US House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) has released a final version of a report reiterating his allegations that the Bush administration engaged in numerous abuses during the "war on terror" and calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether any criminal laws were violated. The report, [...]

The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA) announced Monday that it is dropping all corruption charges against African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma . The acting director of the NPA, Mokotedi Mpshe, issued a statement that called into question the timing of the prosecution's original indictment in December 2007. The indictment occurred just [...]

Defense lawyers for former Liberian president Charles Taylor on Monday filed a Rule 98 motion for acquittal following the close of the prosecution's case at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) . The defense admits that atrocities were committed in Sierra Leone but maintains that the prosecution failed to provide evidence linking Taylor to [...]

George Lenard : "In the academic world, this case will be a law professor's pleasure and a law student's nightmare. It presents interesting conflicting precedents and policies. Justice Thomas's majority opinion seems to make sense on first reading, but then so do the dissents – typical disagreements from the Supremes. At least there are no [...]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he has ordered the review of a law which severely limits the rights of married Shi'ite women in the country. The Shi'ite Personal Status Law was enacted last month and has not yet been published, but opponents say the law requires a woman to seek her husband's permission [...]

Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz said Sunday that he intends to charge former prime minister Ehmud Olmert with additional corruption charges for allegedly abusing a previous governmental post to benefit friends and business partners. Mazuz alleged that, before becoming prime minister, Olmert used a position at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor to give [...]

Officials in Malaysia on Sunday announced the release of 13 people who were detained under the country's controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) , in a move called for Friday by Prime Minister Najib Razak in his first address to the nation . Two ethnic Indian leaders of the banned Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) were [...]

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on Friday called on the government of Rwanda to investigate reports of killings during and after the uprising by the Rwandan Patriotic Army to end the 1994 genocide . In its concluding observations after reviewing Rwanda's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) , the [...]

Keiko Hirata : "In March 2009, the Tokyo District Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Japanese teachers who had been penalized for refusing to sing Kimigayo, the Japanese national anthem, at school ceremonies. The court rejected the teachers' demand that their punishment be rescinded, ruling that the 2003 directives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government ordering [...]

Bavaria's Secretary of Justice Beate Merk told reporters Saturday that the deportation of Nazi prison camp guard John Demjanjuk , does not amount to torture. Demjanjuk was recently charged with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder by German prosecutors for his alleged involvement at the Sobibor concentration camp. On Friday, he won a ruling in [...]