England Courts

Six Irishmen wrongly convicted and jailed 16 years ago in the Irish Republican Army's deadliest attacks in Britain won their freedom in a court hearing Thursday, ending a case that shook faith in Britain's justice system and police. The appeal by the "Birmingham Six" followed the quashing of other convictions in connection with bomb attacks in Britain by the Irish Republican Army.

If you've always wanted to eat and drink like a Tudor monarch or if you fancy an imaginary audience with the original Queen Elizabeth, this is your year to visit Britain's Hampton Court Palace. The royal estate along the Thames outside London is marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Good Queen Bess with a year of programs that begin this week.

The British government illegally expelled nearly 2,000 inhabitants of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean at the height of the Cold War to make way for a strategic U.S. military base on Diego Garcia, the High Court ruled here Friday.

A paralyzed woman who wants doctors to remove the ventilator that keeps her alive has a right to die, a British judge ruled Friday. The case was apparently the first in Britain in which a mentally competent patient had applied for the right to terminate life-sustaining treatment. The High Court ruling was relayed by video link to the hospital bedside of the woman, identified only as B.

A paralyzed woman who wants doctors to remove the ventilator that keeps her alive has a right to die, a British judge ruled Friday. The case was apparently the first in Britain in which a mentally competent patient had applied for the right to terminate life-sustaining treatment. The High Court ruling was relayed by video link to the hospital bedside of the woman, identified only as B.

Britain's highest court wrapped up hearings Thursday to determine Gen. Augusto Pinochet's fate, with opposing lawyers contending that human rights law would be reduced to a "meek little mouse" if he goes free. The judges from the House of Lords said they would begin private considerations and announce "in due course" their ruling on whether the former Chilean dictator is immune from prosecution for crimes against humanity that he is accused of committing during his 17-year rule.

Los Angeles Chileans who suffered abuses under military rule cheered the British court ruling Wednesday that former dictator Augusto Pinochet is not immune from prosecution for human rights atrocities, but were disappointed by the limitations it imposed on the bid to extradite him to Spain.

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is not immune from prosecution as a former head of state because he committed many crimes before he seized power, lawyers for the British and Spanish governments told Britain's highest court Monday. The lawyers, seeking Pinochet's extradition to Spain on charges of murder, torture and kidnapping, made the argument on the opening day of an unprecedented rehearing of the court's own case.

After three years of legal delays, Britain's highest court ruled Monday that an alleged Al Qaeda leader can be extradited to the United States on charges he helped plan the lethal 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies. But U.S. officials here said Khalid Fawwaz can file more appeals in Europe that could delay any U.S. trial for months or years.

In an unprecedented move, Britain's highest court Thursday set aside its own ruling against Gen. Augusto Pinochet because a judge failed to disclose his ties to Amnesty International. The decision rattled the judiciary and stalled Spain's efforts to extradite the former Chilean dictator. Responding to the legal debacle in the House of Lords, the head of Britain's judiciary said top judges must be required to declare possible conflicts and withdraw from cases where bias might be inferred.

After three years of legal delays, Britain's highest court ruled Monday that an alleged Al Qaeda leader can be extradited to the United States on charges he helped plan the lethal 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies. But U.S. officials here said Khalid Fawwaz can file more appeals in Europe that could delay any U.S. trial for months or years.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan won his appeal Tuesday against a government ban preventing him from visiting Britain. Justice Michael Turner did not immediately disclose his reasoning in overturning the ban, imposed by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government in 1986. The judge said he would give his reasons Oct. 1, and he prohibited Farrakhan, a Chicago-based activist, from entering Britain until that time.

The British government illegally expelled nearly 2,000 inhabitants of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean at the height of the Cold War to make way for a strategic U.S. military base on Diego Garcia, the High Court ruled here Friday.

Declaring themselves "a court of law, not a court of morals," three judges from Britain's Court of Appeal ruled unanimously Friday that doctors may operate to separate conjoined twins even though surgery will lead to the death of one of the girls. The judges determined that the healthy twin's right to life outweighed that of the weak sister, who depends on her sibling for survival.

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has given Gen. Augusto Pinochet a silver plate originally cast to celebrate Sir Francis Drake's victory over the Spanish fleet--a clear reference to Spain's failed attempt to extradite the former Chilean dictator, the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said Thatcher had arranged for the plate--a replica of one first cast in 1588--to be delivered to Pinochet's plane as it prepared to take off from a British air force base Thursday for Chile.

Britain's High Court ruled Tuesday that four countries seeking the extradition of Gen. Augusto Pinochet are entitled to see a medical report that found the former Chilean dictator unfit to stand trial. On those orders, the Home Office hand-delivered the report to the embassies of Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and France, which want Pinochet to face charges for human rights abuses committed during his 17-year military regime.

Under heavy police guard, Gen. Augusto Pinochet was spirited out of a London hospital on Tuesday and driven to a country estate to await a government decision on whether to extradite him. An ambulance carrying the former Chilean dictator swept through the gates of Grovelands Priory as demonstrators shook their fists and chanted "We want justice!"

Lawyers for Augusto Pinochet appealed to Britain's highest court Thursday to reconsider a landmark ruling by five of its judges that the former Chilean dictator is not immune from prosecution for grave human rights abuses during his regime.

A British court Monday rejected last-ditch attempts by six human rights groups and the Belgian government to block the release of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, removing one of the last legal obstacles to his return to Chile. A London High Court judge denied both petitions for a judicial review of the British government's proposal to free the 84-year-old Pinochet on humanitarian grounds. Home Secretary Jack Straw announced Jan.

Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, in British custody for the last 15 months, is too ill to be tried on human rights charges and may be released next week, the government announced late Tuesday. Home Secretary Jack Straw said that an independent team of four doctors who examined the 84-year-old Pinochet last week had concluded that he is "unfit to stand trial" and that his condition is unlikely to improve.