The US Department of State does not have the authority to "immunize an individual from federal criminal prosecution," State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said at a daily press briefing Tuesday, correcting an AP report Monday citing anonymous sources as saying the State Department had granted "immunity" from prosecution to bodyguards working for private security firm [...]

Canadian government lawyers plan to ask a judge to take the reportedly unprecedented step of approving the installation of closed-circuit video cameras in the home of Mahmoud Jaballah, one of the so-called Secret Trial Five subject to security certificates allowing for their detention without charge and possible deportation. Jaballah spent nearly eight years in jail [...]

Thailand's cabinet voted Tuesday to lift martial law in 221 of the country's 400 districts where it is still in force, according to Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Council Thawil Pliensri. Martial law will remain in effect in 179 districts because of security concerns regarding drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The Thai military imposed [...]

Prosecutors for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday appealed the sentences imposed on war crimes convicts Mile Mrksic and Veselin Sljivancanin , who were convicted in connection with the killings of over 200 Croatian prisoners of war near Vukovar in 1991. The tribunal found Mrksic guilty on three counts of [...]

The Iraqi cabinet Tuesday approved a draft law that would strip foreign security contractors of immunity from Iraqi prosecution granted under Order 17 passed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) . The draft law now goes to the Iraqi parliament. According to government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh as quoted by Reuters, the legislation also requires foreign [...]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan heard arguments Tuesday in a challenge against the September 10 deportation of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia. Pakistani authorities arrested Sharif on corruption and money laundering charges and then expelled him shortly after he arrived in the country on a flight from London despite the Supreme [...]

Mission to the United States of America, report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, UN Human Rights Council, October 29, 2007 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Order in Pending Case: Berry, Earl W. V. Epps., Comm'R, MS DOC, et al., US Supreme Court, October 30, 2007 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) Tuesday failed to reach a consensus on new anti-terror legislation necessary to extend Japan's support mission for US operations in the Indian Ocean. The LDP had urged the approval of the proposed legislation, which would limit Japan to providing refueling support [...]

The Constitutional Court of Indonesia rejected an appeal by five convicted drug smugglers against the death penalty Tuesday, ruling that capital punishment did not violate the Indonesian constitution . Lawyers representing the five had argued that the death penalty violated the defendant's constitutional right to life. The drug smugglers, including three Australians and two Indonesian [...]