The US Supreme Court handed down decisions in three cases Wednesday, including Burgess v. US , where the Court held that a defendant's federal drug sentence can be enhanced under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) when the defendant has previously been convicted of a state drug offense punishable by more than one year, even if [...]

The Supreme Court of Peru on Tuesday upheld a prison sentence for former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori , who was convicted late last year on charges of abuse of authority for ordering a warrantless search of the apartment of the wife of former Peruvian Intelligence Director Vladimiro Montesino . The high court also upheld a [...]

US federal prosecutors defended the prison treatment of accused enemy combatant Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in documents filed Tuesday with the US Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit. Prosecutors say that although al-Marri is kept in solitary confinement, he has access to a library, TV, computer, and exercise equipment. Lawyers for al-Marri said last [...]

An Iranian appeals court Tuesday upheld the sentences of three Iranian students on charges of insulting Islam. Majid Tavakoli, Ahmed Ghassaban, and Ehsan Mansouri were arrested last year for allegedly publishing anti-Islamic material in multiple newspapers. The three were sentenced to 22 to 30 months in prison. Supporters of the students had hoped they would [...]

A judge in Zimbabwe on Wednesday cleared two foreign journalists of charges of reporting on the country's March 29 presidential election without obtaining proper credentials. Barry Bearak of the New York Times and Stephen Bevan of Britain's Telegraph were arrested in early April and held for five days before being released on bail but were [...]

Officials from the US Department of State and the Department of Defense testified Tuesday in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , calling for the Senate to ratify five long-postponed treaties that would provide increased protection for civilians during wartime. State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger III and Pentagon Deputy General Counsel Charles A. [...]

A military judge Tuesday postponed the scheduled April 28 court-martial for a US Marine charged in connection with the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha , rescheduling the trial for June 17. According to lawyers for Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani , who faces court-martial for dereliction of duty and violation of [...]

Frank Kendall : "Last week I traveled to Guantánamo Navy Base as a monitor for Human Rights First. I observed pretrial hearings in the cases of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi, and Omar Ahmed Khadr. The ostensible goal of the military commissions is to provide fair trials for a [...]

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) Tuesday settled its lawsuit against the New York Police Department (NYPD) challenging the department's tactics for dealing with large protests. Under the settlement, the NYPD agreed to make sure protesters can get into designated demonstration areas and that any "pens" (enclosed areas) have sufficient openings such that protesters [...]

A New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that a $7 billion lawsuit filed by Italian dairy giant Parmalat SpA against Citigroup could go forward on a claim that Citigroup aided and abetted former Parmalat executives in misappropriating company money. Parmalat has alleged that Citigroup helped obscure the state of Parmalat's finances and helped to [...]