The Indiana Senate on Monday approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage in the state. The largely Republican Senate approved the amendment, sent from the Indiana House of Representatives after a change that removed a ban on same-sex civil unions, by a vote of 32-17. The proposed amendment must [...]
The Philippines Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Act) , which penalizes libel online, is constitutional, despite a number of petitions challenging the law on the grounds that it unjustly limits citizens’ rights including free speech. The Act combats various online crimes such as hacking, identify theft, child pornography and libel. [...]
The Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam on Tuesday upheld the conviction of US-trained lawyer Le Quoc Quan , a known anti-government activist. The appeal was heard over a half-day trial with the court stating that they had found no new evidence and that the sentence of 30 months in jail, handed down in Quan’s October [...]
Former Pakistani prime minister Pervez Musharraf made his first appearance in Pakistani court on Tuesday to answer charges of treason related to his suspension of the constitution and use of emergency powers in 2007. Musharraf has repeatedly delayed appearing in court, first based on fear of bomb threats and later on his failing health; he [...]
The Supreme Court of Georgia heard arguments on Monday regarding the constitutionality of a law allowing the state to withhold the identities of the manufacturers of Georgia’s lethal injection drugs. Last May, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law HB 122 , which included a provision mandating that “the identifying information of any person or [...]
Experts from the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice , along with several other special groups within the UN, urged Kenya on Monday to repeal sections of the Marriage and Property Act . According to the experts, the provisions effectively deny women the right to marital property upon divorce or [...]
Colonel James Pohl recessed the first military commission session of the year on Monday because Saudi prisoner Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri may want to fire his lawyer. Nashiri faces terror charges in connection with the al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in 2000, which killed 17 American service members. The prisoner was scheduled for an [...]
The Suwon District Court in South Korea on Monday sentenced Lee Soek-ki to 12 years in jail for plotting a pro-North Korea rebellion. Lee, a member of the opposition United Progressive Party in South Korea’s National Assembly , was arrested in September on charges that he discussed strikes on South Korea’s infrastructure in the event [...]
Israeli rights groups on Sunday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 2011 law that prevents Israelis from calling for a boycott of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, claiming that it violates the right to free speech. Although there is no precedent for it as of yet, the law makes a boycott call a [...]
The Kutaisi City Court in Georgia on Monday sentenced former prime minister Vano Merabishvili to a five-year prison term for embezzling government funds and bribing voters. Prosecutors specifically alleged that Merabishvili used government money to employ his supporters in fictitious government roles in advance of his party’s October 2012 parliamentary elections. The court also handed [...]
