UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston Tuesday urged Guatemalan lawmakers not to override a presidential veto of a bill that would restore the country's death penalty in a way he said would be contrary to international human rights law. Alston said: This law can only be intended as an end-run [...]

German prosecutors Tuesday charged the chair of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) with libel and inciting racial hatred for comments he made about a German soccer player. Udo Voigt and two other party officials allegedly published a pamphlet and circulated online messages before the 2006 World Cup saying that soccer player Patrick Owomoyela should [...]

US President W. George Bush on Tuesday issued presidential pardons to 15 people convicted of crimes that ranged from drug offenses to wire fraud to violations of fish and wildlife regulations. He also commuted the sentence of a woman convicted of conspiracy to distribute crack-cocaine. Bush has issued a total of 157 pardons in his [...]

The Bush administration has asked Congress to shield Libya from a measure in the newly-passed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 that would allow victims of state-sponsored terrorism to sue for that country's assets held in the US. The military spending law, signed by US President George W. Bush in January with bipartisan [...]

Air Transport Association of America, Inc., v. Andrew Cuomo, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, March 25, 2008 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday overturned a New York law requiring airlines to provide passengers on seriously delayed flights with basic amenities, ventilation, and waste removal, holding that federal law preempts state airline regulation. Last August, New York became the first state to pass an Airline Passenger Bill of [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in the consolidated cases of Munaf v. Geren and Geren v. Omar , 06-1666, and 07-394, where the Court is considering whether federal courts have jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed by American citizens detained by US military personnel operating under a multinational force. The cases also [...]

Lawyers for Guatemalan adoption agency Casa Quivira have been charged with human trafficking as a result of irregularities discovered in the agency's records, the defendants' lawyers said Monday. The investigation began in August, when government authorities raided the premises of Casa Quivira and removed 46 infants who were awaiting adoption by families in the United [...]

Nepalese police arrested at least 100 Tibetan monks, refugees, and other protesters near the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu Tuesday as demonstrations continued against China's recent crackdown against pro-Tibet protests . The new arrests follow the arrest of at least 400 protesters Monday and 50 more last week. Since demonstrations began earlier this month, the UN [...]

Saudi Arabia should enact a written penal code to protect the rights of criminal suspects and minors, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday in two reports released after a year-long HRW investigation into the Saudi Arabian justice system uncovered numerous human rights violations. One report documented widespread use of arbitrary arrests and vague charges for [...]