Amnesty International Thursday released a report accusing Hezbollah of violating international law by deliberately and indiscriminately killing Israeli civilians through its firing of rockets into Israel during the 34-day Middle East conflict . The rights group said Hezbollah militants committed war crimes when they failed to distinguish between civilian and military areas when launching thousands [...]
The Role of Judges in a Modern Democracy, UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer Magna Carta Lecture, Sydney, Australia, September 13, 2006 . Read the full text of the speech. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Valerie Plame, the undercover operative whose revealed identity precipitated the CIA leak case , and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, have now sued former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage for serving as the primary source responsible for disclosing Plame's CIA affiliation to columnist Robert Novak in the summer of 2003. Armitage confirmed last [...]
The US House Armed Services Committee approved its version of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 Wednesday, a bill that would permit the use of military commissions for terror detainees and enemy combatants. President Bush presented the legislation to Congress last Friday. Meanwhile, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) , chairman of the US Senate Armed Services [...]
A Jordan military court concluded two separate terrorism cases Wednesday, convicting a total of 10 suspected militants, including two fugitives in absentia, of charges stemming from alleged plots to kill Americans in Jordan . The court sentenced the suspects to terms ranging from 10 to 20 years with hard labor, though lawyers for both sets [...]
Two US congressmen on Wednesday filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia requesting Judge Emmett Sullivan to order the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to treat tax-exempt 527 groups on a case-by-case basis or, in the alternative, to issue new rules requiring [...]
UK Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells called for the redefinition of "war crimes" in light of the recent Mideast conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, during a Wednesday hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament . Howells blamed the "ruthless" tactics of Hezbollah, such as storing weapons in schools and apartment blocks, [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee approved the National Security Surveillance Act of 2006 Wednesday, a bill that pushes forward Republicans' efforts to confer legal status on the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program , which involves warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency . The bill would subject the program to a review to determine its [...]
Texas' highest court for criminal cases announced Wednesday that it will consider whether to reinstate conspiracy charges against former US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) . The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by Travis County Prosecutor Ronnie Earle , although it did not set a date for oral arguments. The charges of conspiracy [...]
China's Supreme People's Court has promulgated new rules aimed at preventing leaks of information regarding sensitive cases, and has established a system whereunder all court information will flow through court spokesmen, 65 of whom have already been appointed, according to a Wednesday China Daily report . The report did not say how the new spokesman [...]
