China is aiming to abolish the death penalty, a senior Chinese judge told a group of Australian NGOs at a China-Australia human rights dialogue meeting in Australia in July. While the aim appears to be long-term, closer at hand is a brand new law for th…
Police investigations of deaths in custody and alleged abuses were not satisfactory in the 1980s: they remain unsatisfactory today, says Tamar Hopkins, whose community legal centre leads a nationwide push for better accountability mechanisms. She explod…
President Obama began his reign as the hope of the civil liberties movement, but he ends a four-year term with a worse record than the President Bush he followed. Obama’s remorseless assault on basic rights in America, Bernard Keane says, sets the tone…
I see that persistent apologist Jim Unkles is pushing new Attorney-General Nicola Roxon to act on pardoning the Boer War multiple murderers Harry Morant and Peter Handcock. He is offering to “brief her – that is, present his version of the 1901 court m…
Editor, West Australian: The Prime Minister is obliged to support a Presidential clemency for Andrew Chan, an Australian citizen, in Indonesia. In doing so, she is supporting the UN Human Rights Charter which advocates all nations abolish capital punish…
Imminent new extradition and mutual assistance laws should incorporate the strong recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, at CLA’s instigation, for Australia to monitor and report to Parliament annually on the subsequent fate o…
Illinois has become the 16th US State to abolish the death penalty. The considered reasons, explained by Governor Pat Quinn who agonised for two months before signing the bill into law, are worth a closer look.
Illinois abolishes death penalty
To…
Young Australians linger apprehensively on death row in Bali, awaiting a final judicial appeal ruling, out of sight and mind, Alexia Hall says. Australia should be campaigning widely for a death penalty-free region, and engaging directly with Indonesia…
A court ruling in the USA has opened the way for President Obama to order the assassination of Julian Assange – or even an American citizen – without trial, without conviction. To thwart extremists labelling Assange a “terrorist” and calling for his kil…
Barristers, solicitors and many others – including CLA – are worried at the proposed peremptory lowering of the bar in proving murder charges in the Australian Capital Territory. Here barrister Shane Gill gives an excellent rundown on why the proposed ch…