A Myanmar court on Monday convicted opposition pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi of violating the terms of her house arrest, sentencing her to an additional 18 months under house arrest. Suu Kyi had been charged with violating state security laws by allowing an American to stay with her after he swam across a lake [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor David Passaro on assault charges related to the abuse of an Afghan detainee . The court found that the district court had properly exercised maritime and territorial jurisdiction over Passaro's actions while he was employed [...]

USA v. Wittig, et al., US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, August 10, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday submitted a bill to the State Duma that would allow Russian troops to intervene beyond Russian borders. The legislation, proposed in response to last August's South Ossetia conflict , would allow intervention by Russian troops in order to protect Russian citizens abroad. The proposed law would also allow intervention [...]

Chief of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) John Scarlett said that the British secret service did not participate in or condone torture, during a BBC radio interview broadcast Monday. Scarlett denied that the SIS, better known as MI6, was involved in torture, saying there has been "no torture and there is no complicity with [...]

A Pakistani court on Monday directed police to open an investigation into allegations that former president Pervez Musharraf illegally detained 60 members of the judiciary after declaring emergency rule in November 2007. The order was issued by Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Akmal Raza in response to a complaint filed by lawyer Aslam Ghuman. Ghuman [...]

Saudi Arabia is illegally detaining thousands under the auspices of combating terrorism, according to a report published Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW reports that since 2003, thousands of terrorism suspects have been detained indefinitely, in violation of Saudi law, which limits pre-trial detentions to six months. The report also charges that the [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to name a special prosecutor who will be tasked with investigating the alleged abuse of detainees and other terrorism suspects by CIA interrogators, according to a Sunday Los Angeles Times report. The report cites a senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official who says that Holder will limit the [...]

Iran's Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi acknowledged Saturday that some protesters arrested in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election were tortured. He went on to say that the protesters should not have been taken to the Kahrizak detention center, where several protesters died while incarcerated. Following the disclosure of the use of torture, [...]

The Obama administration on Friday petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn a district court order mandating disclosure of detainee abuse photos , alleging that this could lead to further violence in Iraq and Afghanistan that would endanger US civil and military personnel. According to the government, Exemption 7(F) of the Freedom of Information Act [...]