Former Central African Republic President Ange Felix Patasse was convicted in absentia Tuesday on fraud charges and sentenced to 20 years hard labor. Patasse and four other members of his former government have been charged with embezzlement and fraud stemming from transactions with the Libyan government in 1999 and 2000, but none were present for [...]
Two hundred families plan later this week to demand damages from SNCF , the French state-run railway system, in connection with the company's transportation of Jewish families to German concentration camps during World War II. The demand comes two months after a French trial court held SNCF liable for damages to the family of Alain [...]
Australian legal and political observers appeared split Tuesday in the wake of the Australian government's first control order under new anti-terror laws limiting the activities of an uncharged terror suspect. A court Monday issued the order at the instance of Attorney General Philip Ruddock; under it, Joseph Terrence "Jihad Jack" Thomas is required to stay [...]
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday failed to adopt a proposed rule to exempt interest groups from "electioneering communications," tying 3-3 instead. The measure, proposed earlier this month by FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky, would have allowed certain grassroots lobbying groups to air television and radio advertisements that related to public policy issues under [...]
Guantanamo's oldest known detainee was among the five US-held prisoners transferred to Afghanistan last week, according to his lawyer who found out about the release over the weekend in a US Department of Justice e-mail. Peter King said that Haji Nasrat Khan , who thought he might be as old as 78 although US military [...]
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called for broader US access to European airline passenger data Tuesday in a Washington Post editorial, citing the recently-alleged plot by UK terror suspects to detonate explosives aboard US airliners flying to the US from Britain. Noting that "British authorities, in partnership with the United States and our allies, [...]
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday welcomed Friday's agreement by a UN General Assembly committee on the draft terms of a new UN disability rights treaty. In a statement released by his official spokesman in New York, Annan called the committee's approval of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities an "historic achievement [...]
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , the leftist candidate challenging the results of Mexico's disputed July 2 presidential election , has rejected Monday's ruling by the country's Federal Electoral Tribunal reducing the lead of leader Felipe Calderon by only some 4000 votes after a partial recount. In a speech to supporters in Mexico City late Monday, [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Jim Chen of the University of Minnesota School of Law says that the Hurricane Katrina disaster one year later still challenges us to acknowledge and address America's deep social vulnerability, so exposed in the aftermath of the storm… Hurricane Katrina broke America’s collective heart. No previous natural disaster in the nation’s history [...]
The Prosecutor vs. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Document Containing the Charges, Article 61(3)(a), International Criminal Court, August 28, 2006 . Read the full text of the indictment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
