An Ontario Court of Appeal panel ruled Friday that officials making determinations under the Canadian province's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act had to weigh the public interest in the release of information sought and that simply invoking statutory exemptions on release based on law enforcement or solicitor-client privilege unjustifiably limited the right [...]
An investigator for the UN Human Rights Council said Friday that the US has committed human rights violations in its interrogations of terror suspects and by putting questionable restrictions on immigration. In preliminary report from what will be a larger document due to the Council later this year, UN special rapporteur on human rights and [...]
Delegates from 68 countries wrapped up a three-day meeting in Lima, Peru Friday intended as a follow-up to the February Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions , where participants signed a declaration to ban cluster bombs by 2008. Organizers said the Lima meeting was a success, attracting 28 new countries which did not attend the Oslo [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Friday that there exists no constitutional right to access legal services in Canada. The holding overturned two lower court decisions that had declared British Columbia's seven percent tax on legal fees unconstitutional because it made hiring a lawyer prohibitively expensive for low-income people. The case was originally brought [...]
A federal prosecutor said Friday that former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby should receive 2 1/2 to 3 years in prison for blocking the investigation into the Valerie Plame CIA leak case . In papers filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia Friday, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wrote: Particularly [...]
Toronto Mayor David Miller Friday condemned a Wednesday shooting at a Toronto Ontario high school that left a 15-year-old student dead and called for a complete ban on handguns to prevent similar incidents in the future. Despite an increased police presence in the city to combat gang activity, Miller admitted the Canadian metropolis has so [...]
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer Friday vetoed a constitutional amendment that would have changed the country's election procedures to allow the president to be elected by direct vote rather than selected by parliamentarians. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) pushed through the amendment after opposition lawmakers, fearing that sole presidential candidate Abdullah Gul would [...]
UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith Friday rejected a Russian offer to try the suspected murderer of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in its own courts, calling for Andrei Lugovoy's extradition to the United Kingdom. The Russian government has refused to turn Lugovoy over to the UK, saying that the Russian constitution forbids it, but Russian [...]
The military government of Myanmar Friday extended the house arrest of pro-democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, rejecting calls for her release by both national and international human rights activists. The move, which forces Suu Kyi to remain in her home for a fifth straight year, [...]
Attorney General of British Columbia v. Dugald E. Christie, Supreme Court of Canada, May 25, 2007 . Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
