International Law

Report: CIA Ran Secret Prisons in Europe

The Central Intelligence Agency reportedly ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005, with the collaboration of U.S. allies, in violation of European human rights treaties. However, officials in all of the countries involved said the claim of secret prisons used to interrogate al-Quaida suspects is untrue…

Jun 8, 2007 5:17 PM CDT

9 Arrested in Alleged California Plot to Overthrow Government of Laos

A retired lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard and eight accomplices, including a former Laotian general, reportedly were arrested today in federal raids by some 200 agents spread across the state. Their alleged crime: a claimed plot to buy millions of dollars worth of weapons to help overthrow the…

Jun 5, 2007 2:44 AM CDT

Plaintiffs Firms Bring International Tort Claims

Plaintiffs class-action firms are starting to get involved in international human-rights cases. Previously such suits were usually brought by public-interest lawyers. But now plaintiffs firms such as Motley Rice of South Carolina are suing international defendants for human-rights violations, according to Adam Liptak of the New York Times. Motley Rice…

Jun 4, 2007 12:47 PM CDT

UN Tribunal Controversial in Hariri Case

A vote yesterday by the U.N. Security Council to establish a tribunal to try suspects in the assassination two years ago of Lebanon’s former prime minister has drawn cheers and jeers from the international community today. The vote led to celebration in the streets of Lebanon by some supporters of…

May 31, 2007 11:36 PM CDT

ACLU Sues Boeing Subsidiary re U.S. Rendition Aid

A subsidiary of airline giant Boeing Co. has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly aiding “extraordinary rendition” efforts by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The suit, which the ACLU says it is filing today in federal court in California, claims Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. provided transportation for…

May 30, 2007 8:02 PM CDT

World’s First Publicly Owned Law Firm is Growing

A little more than a week after reportedly becoming the world’s first publicly owned law firm, Australia’s Slater & Gordon is already adding to its attorney roster. The growth move by the Melbourne-based personal injury firm, which is bringing into its fold a Brisbane boutique specializing in military compensation, follows…

May 30, 2007 12:08 PM CDT

Suspended Pakistani Chief Judge Files Affidavit

Suspended Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry filed an affidavit Tuesday which for the first time makes public his account of a March 9 meeting with the country’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. According to Chaudhry’s account, which was filed with the Pakistan Supreme Court, the president and senior officials detained…

May 30, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Top Official gets Death Sentence for Bad Chinese Food

Even for China, the sentence is an unusually harsh one. In the wake of international scandals over contamination of food products shipped from China, the former head of the country’s top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death today. Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, commissioner of China’s Food and Drug…

May 29, 2007 10:09 PM CDT

Pakistan Crisis: Lawyers Strike; Court Aide Shot

A worsening crisis in Pakistan over the country’s judicial independence reportedly included a nationwide strike by the legal community and general strikes that shut down major cities on Monday. Following violence over the weekend that each side blamed on the other, 2,500 lawyers rallied in Lahore against the government of…

May 14, 2007 4:19 PM CDT

Today in Legal History: Ellsberg Acquitted in Pentagon Case, Barbie Nazi War Crimes Trial Begins

On this day in 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed, due to government misconduct. (The administration of President Richard M. Nixon was implicated in a burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office, in an effort to discredit him.) Ellsberg, a Pentagon employee, had released 7,000 pages…

May 11, 2007 11:00 AM CDT

U.S. Iraq Vets Make Asylum Case in Canada Court

Arguing that the U.S. war on Iraq is illegal, a Canadian lawyer is now seeking asylum there for some three dozen American soldiers who have deserted their units and fled to America’s northern neighbor. The situation may seem reminiscent of so-called draft dodgers going to Canada decades ago rather than…

May 10, 2007 1:11 AM CDT

High Court: Irish Teen has Right to UK Abortion

An Irish court has ruled that a pregnant 17-year-old who is in the care of the government has the right to travel to England for a legal abortion, as some 7,000 of Irish women do annually. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, except to save the life of the mother. Social…

May 10, 2007 12:16 AM CDT

Pakistan Protest: Gov’t Seals Top Atty’s Office

In the latest developments in a continuing lawyer-led protest in Pakistan, government officials closed the Karachi office of a top attorney representing a suspended Supreme Court judge whose recent motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore reportedly drew a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters. However, that closing on Wednesday by…

May 9, 2007 9:29 PM CDT

‘Gazumping’ Loophole Ups British Legal Fees

A quirk in English property law, combined with a super-hot housing market caused by a shortage of homes for sale in London, is costing would-be purchasers of homes there extra attorney fees. Because British law only makes real estate contracts final once they are actually exchanged, buyers are on the…

May 8, 2007 10:40 PM CDT

Groups: Israel Ignores Court, Abuses Prisoners

Despite a 1999 Israel Supreme Court ruling that bans the use of physical force during interrogations, the domestic security service there continues to mistreat and sometimes even torture prisoners, human rights groups say. In a report released Sunday, two groups contend that Palestinian detainees interrogated by Shin Bet are routinely…

May 7, 2007 6:46 PM CDT