The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced Thursday that a coalition of US and international human rights groups plan to file a war crimes lawsuit against outgoing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld after his resignation Wednesday. Rumsfeld enjoys statutory immunity in the United States and so CCR, the National Lawyers Guild, the [...]
Argentina federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral on Thursday authorized the arrest of former Iran President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight other Iranian officials for their alleged roles the AMIA Jewish cultural center bombing that killed 85 people and wounded over 200 more in Buenos Aries in 1994. Prosecutors claim that Iranian officials authorized the bombing [...]
Allen St. Pierre : "The 2006 mid-term elections offered mixed results for marijuana law reformers, with voters rejecting three statewide liberalization efforts, but approving numerous local measures to 'deprioritize' pot law enforcement. Regarding the three failed statewide initiative efforts: These outcomes, while disappointing, were not unexpected. Despite these results, adults in both Colorado and Nevada [...]
Steve Fox : "The purpose of the Amendment 44 campaign in Colorado was to stimulate a debate in the state about the rationality of laws that allow adults to use alcohol while prohibiting the use of marijuana. Specifically, the Amendment 44 campaign framed all of its arguments so that the listening public would be educated [...]
William B. Neaves, Ph.D. : "The Stowers Institute is pleased that a majority of citizens voted for the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative on Tuesday. Our attention will now be directed toward further recruitment of the world's leading scientists to the Stowers Institute, including stem cell researchers. The support shown by the voters [...]
The president of the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal told tribunal judges Thursday they should allow Muslim lawyers to wear veils in their courtrooms unless it interferes with the "interests of justice", as long as their clients approve and all parties to the proceedings can hear the representatives speak. Judge George Glossop adjourned an immigration [...]
Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the country's new constitution Thursday, which limits his power to dissolve the parliament, gives the legislature the right to form the government and enlarges the parliament from 75 to 90 deputies. The People's Assembly adopted the new constitution Wednesday after opposition party members and pro-government supporters reached a compromise Monday. [...]
Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday approved the lifting of a ban on public gatherings of more than five people, according to Assembly President Meechai Ruchapan . The Council for National Security , formerly the Council for Democratic Reform, announced the ban on public gatherings one day after the Thai military led a bloodless [...]
Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court in China, has encouraged Chinese courts to refrain from passing death sentences , telling judges to always lean toward life when possible . Xiao's comments, reported in the state media Thursday, follow recent legislation passed by the National People's Congress to amend the Organic Law on the [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a hearing Thursday to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed to trial in the case against a Congolese militia leader. Thomas Lubanga , founder of the militant Union of Patriotic Congolese , was formally charged with enlisting child soldiers in the violence-plagued Ituri district . Lubanga is [...]
