Ireland's High Court has refused to recognize the same-sex marriage of a lesbian couple married in Canada in 2003. Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone sued to force Ireland to recognize their marriage, performed in British Columbia after same-sex marriage was legalized in the province. High Court Justice Elizabeth Dunne rejected the couple's petition Thursday, [...]
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US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton on Thursday called for international criminal charges to be brought against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide against Christians and Jews. While speaking at a Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations symposium, Bolton, who was joined by former Israeli UN Ambassador Dore Gold and [...]
The Spanish parliament began debating the proposed Law for the Recovery of the Historical Memory Thursday, legislation aimed at healing the wounds of Gen. Francisco Franco's authoritarian regime that ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975 following a bitter three-year civil war. The bill would set aside $25 million to compensate victims of the Franco era [...]
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday denied any knowledge of the alleged CIA kidnapping of German national Khaled el-Masri until after the man was released. Steinmeier, who has previously denied that Germany aided the CIA in kidnapping el-Masri, reiterated that sentiment Thursday, saying that "Germany provided no assistance to the kidnapping of a German [...]
The Dutch Parliament voted Thursday to strip Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk of responsibility for setting immigration policy and to temporarily halt the deportation of failed asylum seekers. Verdonk, known domestically as the "Iron Lady" for her tough anti-immigration initiatives, will now be responsible for integration and child protection. Verdonk was stripped of her immigration portfolio [...]
US Justice Department lawyers have asked a federal appeals court to overturn an October district court ruling ordering the Secret Service to release visitor logs for the personal residence and office of Vice-President Dick Cheney . US District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued the order in a lawsuit brought by the Washington Post. The paper requested [...]
The New Jersey Legislature passed a bill Thursday allowing same-sex civil unions in response to a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in October that said the state legislature had 180 days to decide whether the state would recognize same-sex marriage or another form of civil partnership. The measure was approved by the state Assembly 56-19 [...]
Lawyers for Saddam Hussein accused Iraqi officials of interfering with judicial independence Thursday, after a number of public statements from officials that Iraq's Cassation Court, currently considering Hussein's appeal , would ultimately affirm the former Iraqi president's death sentence . Hussein's lawyers also criticized comments from prosecutors that the life sentence of former Iraqi Vice [...]
The Public Committee against Torture in Israel et al. v. The Government of Israel et al., The Supreme Court of Israel Sitting as the High Court of Justice, December 14, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
One day after Florida death row inmate Angel Diaz endured a 34-minute-long – and apparently painful – execution, death penalty critics filed papers with the Florida Supreme Court seeking to once again halt the death penalty in the state. Petitioners, including numerous people currently on Florida’s death row roster , filed an emergency petition Thursday [...]
