An Iranian parliamentary inquiry has found that Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was responsible for the deaths of at least three detainees involved in protests that followed the June 12 presidential election , the conservative Alef website reported Wednesday. The report alleges that Mortazavi, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing the Kahrizak prison, ordered that the prisoners [...]

French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday announced plans to create a special judicial service to investigate and charge individuals accused of crimes against humanity and genocide in France or in other countries. The new judicial unit would streamline the prosecution of Rwandans living in France who are accused [...]

Victoria Neilson : "On Monday, with relatively little fanfare, the US closed a chapter on an era of discrimination and intolerance. Since 1987, any non-citizen seeking to enter the US was prohibited from doing so if he or she was HIV-positive, unless he or she met the narrow qualifications for a waiver. Likewise, all applicants [...]

The Malaysian High Court on Wednesday temporarily suspended enforcement of last week's ruling that non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" as a translation for the word "God." The decision came after the Malaysian Home Ministry sought a stay Tuesday. The case was brought by the Herald, a weekly Catholic publication, challenging the Malaysian government's three-year [...]

Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Gabi Ashkenazi on Wednesday ordered the military to seek advice from legal advisers during battle, rather than just in the planning stages. Ashkenazi reportedly implemented the new regulations in spite of opposition from several commanders. The decision follows widespread criticism of last year's Operation Cast Lead [...]

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that $21.2 million in gold coins and bullion seized last year from the offices of Allen Stanford be returned to investors. Stanford is accused of defrauding investors out of $7 billion. Judge David Godbey of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the gold [...]

Rhode Island lawmakers on Tuesday voted to allow domestic partners , including those in same-sex relationships, to claim the body of their partner and to make funeral arrangements, overriding a veto by Governor Don Carcieri . The legislation passed by a vote of 67-3 in the House and 31-3 in the Senate , receiving support [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Tuesday upheld the majority of restrictions on cigarette advertising imposed by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act . The upheld limitations include a ban on distributing clothing and goods with logos or brand names affixed, as well as sponsorship [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that a Washington law that prohibits felons from voting violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act . The Washington law, Article VI, Section 3 of the state constitution , states that, "All persons convicted of infamous crime unless restored to their civil rights [...]

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged to improve airline passenger security, calling last month's attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 "a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence." Obama said that the US government had sufficient information to uncover the plot, but that "our intelligence community failed to connect those dots." According to [...]