The presidents of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday presented their respective annual reports to the UN General Assembly , stressing the increasing importance of the courts and need for the rule of international law as nations experience ever-growing globalization and the legal questions it raises. ICC [...]

The Uruguayan House of Representatives voted 50-40 Thursday to revoke a 25-year-old amnesty law , which prevented investigations, adjudications and human rights prosecutions of military junta officials during their regime between 1973-1985. The 1986 expiry law was passed after Uruguay returned to democratic rule, shielding police and military personnel from prosecution for torture, killings, enforced [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reemphasized Wednesday the importance of accountability issues in Sri Lanka related to conflicts with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) . The comments came during a meeting with Mahinda Samarasinghe , the Special Envoy of the President of Sri Lanka on Human Rights, as part of the UN’s ongoing [...]

Michigan Attorney General Bill Shuette , joined by four other states, on Wednesday asked the US Supreme Court to require the US Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate a study on ecological separation as well as installation of nets to stop the advancement of Asian carp toward Lake Michigan. The current study on how to [...]

An Indonesian court announced Wednesday that it would reduce the 15-year prison sentence being served by a radical Indonesian cleric. A spokesman for the Jakarta High Court confirmed without elaboration that the chief judge reduced the jail term to nine years. Regarded as a spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia, 73-year-old cleric Abu Bakar [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard arguments Wednesday in an appeal by US citizen and convicted terrorist Jose Padilla to reinstate his unlawful detention suit against several government officials. Padilla, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , filed an action against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other [...]

Four candidates were named Tuesday as potential successors to International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo when his nine-year term expires next year. The Search Committee for the position of the Prosecutor of the ICC submitted its consensus report to the Bureau of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) with the shortlist of four [...]

Son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi have reportedly attempted to leave Libya in an effort to surrender themselves to the International Criminal Court (ICC) , according to the National Transitional Council (NTC) . The ICC has been unable to confirm these reports. Earlier in the [...]

Former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta was arrested Wednesday on five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The charges come in connection to his relationship with Raj Rajaratnam , co-founder of the Galleon Group, who was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for insider trading earlier this [...]

Uruguay’s Senate voted 16-15 Tuesday to revoke the amnesty law of 1986, which prevents investigations, adjudications and human rights prosecutions of military junta officials during their regime between 1973-1985. The vote was supported by the Broad Front coalition (Frente Amplio) , which is control of the House of Representatives . The House is scheduled to [...]