The final results from the referendum on the draft Iraqi constitution will be postponed until Friday at the earliest due to transportation delays and audits being performed because of voting inconsistencies in some provinces, according to officials from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) . The audits were announced Monday in response to an [...]

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Members of the Independent Inquiry Committee created to investigate the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme discussed their findings and recommendations with the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in testimony on Tuesday. The committee, formed in April 2004, investigated the program for more than a year before presenting its final report in early September. Committee chairman Paul [...]

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A Chilean judge Tuesday asked that former president Augusto Pinochet be stripped of his immunity from prosecution on embezzlement charges. In his last action before joining the Chilean Supreme Court, Judge Sergio Munoz, who extensively investigated Pinochet for tax evasion and embezzlement, petitioned the Santiago Court of Appeals to force Pinochet to face charges related [...]

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Khalil Dulaimi, defense lawyer for Saddam Hussein , announced Tuesday that he plans to ask the Iraqi Special Tribunal for an immediate three-month adjournment in the first trial against Hussein so the defense has an opportunity to fully prepare its case. Dulaimi said he was optimistic the court would grant his request. In the proceeding, [...]

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UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Leandro Despouy Tuesday expressed doubts about the fairness of Uzbekistan's ongoing trial of 15 alleged rebels accused of precipitating the violent May uprising in the town of Andijan that allegedly led to hundreds of casualties when government troops opened fire on protestors. Despouy has requested [...]

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Geoffrey Nice, the lawyer prosecuting former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) , on Tuesday voiced his concern that the trial against the deposed leader will take another four to five years if the court continues to provide Milosevic with further extensions to present his case. Milosevic, [...]

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A judge for the US District Court in Northern Georgia granted a temporary injunction Tuesday against the enforcement of a Georgia law that requires voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot. Georgia officials argued the rule, which the governor signed into law in April was necessary to prevent voter fraud. Based on the [...]

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Iranian Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad announced Tuesday that his country has sent its own indictment against former dictator Saddam Hussein to the Iraqi government, charging the former dictator with atrocities allegedly committed during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. The new charges come one day before Hussein is due to appear in Iraqi court to face the [...]

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