The military trial of former Suriname dictator Desi Bouterse for the “December Murders” at Fort Zeelandia, Paramaribo in 1982 commenced Friday with former bodyguard Onno Flohr testifying that Bouterse was present at the killings of 15 political opponents, including lawyers, journalists, professors, military officers and businessmen, who were accused of plotting against the government and [...]

The reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan validated President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule and concomitant ouster of judges, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry , in an opinion released Friday. A 13-judge panel headed by current Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar upheld Musharraf’s actions in November 2007 as “inevitable” in order to prevent [...]

Four members of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) have been jailed for a year for having campaigned against the country's then-draft constitution , according to NLD spokesperson Nyan Win as quoted by AP. Win said Friday the four were arrested in March for spreading leaflets which called on citizens to vote against the draft, [...]

Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time Friday after Belgium's Court of Cassation approved his transfer on Tuesday. Bemba was identified before the court and said that he had been informed of the charges against him. Bemba's lawyers also lodged preliminary [...]

A US district court judge Thursday released two US Marines who had previously been jailed for refusing to testify about the deaths of Iraqi detainees during the November 2004 offensive in Fallujah . Marine Corps Sgt. Ryan G. Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson were held in contempt of court in June and May, respectively, after [...]

Officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told journalists Thursday that the trial of Congolese ex-militia leader Thomas Lubanga would proceed as planned after evidentiary problems which had threatened the case were settled, according to AFP. Late last month, the ICC imposed an indefinite stay on Lubanga's war crimes trial after it found that the [...]

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Thursday that the administration is still working to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center , but suggested that a recent US Supreme Court decision could lead to the release of "dangerous detainees" into the US. The Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush last month that "enemy combatants" have [...]

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said Thursday that there may be applications of Sharia law in the British legal system during a speech at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre . Phillips' comments were in support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , who controversially [...]

US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad submitted a draft resolution in the UN Security Council Thursday calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe's newly reinstalled president Robert Mugabe and eleven of his government and security aides. The sanctions are said to include an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, and travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe [...]

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged the Mongolian government to "exercise the utmost restraint" in dealing with protests of the country's recent parliamentary elections. President Nambar Enkhbayar on Tuesday instituted a four-day state of emergency following protests in which at least five have been killed and more than 700 [...]