A federal judge Tuesday upheld the conviction of civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart for conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists (18 USC 2339A), denying a post-trial motion for acquittal. Stewart was convicted in February for helping imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman communicate with his terrorist followers. Stewart had argued that Abdel-Rahman was engaging in protected [...]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that he is willing to change controversial shoot-to-kill provisions in proposed anti-terror legislation . Howard also said that the legislation need not be introduced next week, but said that new proposals should be passed by the end of the year. Howard's comments follow an announcement that he will [...]

Serbia has arrested nine policemen in the 1999 murder of 48 Kosovo Albanians, a Serbian court official announced Wednesday. The arrests are the first to be linked to a mass grave discovered in 2001 outside of Belgrade, where the 48 bodies were buried along with the remains of over 800 victims of the 1998-99 Kosovo [...]

US Senate and House negotiators are preparing to discuss conflicting versions of the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005 , including a provision in the House version that would allow federal prosecutors multiple attempts at securing the death penalty. Under current law, if a capital jury cannot decide unanimously whether to impose [...]

The United States and France circulated a draft UN resolution Tuesday that demands that Syria fully cooperate with a UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and threatens economic sanctions should Damascus not cooperate. The UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC), authorized by the UN Security Council to investigate the [...]

Final results of the referendum on the draft Iraqi constitution, Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq press briefing, October 25, 2005. Excerpt : I would like to inform you that I have the honor, with my colleague, to announce the final, complete results of the first constitutional referendum to be held in Iraq for a long [...]

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could bring charges in the CIA leak case Wednesday, wrapping up a two-year investigation into the leak of undercover operative Valerie Plame's identity. Sources close to the case say that FBI agents recently interviewed Plame's neighbors who said they had been surprised to learn that Plame worked for the CIA, suggesting [...]

The US Justice Department told Congress Tuesday that it supported renewal of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act , preventing states with a history of discriminatory voting practices from implementing any change affecting voting until the US Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the change [...]

Report Concerning the Testimony of George Galloway before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Majority Staff, US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Investigations, October 25, 2005 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A recent Federal Communications Commission ruling that would allow wiretapping of Internet calls was challenged Tuesday by privacy and technology groups in federal appeals court in Washington. The ruling makes it easier for law enforcement officials to tap Internet phone calls by mandating standards that would allow the wiretaps to be made. Internet call providers [...]