Former INTERPOL president and South African police chief Jackie Selebi pleaded not guilty to corruption charges Monday at the start of his trial in the Johannesburg High Court. Selebi is charged with receiving $170,000 in bribes from convicted drug smuggler Glenn Agliotti , who was suspected of killing South African mining magnate Brett Kebble. Selebi [...]

Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga, et al., International Criminal Court, September 25, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Germain Katanga.

A Canadian court on Friday sentenced a member of the "Toronto 18" to seven years in prison for his role in the plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Toronto. Ali Mohamed Dirie pleaded guilty last month to charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. Dirie was given credit for five years [...]

The US Supreme Court officially opened its 2009 term Monday, hearing oral arguments in two cases. In Maryland v. Shatzer , the Court heard arguments on whether the Edwards v. Arizona prohibition against interrogation of a suspect who has invoked the Fifth Amendment right to counsel is inapplicable if, after the suspect asks for counsel, [...]

Hamas leaders on Monday condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) for supporting Friday's decision by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to delay a vote on resolution adopting the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict . The postponed resolution would have also condemned Israel for its refusal to assist in the [...]

Louay Bahry : "The new Supreme Constitutional Court in Qatar, established by Law No. 12 of 2008 was supposed to start functioning on October 1, 2008, but was postponed for "administrative" reasons. On September 27, 2009 it finally came into being when its head, Mr. Mubarak al-Asiri, Head of the Judiciary Supreme Council, was nominated [...]

Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan on Sunday called for constitutional reform in Kenya before the next electoral cycle begins in 18 months. In addition to pressing for constitutional reform, Annan also said there was need for police and judicial reform. Annan's statements came during a trip to Kenya to monitor the progress of the peace [...]

Julian Sanchez : "The administration's new policy on invocation of the state secrets privilege does set a higher transparency standard, but that's largely because their predecessors had to enlist Otto Lidenbrock to get it to the low point it hit in the last administration. But to the extent the checks here remain internal to the [...]

A German court ruled Friday that alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk can stand trial on accessory to murder charges that took place during World War II. The Munich Regional Court said that it would hear the case and ordered that Demjanjuk remain in custody despite pleas by his friends and family that he is [...]

A three-judge panel of the UK High Court strongly criticized the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Friday for its failure to properly setup an independent inquiry into claims that war crimes had been committed by British soldiers following a May 2004 gun battle, known as the "Battle of Danny Boy" , in Southern Iraq. The panel, [...]