JURIST Guest Columnist Brian J. Foley of Florida Coastal School of Law says that the less-than-rigorous procedural rules governing the tribunals and military commissions at Guantanamo Bay endanger us as surely as any terrorists… The prevailing belief that the procedures at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) protect us because they make it easy to keep “enemy combatants” [...]

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Sami-al-Leithy , an Egyptian national transferred to Egyptian custody earlier this month , has told Egyptian television that he was tortured by guards at the US military camp. Leithy, 49, alleged in an interview Sunday that the torture he suffered – including beating and exposure to harsh light during interrogation – [...]

The Peruvian Constitutional Court has announced that former president Alberto Fujimori is barred from running in Peru's 2006 presidential election . Court President Javier Alva Orlandini said Sunday that the Peruvian Congress banned Fujimori from seeking public office until 2010. Fujimori, who announced plans to run for president last Thursday from his refuge in Japan, [...]

Following up on an report earlier today in JURIST's Paper Chase, Shiite and Kurdish officials continued last-minute talks Monday with Sunni leaders trying to agree on revised consensus language for the proposed Iraqi constitution to be voted on in an October 15th referendum . Some Sunni leaders insist that they will vote no to the [...]

A member of Iraq's De-Baathification Committee announced Monday that arrest warrants have been issued for former Iraqi defense minister Hazem Shaalan and 13 other former defense minister officials. Shaalan was defense minister under former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and has been charged with corruption in connection to the misappropriation of nearly $1 billion in [...]

Leading Monday's states brief, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that grandparent visitation can be awarded over the wishes of the child's parents as Ohio law requires courts to balance the best interests of the child against the parent's wishes. The decision resolved conflicting rules among the state's courts and overruled a court of [...]

The Sudanese government said Monday it had decided to allow troops from neighboring Uganda to cross its borders to chase down wanted leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army . The announcement comes one week after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for LRA leader Joseph Kony and several of his deputies on charges of [...]

A UN human rights expert Monday said the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) that will soon be trying Saddam Hussein did not meet international standards and should be replaced by an independent UN body, and criticized US and UK anti-terror laws for undermining human rights. Leandro Despouy, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on [...]

Egypt's government-financed National Council for Human Rights on Monday criticized the recent multi-candidate presidential elections for lacking real democratic competition. The government-financed council said the recently amended election law "placed very difficult restrictions on presidential hopefuls, especially independent candidates" making it very difficult for candidates to compete with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak . The group [...]

The Iraqi Electoral Commission announced Monday that Iraqi prisoners will be allowed to vote in the upcoming constitutional referendum . Officials told reporters that ballot boxes will be sent to area prisons, and all Iraqi detainees that have not been convicted of a crime will be eligible to vote; this includes ex-president Saddam Hussein . [...]