The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday convicted retired Rwandan army officer Lt. Col. Aloys Simba of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 25 years in prison . The charges against Simba stemmed from the 100-day massacre of over half a million in 1994. The Tribunal found that Simba supplied [...]

The US Army has given preliminary approval to a new set of classified interrogation techniques which are likely to cause a roadblock in negotiations over Sen. John McCain's proposed amendment on detainee treatment . The interrogation techniques are to be added to the new Army field manual as a 10-page addendum and this is the [...]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday accused the international community of failing to live up to its obligations to help bring Saddam Hussein to justice, saying the "effective boycott of Saddam's trial is only harming the Iraqi people". Although Rice did not name specific countries in her speech at the Heritage Foundation, she [...]

The US House of Representatives is expected to pass a White House-backed bill Wednesday that would reauthorize sections of the USA Patriot Act , although the legislation may still face a filibuster in the Senate. Certain provisions of the Patriot Act, the country's primary anti-terrorism law, are due to expire on December 31 and Republicans [...]

US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday that more than 100 detainees had been abused in two Iraqi detention facilities, a figure considerably greater than the 21 or 26 people previously reported as abused. An investigation had been carried out following the discovery by US soldiers of 173 malnourished, beaten and possibly tortured detainees [...]

Leading Wednesday's international brief, the International Commission of Jurists has issued a report urging the Nepal government to revoke the recently approved media ordinance as contrary to the Nepalese Constitution and Nepal's international human rights obligations. The report questions the intent of the legislation, alleging that its true purpose is to suppress critical journalism rather [...]

The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milsoevic, Decision in Relation to Severance, Extension of Time, and Rest, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, December 12, 2005 (released December 13, 2005) . Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Hicks v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court, Mr. Justice Collins, December 13, 2005 . Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Polish prosecutors said Tuesday that they are preparing charges against General Wojciech Jaruzelski , the last Communist leader of Poland, in connection with his December 13, 1981 declaration of martial law in the country. Prosecutors associated with the National Institute of Remembrance argue that the declaration was unconstitutonal, and say that charges related to harassment, [...]

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday said that countries have a duty to respect international humanitarian law "even in the midst of war." In the Pope's peace message , released in advance of the Catholic church's World Day of Peace, he also called for international humanitarian standards to be considered universally binding and suggested that standards [...]