Tens of thousands of people marched in Thailand Monday in support of an upcoming general referendum on whether to approve the interim government's proposed draft constitution . The march, organized by interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont , is an effort to promote popular support for the draft proposal before the August 19 referendum. Surayud, who [...]

Jurors in the terror trial of Jose Padilla and co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi heard closing arguments Monday from federal prosecutors and defense lawyers. Federal prosecutors urged the jury to convict the three on charges of conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support [...]

Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son Timothy reported Monday to Butner Federal Correctional Complex pursuant to a June federal court order . In 2005, John Rigas, now 82, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Timothy Rigas was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In May, the US Court of Appeals for [...]

German Federal Commissioner Marianne Birthler said Monday that a written order instructing border guards in the former German Democratic Republic to shoot defectors is being scrutinized by prosecutors to determine whether the document, dated October 1, 1973, could lead to the prosecution of former East German officials. The order, issued by the East German Ministry [...]

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) announced the further postponement of court proceedings in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor Monday, granting a request by Taylor's new defense team for additional time to prepare their case. Taylor's trial, which had been scheduled to resume on August 20, was first postponed in early [...]

Retired Thai police Col. Charnchai Netirattakarn turned himself in Monday on charges of offering a judge $890,000 in bribes in exchange for a favorable ruling for ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the former ruling party Thai Rak Thai (TRT) in an electoral fraud case . Charnchai was granted $5,900 bail. He faces a [...]

The Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Ethiopian troops and insurgent forces were responsible for "rampant violations of the laws of war" during fighting between March and April 2007 in the vicinity of Somali capital Mogadishu, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW Executive Director Ken Roth said that "the [...]

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) on Sunday urged Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to "negotiate" with the US government for the immediate release of Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr . In a letter to Harper, CBA President J. Parker MacCarthy reiterated the CBA's position that detention at Guantanamo Bay contradicts the rule of law because [...]

Iraqi prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi announced additional charges Monday against Saddam Hussein's cousin and former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid for the violent response to the predominately Shi'a uprising in southern Iraq following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, is being charged with genocide, mass murder, and crimes against humanity. [...]

A senior judicial official in Iran said Sunday that prosecutors have completed their investigation into two Iranian-American scholars who have been detained since May. Deputy Prosecutor Hassan Haddad said that the two scholars – Dr. Haleh Esfandiari of the DC-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Open Society Institute consultant Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh – [...]