The Israeli cabinet on Monday approved the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of good will toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in preparation for a US-sponsored peace conference , scheduled to begin at the end of the month. The release approved fell short of the demand for the release of 2,000 prisoners by [...]

Oath of Office Judges Order, 2007 . ———————-OATH OF OFFICE (JUDGES)ORDER, 2007 No. 2 — 9 / 2007 — Min — I (B), Islamabad, 3rd November, 2007. ——- Whereas in pursuance of the Proclamation of Emergency of the 3rd day of November, 2007, and the Provisional Constitutional Order No. 1 of 2007, the Constitution of [...]

The Sapporo District Court in Japan dismissed a lawsuit Monday filed by 33 people who claimed that the deployment of Japanese troops in Iraq was unconstitutional. According to the Kyodo news agency, the group, which included the late former Deputy Minister of Defense Noboru Minowa, requested that Japan end its mission in Iraq and compensate [...]

The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus has agreed to pay $50 million to settle more than 100 claims of sexual abuse by its Jesuit priests in Alaska. The claims involved 13 or 14 priests and spanned nearly 30 years. As part of the settlement, which has not yet received final approval, the Roman [...]

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Monday arrested former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan following his release from a hospital. Khieu Samphan, who suffered a stroke last week, will appear before investigating judges later Monday to determine what charges he will face. Khieu Samphan has defended the late Khmer [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced former Rwandan mayor Juvenal Rugambarara to 11 years in prison. Rugambarara pleaded guilty in July to a single count of extermination, a crime against humanity, as part of a plea deal that eliminated eight other charges including genocide, torture and rape. The extermination charge stems from [...]

The reconstituted Pakistan Supreme Court Monday dismissed five out of six challenges to the October re-election of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf while still serving as chief of Pakistan's army. The court will hear the sixth petition later this week. Among the rejected petitions was that of former Chief Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad , who had argued [...]

Richard C. Dieter : "The overwhelming approval of the resolution for a global moratorium on executions by the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly is an important milestone in the growing international effort to restrict and eventually eliminate capital punishment. Although the resolution is likely to be adopted by the General Assembly itself, [...]

Pakistani bar leaders have expressed dismay at the shutdown of Geo-TV and another independent Pakistani television channel, declaring the closures an unconstitutional violation of free speech contrary to Article 19 of the now-suspended national charter . Geo and ARY Television , which have been beaming their news programs from ground stations in Dubai since local [...]

Singaporean human rights group SG Human Rights called Sunday for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to split off the human rights section of its proposed new charter into a separate treaty. Chapter 14 of the draft Charter, which is to be signed early this coming week, aims to deepen the integration of member-states [...]