Letter from Attorney General Michael Mukasey to chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, January 29, 2008 . Read the full text of the letter . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US House of Representatives Tuesday voted to extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for an additional two weeks past its original February 1 expiration date. The extension was passed as a last-minute compromise between House Democrats and Republicans to give the Senate time to pass new surveillance legislation that Republicans hope will include [...]

The Portuguese government helped in the rendition of more than 700 prisoners to Guantanamo Bay by allowing the US to use Portuguese territory and airspace, a British prisoner rights group reported Tuesday. Reprieve said that 728 out of the 774 prisoners processed at Guantanamo came through Portuguese jurisdiction and that a significant number were tortured [...]

An influential UK Conservative Party donor has launched a legal effort to force the UK government to put the ratification of the new EU reform treaty properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon to a public vote, the BBC reported Tuesday. Stuart Wheeler argues that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has broken a pledge to hold [...]

Hate crimes in Russia rose 13 percent in 2007 over 2006, but police have done little to stop attacks, according to a Tuesday report by the SOVA Center rights group. Deputy Director Galina Kozhevnikova told reporters that race-related crime resulted in 67 deaths and 550 injuries in 2007, with African students, Asian visitors, and anti-Nazi [...]

A bill to lift a ban on women wearing headscarves in universities was submitted Tuesday to the Turkish Grand National Assembly amidst protests by secular groups. Last week, an agreement between Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party and key opponent Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) propelled the bill forward after decades of strict enforcement of the [...]

An Iranian airport customs contractor convicted of corruption has been executed and three other customs workers are scheduled to face the death penalty , according to comments from the Iranian judiciary reported by Reuters Tuesday. The convicted individuals apparently accepted bribes totaling more than $1 million in connection with their positions at the Mehrabad airport [...]

The European Court of Justice Tuesday ruled against Promusicae , a Spanish music industry coalition, finding that telecommunication companies have no duty to disclose the names and addresses of people suspected of engaging in illegal file sharing. A lower Spanish court had asked the European Court of Justice to issue an opinion on whether EU [...]

US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) head Scott J. Bloch has accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of impeding an investigation into the "politicization" of the DOJ under former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during the 2006 US Attorney firings , the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The Office of Special Counsel is the independent [...]

Moroccan authorities have arrested Abdelilah Hriz, an alleged participant in the 2004 Madrid train bombings , a Spanish judicial source said Monday. Hriz, whose DNA and fingerprints linked him to a house where explosives were prepared and an apartment where several suspects killed themselves after being pursued by police, will be tried in Morocco. According [...]