El-Masri v. United States, US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, March 2, 2007 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST"s Paper Chase here.

The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Friday upheld the dismissal of a rendition-related lawsuit by German citizen Khaled El-Masri against the CIA , deciding that the case could not be heard in a US court because of the government's state secrets privilege . The lawsuit , argued by ACLU lawyers, charged former CIA director [...]

A team of Swiss forensic pathologists from Institute of Legal Medicine at Lausanne University Friday announced the results of an autopsy on deceased Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ali Abdullah , concluding that while available evidence supported the US government claim that Abdullah committed suicide by hanging last June, it was impossible to be completely sure [...]

A three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit threw out a lawsuit challenging Ohio's death penalty procedure Friday on the grounds that the claim was filed too late. In the 2-1 opinion , judges Richard Fred Suhrheinrich and Edward Eugene Siler decided that the statute of limitations on the [...]

US Marine Corps Cpl. Trent D. Thomas was arraigned Thursday on charges of murder and kidnapping related to the April 2006 slaying of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania , but declined to enter a plea. Thomas was arraigned for the killing previously after he pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, but last month he withdrew his [...]

A federal judge in California on Thursday dismissed all claims in the second of four patent infringement lawsuits filed by Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft Corp. . The case, which was scheduled to begin trial March 19, concerned speech recognition technology. The ruling, issued by US District Judge Rudi Brewster , will be appealed by Alcatel-Lucent. Last [...]

The US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) Thursday agreed to extend by 18 months the compliance timeline for the REAL ID Act until December 31, 2009. In addition to the extension of the deadline imposed on states, DHS will allow states to use as much as 20 percent of the money allocated by the agency [...]

Belgium has become the first country to criminalize investment in companies that make cluster bombs . Legislation passed the Belgian Senate on Thursday, and the Parliament plans to publish a list of companies that manufacture cluster munitions. Belgian banks KBC and Fortis have already terminated their investments in such companies, and KBC has published its [...]

Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine has announced that he will sign a bill requiring sixth grade girls to receive a vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV) , a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. The law, which passed both houses of the Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday, would take effect at the beginning of [...]

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has said as part of a court claim for British citizenship that he was shown a photo of a beaten fellow inmate and told that if he did not co-operate with interrogators he would be flown to Egypt for the same treatment. [...]