported Thursday. Citing statistics from the Beijing No. 1 and No. 2 Intermediate [...]

The US Senate voted 50-45 late Thursday to reject a cloture motion for the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 Thursday, falling 10 votes short of limiting the debate on the legislation to thirty-hours and restricting the introduction of new amendments. The failure of the motion, supported by senators who wanted to push the [...]