Amnesty International Wednesday released its 2005 Report , condemning governments for failing to show principled leadership, betraying promises on human rights, failing to confront their lack of success with fighting terrorism, and persisting with failed but politically convenient strategies. The report says US policies which came to light after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse allegations, [...]

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels refused to grant clemency or a 90-day stay of execution for Gregory Scott Johnson, a convicted murderer who hoped to give his kidney and liver to his sister, who suffers from non-alcoholic hepatitis. In a statement released after his death Wednesday morning, Johnson accused the parole board of failing to recognize [...]

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), has dropped her plan to use procedural delays to postpone a debate on the nomination of John Bolton to become US Ambassador to the United Nations. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) plans to begin the debate on Bolton's nomination on Wednesday and a vote is expected by the end [...]

The US House voted 238-194 Tuesday to loosen restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and the legislation now goes to the Senate, where it has strong bi-partisan support. However, President Bush has promised to veto the bill. Under the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act , the federal government could fund research involving [...]

Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola , President of the Special Court of Sierra Leone , the tribunal created by the UN to hear cases of serious crimes committed during the West African country's civil war, warned the UN Security Council Tuesday that the court was close to financial crisis. The justice asked for $40 million in [...]

Hearings on a Bill to Reauthorize Certain Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and for Other Purposes, US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, May 24, 2005 . Read the full text of the hearing statements. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced Tuesday that three British men, all Greenwich Natwest bankers, will be extradited to the US to face trial for their involvment in the Enron scandal. Clarke is upholding a London court's ruling from October . The bankers face trial in the US on fraud charges for pocketing 1.5 million [...]

Human Rights Watch accused the US Tuesday of allowing two US citizens of Pakistani descent to be tortured and abused while being held in Pakistan as suspected al Qaeda members. Brothers Kashan and Zain Afzal were detained in Pakistan for eight months, during which they both claim they were tortured and questioned by FBI agents [...]

The High Court in Spain on Tuesday freed on bail 9/11 suspect Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun. A real estate developer in Spain, Ghalyoun is accused of taking amateur video while on vacation in the US and providing it to members of al Qaeda to aid in the 9/11 terrorist attacks . Some legal analysts believe [...]

Three women Russian judges are nearly halfway through Mikhail Khodorkovsky's verdict document Tuesday after seven days of reading. The verdict-reading has presented evidence that will most likely result in a conviction for Khodorkovsky, the former CEO of Russia's largest oil firm, Yukos , as well as one time richest man in Russia. Khodorkovsky faces charges [...]