A delegation of lawyers from the Iraqi bar association Wednesday hand-delivered a four-page letter to several US lawmakers that criticizes the US government for not devoting adequate financial resources to ensure the rule of law in Iraq, according to the Hill. The Iraqi lawyers, led by Iraqi bar association president Aswad al-Minshidi, delivered the letter [...]

The retired Supreme Court of Pakistan judge who unsuccessfully challenged General Pervez Musharraf in his recent bid for legislative re-election as president of Pakistan is bringing an application before the current high court challenging its constitutional status to rule on the pending case concerning Musharraf's eligibility for re-election while still Army chief of staff. Justice [...]

Malcolm Nance : "In my testimony last week to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Torture, I attempted to clarify exactly what is involved in waterboarding. Simply put, waterboarding, when used in any capacity in a coercive environment against detainees, captives or hostages, with the intent to illicit information or to break the will to resist, [...]

A US military spokesperson on Wednesday acknowledged that a 238-page operating manual for the US facility at Guantanamo Bay was leaked on the Internet, but said the document is out-of-date and does not reflect current procedures. The manual, titled Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) , is dated March 28, 2003, and is labeled "Unclassified/for [...]

Dismissed Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry warned the registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a letter Wednesday that any effort by the government to remove him from his official residence in the capital, Islamabad, would amount to kidnapping. Chaudhry was responding to indications that he might be taken by police from Chief [...]

The European Parliament committee on CIA activities in Europe (TDIP) will reopen its investigation into the alleged operation of secret CIA prisons in Europe, two committee members said Wednesday. Giulietto Chiesa and Claudio Fava said that new evidence of secret prisons and rendition flights in Ukraine prompted the TDIP to reopen the investigation. Fava told [...]

Nations that support the use of the death penalty Wednesday criticized a UN draft resolution to impose a world-wide moratorium on the capital punishment. The UN Human Rights Committee is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday; if it passes, it will go to the full General Assembly later this year. Opponents of the resolution, [...]

A Philadelphia judge ruled that Wednesday that Wal-mart Inc. must pay attorney fees and other costs for a class of Wal-Mart employees that had brought suit against the retail giant for denying them payment for work done during rest breaks. Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark I. Bernstein awarded the employees $46.7 million in [...]

Lawyers for the Pakistani government Wednesday urged the reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan to validate General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency. In court papers filed in response to a challenge petition brought earlier this week, counsel for Musharraf argued that the petition was itself illegal under the Provisional Constitution Order of November 3 which provided [...]

The Court of Appeal of Paris Wednesday approved the transfer of Rwandan genocide suspect Dominique Ntawukuriryayo to the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda . The former public official was arrested in France last month. He has been charged with genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to genocide. The handover [...]