An Egyptian court on Friday sentenced 11 members of an opposition party to two years in prison for campaigning on behalf of the banned Muslim Brotherhood . The eleven were found guilty of taking part in election demonstrations and campaigning for Muslim Brotherhood using leaflets that contained religious slogans. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [...]

The Swedish Svea Appeals Court Friday upheld the copyright convictions of Fredrik Neji, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstroem for their involvement in running The Pirate Bay , a file-sharing website. The Swedish appeals court additionally shortened their prison sentences from one year to between four and ten months but increased the damages owed to the [...]

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) petitioned a court on Wednesday to investigate a Guantanamo Bay psychologist who allegedly engaged in activities amounting to professional misconduct. The CJA is seeking disciplinary action against New York licensed psychologist Dr. John Leso, including revocation of his license to [...]

The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry on Thursday defended its handling of the extradition of former interior minister Carlos Vielmann. A Spanish judge ordered Vielmann’s release Tuesday after Guatemalan authorities failed to request his extradition to face charges before the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) . Guatemalan authorities were accused of purposely frustrating these efforts [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the US to become a state party to the Mine Ban Treaty , repeating a plea made in March . The call was prompted by the release of “Landmine Monitor 2010” , an annual report detailing the treaty’s progress released by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) [...]

A jury for the 331st Criminal District Court of Texas found former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) guilty of money laundering and conspiracy Wednesday, after deliberating for 19 hours. The charges stemmed from $190,000 donated by corporate interests to DeLay’s political action committee (PAC) during the 2002 midterm election, which was allegedly funneled [...]

A Spanish judge on Tuesday ordered the release of former Guatemalan interior minister Carlos Vielmann after authorities in Guatemala failed to request his extradition. Vielmann has been imprisoned in Spain since his arrest in Madrid last month, and was to be extradited on charges that he ordered the extrajudicial execution of seven inmates at the [...]

A jury for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday convicted five Somali men on charges of piracy , the first such conviction in the US in nearly 200 years. The men were found guilty on charges of piracy, attacking to plunder a maritime vessel and assault with a dangerous [...]

US Air Force Major Margaret Witt, who was discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, will become the first openly gay person to serve in the US military after the Obama administration Wednesday did not pursue a stay of a previous federal court decision ordering her reinstatement. The US Department of Justice [...]

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld restrictions on the use of genetically modified (GM) crops. The German state of Saxony-Anhalt had challenged the 2008 law, which requires “buffer zones” between GM and conventional crops. The law also mandates that GM farmers compensate neighbors if their crops become contaminated. Upholding the restrictions, the court found [...]