The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ordered the UK to pay £2,500 in damages to Islamic cleric Abu Qataba after determining that he was imprisoned by the UK in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights . The court unanimously found that the UK detained Qatada and 10 others following the [...]

Judge Abdul-Amir al-Rubaie of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on Thursday postponed the trial of Muntadar al-Zaidi , the Iraqi journalist accused of throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush . The new trial date is set for March 12. Al-Zaidi's lawyers argued that Bush's visit was not official and [...]

The England and Wales Court of Appeals (Civil Division) on Wednesday refused to clarify Britain's law banning assisted suicide in an action initiated by a British woman suffering from multiple sclerosis. Debbie Purdy, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1995 and has since lost most of her ability to function independently, sought the court's [...]

Sweden's Migration Court on Wednesday granted asylum to former Uighur Guantanamo Bay detainee Adil Hakimjan , also known as Adel Abdu Al-Hakim. The decision overruled a previous ruling by the Swedish Migration Board denying Hakimjan asylum. Hakimjan, who was held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly five years, was one of five Uighurs released in 2006 [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that, despite landmark court decisions and legislation bolstering the official recognition of racial equality, the US remains a country that has not truly resolved its racial divide. Holder, who is the country's first African American attorney general, made his remarks during a Justice Department (DOJ) event commemorating Black History [...]

Judges from more than 30 Spanish provinces went on a one-day strike Wednesday to demand that the country's judicial system hire more judges and adopt electronic technology to decrease the workload faced by current judges. The judges were led by 21 local judges' assemblies and the Francisco de Vitoria Association (AJFV) and Independent Judicial Forum (FJI) , [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that in light of the damage done to the justice system, our collective belief in the rule of law, and to the persons and families involved, seven years imprisonment is not nearly enough punishment for two Pennsylvania judges who took kickbacks [...]

Egyptian authorities in Cairo released imprisoned political opposition leader Ayman Nour late Wednesday for medical reasons. Egypt's public prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud unexpectedly announced the release of nine prisoners for medical reasons, including Nour. Only two days prior, Nour's wife expressed her belief that her husband would be kept in jail beyond July 2009, his earliest [...]

A five-judge panel of the UK's Law Lords ruled unanimously Wednesday that Islamic cleric Abu Qatada could be deported to Jordan despite fears he might be tortured upon his arrival. Qatada, accused of being one of Osama bin Laden's chief associates in Europe, faces terrorism charges in Jordan, which his lawyers say are based on [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Wednesday that her cabinet had agreed on a draft bill that would allow the government to forcibly nationalize some ailing financial institutions. The bill apparently targets Hypo Real Estate (HRE) , a holding company that, despite receiving over 87 billion euros in bailout money, has not recovered. Merkel said Monday [...]