War Crimes

Cambodian and international officials convened in a hotel conference room to negotiate the ground rules for the special courts to try members of the Khmer Rouge regime for crimes against humanity.  The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is a mixed regime, with Cambodia holding jurisdiction under international assistance.  The proceedings have been under negotiation since a bill […]

Egypt today resumed trials of 40 senior members of The Muslim Brotherhood (MB).  The Muslim Brotherhood holds nearly 20 percent of the seats in Egypt's parliament, despite its members being banned from running for office.  Members of the MB are being tried for money laundering and terrorism.  It is one of the most influential jihadi […]

Salim Hamdan, bin Ladens personal bodyguard and driver, and Omar Khadr will face a US war crimes tribunal at the naval detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba today. Hamdan's case has surfaced in the Supreme Court in the past. The Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ruled that the military commission invoked by President Bush was […]

Zdravko Tolimir, a former intelligence officer and senior aide to Ratko Mladic, was arrested in Bosnia yesterday.  Tolimer was considered the third most wanted war crimes fugitive after Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.  He was arrested near the border with Serbia after a major sweep of the area by anti-terrorist units of both the Bosnia and […]

An Australian coroner has been told by an Australian inquiry to refer two individuals for war crimes prosecution for the murder of five Australian journalists during the invasion of East Timor in 1975. The so-called "Balibo five" were allegedly killed while attempting to surrender to Indonesian troops. According to witness testimony supplied by senior lawyers […]

The United Nations Security Council is to vote on the creation of an international tribunal to prosecute individuals suspected of involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri. The US, France, and Britain expect to get the 9 votes needed to pass the resolution despite apprehension by Russia and China, who […]

US President George W. Bush unveiled a new set of sanctions against the Sudanese government in a speech today. Mr. Bush made his speech ahead of next weeks G8 summit in Europe. The new sanctions are intended to influence the Sudanese to ends its blockade against humanitarian aid and an amendment to the African Union […]

I wrote on Columbia the other day. The BBC has a featurette on the drug culture there.

By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States apparently violated international law in its military tribunals by using coercion to extract confessions and writing counter-terrorism laws that restrict immigration on questionable grounds, a U.N. investigator said on Friday.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, is pressing for a vote on the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri. The current Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, formally requested the establishment of the tribunal on May 14. The draft resolution circulated by Britain, […]

The central African nation of Burundi has agreed to set up a war crimes tribunal and truth and reconciliation committee to examine atrocities during its 12-year civil war. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, was in the region as part of a 12-day tour of central Africa, including Rwanda and other Great […]

International Criminal Court Investigates War Crimes in Central African Republic The International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an investigation into allegations of "massives rapes and other acts of sexual violence" perpetrated by officials of the Central African Republic (CAR).  The top courts in CAR had referred the former President Ange Felix Patasse and Congolese rebel leader […]