The 100-member Constitution Drafting Council in Thailand moved a key step closer to its goal of presenting a new constitution for the country within the next six months Monday by electing professor Noranit Setabutr to serve as its chairman, pending his approval by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej . Whatever document the Council eventually agrees upon [...]
The war crimes trial of former Rwandan colonel and prefect of Rwanda's capital city Tharcisse Renzaho began Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) . Renzaho faces charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, and murder as a crime against humanity in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide . He has pleaded not guilty [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Iraqi government on Monday not to carry out the anticipated executions of two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants, saying that if the executions are carried out, they will further demonstrate Iraq's disregard for human rights and the rule of law in the wake of the December 30 hanging of ousted [...]
A federal judge has ruled that a former terrorist suspect can sue a county in Detroit for alleged abuse while he was in jail. Karim Koubriti, a Moroccan national, was convicted in 2003 of document fraud and conspiracy to aid terrorists after he and three others were accused of establishing a terrorist "sleeper cell" in [...]
The chief judge presiding over the genocide trial against Saddam Hussein for the deaths of 180,000 Kurds during the so-called "Anfal" campaigns dropped all charges against the former dictator as the trial reconvened Monday, saying Hussein's death was "confirmed." The court's decision came nine days after Hussein's execution , which prompted international objections to the [...]
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a Canadian child can legally have three parents – two mothers and a father. The case before the court involved a lesbian couple, together since 1990, one of whom was the biological mother of the five-year-old child, and a biological father who was listed on the child's [...]
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair , a staunch supporter of President Bush's Iraq policy, broke a week-long silence on the circumstances of the hanging of Saddam Hussein Sunday, saying through a spokesperson that the filmed execution which showed Hussein taunted on the gallows was "completely wrong." He plans to speak personally on the hanging sometime [...]
The Nepal Supreme Court decided Sunday to ask that the country's government revisit twelve separate portions of the temporary constitution on the country's judicial branch. The court's concern stems from the document's posture on judicial independence, especially the clause that gives the Prime Minister sole discretion in appointing the Chief Justice. The constitution had been [...]
An Iraqi government spokesman said Sunday that the execution orders for two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants, former chief judge of Iraq's Hussein-era Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar and former Iraqi intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti , have been signed and will be carried out "this week" after final "technical preparations" are made. Ali al-Dabbagh said [...]
A proposed German constitutional amendment supported by Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that would grant the military the legal authority to shoot down a hijacked aircraft drew opposition Sunday from Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries . Zypries told Bild that the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is against involving the military to bolster domestic security. The SPD is [...]
