NJ Governor Calls out “Sharia Law” Crazies

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, seemed pretty fed-up with the Muslim-baiting opposition to one of his judicial appointments, Sohail Mohammed, to the state’s superior court.

Mubarak’s trial starts in Egypt

The long-awaited trial of Hosni Mubarak has started in Cairo, with the former Egyptian president appearing in court with his sons Alaa and Gamal, and hated former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly.

Incarceration and Injustice for All (Part 1)

Part 1 of a two-part piece on America’s “war on terror.”

Dear Feds: End the Al-Arian Travesty of Justice

One of the most Kafkaesque post-9/11 cases is still going on. A hearing this Friday could determine whether the latest stage of the government’s legal campaign against him be dismissed or end in re-trial.

The federal government has Dr. Sami Al-Arian under house arrest currently, stemming from an embarrassing, failed prosecution based on terrorism charges.

Pregnant Driver Causes Unborn Baby’s Death?

Dubai’s wacky legal system is in the news once again. On Sunday, a Lebanese woman was convicted of negligent homicide after allegedly causing an accident in which her unborn child was killed. In October of last year, just four days before a planned cesarian delivery, the defendant was driving around the notoriously dangerous streets of [...]

A Suspicious Journalist and the Future of US-Iran Relations

On Saturday, an Iranian court announced that it had convicted Roxana Saberi of spying for the United States; she was sentenced to 8 years in prison. It all started with a bottle of wine… at least that’s what she told her father. There’s no reason to doubt the veracity of such a claim, but the [...]

Challenging the Tax-Exempt Status that Aids Israeli Settler Groups

Following a post on Mondoweiss and a David Ignatius column in the Washington Post on how groups that support Israeli settlers receive tax-exempt status, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed an official complaint with the Treasury Department. ADC’s press release indicated the group filed multiple administrative complaints with the US Department of the Treasury, including the [...]

Iraq Throws the Book at Shoe-tosser

Freedom of expression is alive and well in liberated Iraq. An Iraqi court sentenced television journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi to three years in jail for tossing his shoes at then-American president George W. Bush in December. He missed. And everyone knows it was not a physical attack meant to harm, but meant as an act of [...]

Further Writing on NLG Trip to Gaza

The National Lawyers Guild sent a delegation of 8 American lawyers to the Gaza Strip “to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people, and to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred and whether U.S. domestic law has been violated as a consequence.” The group interviewed communities particularly impacted by [...]

Delegation of American lawyers reports back from Gaza

The following is a report written by a delegation of American lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild’s fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip. February 7, 2009 Strong Indications of Violations of the Laws of War, U.S. Law, and War Crimes Found in the Gaza Strip [Gaza City] We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, [...]