Second report of the International Independent Investigation Commission established pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1595 (2005) and 1636 (2005), December 12, 2005 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Manfred Nowak, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture , has called for Germany to prosecute the Uzbek Minister of Internal Affairs, Zokirjon Almatov, for his handling of the May 2005 Andijan uprising . A group of survivors and the New York-based Human Rights Watch have filed a lawsuit in Germany under that country's universal jurisdiction [...]

Kizza Besigye , Uganda's jailed opposition leader, and 22 co-defendants pleaded not guilty Monday to treason charges for which they face the death penalty. Besigye has also been accused of rape and he pleaded not guilty to that charge as well. Also Monday, proceedings were suspended indefinitely by a military court which is considering a [...]

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Monday that he will continue with democratic reforms in Egypt and pledged to work with opposition to move "forward on the path of democracy." Mubarak's address to parliament follows several weeks of parliamentary elections, which were marred by violence and allegations of bribery, coercion, and forgery . Mubarak admitted the [...]

President Bush on Monday slammed the Senate's failure to renew the USA Patriot Act as "inexcusable," saying the legislation is a crucial part of the government's efforts to prevent future terror attacks. Several sections of the anti-terror law are set to expire at the end of the year; the US House last week passed legislation [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported Monday that the US murder rate rose 2.1 percent during the first six months of 2005, though rates for other significant offenses, such as rape and arson, are on the decline. In its Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report , the FBI said that the increase in murder rates was [...]

The International Court of Justice , ruled Monday that Uganda violated the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo during a 1998-2003 war and was responsible for human rights abuses and the plundering of Congolese natural resources. The UN court ordered Uganda to pay reparations for the plunder of the Congo's gold, diamonds and timber; [...]

At least 24 former officials from the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein have been released from jail, an Iraqi lawyer said Monday. The former officials released include Rihab Taha , the biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ", and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash , better known as "Mrs. Anthrax". Iraqi lawyer Badee Izzat Aref [...]

A German court on Monday acquitted former Nazi commander Ladislav Niznansky on murder charges stemming from three World War II massacres in Slovakia. The 88-year-old former Slovak army commander faced 164 counts of murder in connection with massacres in two Slovak villages and a later uprising against the Nazi puppet regime in Slovakia. Niznansky was [...]

The US House of Representatives early Monday morning passed legislation that would ban the torture of terror detainees and would require that detainees in US custody be treated humanely. The military spending bills also contain provisions that would limit the ability of Guantanamo Bay detainees to challenge their detention in federal court and would allow [...]