The chairwoman of Russia's Council for Promoting Civil and Human Rights on Monday called the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky a murder and a tragedy. Magnitsky, who was arrested on allegations of tax fraud and held for over a year without a trial after representing London-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital in a suit against [...]

The Iraqi parliament approved a new election law following last Wednesday's veto of a similar bill by Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi . Al-Hashemi indicated that he plans to veto the bill a second time because it has not adequately addressed his concerns, including representation for Iraqis living abroad. An estimated 1.5 million Iraqis live [...]

China announced on Tuesday that two people had been executed for their roles in last year's melamine tainted milk scandal , in which almost 300,000 children were sickened and at least six were killed. The two men, Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping, were found responsible for selling at least three million pounds of the tainted [...]

A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a lower court decision which held that Congressional restrictions on organizations receiving federal grants through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) do not violate the First Amendment . In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth Circuit found that limiting these legal aid [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says the clear message of the recent 125-page majority opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upholding the convictions of civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart will undoubtedly chill the willingness of criminal defense attorneys to handle terrorism cases. … In [...]

The Trial Chamber of International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday denied a motion filed by former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic requesting appellate review of the court's decision to assign standby counsel . Karadzic's motion argued that the court did not give appointed counsel enough time to prepare a defense and [...]

A US military court at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait convicted Sergeant Jarret Taylor of abusing fellow troops and making a false official statement on Friday. Taylor's rank was reduced to private, he was sentenced to six months in jail, and was fined nearly $6,000. The behavior was discovered during the investigation of Private Keiffer Wilhelm's [...]

Reported hate crimes in the US increased by approximately two percent in 2008, the greatest reported increase since 2001, according to the 2008 Hate Crime Statistics released by the FBI on Monday. The FBI reported 7,780 single-bias hate crime incidents in 2008, up from the 7,621 reported in 2007 . The FBI noted that the [...]

Prosecutor v. Karadzic, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, November 23, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Radovan Karadzic.

UK government reports leaked on Sunday revealed many shortcomings in the country's involvement in the Iraq War, some possibly rising to the level of illegality. The documents show that the UK's plans for invasion of Iraq began secretly in February 2002 , while former Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the public by saying there was [...]