South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday called North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong, which killed four, including two civilians, a crime against humanity. The president’s statement was the first addressed to the public since last week’s attack on the residential area. He characterized North Korea’s military action, which injured 16 and resulted in the deaths [...]

An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced former foreign minister Tariq Aziz to 10 years in prison for his involvement with the displacement and killing of minority Shiite Kurds during Saddam Hussein’s rule in the 1980s. Aziz received a lesser sentence compared to other co-conspirators whom the Iraqi court found had greater involvement with the genocide [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in four cases, consolidating two cases concerning campaign financing . In Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett , the court will determine whether the First Amendment forbids states from providing additional government subsidies to publicly financed candidates that are triggered by independent expenditure groups’ [...]

The Constitutional Court of Thailand on Monday dismissed the case against the ruling Democrat Party for alleged misuse of campaign funds. Judge Udomsak Nitimontree dismissed the suit, brought in June by the Electoral Commission of Thailand (EC) , citing the commissioner’s failure to follow proper filing procedure by taking more than 15 days to file [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Saroop Ijaz, an advocate before the Lahore High Court in Pakistan, says that if Pakistan is to function as a democracy and – equally significantly – to address the threat of extremism both at home and abroad, its blasphemy laws should be repealed… In June 2009 in the District Nankana in [...]

Swiss voters on Sunday approved by a 52.9 percent majority a “Deportation Initiative” that would amend the Swiss Constitution to allow the immediate deportation of foreigners who commit certain criminal offenses. The list of crimes range from serious offenses such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, to nonviolent crimes, including social security fraud and false [...]

Controversy surrounded the Egyptian parliamentary elections on Sunday as violence accompanied accusations of corruption, fraud and silencing the opposition. Reports have surfaced of vote buying and the ejection of independent vote monitors from polling locations. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has taken tough measures to hold onto its control of the 508-seat Egyptian Parliament [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday ruled that the police did not violate constitutional protections by accessing a citizen’s electricity usage during an investigation. The Court reversed the decision of the appellate court by finding that during their investigation of a citizen for the possible existence of marijuana farms, the police did not violate [...]

A judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Friday sentenced Steven Vikash Chand, a man previously convicted in connection with the failed Toronto 18 terrorist plot, to 10 years in prison. Justice Fletcher Dawson handed down the sentence, which is greater than the eight years advocated by the defense, but Chand, who has been [...]

The Council of Europe (COE) 30th Conference of Ministers of Justice passed three resolutions on Friday at the close of the three-day meeting in Istanbul. The resolutions, “data protection and privacy in the third millennium,” “prison policy in today’s Europe” and “modern, transparent and effective justice” declare that all 47 member countries will attempt to [...]