US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz, a former staff judge advocate stationed at Guantanamo Bay , was convicted Thursday of one count of communicating secret information that could be used to injure the United States and three counts of leaking information to unauthorized persons. Prosecutors had argued during Diaz's court-martial that he endangered the [...]
Khaled El-Masri , the German citizen allegedly kidnapped by the CIA in 2003, is suspected of arson at a wholesale market in Germany and has been ordered by a judge to be admitted to a psychiatric institution, according to the German police Thursday. Manfred Gnjidic, El-Masri's lawyer, told AP that his client had suffered "a [...]
Secretary of State for the Home Department v E, England and Wales Court of Appeal, May 17, 2007 . Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Lawyers for the US government argued for the extradition of Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri in a hearing before a London court Thursday. Al-Masri is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Britain for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims and using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior" to stir up [...]
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held elections to its 47-member Geneva-based panel on Thursday, with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia defeating Belarus for the two available Eastern European states seats. The US, most European countries, and several human rights groups opposed Belarus' candidacy, citing the country's poor human rights record. Angola, Egypt, and Qatar also won [...]
Two Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that they plan to seek a vote of no-confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales . Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that only President Bush remains confident in Gonzales, under fire for the allegedly political firings of nine federal prosecutors . Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and [...]
Thomas Wilner, et al. v. National Security Agency and Department of Justice, US District Court for the Southern District of New York, May 17, 2007 . Read the full text of the complaint . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Key US senators from both political parties and White House cabinet officers reached a tentative agreement on immigration reform on Thursday, after weeks of negotiations. The proposal, which President Bush calls "secure, productive, orderly, and fair" , gives more weight to an immigrant's education level than his family connections in the US when awarding green [...]
A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney urged a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame against members of the Bush administration, arguing that the lawsuit is based on "fanciful claims." Plame filed the lawsuit last year, alleging that White House officials violated her constitutional rights to free speech, [...]
Australian authorities have released British-born Jack Roche on parole 3 years after sentencing him in 2004 to nine years in prison for plotting to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Canberra , according to Thursday media reports. Roche must now regularly report to police. Born in England, Roche traveled to Afghanistan and met with Osama [...]
