The UN Working Group of Experts on People of Africa Descent Friday called for a global ban on racial profiling at the conclusion of its annual 5-day session . The group urged "states to clearly define and adopt explicit legislative provisions banning racial profiling," a practice which European expert Joe Frans described as being "widespread, [...]

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Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, the US Marine defense coordinator for the western US, told the Associated Press Friday that his paralegal, Sgt. Heather Cerveny, has been accused of having made a false statement by Army Col. Richard Basset. Bassett was ordered to investigate alleged abuses of detainees at Guantanamo Bay after Cerveny provided a two-page [...]

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The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland ruled Friday that people with serious mental illnesses may be permitted to commit physician-assisted suicide under certain conditions. The decision recognized "that an incurable, permanent, serious mental disorder can cause similar suffering as a physical " and extended Switzerland's current physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill for such patients. [...]

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Jonathan Hafetz : "The al-Marri case raises critical issues in defining the limits of executive detention power. The government not claims the right to indefinitely detain without charge individuals arrested the United States but also asserts that non-citizens living in this country do not even have the right to challenge their detention by habeas corpus [...]

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The US military announced Friday it has drafted new charges against three high-profile Guantanamo Bay detainees. Col. Morris Davis (USAF) , chief prosecutor for the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions, said that the new charges against Australian David Hicks , Canadian Omar Khadr , and Yemeni Salim Ahmed Hamdan included murder, attempted murder, [...]

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