Jury members in the Moussaoui sentencing trial recommended a life sentence for convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui because several jurors believed that Moussaoui only played a minor role in the plot and there were questions about whether the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for lying, according to a report in Friday's Washington Post. [...]

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JURIST Special Guest Columnist Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, says that the Zacarias Moussaoui verdict demonstrates that the best way to promote national security and democracy in the world is by reaffirming America’s commitment to a fair legal system, not by casting it [...]

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US Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday called on the Belarus government to release opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich , who was jailed last week for attending an illegal demonstration. Calling Belarus the "last dictatorship in Europe," Cheney urged Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to release Milinkevich and other opposition activists. Delivering the keynote address at the [...]

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Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews introduced two anti-crime bills Thursday in the Canadian Parliament as the new Conservative party government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper made good on its January election promises to get tough on offenders. The first bill, the Mandatory Minimum Penalties Bill would ensure that violent offenders receive a mandatory minimum sentence. [...]

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Cambodia's Supreme Council of Magistracy on Thursday appointed 30 judges to preside over the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia , the joint Cambodia-UN tribunal that will try Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide. Seventeen Cambodian and 13 international judges were selected, and a tribunal spokesman said that trial proceedings will begin next year. Two [...]

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