Defense lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have requested a one-month delay in the trial, which would push the scheduled start date back to February 12, 2007. Lead defense attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr. requested the delay to accommodate a securities fraud trial he believes will take longer than previously expected. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [...]
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Jordan should criminalize torture and end the use of special courts that protect accused police and intelligence officials, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told a press conference following the conclusion of his two-day visit to Jordan . Nowak said he has evidence that torture is systematically practiced at two detention centers in Amman [...]
The Arkansas Supreme Court Thursday struck down a regulatory provision barring same-sex couples from raising foster children, saying that it found no connection between homosexuality and child-rearing ability. The state child welfare agency had appealed a lower court ruling against section 200.3.2 of the Arkansas Minimum Licensing Standards of the Child Welfare , which states [...]
Ta Mok , the former military chief of the Khmer Rouge communist movement in Cambodia who was indicted for genocide in 1999, entered a hospital Thursday as his health continues to deteriorate since becoming sick in jail last week, according to his lawyer. The hospitalization has revived speculation that Ta Mok, 80, will be unable [...]
The administration will work with Congress within the boundaries set by the Supreme Court in Thursday's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision to "determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give their day in court," President Bush said during a meeting later Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. While [...]
A leading member of the Catholic Church expressed concern Thursday that the Church could be prosecuted for some of its traditional religious positions against abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research . In an interview with leading Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana , the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family Cardinal Alfonso Lopez [...]
South Korea's Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional provisions in the controversial Newspaper Law and the Press Arbitration Law that restrict the circulation of three conservative daily newspapers and authorize the government to compel newspaper retractions without a court order. The Wednesday ruling is based on Article 21 of the Korean Constitution , [...]
Franco Frattini , the EU commissioner for justice, freedom and security, has proposed that national governments of EU member states shift regulation of law enforcement cooperation, cross-border policing and basic rights for criminal suspects to the European level. Referencing the "bridging" clause found in Article 42 of the EU Treaty, Frattini said that EU member [...]
The UN's top humanitarian expert told the UN Security Council Wednesday that immediate action must to be taken to prevent civilian deaths in ongoing armed conflicts in several countries. Jan Egeland , UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that "In Iraq, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, civilians continue to [...]
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Supreme Court of the United States, June 29, 2006 . Excerpt from the Opinion by Justice Stevens: Petitioner Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national, is in custody at an American prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In November 2001, during hostilities between the United States and the Taliban (which then governed Afghanistan), Hamdan [...]
