A Fijian court Thursday began hearing the case brought by former Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase against Fiji's current acting government over allegations that the December military coup that ousted him was illegal. Central to the government's defense is the constitutional interpretation of the largely ceremonial powers of Fiji's president. A lawyer for Qarase has [...]

The Iraqi government will intentionally miss a 30-day deadline to execute former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid , also known as "Chemical Ali," choosing instead to delay the execution until after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan ends. The BBC reported Wednesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was considering delaying the execution to [...]

Ruzatullah, et al. v. Robert Gates, Secretary, US Department of Defense, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, October 2, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Execution by Lethal Injection: A quarter century of state poisoning, Amnesty International, October 4, 2007 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Two secret legal opinions circulated within the US Department of Justice in 2005 endorsed "severe" interrogation techniques, including "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures," the New York Times reported Thursday. The DOJ opinions, the first of which was released soon after Alberto Gonzales became US Attorney General in February 2005, reversed the DOJ's position that [...]

Lawyers for US Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada filed an emergency motion with the US District Court for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday, requesting that his court-martial, scheduled to begin next Tuesday , be stayed pending the outcome of his appeal. Watada, a 28-year-old Honolulu native, publicly refused deployment to Iraq in July [...]

Myanmar police arrested dozens of people for questioning during nighttime raids late Wednesday night as the government continues its crackdown on dissidents. Also Wednesday, monks crowded into train stations after being ordered to leave their monasteries and return to their hometowns. Police arrested dozens of monks last week in response to widespread anti-government protests, led [...]

Officials from South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, said Thursday that the two countries will work on a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War to replace a cease-fire agreement reached in 1953 which was never signed by the South Korea. The announcement followed an agreement between the [...]

New Turkish President Abdullah Gul Wednesday proposed amending a law that makes it a crime to insult Turkish national identity. Gul said at a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg that the law had hindered Turkey's attempts to join the EU, and that he expects the ruling AK Party will soon consider changing it. This [...]

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Wednesday that reported Pakistani promises to drop pending corruption charges against her amount to "disinformation" and indicated that talks with President Pervez Musharraf on a possible power-sharing agreement have broken down. Pakistani officials said Tuesday they had agreed to drop charges against Bhutto, a move that would permit [...]