Alabama Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday called a special legislative session to discuss changes to the state’s tough immigration law . The move comes one day after state lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would have amended the law to make it easier to defend in court. Rather than signing or vetoing the [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday blocked a portion of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, finding that it violates the First Amendment . Section 1021 of the NDAA affirms the authority of the president under [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Leila Hanafi, Regional Coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court says the ICC is necessary for Libya to develop its own fair and productive justice system…

An Afghan detainee who was handed over to authorities in Afghanistan by UK forces won permission on Wednesday to challenge the legality of the transfer. Before the High Court of Justice in London, Serdar Mohammed claimed that he had been transferred by British forces to a prison in Afghanistan where he was tortured by the [...]

The trial of former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic began Wednesday in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) but was postponed indefinitely on Thursday due to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. After opening statements concluded on Thursday, Judge Alphons Orie adjourned the trial to allow the defense more time to consider the [...]

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor asked Wednesday to be sentenced with an eye toward “reconciliation, not retribution.” Speaking during a sentencing hearing before the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The Hague, Taylor claimed he had “sadness and deepest sympathy for the atrocities and crimes suffered in Sierra Leone” but that he was [...]

Amnesty International (AI) urged the Sudanese government on Tuesday to stop its alleged press censorship. AI reports that Sudanese authorities have on several occasions seized newspapers from the printing press. Additionally, a prominent columnist, Faisal Saleh, was arrested and remains in custody after publishing a report on an alleged rape by a Sudanese security agent. [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ben Jones, Executive Director for the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, says that Connecticut’s repeal of the death penalty is one of the first of a trend of states moving away from capital punishment …

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday awarded victims’ families over $300 million dollars in damages from the governments of Syria and Iran for their roles in an April 2006 terrorist attack in Israel. The lawsuit was filed by the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center on behalf of [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Dora Rotar, an LL.M. Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is the author of the seventh entry in a 14-part series from the LL.M. students of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Rotar examines the political and legal challenges Croatia will face as it prepares to enter the [...]