Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Friday said that the proposed version of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) , which will govern the legal status of US troops in Iraq beginning in 2009, violates Iraqi sovereignty. Al-Maliki told reporters that he particularly objects to provisions that would grant total legal immunity to US troops, allow the [...]

The UK shadow Home Secretary resigned his parliamentary seat Thursday in protest at House of Commons passage Wednesday of an anti-terror bill that would allow authorities to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days . Conservative Party frontbencher David Davis called the Labour Party government's bill an "insidious, surreptitious and relentless erosion [...]

Ethiopian human rights practices in the eastern Ogaden region have come under attack in a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) , made public Thursday. The report details atrocities committed by both the Ethiopian military and the ethnic Somali group the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) , who are seeking independence for the Ogaden [...]

The Arizona State Legislature passed legislation Wednesday barring the state from implementing the REAL ID Act of 2005 . The Arizona House voted 51-1 for the bill Wednesday; the Arizona Senate had approved the bill 21-7 on May 6. The bill prohibits the state from participating in or implementing the REAL ID Act, and requires [...]

Zimbabwean police arrested opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary General Tendai Biti Thursday on suspicion of treason. Biti left Zimbabwe after the disputed March 29 elections in which MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai challenged current Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe ; police arrested him as soon as he arrived back in the country Thursday. Police suspect [...]

Convicted rapist and murderer Karl Eugene Chamberlain was executed by lethal injection at a Texas prison Wednesday evening. His death marked the state's first execution since the US Supreme Court's April ruling in Baze v. Rees , in which the Court held that execution by lethal injection did not violate the Eight Amendment prohibition on [...]

Singapore Second Foreign Minister Raymond Lim said in a speech Wednesday that the new human rights body of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should not set initial standards too high for the organization's member states. The terms and powers of the new human rights body will be determined in Singapore next month at [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday in the consolidated cases of Munaf v. Geren and Geren v. Omar that federal courts have jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed by American citizens detained abroad by US military personnel, even if the military is operating under a multinational force. Although the Court found such a right exists, [...]

The US Supreme Court held in the consolidated cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al-Odah v. United States Thursday that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees who have been classified as "enemy combatants." Overturning a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the Court [...]

Sudanese UN ambassador Abdel-Mahmood Mohamed told Reuters Wednesday that International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is a terrorist. He said that the ICC's plan to divert the plane of Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Harun in order to arrest him constitutes terrorism and piracy, for which Moreno-Ocampo should be removed from office. Sudanese [...]