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 [...]

The US Supreme Court handed down five decisions Thursday, including Republic of the Philippines v. Pimentel , where the Court ruled that an interpleader action to determine ownership of assets held by former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos cannot continue because an indispensable party is protected by sovereign immunity. The Republic of the Philippines and the [...]

Myanmar law allows the continued detention of pro-democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi , the government-run New Light of Myanmar insisted in an editorial Wednesday. The editorial cited Myanmar's 1975 "Law Safeguarding the State from Dangers of Subversive Elements," which it said permitted detentions for up to six years. It noted that other countries [...]

The Supreme Court of Israel Wednesday upheld a controversial law allowing the government to detain unlawful combatants suspected of belonging to terrorist groups. The Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law allows the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to issue an order to detain any person who is reasonably suspected of [...]

Malaysian Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim Wednesday said legal reforms are needed to safeguard the independence of the country's judiciary. His remarks came in response to recent allegations that during his term of office, former PM Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad threatened to remove judges unless they rendered satisfactory verdicts. Ibrahim indicated that the reform [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially apologized Wednesday for Canada's former Indian residential schools policy , which was designed to aggressively assimilate aboriginal children. The school policy, which was in place from the 1870s to the 1970s, required aboriginal children to attend federally funded Christian boarding schools, communicate in only English or French, adopt the [...]

The UK House of Commons Wednesday voted 315-306 in favor of an amendment to a proposed anti-terror bill that would allow authorities to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days . Rights groups, opposition MPs and even some governing Labour Party backbenchers sharply criticized the measure, but a majority of MPs supported [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday reiterated his commitment to improving Russia's human rights record, preserving an independent media, and enforcing the rule of law. Speaking at the opening of the 10th World Russian Press Congress , the former lawyer said said : Dear friends, this jubilee Congress is taking place on the eve of our [...]

Former Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin was arrested by Serbian authorities Wednesday. Zupljanin is wanted by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws of war for allegedly killing civilians during the ethnic conflicts of the 1990s. Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic [...]