A group of UN human right experts on Wednesday urged El Salvador to pardon all women jailed for illegal abortions as a result of pregnancy complications or rape. Carmen Guadalupe Vásquez Aldana was convicted of aggravated assault...

The newly elected government in Sri Lanka announced Wednesday that it is planning to investigate accusations of human rights abuses during the closing stages of the 26-year civil war, after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa refused to cooperate...

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the scheduled execution of three death-row inmates in Oklahoma "pending final disposition of the case." This came after Oklahoma issued new protocol allowing for alternative drug combinations to...

Eight Republican and Democratic Senators on Thursday introduced legislation that would end US travel restrictions on Cuba. The legislation, which was introduced by Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake , would also end financial transaction restrictions on...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that the UK government's extradition of terror suspect Haroon Aswat to the US in October was lawful. Aswat was arrested in the UK at the request...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday released its annual World Report , in which it criticized the role of Middle Eastern governments in sustaining the Islamic State (IS). HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth credited much...

A Kuwaiti appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced a man to five years in prison for posting comments about the Gulf nation's ruler on Twitter. Defense lawyer Fahad al-Harbi announced Thursday that the...

Chilean lawmakers on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that recognizes civil unions between same-sex couples. The legislation will now go to President Michelle Bachelet next, who is expected to sign it. The bill's passage will give same-sex...

The Supreme Court of Panama voted Wednesday to open a corruption probe against former president Ricardo Martinelli. All nine judges of the court voted to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of Martinelli inflating...

South Carolina Circuit Court judge John Hayes III on Wednesday overturned the 54-year-old convictions of nine African American student-activists jailed during the civil rights movement. Arrested while undertaking a lunch counter sit-in, the "Friendship Nine"—Clarence Graham, Mack...