Close Gitmo, Powell Says

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he would close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and move the detainees’ cases into the federal court system.

Powell told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Guantanamo prison has hurt America’s reputation, according to a Washington Post account of the interview.

Jun 11, 2007 3:35 PM CDT

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

Committee OKs Gitmo Habeas Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill to restore habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees.

The move is part of a renewed effort by Democrats to challenge the Bush administration’s treatment of the detainees, the Washington Post reports.

Jun 8, 2007 4:35 PM CDT

New Boston Shelter for Abused Pets Helps Abused Humans, Too

A first-of-its kind shelter program for abused pets in Boston is expected not only to aid animals targeted by abusive humans but help people in the pet’s family protect themselves from violence, too. That’s because people who abuse animals often abuse fellow humans as well. Plus, it isn’t unusual for…

Jun 7, 2007 9:01 PM CDT

More American Officials in Laos Plot?

It isn’t just the California National Guard that may have had at least a peripheral involvement in an alleged California-based plot to overthrow the communist government of Laos.” “Officials said their probe may extend to a former Wisconsin state senator, an unnamed congressman and the California Highway Patrol,” an AP…

Jun 7, 2007 5:37 PM CDT

Bush Likely to Pursue Gitmo Trials

The Bush administration is likely to fix rather than abandon trials for terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Legal analysts told the Los Angeles Times there is no viable alternative because much of the evidence would be inadmissible in the regular court system.

Many of the detainees were picked up on the battlefield, “and a battlefield is different from a crime scene,” Pepperdine law professor Douglas W. Kmiec told the newspaper.

Other problems involve high-level terrorists questioned in secret CIA prisons. Evidence obtained under such circumstances would likely be excluded in U.S. courts.

Jun 7, 2007 5:15 PM CDT

Italian Trial Targets CIA Program

Defense lawyers are expected to ask an Italian judge to delay a trial against 26 Americans accused of participating in a CIA kidnapping of an accused terrorist. The United States has asked Italy’s highest court to dismiss the indictments against the defendants, who are not present for the trial, according…

Jun 7, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Suit to Seek Information on Secret Detainees

Three human rights groups plan to file a lawsuit today seeking documents and information about detainees believed to be in secret custody of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Washington Post says the suit will name several U.S. agencies, including the CIA, the Justice Department and the Defense Department.

Jun 7, 2007 2:03 PM CDT

U.S. Courts Try Colombian Guerrilla

A Colombian guerrilla leader goes on trial in Washington, D.C., today on charges he tried to trade three American hostages for the release of members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Justice Department officials told the Los Angeles Times that the trial of Ricardo Palmera is an important…

Jun 6, 2007 8:07 PM CDT

Arson for Animals Not Terrorism, Lawyer Says

A federal judge delayed sentencing an animal-rights radical on Tuesday after the defendant’s lawyer objected to her sentence calculations. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken of Eugene, Ore., indicated she planned to sentence Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul to four years and three months in prison for setting fire to a horse…

Jun 6, 2007 6:38 PM CDT

Scary Trip Ends in Terror Suspect’s Surrender

The fourth man charged in a terrorist plot to blow up fuel tanks at Kennedy International Airport surrendered yesterday, telling reporters the case was a setup. An old friend drove Abdel Nur to a Trinidad police station after warning him he was on the front pages of newspapers across the…

Jun 6, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Democrats Push Rights for Gitmo Detainees

Democrats are citing the dismissal of charges against two Guantanamo detainees in renewing calls for changes in the system used to try their cases.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said legislation to restore habeas corpus rights for detainees could reach the Senate floor this month, the Washington Post reports.

Another proposal would give detainees access to evidence and lawyers when their cases are reviewed by Combatant Status Review Tribunals, which determine whether detainees are enemy combatants.

Jun 6, 2007 2:11 PM CDT

Skadden to Advise Virginia Tech Panel

An advisory panel created to look into the Virginia Tech massacre will be counseled on a pro bono basis by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, officials announced today. Although the state attorney general’s office has been providing advice to the panel, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, officials decided to accept…

Jun 5, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

Tapes Crucial in Padilla Trial

Prosecutors began playing wiretapped phone conversations yesterday in the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla in Miami. A co-defendant can be heard on several of the tapes discussing sending military equipment to fighters in Chechnya in the 1990s, the New York Times reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier told jurors in…

Jun 5, 2007 2:48 PM CDT

Possible Appeal in Gitmo Case

Military prosecutors are considering an appeal of yesterday’s decisions tossing out charges against two Guantanamo detainees because they were not properly classified as “unlawful” enemy combatants. Prosecutors asked for a 72-hour delay to consider an appeal of the first judge’s decision in the case of Omar Khadr, a Canadian captured…

Jun 5, 2007 12:26 PM CDT