The ICJ today deplored the killing in Ingushetia of Judge Aza Gazgireeva, Deputy Chief Justice of the regional Supreme Court, who was shot dead on Wednesday outside her children’s kindergarten in Nazran.
The ICJ welcomes the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry by the Government of Pakistan.
“The reinstatement of the Chief Justice is an historic milestone in reaffirming the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan,”said Dato Param Cumaraswamy, ICJ Honorary Commissioner and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges. “It will help restore public and international confidence in the judicial system, but for this to be effective, the Government must ensure functional independence of the judiciary, without any executive interference in the future.”
Pakistan-reinstatemt-chiefjustice-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
The ICJ today denounced moves taken by Silvio Berlusconi to defy the decisions of the Court of Cassation to allow interruption of the artificial means of life-support to Eluana Englaro.
Italy-Government moves in the Eluana Englaro Case-press release-2009-eng (full text, PDF)
Italy-Government moves in the Eluana Englaro Case-press release-2009-ita (full text, PDF)
The UK government and the new US administration must ensure that the independence of the courts, and their ability to disclose information essential to accountability for crimes of torture, is not undermined.
The main threat is the withdrawal of intelligence co-operation, the ICJ said in response to yesterday’s Divisional Court judgment in R (Binyam Mohammed) v Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
UK-US-Governments must not impede courts’ disclosure of torture allegations-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
Tunisia must quash guilty verdicts against anti-pollution protesters and investigate alleged torture of human rights activist
Egypt: NGOs demand the immediate and unconditional release of Ibrahim Metwally, detained solely for peacefully exercising his human rights
Egypt: Authorities must stop persecuting political opponent Ahmad Tantawi and his wife
Libya: Investigate unidentified bodies and reported mass graves in Abu Salim