A spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has criticized the Iraqi Presidency Council for refusing to approve the executions of two defendants sentenced to death last year by the Iraqi High Tribunal for their roles in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign of 1988. The Presidency Council, consisting [...]

The US District Court for the Northern District Illinois has refused to dissolve an injunction barring the enforcement of Illinois' Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 , which would require physicians to notify the parents of minors seeking abortions at least 48 hours before performing the procedure. The court has repeatedly prevented the law [...]

The US Department of Defense has said that two charges have been referred against Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi for his alleged connections to al Qaeda. Al-Darbi is the brother-in-law of Khalid al Mihdhar, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers who crashed a jet into the Pentagon. According to the Defense [...]

Howard A. Learner : "Sixteen environmental and Alaskan conservation organizations, represented by public interest attorneys from the Environmental Law & Policy Center, filed an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Exxon (Valdez) Shipping case focused on the important issue of whether the federal Clean Water Act should be held to preempt [...]

Joe Stork : "New arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members have brought the total number arrested in the first two months of 2008 to more than 600. Egyptian officials say the grounds for arrest consist of membership in an illegal organization. The authorities indeed have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, but this is a decree that violates [...]

Ana Aguilar García : "The judicial reform foresees two sets of important provisions. One related with the elimination of the inquisitorial system, setting forth the adversarial system for the criminal proceedings, and the other the one that establishes special rules against organized crime. A new system with the features of an adversarial system is welcomed [...]

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has said that Serbia plans to ask the International Court of Justice to determine whether the Kosovo's recent declaration of independence "represents a violation of international law." Jeremic's comments came following a Thursday meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia. Meanwhile Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostiunica has requested that UN [...]

Armenia President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency Saturday, as police forced approximately 15,000 demonstrators to disperse from the capital city of Yerevan. The protests are the result of the contested February 19 presidential election in which Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan , a Kocharian ally, was declared the winner . Supporters of the opposition [...]

Pakistani police on Saturday filed preliminary charges against Baitullah Mehsud , the top Taliban leader in Pakistan, and four others in the assassination of former prime minister Benzhair Bhutto . The charges were filed at an anti-terrorism court in the city of Rawalpindi and arrest warrants were issued for Mehsud, Ibadur Rehman, Imramullah, Faiz Muhammad [...]

An Iraqi appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction and death sentence of Mohammad Munaf , a US citizen and former translator charged with orchestrating the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists held for 55 days in Iraq in 2005. Munaf's lawyer said that the charges were dismissed after the court could not determine the role [...]