The Mauritanian National Assembly formally criminalized slave ownership Wednesday, unanimously adopting legislation that makes slavery punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The law also criminalizes the promotion or defense of slavery, which will be punishable by up to two years in prison. Slavery, which was officially banned by presidential decree in [...]

Human rights violations in Zimbabwe have steadily increased with more than 5,300 recorded cases of human rights abuses during the first six months of 2007, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum . In a report published last week, the group documented 328 instances of torture, 481 assaults, 802 cases of illegal arrests and detention, [...]

The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General announced the indictment Wednesday of anchoring and fastening product manufacturer Power Fasteners on one count of involuntary manslaughter for the July 10, 2006, ceiling panel collapse in Boston's Big Dig tunnel project that killed one person. Massachusetts authorities allege that Powers was aware that the wrong kind of [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says that new Congressionally-approved revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act give the Bush administration wide discretion to illegally spy on American citizens… Responding to fear-mongering by the Bush administration, the Democrat-led Congress has put its stamp of approval on the unconstitutional wiretapping of [...]

The Chinese Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Kunming, Yunnan sentenced the former deputy director of the province's transportation department to life in prison Wednesday for accepting more than $5.3 million in bribes in exchange for his influence in securing construction and development contracts. The court said that Hu Xing's sentence was lenient because Hu voluntarily [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion Wednesday with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court asking the court to "disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans." The ACLU's request includes a recently disclosed FISC decision restricting the government's monitoring of e-mail and telephone conversations [...]

The Namibian High Court on Wednesday sentenced 10 defendants to prison terms ranging from 30 to 32 years after they were convicted of high treason for their roles in the 1999 Caprivi uprising . The 10, who were removed from the courtroom for unruly behavior during the sentencing, were among 129 defendants accused of fostering [...]

US Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley has refused to accept a plea agreement and maintains his innocence on allegations that he and two other soldiers killed three unarmed Iraqis and then placed weapons next to the bodies, according to an interview with Hensley's mother published in Wednesday's Asheville Citizen-Times. Hensley has been charged with premeditated [...]

French lawyer Francois Roux was sworn in Wednesday to defend former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Khek lev , also known as Duch, in his trial before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) . Cambodian Bar Association President Ky Tech said that Roux is the first foreign defense lawyer to receive formal [...]

A federal jury in California convicted former Brocade Communications Systems CEO Gregory Reyes Tuesday in the first stock options backdating case to go to trial. The jury found Reyes guilty of conspiracy, securities fraud, lying to accountants, and false books for backdating stock options for employees to days when the stock was low in order [...]