A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Friday approved a settlement of almost $18 million in a lawsuit brought by juveniles who were allegedly wrongfully incarcerated by two judges. The county judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, were accused of taking bribes from Robert Mericle, a real estate [...]
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Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer has filed a defamation lawsuit claiming that British agencies MI5 and MI6 had given the US statements the agencies knew to be false. While Aamer has been cleared for release from Guantanamo, he has not been returned to the UK yet. Aamer was detained in Afghanistan for allegedly fighting at an [...]
A federal judge for the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday affirmed a denial of a petition for habeas corpus from Guantanamo Bay detainee Khirullah Khairkhwa . The US District Court for the District of Columbia originally denied Khairkhwa’s petition for habeas corpus on May 27, 2011, finding [...]
Former Russian police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was found guilty on Friday for his role in the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya . Pavlyuchenkov, who was a lieutenant colonel at the time of the murder, was arrested in August, and pleaded guilty without testifying to his role in the murder. The court found him guilty [...]
US President Barack Obama signed legislation on Friday that normalizes US trade with Russia and places sanctions on any individual associated with violations of human rights in Russia. While the law eliminates Cold War era restrictions on trade that will allow better trade relations with Russia, it also directs the Secretary of State to publish [...]
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday refused the request for a stay in Hedges v. Obama that would have temporarily blocked enforcement of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) . A group of reporters and advocates filed an emergency appeal with Ginsburg Thursday in the hopes of blocking the law [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that the country’s controversial Anti-Terrorism Act is constitutional, issuing a series of unanimous rulings that establish a definition of terrorism in the country’s Criminal Code. In a 7-0 ruling, the court dismissed the appeal brought by Mohammed Momin Khawaja , the first person ever to be charged under [...]
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced Friday that accused computer hacker Gary McKinnon will not face charges in England and Wales. McKinnon is accused of hacking into NASA, Department of Defense, Air Force, Army and Navy computers in violation of US computer laws but claims he was trying to find evidence of UFO activity and [...]
The UN Working Group on discrimination against women on Friday expressed grave concern over Egypt’s draft constitution , scheduled for a referendum on Saturday. Independent expert Kamala Chandrakirana noted that almost no women were included in the Constituent Assembly that approved the draft constitution last month, saying that, “women’s perspectives were grossly under-represented in the [...]
North Carolina Judge Gregory Weeks ruled Thursday that racial discrimination played a role in jury selection that secured the death sentences of Tilmon Golphin, Christina Walters and Quintel Augustine, commuting their sentences. Under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act (RJA) , individuals who have received a death sentence may attempt to have that sentence removed by [...]
