A German state court in Stuttgart ruled Monday that Brigitte Mohnhaupt , a second-generation member of the ultra-left German group Red Army Faction , also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, will be granted parole on March 27 after being imprisoned for 24 years. The court did not grant Mohnhaupt a pardon, but determined that she [...]
International donors urged Cambodia Monday to finally pass an anti-corruption law that has been in the works for more than a decade. US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli expressed disappointment on behalf of donors such as Japan, France and the United States that Cambodia has failed to enact the long-delayed anti-corruption law. The law is [...]
Egyptian officials on Sunday released from detention Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr , the man at the heart of Italian judicial proceedings against US and Italian intelligence agents implicated in his alleged 2003 kidnapping and extraordinary rendition from Milan. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, claims he was tortured after being grabbed off a [...]
The Philippines government has pledged to cooperate fully with the UN rights official who arrived in the country Monday to investigate the surge of political murders. In a statement on behalf of Philippines President Gloria Arroyo , Secretary Ignacio Bunye stated that the Philippines welcomes the UN team "in the spirit of truth and justice [...]
The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) sentenced former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan to death by hanging Monday in connection with crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982. Three other defendants in the case were sentenced to 15 years in prison; one was acquitted. Ramadan's case will automatically be appealed to [...]
The Portuguese government plans to seek approval in the Portuguese Parliament of a proposal to make abortion legal in the country, despite low turnout in Sunday's referendum on loosening the current law . Approximately 59 percent of voters were in favor of loosening restrictions against abortion, while 41 percent voted to keep abortion illegal. Only [...]
Jury selection begins Monday in the first trial of thousands of lawsuits brought by Louisiana homeowners affected by the Hurricane Katrina disaster against their insurance companies. Homeowners Lawrence and Elizabeth Tomlinson are suing Allstate insurance company in federal court for bad faith, alleging that the insurance carrier did not correctly adjust their claim and also [...]
Prosecutors in the ongoing genocide trial of Saddam-era officials before the Iraqi High Tribunal introduced a videotape Sunday of executions and destruction of Kurdish homes during the "Anfal" campaigns of the 1980s, which claimed an estimated 180,000 Kurdish lives. Chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said the video illustrated that Iraqi soldiers were not merely acting to [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) Sunday to spare the life of former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan citing a lack of evidence tying him to the 1982 Dujail killings for which he is charged. The court reconvenes on Monday to determine whether Ramadan's life sentence should be abandoned in [...]
A referendum on Portugal's strict abortion laws indicated Sunday that a majority of voters support loosening the current law , but turnout was likely too low to give the decision legal force. Exit polls from Radiotelevisao Portuguesa showed that between 57 and 61 percent of voters would legalize abortion up until the 10th week of [...]
