The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit announced Thursday that prosecutors cannot subpoena statements made by a former congressman to the US House of Representatives Ethics Committee , unsealing a June 23 opinion. In overturning the lower court's ruling, the court ruled that the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause , which states that [...]

Unclassified Report on the President's Surveillance Program, The Office of the Inspectors' General of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), July 10, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available [...]

The Kurdish Parliament announced Friday that it was postponing a public referendum on approval of the Constitution of Kurdistan . The vote had previously been scheduled to coincide with parliamentary elections later this month, but parliamentary president Adnan Mufti said that the election commission was unable to organize both votes on the same day for [...]

An African Union (AU) panel led by former South African president Thabo Mbeki recommended Friday that the AU cooperate with International Criminal Court (ICC) efforts to arrest Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity . The recommendation comes in stark contrast to a vote by the full AU last [...]

The UK Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) announced Friday that it is investigating the alleged mistreatment of an Ethiopian Guantanamo Bay detainee by British intelligence officers. Binyam Mohamed , who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, claims that while he was held in Pakistan for three months he was tortured by Pakistani agents and interrogated by [...]

Chinese authorities on Wednesday detained four employees of Australian mining company Rio Tinto on suspicion of stealing 'state secrets' during stalled iron ore price negotiations. Rio Tinto's Shanghai manager Stern Hu, who is an Australian citizen, along with three of the company's Chinese employees are accused of bribing officials and steel industry executives in order [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday that human rights violations committed during recent Somalian conflicts may amount to war crimes . Pillay said that ongoing violence between Islamist rebels and the newly-formed government has resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, despite a peace accord signed last year. Pillay's office reported that [...]

A group of federal judges on Thursday urged the US Sentencing Commission (USSC) to revise complicated and mechanical calculations used to determine federal criminal sentences. Federal circuit and district court judges praised the 2005 Supreme Court decision in US v. Booker , which made the USSC's guidelines advisory rather than mandatory, but said that the [...]

Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Thursday approved a law that would allow the prosecution of military personnel in civilian courts and would prevent military prosecution of civilians during peacetime. Gul said that the law was necessary for accession to the European Union (EU) , but suggested that parliament amend the law to clarify the civil [...]

The Afghan government has revised a controversial law which appeared to legalize marital rape, according to statements made by government officials on Thursday. The provisions of the Shi'ite personal status law requiring a wife to submit to sex with her husband were removed along with other provisions, following international condemnation and protests. Afghan President Hamid [...]