A US district judge ruled Wednesday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act that deal with physical search and electronic eavesdropping are unconstitutional. Brandon Mayfield , the Oregon attorney arrested and detained for two weeks in May 2004 after the FBI mistakenly concluded that his fingerprints matched those found on a bag containing detonators [...]

Somalia and Myanmar rank as the world's most corrupt nations in 2007 according to the latest annual Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index released Wednesday. The index ranked 180 countries based on observations by businesspeople and analysts, giving each a score between 1 and 10. Myanmar and Somalia tied for the lowest score of 1.4 out [...]

A Russian court began hearings against a renowned political commentator Tuesday, with prosecutors using expanded anti-extremism laws originally designed to combat racism and xenophobia but broadened in July to include activities taken for "political or ideological hatred." Prosecutors claim that several books by author Andrei Piontkovsky , a visiting fellow at Washington DC's Hudson Institute [...]

Violence erupted in Myanmar Wednesday as police opened fire on a crowd of 10,000 demonstrators, leaving as many as eight dead. Up to 300 protesters were arrested in the fray, including many Buddhist monks. The violence broke out just one day after the nation's military government banned public gatherings of more than five people and [...]

Brandon Mayfield, Mona Mayfield, et al., v. United States of America, US District Court for the District of Oregon, September 26, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The European Union is monitoring possible human rights violations in Bangladesh , the Bangladeshi New Age reported Wednesday. The paper quoted Netherlands EU ambassador Bea Ten Tusscher as saying that the EU is concerned about several particular human rights cases, despite claims by the the interim military government that the rights situation has improved. If [...]

Haitian President Rene Preval Tuesday declared his intent to continue investigating former Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier , despite the latter's recent plea for forgiveness from the people of Haiti . Duvalier, who became president in 1971 at the age of 19, is accused of embezzling money from the national treasury and of killing and imprisoning [...]

Approximately 2000 lawyers and activists, led by the Malaysian Bar Council , launched a large protest in Malaysia's capital, Wednesday, calling for an investigation into judicial corruption. Unrest has grown in the country following last week's release of a 2002 video showing a prominent lawyer on the phone with someone who is believed to be [...]

Egypt Wednesday called US criticism of its alleged rights violations "unacceptable," labeling a Monday White House statement about the closure of the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid as "interference" in Egypt's domestic matters. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the statement by the White House reflected its lack of understanding about Egyptian legal affairs. [...]

US President George W. Bush Tuesday withdrew John Rizzo as the White House nominee for CIA general counsel in light of concerns from Democrats over Rizzo's support for certain interrogation techniques. During a hearing on his nomination in June, Rizzo, currently serving as acting CIA general counsel, said he did not object to the definition [...]