Amnesty International (AI) on Monday urged the US and the UK to work towards the release of the last British Guantanamo Bay detainee, Shaker Aamer, whom AI claims is being arbitrarily detained. Aamer, a UK resident, has been held by the US since 2002 on claims that he was fighting with the Taliban. Currently in [...]

The trial of former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , Jean-Pierre Bemba , began Monday in the International Criminal Court (ICC) . Bemba is on trial for charges stemming from his activities as the military leader for the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC). It is alleged that during 2002 [...]

The number of reported hate crime incidents and victims decreased in 2009, according to the FBI Hate Crime Statistics report released Monday. The number of reported incidents was down to 6,604 from 7,783 in 2008, while the number of reported victims was down to 8,336 from 9,691. Of these incidents, 61 percent were against persons, [...]

US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) stalled a bill on Friday that would allow the federal government to block websites allegedly participating in copyright infringement. The Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeit Act (COICA) aims to discourage Internet sites dedicated to infringement activities by allowing the Attorney General to petition for injunctive relief against such sites found [...]

The Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Sunday disqualified 21 candidates who had participated in September’s parliamentary elections for electoral fraud. The ECC disqualified the candidates after finding widespread irregularities in the voting in 12 provinces. Of the disqualified candidates, 19 had either won or were leading in their districts, seven of which were incumbents [...]

The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday stayed proceedings against a soldier charged in the death of an Afghan civilian in January. The stay was granted in the case of Private First Class Andrew Holmes of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and allows time for the prosecution and defense to argue over the release of [...]

The US Senate unanimously approved a bill Friday banning animal cruelty or “crush” videos. The House of Representatives approved the same ban on Monday, and the provision is now being forward to President Barack Obama for his signature. If the bill is signed into law, the creating, selling or distributing animal crush videos, which feature [...]

Appellate judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Friday that the trial chamber must review the continued detention of former Democratic Republic of Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba . This decision overturns the trial chamber’s July ruling . In its judgment, the appeals chamber ruled that the trial chamber must consider both changed circumstances and [...]

The US Senate on Friday authorized by voice vote settlements between the US government and minority farmers for alleged discrimination. The settlements include $3.4 billion to resolve claims that the Department of the Interior (DOI) mismanaged funds held in trust for American Indian landowners , and $1.2 billion for African American farmers claiming they suffered [...]

Three human rights groups on Friday jointly announced allegations of torture against Libyan security officials. Alkarama, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and TRIAL have obtained documents that purportedly demonstrate that government officials blocked an investigation into the role of the Libyan Internal Security Agency (ISA) in the death of Ismail al Khazmi. Al Khazmi was arrested [...]