Report to the Government of the United Kingdom by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Council of Europe, June 9, 2005 . Excerpt: any of were in a poor mental state as a result of their detention, and some were also in poor physical condition. [...]

Chaoulli, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al., Supreme Court of Canada, June 9, 2005 . Excerpt: The relief sought by the appellants does not necessarily provide a complete response to the complex problem of waiting lists. However, it was not up to the appellants to find a way to remedy a problem [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda put former Rwanda education minister Andre Rwamakuba on trial Thursday despite his refusal to attend the proceedings . Rwamakuba is accused of making lists of Tutsi people to be killed and participated in killings himself; he is formally charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, extermination, and murder. He was [...]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday that thousands of prisoners are being held in Iraq without due process, constituting "one of the major human rights challenges" faced by the country. In a report to the UN Security Council he noted that:Despite the release of some detainees, their number continues to grow. Prolonged detention without [...]

A French pensions court Thursday awarded disability benefits for a non-cancer illness contracted by soldier who participated in French nuclear testing over 40 years ago in the Sahara desert. The ruling marked the first example in Feench law of testing compensation for diseases other than cancer, and opens the door for others to make similar [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada Thursday overturned a section of a Quebec law that prevented people from buying private insurance for procedures covered by public health care. The Quebec Hospital Insurance Act was challenged when a Montreal man complained that he would have to wait a year to get a hip replacement, and that it [...]

A Kenyan judge Thursday acquitted four men charged in the 2002 bombing of a hotel near Mombasa , ruling that prosecutors had failed to show a link between the men and the bombers or al Qaida, and that the men should not even had been charged because there was no prima facie case. Three suicide [...]

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic denied at his trial on Wednesday that he was in charge of the unit shown killing six Bosnian Muslim youths in a gruesome video that led to the arrest of eight soldiers. Milosevic, under cross examination before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, called the [...]

President Bush granted seven pardons on Wednesday to people who have all long since served their sentences for relatively minor offenses. Most of the recipients had been found guilty of commiting various white-collar crimes – one had been convicted of conspiracy to possess marijuana. Bush has issued 46 pardons since taking office; Bill Clinton issued [...]

The British government Thursday is reintroducing controversial legislation designed to curb religious hatred, despite criticism that the law would overly restrict speech. The law was introduced last year, but didn't get through parliament before the general election. While the government defended the bill as a way to protect people from hatred and racism, others have [...]