Ali Hassan al-Majid, known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali" , told the Iraqi High Tribunal Thursday that he did not use or issue an order to use chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels in the late 1980s. During defense closing arguments , al-Majid defended the government of Saddam Hussein for its actions during the [...]
Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, commander of the US Second Marine Division in Iraq when 24 Iraqi civilians were killed at Haditha in November 2005, told a military panel Thursday that his staff failed to inform him of allegations that the civilians may have been killed in violation of the law of armed conflict, and [...]
Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Thursday that the judges of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal could be charged if they act improperly in ruling on the legality of a so-called Lustration Law passed in October 2006 requiring over 700,000 Polish professionals – academics , journalists, lawyers, diplomats and managers of state-owned companies – to file affidavits [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist A. John Radsan, former CIA assistant general counsel now at William Mitchell College of Law, says that Senate Intelligence Committee members questioning John Rizzo at his upcoming confirmation hearing for CIA General Counsel should resist the temptation to posture on extraordinary rendition, secret prisons, and coercive interrogations, and instead delve into deeper [...]
Charges against Salim Hamdan under the Military Commissions Act, US Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions, approved and referred by the Convening Authority for Military Commission, May 10, 2007. Read the full text of the charge notice, the charge sheet, and the full charges as annotated . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Two lawyers pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a massive insider trading scheme that US federal prosecutors have called the most extensive such fraud uncovered since the 1980s. Former Morgan Stanley lawyer Randi Collotta and her husband Christopher admitted to conspiracy and securities fraud in Manhattan federal court. The couple is among 13 defendants charged [...]
The European Court of Human Rights Thursday ruled that Russian authorities were responsible for the 2001 death of a Chechen man who died after he was taken into Russian custody during a raid. The court ordered Russia to pay €62,285 compensation to the family of Shamil Said-Khasanovich Akhmadov, whose battered body was discovered in a [...]
Charges against Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan have been formally referred to a military commission , according to a statement from the US Department of Defense Thursday. Hamdan is charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, and will be arraigned within 30 days. Hamdan was a driver for Osama bin Laden [...]
Members of the US House Judiciary Committee questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Thursday about the US Attorney firing scandal , demanding to know whether White House officials ordered the firings of prosecutors for political reasons. Gonzales said his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson was mainly responsible for compiling the list of prosecutors to be [...]
The Turkish parliament Thursday passed a constitutional amendment changing the process to select the country's president. From this point the president will be elected by popular vote rather than chosen by legislators. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) fought for the amendments after opposition lawmakers, fearing that the sole presidential candidate Abdullah Gul would [...]
