The Japanese House of Representatives passed a controversial bill Tuesday re-authorizing Japan's support for US anti-terror operations in the Indian Ocean, setting the course for Japanese ships to resume refueling for US vessels involved in anti-terrorism or anti-smuggling operations. The bill , which bars the refueling of US vessels involved in military or humanitarian relief [...]

Two more leaders of the Pakistani bar have been arrested in Sindh province, according to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan statement Tuesday. Former Sindh high court bar association presidents Akhter Hussain and Abdul Hafeez Lakho were taken into custody and ordered to be detained for 90 days in Karachi's Central Prison. HRCP says: "These [...]

The Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China said Monday that the government is working toward relaxing its strict policy of denying all HIV-positive aliens entry to the country. A ministry spokesperson said that the policy was initially put in place before the transmission of HIV was fully understood. Under current law, temporary [...]

Emergency Pakistani Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar administered oaths of office under Pakistan's Provisional Constitution Order to two more high court judges Tuesday. The addition of Justice Mohammad Akhtar Shabbir and Justice Zia Perwez to the Supreme Court of Pakistan brings the reconstituted court's total complement to 11, just one shy of the reduced twelve-judge [...]

Opposition lawmakers in the Philippines House of Representatives filed a petition Monday calling for the impeachment of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for alleged bribery, graft, corruption, and human rights abuses. The impeachment complaint, which must be approved by the House of Representatives before the Philippines Senate can initiate a trial, is the second attempt [...]

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) , led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is exposing terrorism detainees to risks of torture by transferring NATO-held detainees into custody of Afghanistan authorities, Amnesty International said in a report Monday. Amnesty's report focuses on actions by Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, saying [...]

Giovanni Di Stefano applauds the US refusal to transfer al-Majid and his co-defendants to Iraqi custody for execution until a Iraqi legal debate on the executions is resolved. Di Stefano adds this official statement from the al-Majid defense team: "We from the Defence Lawyers appreciate and applaud the stance taken by the US Government in [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Sadaf Aziz of the Lahore University of Management Sciences Faculty of Law in Lahore, Pakistan, says that the government’s use of plainclothes thugs to brutally suppress dissent and protest in the present "emergency" makes it clear that Pakistan's citizens have been divested of basic rights to the point where they have no [...]

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) announced formal charges Tuesday against former Cambodian Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as minister for social affairs. The two were arrested Monday and are both charged with crimes against humanity committed during the Khmer Rouge regime. Sary is also charged [...]

Pakistani riot police blocked former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from leading a planned 160-mile march from Lahore to Islamabad Tuesday protesting President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule . Bhutto was placed under house arrest for seven days early Tuesday when riot police used barbed wire and dump trucks loaded with sand to barricade [...]