Report by Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, June 8, 2005 . Excerpt: The United Kingdom has not been immune, however, to a tendency increasingly discernable across Europe to consider human rights as excessively restricting the effective administration of justice and the protection of the public interest. The Government itself has [...]

When asked about the fate of the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay during a Fox News interview Wednesday, President Bush insisted that all prisoners there are being treated in accordance with international standards, but did say that the government was "exploring all alternatives" regarding its future. The administration has come under increasing pressure from [...]

Criminal Complaint, US v. Hamid Hayat and Umer Hayat, US District Court for the Eastern District of California, June 7, 2005. Read the full text of the complaint via FindLaw. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

In a 56-43 vote Wednesday, the Senate confirmed the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia . Brown’s nomination process began in 2003 and quickly encountered opposition from Democrats, who blocked a confirmation vote. Critics accused Brown of exhibiting hostility to [...]

Completion strategy progress report, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, released June 8, 2005 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Leading Wednesday's international brief, the leading opposition party in Zimbabwe , the Movement for Democratic Change has announced its intention to boycott the opening of the Zimbabwean Parliament Thursday morning by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe . The MDC, which challenged the recent national elections as unfair and fraudulent , has 41 members in the Parliament, [...]

South African businessman Schabir Shaik was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in jail after being found guilty of two counts of corruption and one count of fraud, ending a high-profile case that many in South Africa had followed over its seven-month duration. Shaik has close ties to Zulu leader and South African Deputy President Jacob [...]

An 80-year-old man reputed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan will stand trial starting Monday for the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers. Edgar Ray Killen is charged with murdering three men who came to Mississippi to help blacks register to vote. The killings were the focus of the 1988 movie [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague Wednesday dismissed two charges against former Bosnian commander Naser Oric . The court ruled that charges that Oric's soldiers took weapons and food from Serbs were necessities of war or insignificant to the court. Oric still faces charges of murder and cruel treatment of [...]

A leading Sunni Muslim group in Iraq announced Wednesday that it would not participate in writing the new Iraqi constitution unless Sunnis were given a fair number of seats on the drafting committee. The parliamentary committee in charge and the US government both want increased Sunni involvement, but the Shiite majority is unsettled by calls [...]