Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that the government of Sri Lanka is using its anti-terror legislation to silence journalists who expose governmental human rights abuses and corruption or question how Sri Lanka is handling fighting with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) , or "Tamil Tigers." Late last month Sri Lanka forced [...]
A special panel of the Japanese House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill authorizing a national referendum on revisions to the country's pacifist constitution . Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe initiated the bill , hoping it would become law before the current parliamentary session adjourns on June 23. Opposition Social Democrats voiced strong dissent in [...]
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) said Wednesday that it may file for an injunction to prevent the Canadian military from transferring Afghan detainees to Afghan police custody after the Canadian government failed to meet a court-ordered deadline Tuesday to answer claims that its transfer policy exposed detainees to torture. Amnesty International Canada and [...]
A federal grand jury in the US Southern District of Ohio on Wednesday charged Christopher Paul, from Columbus, Ohio, with conspiring to aid terrorists and use weapons of mass destruction to bomb European tourist sites and US military and government facilities overseas. The indictment charges Paul with conspiring to provide material support and resources to [...]
Haider Hossein, the Bangladeshi lawyer who prosecuted six Islamic militants executed two weeks ago for the 2005 murders of two judges , was shot and killed Thursday in Jhalakathi, in southern Bangladesh. Jhalakathi police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP that Hossein had sought protection from authorities after receiving a threat on Tuesday. Police are currently [...]
US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Wednesday blasted the White House for failing to turn over all documents, including emails, requested by the Committee in its investigation into the US Attorney firing scandal , and suggested that White House reports that certain emails had been lost were untrue. Leahy said : [...]
Ali Abd al-Aziz , one of 14 "high value" Guantanamo Bay detainees and the nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , has denied allegations that he transferred funds to the 9/11 hijackers and has insisted he had no prior knowledge that his uncle was planning attacks on the US, according to a Pentagon transcript [...]
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched a criminal probe into allegations that IDF troops used Palestinians as human shields during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank in late February. An AP reporter caught one February 25 incident on video ; the footage was subsequently broadcast on March 15. The IDF investigation was [...]
Ecuador's Supreme Court has upheld a 2006 ruling allowing charges against former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa for mishandling debt negotiations worth billions of dollars while in office from 2000 until 2003. The Court held Wednesday that Noboa should be charged as an accessory after the fact for his handling of negotiations which cost the country [...]
A Philippine military tribunal sentenced 54 military officers to seven years and six months in jail Wednesday in connection with a failed mutiny in July 2003 in which 300 soldiers from elite special forces took over buildings in Manila in an effort to overthrow the government. More than 50 of the officers pleaded guilty to [...]
