Giovanni Di Stefano : "In the first proper legal ruling of the Iraqi High Tribunal the Court has decided to adjourn the case of my client Taha Ramadan not only based upon the submissions filed but because as a matter of law no defence lawyer had 'legally' been notified of the hearing. Under normal circumstances [...]

Italian police Chief Superintendent Chiara Giacomantonio said Wednesday that a four month-long investigation has turned up nearly 2,000 suspects believed to be involved in human trafficking in Italy. According to police, most of the human trafficking involved both minors and adults who were forced into sweatshops and prostitution. Giacomantonio also stated that most of those [...]

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has called for change to the controversial Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which makes "insulting the Turkish identity" a crime. Gul, who last December conceded that the law could be changed if necessary to protect Turkey's reputation, admitted Wednesday that the law in its current state causes problems. On [...]

Oksana Chelysheva : "On 23 January 2007 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the decision of the Regional Court of the Russian Federation to liquidate our organization, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. We were originally ordered to close down in October last year on the basis of a new NGO and anti-extremism law that [...]

A parliamentary committee of the Israeli Knesset voted 13-11 Thursday to grant the request of Israeli President Moshe Katsav for a three-month temporary suspension. The Knesset vote preserves Katsav's immunity even though he faces possible charges of rape, sexual harassment, abuse of power and obstruction of justice since he was granted a leave rather than [...]

US District Judge Marcia Clarke did not sanction a defense lawyer for alleged terrorist Jose Padilla during Wednesday court hearings for violating a protective order that bars distribution of sensitive documents, but instead had all defense lawyers sign agreements not to leak any other protected documents. Clarke also threatened the press with contempt proceedings if [...]

Sentencing proceedings in the case against Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan were postponed until February 12 Thursday after lawyers for the survivors of Ramadan's crimes failed to show up in court. The lawyers had not been given notice to appear. Ramadan is expected to receive a death sentence . Ramadan was convicted [...]

Federal authorities arrested a Mississippi man Wednesday for the 1964 kidnapping and deaths of two black men in another reopened civil rights-era case . James Ford Seale, now 71 years old, was originally arrested in 1964 on suspicion of kidnapping two young black men, Henry Dee and Charles Moore, who were later found dead in [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged Israeli President Moshe Katsav to step down Wednesday in the face of possible charges of rape and sexual harassment . Haaretz quoted Olmert as saying that "In these circumstances there is no doubt in my heart that the president cannot continue to fulfill his role and must leave the [...]

The US House of Representatives Wednesday passed a resolution which would amend House rules to grant limited voting rights to federal lawmakers from five US nonstate territories. The resolution, introduced January 19, would extend certain Congressional voting rights to delegates from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, to [...]