The interim government of Haiti has removed five of its ten Supreme Court judges in what it called an “administrative measure, to improve the efficiency of the court.” Many speculate that the forced retirement of the five is a political response to the presidential candidacy of Dumarsais Simeus , a Haitian-born US millionaire. The Haitian [...]

Jose Padilla v. Commander C.T. Hanft, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, December 9, 2005 . Read the full text of the brief . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said Saturday in a television interview that he will order an investigation into reports that the CIA ran a secret detention facility in Poland. Allegations have been circulating in press reports and human rights group statements for over a month, and were most recently detailed in the Warsaw daily Gazeta [...]

During his weekly radio address Saturday, President George W. Bush urged Congress to limit debate on the bill reauthorizing sections of the Patriot Act and vote soon on the compromise announced by House and Senate Republicans on Thursday. The President lauded the original Act, saying it "allowed federal investigators to pursue terrorists with the same [...]

Retired Croatian general Ante Gotovina , has been transferred to the detention facility of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) Saturday following his arrest in Spain Wednesday. According to the ICTY , Gotovina is charged with " persecutions, murder, plunder of property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, deportation and forced displacement, and [...]

At a conference in New Delhi Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched a new code of Customary International Humanitarian Law setting down universal and customary rules of combat for internal and international warfare. Originally published in March 2005, the three-volume code lists 161 general rules of combat followed by "civilized states," [...]

Germany's new foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier Saturday denied allegations that German officials may have aided the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the December 2003 abduction of German citizen Khaled El-Masri , who has filed a lawsuit charging the US with wrongful imprisonment . An anonymous source cited in a German newspaper article Friday [...]

The US said Friday that it would not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to a limited number of detainees who are held in secret locations around the world. It is the first time the US has admitted that it has not given the Red Cross access to all US detainees. [...]

The US Department of Defense announced Friday that it has extended an invitation to special representative Anne-Marie Lizin of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to visit the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba. Pentagon officials said Lizin, who has openly opposed the operation of the facility, would be permitted [...]

At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which ended Saturday in Montreal, states party to the Kyoto Protocol agreed to extend the life of the Protocol and begin a new dialogue with the US. Members agreed to start talks regarding emission cuts beyond 2012, the expiration date of the current commitment. In agreeing [...]