Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Uzbekistan is cracking down on dissent under the pretext of law, alleging Wednesday that two human rights defenders sentenced to nine years in prison on extortion charges were arrested in a pattern of criminal arrests designed to stifle dissent. Eleven human rights defenders have been convicted so far [...]
US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli has said that the trial of Saddam Hussein is fair and legitimate, despite the murder of a third defense lawyer Wednesday morning. In a press briefing Wednesday, Ereli stated: The trial of Saddam Hussein…an Iraqi-led process and something that the Iraqi Government and Iraqi people have devoted enormous [...]
Iran has received nearly universal condemnation for selecting Tehran Prosecutor-General Saeed Mortazavi to attend the inaugural meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as an observer. Mortazavi is widely suspected of being present in July 2003 when Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died from a blow to her head while in Mortazai's custody, and [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday that insurgents in Iraq have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law and pointed to the kidnapping of two US soldiers last week as another example of the war crimes that are committed in Iraq. The two soldiers were kidnapped south of Baghdad last week and after their bodies [...]
The US Supreme Court handed down four decisions Thursday, including Fernandez-Vargas v. Gonzales , where the Court held that a federal immigration law authorizing deportation can be applied to illegal immigrants who entered the country before its enactment. Mexican immigrant Humberto Fernandez-Vargas, who entered the US in the 1970s and after several deportations lived in [...]
A federal watchdog charged with overseeing California prison reform has released a report saying that an abrupt reversal in policy by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) prompted two secretaries of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to resign earlier this year. The report by John Hagar, a federal court-appointed special master, blamed in particular [...]
Canadian legal observers expressed concern Thursday that a new ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada will open courts to a flood of divorce litigation revolving around allegations of spousal misconduct, despite the terms of the 1985 "no fault" Divorce Act which eliminated misconduct as a relevant consideration when determining spousal support. In Leskun v. [...]
Members of the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations promised to crack down on data brokers who gather private information after hearing testimony Wednesday from a former data broker who told the subcommittee how easily he obtained other people's information. James Rapp, who was forced out of business after [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday demanded that Afghanistan revoke recent National Security Directorate rules that restrict the freedom of the press and effectively ban journalists from writing about Afghanistan's failing security situation. Afghan journalists have said that the rules are a form of intimidation after major media organizations received a list of restrictions on [...]
An investigation into the death of 24 Iraqi civilians last November in Haditha focusing on whether senior military personnel covered up the deaths reportedly found several failures to follow up by Marine commanders, but no deliberate cover up of the deaths. The report by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell , charged with leading the investigation, [...]
