Sep 26, 2011 | News
The ICJ is urging the Members of the House of Representatives to dismiss the draft legislation on evidence in criminal trials which could exacerbate further the already dramatic delays in Italian judicial proceedings.
The legislation would eliminate the possibility for a judge to reject the admission of “superfluous” and even “manifestly superfluous” evidence, allowing the parties to a case to call an almost infinite number of witnesses, and potentially delaying the case indefinitely. It also would make it unduly difficult to incorporate previous final rulings on the same case as prima facie evidence of the facts in the proceedings.”
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-ita (full text in Italian, PDF)
Jul 5, 2010 | News
The ICJ and other Human Rights groups today strongly condemned the conviction, and sentence to three years’ imprisonment, of Mr. Haytham Al-Maleh, a 79 years old prominent Syrian human rights lawyer.
This conviction was ordered on the grounds of “transferring false and exaggerated news that weaken national sentiments”, under Articles 285 and 286 of the Syrian Criminal Code. The charges arise from Mr. Al-Maleh’s interviews with the media in which he criticized, amongst other things, the continued use of the emergency laws in Syria and the ongoing control of the Syrian authorities over the judicial system.
Syria-conviction Al-Maleh-press release-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Dec 1, 2009 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ addresses the practice of incommunicado detention, and the transfer of persons as part of the alleged cooperation of Spain in the US-led renditions programme.
The ICJ also draws attention to the threat to judicial independence posed by the recent prosecution of Investigative Judge Baltasar Garzón Real; to the recent limitations introduced on the use of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes under international law; and to the limited scope of the offence of torture contained in the Criminal Code.
Universal Periodic Review Spain-non-legal submission-2009 (full text, PDF)
Jun 7, 2007 | News
Two members of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights, appointed by the ICJ, concluded today the hearings and consultations for the Middle East region held in Cairo.
Mar 7, 2007 | News
Members of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights concluded their visit to Pakistan today.
