A Florida commission convened to investigate the botched December execution of Angel Diaz determined Thursday that more oversight is necessary to ensure inmates are properly sedated before execution. Currently Florida uses the chemicals sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride , to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. According to the testimony of an anesthesiologist, if [...]

The US Department of Defense announced Thursday that it has transferred five more Guantanamo Bay detainees to their home countries for detention or release, bringing the total number of detainees released from Guantanamo so far this year to twelve. Three of the newly freed detainees have been transferred to Tajikistan, and two to Afghanistan. In [...]

A German probe into the US detention of Murat Kurnaz , a Turkish citizen born in Germany who was held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly five years, is being delayed because official documents are being withheld by authorities in the state of Bremen, the chairman of the government investigation committee said Thursday. Siegfried Kauder said [...]

The Chinese parliament will consider amending a law allowing the state to send criminal suspects to labor camps without a trial during the National People's Congress (NPC) scheduled for next week, the China Daily reported Thursday. The system, called "re-education through labor," or "laojiao" , currently allows the police to send those suspected of committing [...]

The US military on Thursday formally referred the charges against David Hicks to a military commission. Under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Manual for Military Commissions (MMC) , Hicks, an Australian citizen, will face arraignment within 30 days after he is served with the charges, and the military commission will be assembled [...]

Former US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) reported to prison Thursday morning to begin serving his 30-month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution , a minimum-security prison in Morgantown, West Virginia. The district judge who presided over Ney's sentencing hearing rejected Ney's claim that his alcohol dependency clouded his judgment, finding that it didn't fully explain [...]

A 2000 decision by the Canadian Parliament to deny retroactive survivor pension benefits to persons in same-sex relationships was unconstitutional discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , the Supreme Court of Canada held in a ruling Thursday. Parliament passed legislation in 2000 to recognize the legal rights of same-sex couples, but decided [...]

Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj pleaded not guilty Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to 37 counts of war crimes, including murder, persecution, and rape. Haradinaj, whose trial is scheduled to begin Monday , was a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army , the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour Wednesday criticized a US federal appeals court ruling supporting Congressional legislation denying "enemy combatants" the right to challenge their detentions in federal court. In a press conference Wednesday, Arbour expressed concern at "insufficient judicial supervision," saying: I hope we will see the American judicial system rise to [...]

US Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and 78 other House of Representatives members introduced a bill Wednesday that would crack down on gasoline price gouging by instituting harsh criminal and civil penalties on oil and gas corporations and on individuals. The bill would permit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate alleged price gouging in the [...]