The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday acquitted two former Rwandan ministers, Casimir Bizimungu and Jerome Bicamumpaka, of genocide charges due to a lack of sufficient evidence. This decision is the most high-profile acquittal of the officials involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide during which 800,000 people were killed. The ICTR ordered the [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday unanimously vacated a district court ruling that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT) was a violation of service members’ constitutional rights. Earlier this month, lawyers for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the appeals court to overturn that ruling . The DOJ [...]

A CIA drone strike in Yemen on Friday killed senior al Qaeda leader, US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki . The strike marks the US government’s most successful attack against al Qaeda since the raid leading to the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May. The US-born radical Muslim cleric reportedly used his English and [...]

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesdayaffirmed the convictions of ex-army officer Ephrem Setako and former businessman Yussuf Munyakazi on charges stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide . The Appeals Chamber dismissed Setako’s appeal in its entirety and affirmed his conviction on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , along with several other rights groups and physicians, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging a North Carolina law that requires abortion providers to show women ultrasounds prior to performing abortions. The measure, known as the “Women’s Right to Know Act,” would also require a physician to provide information [...]

A special security court in Bahrain on Thursday sentenced one anti-government protester to death for killing a police officer, and gave lengthy prison sentences to medical personnel, including doctors, for providing treatment to injured protesters during the country’s uprising. The National Safety Court of Appeal, a court composed of military prosecutors and civilian and military [...]

Two rights organizations filed an indictment against former US president George W Bush with the Canada Department of Justice on Thursday accusing him of commissioning a torture program during his time in office. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the same complaint earlier this year in Geneva, Switzerland, forcing Bush to cancel a planned [...]

Lithuania must reopen the investigation into secret CIA prisons in light of new evidence, Amnesty International (AI) insisted Thursday. AI cited evidence of rendition flights of Abu Zubaydah in 2005 revealed earlier this year by Reprieve , a London-based human rights organization. AI counter-terrorism and human rights expert, Julia Hall, pressed authorities: The Lithuanian authorities [...]

The upper house of the Kazakhstani parliament on Thursday passed a controversial bill dissolving religious organizations and requiring re-registration, drawing criticism from international observers. Recently, Kazakhstani lawmakers have been unsettled by religious extremists plotting acts of terrorism across Central Asia’s largest economy. The bill dissolves current registrations and establishes a procedure requiring groups to meet [...]

The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) issued an arrest warrant for former prime minister Al Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi on Wednesday. Al-Mahmoudi was arrested in Tunisia last week and sentenced to six months in prison for illegally entering the country. The conviction was overturned by a Tunisian appeals court, however. Al-Mahmoudi has since gone on hunger [...]