JURIST Guest Columnist David Scheffer, former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues (1997-2001), now at Northwestern University School of Law, says that in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld the justices of the US Supreme Court have demonstrated how fundamental tenets of international law amplify American values and are deeply embedded in American law… In a [...]
China has approved stiffer penalties for people responsible for industrial accidents and white collar crimes, state media said on Friday. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) increased the maximum jail sentence from seven to 15 years for individuals who make employees work in dangerous conditions that ultimately result in industrial accidents, and [...]
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy on Thursday were convicted of federal bribery and fraud charges . Siegelman was convicted on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud. Scrushy was found guilty of fraud and both were also convicted in connection with a $500,000 payment from Scrushy for Siegelman's [...]
Lawyers for Omar Khadr , the Canadian citizen who is detained at Guantanamo Bay and charged with killing a US Special Forces soldier in Afghanistan, said Thursday they will seek his extradition to Canada. The request follows Thursday's US Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld , which held that Guantanamo military commissions are illegal [...]
The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday adopted a resolution endorsing the draft International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance , which would require signatories to refrain from engaging in forced disappearances . The convention defines forced disappearances as "detention, abduction, or deprivation of liberty by state agents followed by a [...]
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has said that the ruling coalition government in the Netherlands will resign Friday after losing the support of one of the parties making up the coalition due to the treatment of a Dutch lawmaker whose citizenship was nearly revoked. Democraten 66 (D66) , a social-liberal party, pulled out of [...]
Defense lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have requested a one-month delay in the trial, which would push the scheduled start date back to February 12, 2007. Lead defense attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr. requested the delay to accommodate a securities fraud trial he believes will take longer than previously expected. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [...]
Jordan should criminalize torture and end the use of special courts that protect accused police and intelligence officials, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told a press conference following the conclusion of his two-day visit to Jordan . Nowak said he has evidence that torture is systematically practiced at two detention centers in Amman [...]
The Arkansas Supreme Court Thursday struck down a regulatory provision barring same-sex couples from raising foster children, saying that it found no connection between homosexuality and child-rearing ability. The state child welfare agency had appealed a lower court ruling against section 200.3.2 of the Arkansas Minimum Licensing Standards of the Child Welfare , which states [...]
Ta Mok , the former military chief of the Khmer Rouge communist movement in Cambodia who was indicted for genocide in 1999, entered a hospital Thursday as his health continues to deteriorate since becoming sick in jail last week, according to his lawyer. The hospitalization has revived speculation that Ta Mok, 80, will be unable [...]
