A lawyer for Tariq Aziz , Iraq's deputy prime minister during Saddam Hussein's regime, said Wednesday that US troops are protecting "high-value" former Iraqi officials released from custody earlier this week. Badee Izzat Aref said that 25 officials, including Dr. Rihab Taha al-Azawi know as "Dr. Germ", had been released from custody and were being [...]

Afghan journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, the editor of the magazine Hoqooq-i-Zan, (translated as Women's Rights) who was convicted of blasphemy for publishing anti-Islamic articles, has been freed from jail , a senior Afghan judge said Thursday. Nasab was arrested in October for reprinting articles arguing that Islamic law does not allow flogging for adultery and [...]

Russia's Duma , the lower house of parliament, approved on Wednesday a much-criticized bill restricting NGO activity by 376-10 on its second reading. The bill would create a government agency with broad power to monitor and regulate NGOs though original provisions that would have subjected local branches of foreign groups to strict financial and legal [...]

The US Senate on Wednesday approved a defense policy bill banning the cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in US custody but also limiting the ability of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in federal court, effectively allowing information obtained through coercion to be used against them. The unanimous vote to send the torture [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Michael Kelly of Creighton University School of Law says that the International Court of Justice ruling in Congo v. Uganda is a victory for sovereignty doctrine coming just as recent reversals for involuntary sovereignty waiver theory point towards revitalization of the classic legal doctrine governing the law of nations… The International Court [...]

An Act to amend the USA PATRIOT ACT to extend the sunset of certain provisions of that Act and the lone wolf provision of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to July 1, 2006, passed by the US Senate, December 21, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill . Reported [...]

American Civil Liberties Union v. Mercer County Kentucky, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, December 20, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion .

Wire services are reporting that after intensive negotiations lasting several days US senators late Wednesday agreed to extend the Patriot Act for six months. The White House and the Senate Republican leadership had previously sought a reauthorization of the Act that would have made many provisions permanent, but that initiative was blocked last Friday. On [...]

Courts in Uzbekistan Wednesday convicted an additional 42 people and handed down prison sentences of 12-20 years in connection with the May 2005 Andijan uprising . It was reported that the defendants were convicted on charges including participation in terrorist acts and deliberate, aggravated murder, though there has not been an official court confirmation. In [...]

Jose Padilla v. C.T. Hanft, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, December 21, 2005 . Excerpt from the court's opinion by Judge Michael Luttig: Because we believe that the transfer of Padilla and the withdrawal of our opinion at the government's request while the Supreme Court is reviewing this court's decision of [...]