Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity committed in Dujail was "fundamentally unfair" and the guilty verdict lacks legitimacy due to procedural and substantive flaws, according to a report released by advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Monday. Nehal Bhuta, the report's author, said that the Iraqi High Tribunal "squandered an important opportunity to deliver [...]
Informe Histórico a la Sociedad Mexicana 2006, Fiscalia Especial para Movimientos Sociales y Politicos del Pasado . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
US Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) said Sunday he plans to introduce legislation in the next session of Congress to reinstate the military draft in the United States. Interviewed on CBS TV program Face the Nation , he said that military conscription would prompt lawmakers to think differently about deploying US troops abroad: "There's no question [...]
The United States and Russia signed a landmark trade agreement Sunday bringing Russia one step closer in its 13-year drive for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) . Under the agreement, Russia will lower import tariffs on American goods while the US pledged to improve its trade relations with Russian companies. The agreement signals [...]
Iran's parliament passed a bill Sunday instituting mandatory fingerprinting of all visiting US citizens. The predominantly conservative Majlis passed the bill by a margin of 135 to 26, and will next hand it to the Guardian Council for review before it is written into law. The legislation won approval despite the efforts of Iranian President [...]
Former Mexican Presidents Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (1964-1970) , Luis Echeverria (1970-1976) , and Jose Lopez Portillo (1976-1982) were responsible for "crimes against humanity" in connection with the massacres and tortures of hundreds of leftist activists during the 1960s and 1970s, according to an official report released Saturday by the Mexican government . The report reflects [...]
Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak called for the country's parliament to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution Sunday amid criticism from the opposition that the article effectively protects the ruling party from genuine competition in the 2011 presidential elections. Mubarak made the announcement in a speech marking the opening of a new parliamentary session. The [...]
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales attacked critics of President Bush's domestic surveillance program in a speech at the Air Force Academy Saturday, saying their views are "shortsighted." Critics of the program, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , argue that the program violates both the First and Fourth Amendment because it operates without judicial [...]
Humans Right Watch urged the Chinese government Sunday to be more transparent about its practice of removing transplant organs from executed prisoners after Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu admitted for the first time at a medical conference last week that most organs take from cadavers for transplants come from there "apart from a small [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says that despite recent disparaging comments by US Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, international law is also American law, and we must respect our obligations as citizens of the international community, not arbitrarily dismiss or avoid them so as to facilitate torture of [...]
