A federal judge rejected an argument Wednesday by US Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) that an indictment against him unconstitutionally violated the Speech or Debate Clause , saying that Jefferson has "focused immunity" rather than "expansive immunity" under the clause. Jefferson had argued that grand jury testimony given by his staffers violated the Speech or Debate [...]

Anne Heindel : "The provisional release hearing of "Brother Number Two," Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea, was cut short on Monday in response to a request by his Cambodian attorney. Son Arun argued that the proceedings must be adjourned due to the unavailability of his foreign co-counsel. Nuon's Dutch attorney Victor Koppe was unable to [...]

Guantanamo Bay commander US Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby confirmed the existence of a secret camp at the detention facility for alleged al-Qaeda members classified as "high-value detainees" in an interview with AP Wednesday. Buzby said prisoners in so-called "Camp 7" are kept apart from other prisoners to prevent violence against those who have [...]

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey Wednesday preliminarily approved a proposed amendment to the country's constitution that would ease a current ban on Islamic headscarves and allow women to wear headscarves in universities. The measure passed 401-99 in a secret ballot. A final vote on the constitutional revision proposed by the ruling Justice and Development [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak sharply criticized the White House Wednesday for defending the use of waterboarding , calling the practice "absolutely unacceptable under international human rights law." Nowak's comments, as well as the White House defense of the interrogation technique, came after CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed at a Tuesday Senate Intelligence [...]

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday said he supports allowing UK courts to hear some evidence obtained through wiretap surveillance , telling parliament that the long-time prohibition against wiretap evidence should be lifted in situations where "key conditions" are met. Brown said that admissible wiretap evidence would be limited to only information which cannot be [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Wednesday that the trial of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina and two other military commanders will begin March 11. Gotovina and commanders Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac were indicted in 2001 for alleged crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war [...]

Peter Herby, head of the Arms Unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) , expressed hope Wednesday that text of a treaty to ban the use of cluster bombs could be approved at a conference in Dublin in May and signed by most countries within the year, even if the world's leading [...]

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey is expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday in opposition to a unanimous December 2007 decision by the US Sentencing Commission to retroactively reduce penalties for crack cocaine offenders . That decision gives retroactive effect to an earlier amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines intended to narrow the [...]

Spanish National Court Judge Fernando Andreu Wednesday indicted 40 members of the Rwandan military on genocide and terrorism charges stemming from crimes allegedly committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed some 800,000 lives. Andreu reportedly began investigating the Rwandan case in 2005 and indicated Wednesday that he could have also indicted Rwandan President Paul [...]