Al-Quds al-Arabi , a London-based Arabic-language newspaper, reported Wednesday that Saddam Hussein turned down an offer from US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to take the death penalty off the table in his upcoming trial if Hussein would call for insurgents to lay down their arms. The report also says Saddam has refused to meet [...]
The US-led Combined Review and Release Board created in August 2004 to expedite the screening process for detainees taken into custody in Iraq by US and Iraqi forces has so far approved the outright release of more than 2,700 detainees, released another 5,300 to guarantors, and denied the release of 6,500, a spokesman for detention [...]
The intergovernmental Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has urged US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to drop subpoenas against two journalists demanding that they name their sources to a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's name. The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the reporters' case . While there [...]
The son of late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau , the architect of Canada's civil rights charter, denounced the Canadian government's controversial use of security certificates to indefinitely detain uncharged terror suspects in a court hearing Tuesday. Alexandre "Sasha" Trudeau took the witness stand in Federal Court on behalf of Hassan Almrei , a Syrian [...]
Saddam Hussein's family has approached a leading London media lawyer about suing the Sun for publishing secretly-taken pictures of the former Iraqi leader in his underwear. Hussein's Iraqi lawyers also threatened to sue the paper for $1M after the photos were released. Some believe the deposed Iraqi president has a good chance of winning a [...]
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Tuesday he would begin discussions with Attorney General Rory Brady about bringing London before the European Court of Human Rights for failing to release files about car bombings occurring in 1974 . The bombings by Protestant loyalists resulted in the largest loss of life in Ireland's recent history, killing [...]
The government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair won a key vote in Parliament late Tuesday on the proposed national ID card plan , but its 66-seat majority was cut in half with Conservatives and some Labor Party members voting against the measure. The proposed cards would use biometric technology in fingerprint, face, and iris [...]
US-born Israeli soldier Avi Bieber was sentenced to 56 days in jail Tuesday for refusing to participate in the evacuation of settlers from Gaza . Military officials said the stiff sentence is meant to send a message to other soldiers who claim they will refuse similar assignments and an Israeli Defense Force statement said "soldiers [...]
A new report by a UN Commission of Experts says Indonesia's efforts to examine atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999 was "manifestly inadequate" and show "scant respect for or conformity to relevant international standards," after Jakarta failed to jail any senior officials , and all but 1 of the 18 tried were acquitted. In [...]
Mexican lawmakers Tuesday approved a law permitting Mexicans living abroad to vote by mail in next July's presidential election. The lower house of Congress passed the measure 455 to 6, with 6 abstentions. The measure has already been passed by the Mexican Senate and will be presented to President Vincente Fox for signing, which he [...]
