Canada transferred US Army deserter Robin Long back to US custody Tuesday following a decision by the Federal Court of Canada denying his asylum request. Long is the first of an estimated 200 US military personnel avoiding deployment in Canada to be returned to the US. Last week the court allowed another soldier, Joshua Key, [...]

Lawyers for former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Wednesday filed an application for his parole from the Krasnokamensk penal colony in Siberia. Khodorkovsky headed the now-bankrupt OAO Yukos Oil Co. and was sent to prison by the Russian government in 2005 to serve an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion . Last month Khodorkovsky's [...]

Thomas Hammarberg : "I have been in close contact with the Italian authorities ever since I was informed of violent anti-Roma manifestations in Italy and of the Italian government's decision to adopt new legislative measures concerning, among others, stricter immigration control, Roma and Sinti. On 19 and 20 June, I paid a visit to Italy [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, issued a per curiam opinion Tuesday, finding by a vote of 5-4 that if the government's allegations against Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri are true, the President is empowered by Congress to hold al-Marri in a military prison without charge as an enemy combatant, [...]

The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey on Tuesday struck down two municipal ordinances that prohibited convicted sex offenders (CSOs) from living near schools, parks, playgrounds and day care centers. The Appellate Division ruled that New Jersey's statewide sex offender registry program, known as Megan's Law , preempted the local ordinances and [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday asked a judge at the US District Court for the District of Columbia to deny a motion by Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan to stay his trial, now scheduled to begin July 21. Hamdan's lawyers argued earlier this month that the trial should be postponed until [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Scheffer, former US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues (1997-2001), now at Northwestern University School of Law, reflects on the tenth anniversary of the conclusion of negotiations on the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court ICC), in which he played a central role…

The Washington DC City Council on Tuesday passed emergency temporary legislation to amend the city's long-standing ban on handguns. The amendment is intended to bring the city ordinance more in line with the recent US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller , which found that the ban violated the Second Amendment to [...]

The Spanish Justice Ministry Tuesday filed a challenge in Spain's Constitutional Court to block a planned Basque region referendum on increased autonomy. The referendum, approved by the Basque Parliament last month, will ask citizens whether the Basque government should begin negotiations for increased regional self-determination and whether it should initiate peace talks with Basque separatist [...]

Charles Stimson : "One thing you don't hear a lot about is the practical side of telecom immunity. Think about all the government contractors contributing to our national security who are fearful that doing their duties could lead to massive civil liabilities. The point was driven home to me earlier this summer, when I sat [...]