World Legal News (Jurist)

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JURIST's weblog of legal news and resources worth thinking about, by Professor Bernard Hibbitts and law students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
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Pakistan arrests former Taliban spokesperson

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Pakistani officials Saturday announced the re-capture of high-level Taliban operative Ustad Mohammed Yasir in the northern city of Peshawar near the Afghan border. Yasir served as senior aide and spokesman to Taliban leader Mullah Omar [BBC profile]. He was first arrested in 2005 by
Categories: World

South Korea minority party files suit against ruling party after quashed protest

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] South Korea's minority Democratic Party [official website, in Korean] filed a criminal suit Sunday after Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o [official website] on Saturday ordered security guards to end a sit-in by the minority party, which led to dozens of injuries. Democratic Party officials
Categories: World

Australia officially rejects US request to accept Guantanamo detainees

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Australian acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard [official profile] on Saturday officially announced Australia's rejection of a US request to accept foreign Guantanamo detainees. This was the second request by the Bush administration regarding Australia's acceptance of prisoners of the
Categories: World

Human rights activist Jestina Mukoko allegedly poisoned in Zimbabwe prison

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Imprisoned Zimbabwe human rights activist and head of Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) [advocacy materials] Jestina Mukoko [advocacy website, JURIST news archive] has allegedly been tortured and forced by prison officials to ingest drugs, according to a report [text] in South Africa's Sunday
Categories: World

Controversial Kenya media bill signed into law

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] on Friday signed a controversial media bill [press release] into law that gives power to a communication commission to regulate broadcasting with threats of fines or incarceration. The Communications Amendment Bill of 2008 [text, PDF] allows
Categories: World

Canada military charges soldier with murder of Afghan citizen

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) [official backgrounder] on Friday charged [press release] Captain Robert Semrau with second-degree murder in the killing of an Afghan citizen. Semrau is specifically charged under the National Defense Act [text] with shooting,
Categories: World

Zimbabwe court denies release of human rights activists

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] A Zimbabwe judge ruled Friday that Zimbabwe Peace Project [advocacy materials] leader Jestina Mukoko [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] and 31 other activists charged [JURIST report] with plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] must remain in
Categories: World

Rights group accuses US of insufficient response to Gaza violence

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Human rights group Amnesty International USA [advocacy website] on Friday accused the US of insufficiently responding to the Gaza crisis [press release] in a letter [text, PDF] sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official Profile]. The letter claimed that the US response has been "
Categories: World

Treaty required for extradition of Mumbai attack suspects: Pakistan

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Pakistan on Friday said a bilateral extradition treaty would be required if it were to transfer Mumbai terror attack [BBC backgrounder] suspects to India. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi [official profile] said in a television interview that no such treaty exists [PTI
Categories: World

China police detain parents of children sickened by tainted milk

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 08:51
[JURIST] Police in China detained five parents of children who became sick after drinking melamine-tainted milk [JURIST news archive], preventing the parents from participating in a Friday news conference. One of the parents said that they had been given no reason [Reuters report] for their
Categories: World

Russia president approves law ending jury trials for treason and terrorism

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 07:16
[JURIST] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official website] on Thursday signed into law [press release, in Russian; RT report] amendments [text, in Russian] to the country's penal code ending jury trials for terrorism or treason suspects and giving prosecutors broader investigative authority on
Categories: World

Australia 'unlikely' to accept foreign Guantanamo detainees

Sun, 01/04/2009 - 11:24
[JURIST] Australian acting prime minister Julia Gillard [official profile] on Friday said it was "unlikely" that the country would accept foreign detainees [press release] released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison, but that her country was considering a second request
Categories: World

Vietnam newspaper editors dismissed for protesting arrests of reporters

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 18:24
[JURIST] Vietnamese newspaper editors Le Hoang and Nguyen Cong Khe have been dismissed from their jobs at the Tuoi Tre and Thanh Nien [media websites, in Vietnamese] newspapers after protesting the arrests of two journalists [JURIST reports] working for their respective papers earlier this year,
Categories: World

UK preparing to take Guantanamo prisoners: report

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 18:24
[JURIST] The British government is willing to help the United States close the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison by accepting some released prisoners who have no previous connection to the UK, the Times reported Thursday. The paper quoted unnamed officials who indicated that the
Categories: World

Federal judge denies release to Yemeni and Tunisian Guantanamo detainees

Sat, 01/03/2009 - 17:23
[JURIST] Judge Richard Leon [official profile] for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Tuesday ruled that the US government could continue to hold Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees Hisham Sliti and Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alwi [decisions, PDF]. Both
Categories: World

Taiwan appeals court bars release of ex-president charged with corruption

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:12
[JURIST] The Taiwan High Court [official website] on Sunday overruled a district court decision to release former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] pending his trial on corruption charges, citing risks of flight, collusion and interference with other witnesses.
Categories: World

Egypt suspends 280 police officers for alleged human rights violations

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:12
[JURIST] Egyptian Deputy Interior Minister Hamid Rashid [ministry website, in Arabic] Sunday announced the suspension and investigation of 280 police officers alleged to have abused their power and committed human rights violations. In a statement before the Egyptian Parliament, Rashid said as
Categories: World

Poland minister 'not eager' to accept Guantanamo detainees

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:12
[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
Categories: World

Australia to consider accepting released Guantanamo prisoners

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:12
[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
Categories: World

China dairy producers to compensate melamine milk victims

Sun, 12/28/2008 - 15:12
[JURIST] The Chinese Dairy Industry Association [Light Industry backgrounder] announced Saturday that 22 companies will provide financial compensation to families whose infants were harmed by melamine-contaminated milk [JURIST news archive]. Families will receive a one-time payment of an
Categories: World