A spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights said Monday that 565 prisoners would be released from Abu Ghraib prison before the Muslim religious holiday of Al-Fitr at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. This release follows an earlier release of more than 1500 prisoners at the beginning of Ramadan. More than 10,000 [...]

Syrian lawyers and judges have protested in Damascus against the UN report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri suggesting that his murder was sanctioned by the Syrian government. Members of the Syrian Bar Association marched Sunday after endorsing a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan challenging the report's neutrality. In [...]

Jordan and Britain announced Monday that the two countries have agreed to allow Adalah ("justice" in Arabic) , an independent human rights organization, to monitor the treatment of suspects detained pursuant to a recent UK/Jordan extradition agreement . The decision comes after increased criticism following allegations that deportees could be tortured . The deal is [...]

Speaking before the UK Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights Monday, UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke said that new anti-terror legislation recently proposed by the government would have a direct impact on militant animal rights groups that encourage deadly radical behavior. A senior FBI official testified to the US Congress in May that radical environmental [...]

US President George W. Bush, citing confidentiality, said on Monday he would not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers regarding advice Miers gave him while acting as his lawyer. Bush said to reporters that it was "a red line" he was "not willing to cross," a decision that could [...]

Former Rwandan army officer Col. Theoneste Bagosora , accused of being the "mastermind" behind the country's 1994 genocide , took the witness stand Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and denied a role in the killing of as many as 800,000 people. Bagosora said that "the accusation that I masterminded the genocide [...]

A Russian NGO said Monday that a group of Russian human rights activists have urged Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to work to secure the transfer of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev from penal colonies in Siberia to prison camps in Moscow or the surrounding area. The call to [...]

A major Nepalese radio station appealed to the country's Supreme Court Sunday after its office was raided and equipment seized by Nepalese police on Friday. Kantipur FM filed a writ to the court to condemn the raid and to stop the government from implementing a press ordinance that prohibits FM radio stations from broadcasting. Most [...]

Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says he has a "growing concern" that the federal government's proposed anti-terrorism legislation does not meet international standards for political and civil rights. After posting a confidential copy of the draft bill on his website last week, Stanhope says he is pleased to participate in continued negotiations over [...]

The FBI has conducted secret surveillance of US citizens and legal residents for up to 18 months without notifying the Justice Department, according to documents released Monday by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) . EPIC made a request under Freedom of Information Act for documents relating to the FBI's use of Patriot Act provisions, [...]