Free Republic

"The United States is troubled by the life sentences handed down to 6 journalists and media employees in Turkey, including Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak" the State Department official told Ahval in an email statement. A Turkish court gave life sentences to six people, including former newspaper editor Ahmet Altan, his brother, columnist and economist Mehmet Altan, and well-known journalist, Nazli Ilıcak, after convicting them of being the media wing of an Islamist sect the government says carried out the July 2016 failed coup attempt. The U.S. official stated that these are "extraordinary sentences" and "appear to be...

A new Field Poll showing that a majority of Californians support the death penalty is reassuring people on both sides of the debate. Following the executions of Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Clarence Ray Allen in late 2005 and the recent legal wrangling concerning the delayed lethal injection of Michael Morales, the February poll shows 63 percent of all responders favor capital punishment and 32 percent oppose it, continuing a decadeslong trend of strong statewide support. Among registered voters, 67 percent support capital punishment and 29 percent oppose it. Currently, 650 condemned inmates are on Death Row in California, where lawmakers...

ROME (AP) - An Italian prosecutor asked a military judge Thursday to sentence 10 former members of the Nazi SS to life in prison for their alleged role in a 1944 massacre in northern Italy, a defense lawyer said. Prosecutor Marco De Paolis made the request during closing arguments at the trial in La Spezia, a city on the country's west coast, said Luigi Trucco, a lawyer for one of the defendants. The defendants are being tried in absentia and are believed to be in Germany, he said. The next hearings were scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday when a prosecutor...

House OKs life sentences for hackers By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 15, 2002, 6:00 PM PT WASHINGTON--The House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow for life prison sentences for malicious computer hackers. By a 385-3 vote, the House approved a computer crime bill that also expands police ability to conduct Internet or telephone eavesdropping without first obtaining a court order. The Bush administration had asked Congress to approve the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA) as a way of responding to electronic intrusions, denial of service attacks and the threat of "cyber-terrorism." The...