Corporal David Payne, one of seven British soldiers facing court-martial for charges relating to the abuse of Iraqi detainees, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of inhumane treatment, becoming the first British soldier to admit commission of a war crime in Iraq. Payne pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. The [...]

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a state of emergency in Bangkok Tuesday after army tanks assembled around government buildings in the city, blocking traffic. In the face of a rumored coup in Thailand , Thaksin, who is in New York for the opening of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly, ordered the [...]

The number of violent crimes increased in 2005 for the first time since 2001, according to the 2005 annual report on violent crime published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Monday. The report details a 2.3 percent rise to 1.39 million cases of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and other violent crimes. The increase [...]

Reported incidents of anti-Muslim bias, harassment, discrimination and violence in the US increased by 29.6 percent in 2005, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) , the largest US Muslim civil liberties group, announced Monday. A new CAIR report entitled "The Struggle for Equality," indicates a jump from 1,522 cases of anti-Muslim bias in 2004 to [...]

Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainee Shaker Aamer , a UK resident held by the US since 2002, filed a motion in federal district court Monday seeking Aamer's release from solitary confinement, arguing that Aamer's almost year-long isolation violates the Geneva Conventions , which require that prisoners be treated humanely. According to the court filing, Aamer [...]

Iraq's National Assembly on Tuesday again postponed debate on a draft federalism bill that would allow Iraq's 18 provinces to form strong governments with their own security forces. Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said Tuesday that the bill, supported by Kurdish and Shiite politicians and opposed by most Sunnis, would be debated at a later date. [...]

The trial of Simon Bikindi began Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with prosecutors accusing the popular singer of "us his fame to incite hatred" during the 1994 Rwandan genocide . According to an ICTR press release : In his opening statement the Prosecutor, Hassan Bubacar Jallow stated that Bikindi through the lyrical [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Geoffrey S. Corn, Lt. Col. US Army (Ret.) and former Special Assistant to the Judge Advocate General for Law of War Matters, now a professor at South Texas College of Law, says that the recently published Army Field Manual outlining permissible interrogation techniques reflects the extraordinary measures Congress has been forced to [...]

Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar, Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, September 18, 2006 . Read the full text of the findings in three parts – Analysis and Recommendations , Factual Background – Volume I , and Factual Background – Volume II . Reported [...]

Canada's Arar Commission , the official judicial inquiry into the circumstances under which Canadian Maher Arar was detained in the US in 2002 and removed to Syria where Arar says he was tortured, concluded Monday that Canadian officials did not play a role in the US decision to detain and remove Arar, but Commissioner Dennis [...]