South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that evidence obtained through torture is inadmissible in court, even when it is found to be reliable and vital for conviction. In doing so, the court overturned the convictions and set aside the sentence of a former police officer who was found guilty of auto theft and [...]

Turkey must speed up political and social reforms to meet the criteria for accession into the European Union , European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a speech before the Turkish parliament Thursday. Barroso applauded recent efforts to reform the controversial Article 301 of the country's penal code, which makes "insulting the Turkish identity" [...]

Police in Zimbabwe Friday banned all political demonstrations as tension continued to mount after the country's contested March 29th presidential election . Independent observers say that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes than current Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe , but Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front [...]

Pakistani lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that would lift media restrictions imposed by President Pervez Musharraf after his declaration of emergency rule last November. The bill seeks to remove prohibitions on live broadcasts as well as publishing or broadcasting material found to be defamatory toward public officials. In addition to the ordinances, Musharraf's government allegedly [...]

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey Thursday disavowed a 2001 memo advising the Bush administration that Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures did not apply to "domestic military operations." Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mukasey testified that the 2001 memo is not currently endorsed by the Justice Department and said that the "Fourth [...]

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Washington state constitution does not provide a right for prison inmates to starve themselves to death. Convicted arsonist Charles R. McNabb sued the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) to stop his force-feeding . McNabb pursued his case under the Article I, Section 7 guarantee of [...]

Sudanese Guantanamo Bay detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi said at a pre-trial hearing Thursday that he plans to boycott his upcoming military commission trial, becoming the third Guantanamo Bay detainee to announce boycott plans. Al-Qosi declined the assistance of a lawyer, saying that he did not believe in "the justice or the lawfulness" of the tribunal and [...]

A former top Chinese Communist Party official was convicted Friday of corruption and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Chen Liangyu was found guilty of accepting bribes and abuse of power, making Chen the highest ranking official to be convicted in China's recent crackdown on corruption . He was fired in 2006 after being [...]

US Vice President Dick Cheney and other top White House officials approved controversial interrogation methods, including waterboarding , in secret meetings, AP reported Friday. An unnamed former senior intelligence official confirmed an earlier ABC News report that the officials asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sign off on the lawfulness of the techniques before [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Ophélie Namiech, a Legacy Heritage Fellow working for UN Watch in Geneva, says that to restore the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council governments that care about human rights must commit themselves to do everything in their power to ensure that the current Universal Periodic Review process succeeds… When the [...]