The Constitutional Court of Colombia has handed down a decision legalizing exceptions to the country's abortion ban in cases of rape, incest and if the life of the mother or fetus is in danger. Before Wednesday's ruling, women undergoing an abortion procedure and doctors performing the procedure could be criminally charged and sentenced to jail [...]

An Indonesian government official said Thursday that corruption charges against former dictator General Suharto are expected to be dropped despite criticism from human rights groups, including the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation , which has been outspoken in the pursuit of action against the former dictator. Suharto, 84, who has suffered a series of strokes and [...]

The National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting phone records from major telephone companies AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth to study the calling patterns of millions of Americans in an effort to detect terrorist activity, according to a report from USA Today on Thursday. Although the NSA is not recording or eavesdropping on telephone conversations, the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ron Dudai of the SOAS School of Law at the University of London (UK) says that the dubious US response to 9/11 has given Israel an excuse to engage in its own questionable practices, as reflected by a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling endorsing the detention of two Palestinians an "illegal combatants"… [...]

A Spanish High Court judge was forced to order the release of Moroccan citizen Saed El Harrak , a suspect alleged to be involved in the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings , due to the government's failure to apply for the necessary extension for further detainment. Harrak was arrested in connection to the bombings [...]

US officials have dismissed a call from UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay used to detain terror suspects, saying that the US is working to release detainees who no longer pose a threat, but insisting that the prison is a critical part of the war on terror. US State [...]

UK Terrorism Legislation in an International Context, Lord Peter Goldsmith at the Royal United Services Institute, May 10, 2006 . Excerpt: …the existence of Guantanamo Bay remains unacceptable. It is time, in my view, that it should close. Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday against issuing a stay of removal in the case of a British citizen with US permanent resident status who had been convicted of marijuana possession, domestic violence and resisting arrest in Mississippi. Kiren Kumar Bharti was granted permanent residency in 1998. Solicitor General Paul Clement argued in a [...]

Christian Civic League of Maine, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission, et al., United States District Court for the District of Columbia, May 9, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Alliance for an Open Society International et al. v. United States Agency for International Development et al., United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Victor Marrero, May 9, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.