UK rights group Liberty will launch a challenge to the UK Terrorism Act 2000 in the House of Lords Wednesday, arguing that the law violates fundamental human rights. According to a new report from the UK Home Office , almost 36,000 people were stopped and searched last year under Section 44 of the Act, which [...]

An Iraqi Justice Ministry official said Wednesday that 424 prisoners, including five women detainees, have "completed their legal procedures" and will be released from US custody. The US has confirmed that eight women are being held in Abu Ghraib prison and Iraqi officials said last week that six female detainees would be released . The [...]

Leading Wednesday's international brief, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has called on the UN Security Council to create a UN peacekeeping force for the Darfur region of Sudan . Guterres said that while the 7,000 troop African Union peacekeeping mission was helping enforce the peace throughout Sudan, the Darfur region – where some [...]

The US Supreme Court late Tuesday issued a temporary stay on an execution order for Clarence Hill , a Florida inmate convicted of the 1982 killing of a police officer. Hill had been scheduled to be executed at 6 PM. The Court is currently reviewing three stay requests on his behalf, including one from Hill's [...]

A US Army spokesperson late Tuesday clarified the military position on the application of new military death penalty rules to terror detainees, saying the rules would not apply to them and correcting a contrary statement made earlier Tuesday . The spokesperson announced that the rules, which allow the army to decide the location of executions [...]

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has responded to a Council of Europe report , released Tuesday by urging all EU member nations to fully comply with the ongoing COE investigation into alleged CIA rendition practices . The interim COE report argued that EU countries "turned a blind eye" to the existence of secret CIA prisons [...]

Public statements of support by several US senators Tuesday assured the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court. Commitments by five Republicans appear to have pushed him beyond the requisite 50 votes in the 100-member chamber; one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has also said he will support Alito's candidacy . The [...]

Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release the final draft of a rule that will establish standards for pesticide research on human subjects . In August 2005, President Bush signed an appropriations bill (Pub. L. No. 109-54 ) that banned all pesticide research on humans until the EPA [...]

Two judges involved in the Saddam Hussein trial said Tuesday that the real reason for the latest postponement of the hearing was a disagreement among the judges on the Iraqi High Criminal Court – formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal – as to who should replace chief judge Rizqar Mohammed Amin, who resigned earlier this month [...]

Prepared Remarks for US Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at the Georgetown University Law Center, January 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the address. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.