Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Poland housed the main CIA secret detention facility in Europe, with approximately 100 detainees. The accusations, published in the Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza , are based on information gathered from CIA sources and other documents obtained by the human rights group. The Polish facilities, according to HRW, were [...]

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JURIST Guest Columnist Sherrilyn Ifill of the University of Maryland School of Law says that US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has some serious explaining to do over positions on civil rights issues he took as a young and ambitious lawyer in the Reagan administration… When the draft records of President Bill Clinton were made [...]

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Opposition activists and human rights groups have condemned the restrictive amendments to Belarus' Criminal Code that were passed unanimously by the country's upper house of parliament. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also expressed concern . The amendments criminalize activities such as the "discrediting" of Belarus, participating in mass demonstrations, and financing political [...]

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The trial of the five main suspects in the failed July 21 London bombings will begin in September 2006. The five Londoners, Hussein Osman, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, and Ramzi Mohamed, are being detained in Belmarsh Prison in London. During a Thursday hearing at the Old Bailey, the five suspects appeared [...]

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UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday defended contentious statements made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on US terrorist rendition practices , saying through a spokesperson that she has his "full confidence" as a "highly respected jurist," and that "international civil servants should be allowed to speak freely" on their areas of expertise. [...]

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Signatory nations to the Kyoto Protocol meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference in Montreal Thursday agreed to a final protocol provision governing the rules for ensuring compliance with emissions standards. A country that exceeds its set goal for emissions will now incur an additional 30 percent penalty and must balance out the difference in [...]

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