Israel's treatment of Palestinians during December and January's Operation Cast Lead, in Gaza grossly violated international law according to a report released Friday by the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. The report, prepared by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights …
The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal upheld Friday a lower court's ruling ordering the Canadian government to advocate for the repatriation of Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr. The government appealed the April ruling asserting that the lower court erred in holding that Canadian officials violated Khadr's …
Convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on Friday asked the Scottish High Court of the Judiciary to allow him to withdraw the second appeal of his 2001 conviction. Megrahi, recently diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, is seeking a transfer to his native Libya, a …
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday ordered the conditional release of former Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) rebel leader Jean Pierre Bemba, a decision which Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced he would appeal. The court found no evidence to suggest that …
The Supreme Court of Western Australia on Friday ruled that the right to refuse medical treatment includes the informed refusal of nutrition and hydration services, in a landmark decision. Christian Rossiter, a quadriplegic, had repeatedly asked his caregivers, Brightwater Care Group, to discontinue providing nutrition and water through a gastric feeding …
Afghanistan's amended Shi'ite personal status law, which entered into force July 27, still violates women's rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. The Afghan government announced last month that the law had been revised to remove a provision requiring a wife to submit to sex with her husband after intense international …
Three UN human rights experts on Thursday called on Iran's Revolutionary Court to reject confessions obtained through torture of protesters of the country's disputed presidential election. A joint statement from Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak, Vice-Chairperson of the Working Group on arbitrary detention El Hadji Malick Sow, and Special Rapporteur on the situation …
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged the government of Burundi to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations during the country's 16-year armed conflict. HRW released the statement on the fifth anniversary of the Gatumba Massacre, in which more than 150 Congolese refugees were killed by members of …
The Council of the European Union on Thursday announced sanctions against members of the Myanmar judiciary responsible for the verdict against opposition pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi. The latest sanctions are in addition to a number of sanctions already in place against Myanmar. According to the …
Former US president William Jefferson Clinton addressed a capacity crowd late Thursday night at a progressive convention held by Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since leaving office, Clinton has become known for his charitable and humanitarian work, and on Thursday he discussed the evolution of "communitarian solutions" to world problems, devoting a large …
Israeli soldiers killed 11 white flag-waving Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, which left more than 1,000 civilians and combatants dead in December 2008 and January 2009, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Thursday. According to the report, the unarmed victims were waving white flags to …
Federal and state officials toured a prison in rural Michigan Thursday in anticipation that it could eventually hold inmates currently detained at Guantanamo Bay. Officials have not yet decided whether the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility (SMF) will one day house some of the 229 Guantanamo detainees. Michigan officials …
