Former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as his trial resumed Monday to defend himself against charges of war crimes. According to news reports, Karadzic did not appear to obstruct the process of the ICTY , despite repeatedly seeking to have his trial delayed. Karadzic [...]

Former UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston on Sunday called for an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In his first interview since stepping down from his UN position, Alston urged the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate conduct by both the Taliban and US and British military [...]

The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) expressed concern Monday that the country’s new regulations regarding information obtained through torture of foreign detainees may still leave intelligence agents vulnerable to legal action for human rights crimes committed by others. The guidelines provide steps that must be taken by intelligence officers before they interview, interrogate [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared a mistrial Monday in a murder case against two Blackwater defense contractors after the jury failed to reach a verdict. The jury notified Judge Robert Doumar Monday morning that they were still split after nine hours of deliberation spread over three [...]

A federal judge ruled Friday that the state of California can move forward with plans to execute a convicted rapist and murderer later this week. Albert Brown was convicted of raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1982 and is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. Brown petitioned to join a lawsuit filed by death [...]

Thirteen state attorneys general have joined in an amicus curiae brief urging the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn a federal court decision striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage . The brief argues that the district court exceeded its authority because a federal court cannot “reorder this foundational legal and [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Friday stayed a Louisiana appeals court ruling awarding $241.5 million to the plaintiffs in a class action suit against several tobacco companies. The ruling, issued by Scalia in his role as Circuit Justice for the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, prevents the tobacco companies from [...]

Saleh Al Amer, Pitt Law ’11, recently interned with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington, DC. Saleh is the President of the Muslim Law Students Association at the University of Pittsburgh and writes on discrimination against Muslims in Europe and the United States… On September 14th, 2010, the French Senate voted 246 to 1 [...]

A federal judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday ordered that a US Air Force officer be reinstated after being previously discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. District Judge Ronald Leighton relied on testimony regarding Major Margaret Witt’s exemplary record in finding that her [...]

The Obama administration on Friday filed a brief with the District Court for the District of Columbia , asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit questioning the legality of targeted killings of terrorism suspects. The lawsuit, filed by the father of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki , seeks an injunction to prevent the government from killing [...]