Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday placed justice minister Daniel Friedman in charge of defending Israel against war crimes charges stemming from the conflict in Gaza . Olmert appointed Friedman to head an inter-ministerial team to investigate and form a legal defense against potential war crimes charges for the civilians and military personnel involved [...]

Both Russia and Georgia must investigate possible violations of the laws of war during and after the week-long South Ossetia conflict in August 2008, according to a report released Friday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . The report, entitled "Up in Flames: Humanitarian Law Violations in the Conflict Over South Ossetia," alleges that Russian, Georgian, [...]

The prison formerly known as Abu-Ghraib will be reopened as soon as renovations are completed, and will be renamed Baghdad Central Prison, officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Justice in Baghdad announced on Thursday. Several Iraqi government officials, including Acting Justice Minister Safaaldeen Al-Safi have visited the site to inspect the work in progress, which [...]

US President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered a review of the detention of Qatar national Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri . Al-Marri is the only individual currently being held on US soil by the Department of Defense (DOD) as an enemy combatant , and is unaffected by Obama's order to close the offshore Guantanamo Bay prison [...]

Human rights figures and political leaders around the world hailed Thursday's executive order by US President Barack Obama closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay welcomed the decision to close the prison, expressing hope that it would be closed soon and that the trials of detainees would take [...]

Admiral Dennis Blair, nominated by US President Barack Obama for Director of National Intelligence, on Thursday stressed his respect for civil liberties and lawfulness in intelligence investigations during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in anticipation of his expected appointment. Blair addressed the treatment of detainees by stating his opposition to the use of torture [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Jordan Paust of the University of Houston Law Center says that President Barack Obama should follow up his executive order banning torture and inhumane interrogation by fulfilling treaty-based and customary international legal obligations to either initiate prosecution of or to extradite all persons – including high US officials – reasonably accused of [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugolavia (ICTY) on Wednesday charged Volislav Seselj with contempt of court after it was alleged that Seselj authored a book revealing pertinent information about several key witnesses. The book is believed to have been published after a protective order was placed by the court to keep the identity [...]

Discharging key campaign pledges on his third day in office, US President Barack Obama expressly banned US use of torture in interrogations and directed the immediate shutdown of CIA detention facilities in a third executive order on US detention practices issued Thursday. Declaring its overall intent to improve the effectiveness of human intelligence gathering, to [...]

Steven R. Shapiro, Robin L. Dahlberg, Dan Barrett , Anthony Franze, Robert Stolworthy and Stanton Jones : "On January 13, 2009, the Supreme Court heard argument in Vermont v. Brillon, which addressed whether trial delays caused by underfunding, mismanagement, and breakdowns in the State's public defense system deprived an indigent defendant whose trial was delayed [...]