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[JURIST] The Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) [establishment order, PDF] on Tuesday postponed the trial of Muntadhar al-Zaidi [BBC profile], the journalist accused of throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush [official website]. The trial will resume after the Iraqi High Judicial Council determines whether al-Zaidi should be charged with "assaulting a foreign leader," a crime

[JURIST] Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin [official profile] has said that Ireland would likely accept detainees [Irish Examiner report] released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison if US President-elect Barack Obama closed the facility. In an interview with the Irish Examiner published Monday, Martin noted that Ireland supports closure of Guantanamo and

[JURIST] Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski [official profile] expressed reservations Saturday over the prospect of accepting detainees released from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] as part of a US strategy to close the prison. In an interview [excerpts, in Polish] with the Dziennik daily, Sikorski ventured that "the establishment of prisons outside the US legal system was one of the

[JURIST] A spokesman for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd [official website; BBC profile] said Saturday that Australia would be willing to consider acceptance of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees on a case-by-case basis, according to a report in The Australian. Rudd's spokesman confirmed that Australia, along with other countries, has been approached by the United States

[JURIST] The French Foreign Ministry [official website] on Friday urged the European Union (EU) to adopt a unified policy [DW report] on whether to accept detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison if US President-elect Barack Obama closes the facility. The French government has said it would welcome the prison's closure, but Foreign Ministry Spokesman Eric

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] Wednesday upheld [opinion, PDF] a district court ruling that two Kentucky statutes regulating interstate wine sales were unconstitutional. The Sixth Circuit agreed that KRS 243.155 and KRS 244.165 [texts], requiring out-of-state wine to be purchased in-person, were discriminatory and thus violate the Commerce Clause [

[JURIST] US President W. George Bush on Tuesday issued presidential pardons [DOJ materials] to 19 people convicted of crimes that ranged from drug trafficking to forging US Treasury checks. Among those pardoned was Charles Thompson Winters, who was convicted of exporting military aircraft to Israel in 1948 in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939 [text]. Winters, who was seen as a hero to

[JURIST] US federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Tuesday asked the Illinois House of Representatives [official website] to limit its impeachment inquiry [JURIST report] into Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich [official website] and avoid looking into the criminal charges [complaint, PDF] against him. Fitzgerald warned that an inquiry into the criminal charges could hamper the investigation. The

[JURIST] Human Rights First [advocacy website] Monday filed an amicus curiae brief [text, PDF] requesting a stay of military commission proceedings [press release] against five Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks [JURIST report], until President-elect Barack Obama [

[JURIST] Five men were found guilty [DOJ press release; case materials] Monday in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] of plotting to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix [official website]. The five men, Serdar Tatar, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, and Shain Duka, were acquitted of attempted murder, but were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder

[JURIST] An Iraqi national living in Maryland on Sunday pleaded guilty to charges of spying for the Iraqi government [DOJ press release] under Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive]. Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, a former Baath party [JURIST news archive] member, pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government," and faces up to five years in prison. Al-Dellemy allegedly

[JURIST] Australian authorities on Sunday removed the final restrictions against former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive]. Hicks, who served more than five years in the military prison without a trial before pleading guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda, had been under control order [JURIST report] since his release last year. The

[JURIST] German government spokesperson Thomas Steg said Monday that Germany would consider taking in detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison if US President-elect Barack Obama closed the facility. Steg said that Germany supports closure of the facility [DW report] and that all European Union (EU) member states should cooperate to formulate a plan for

[JURIST] The deposed president of Mauritania [CIA factbook profile; JURIST news archive] Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi [BBC profile] was freed from house arrest Sunday, according to Mauritanian officials. Abdallahi was picked up by military forces [AP report] early Sunday at his home in Lemden and was taken to the capital Nouakchott where he was released. Abdallahi had been under house arrest

[JURIST] Iraqi judge Dhia Al Kinani Friday announced an investigation into the alleged beating of Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi. Al-Zaidi was allegedly beaten after throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush [official website] on December 14 during a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] where the two leaders discussed the signing of the

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] said Friday that charges have been referred to a military commission trial [press release] against Saudi Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri [Globalsecurity backgrounder]. Al-Nashiri is accused of terrorism, attempted murder, and providing material support to terrorism for his alleged role in planning

[JURIST] California Attorney General Edmund Brown Jr. [official website] on Friday urged the Supreme Court of California [official website] to declare Proposition 8 [text, materials] unconstitutional [press release]. In a brief [text, PDF] submitted to the court, Brown argued that Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution [text] to ban same-sex marriage [JURIST news

[JURIST] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) [official website] said Friday it will discontinue its controversial policy of suing suspected file-sharers [JURIST news archive] and will instead seek cooperation with major Internet service providers (ISPs) to cut access to repeat file-sharers of copyrighted songs. The RIAA said it has worked out preliminary agreements with ISPs [

[JURIST] US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [official profile] has ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down [press release] the military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in preparation for a possible order from President-elect Barack Obama [transition website], a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that Gates wants to

[JURIST] US President-elect Barack Obama [transition website] on Thursday named [press release] Mary Schapiro [professional profile] as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website]. Schapiro is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Financial Industrial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) [organization website], an independent regulator of US securities