Eight detainees held at Guantanamo Bay have told their lawyers that they were tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan, according to report released Sunday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch . The detainees separately provided "consistent accounts" of being flown to Afghanistan in 2002-2004 following arrests in Asian and Middle Eastern countries and [...]

Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005, passed by the US House of Representatives, December 17, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Defense lawyers for former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and seven other former officials on trial are expected to call 40 witnesses, a prosecutor in the case said Sunday. Included among the 40 are three former ministers in Saddam's government and others currently being held by the US in Iraq. Testimony from some of the witnesses [...]

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday called for a congressional investigation into the Bush administration's use of domestic spying on terror suspects. Reid called for an investigation and hearings into the intelligence program overseen by the National Security Agency . Reid acknowledged being briefed about the program several months ago and he called for [...]

Opposition parties in Kazakhstan on Sunday announced they have challenged the results of an election on Dec. 4 that saw President Nursultan Nazarbayev win another term. According to the opposition group "For a free Kazakhstan," it filed an appeal with the country's supreme court to have the results overturned. The results certified by the Central [...]

A Jordan military court on Sunday sentenced al Qaeda's chief in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and two others to death for a failed suicide bombing on the country's border with Iraq last year. Al-Zarqawi and one of the other suspects were sentenced in absentia, but the third, Saudi Fahd Noman Suwelim al-Feheiqi, was present for [...]

Citizens of Congo went to the polls Sunday for the first time in more than 30 years to vote on a draft constitution that could secure lasting peace in the country. Many of the 24 million registered voters in the country lined up outside polling stations early in the morning, with some banging on the [...]

The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved by voice vote the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005 , which will extend for two years the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 , under which the federal government guarantees insurance coverage for catastrophic losses caused by terror attacks. The renewal legislation also passed by [...]

Texas Judge Pat Priest said Saturday that he will not immediately consider the request of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) to separate criminal charges against him. Earlier this month, Priest threw out criminal conspiracy charges against DeLay, leaving two money laundering charges . DeLay has asked the judge to sever the charges, allowing a quick trial, [...]

US government attorneys have asked the US Supreme Court to deny certiorari in the Jose Padilla case , where the court would decide whether an enemy combatant can be held indefinitely without charge. Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber, was detained in 2002 and had challenged his continued detention with the US Court of Appeals for [...]