Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree Tuesday reducing prison terms by three quarters for some members of rebel forces. The decree, announced by the state news agency SANA , has been condemned by activists for doing nothing to free thousands of political prisoners arrested by the Syrian government both before and during the current [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday blocked the extradition of Haroon Aswat, a former aide to radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri , from the UK to the US. The court said that removing Aswat , a UK-based terror suspect whose nationality is unknown, to an American high-security prison would constitute “inhuman or [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in two new cases on Monday. In Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. the court will hear arguments the deadline for filing a complaint to challenge a denial of disability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) . The US Court of Appeals for the Second [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. , which deals with the issue of whether human genes are patentable. Myriad Genetics patented two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2 , which are isolated genes—different from native genes because the process of extracting them changes their molecular structure [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Samar Warsi of the Muslim Civil Liberties Union argues that the international drone policy sets the tone for domestic drone policy decisions…
The Istanbul 19th criminal court convicted well-known Turkish pianist Fazil Say on Monday for insulting Islam and inciting hatred. Say was given a suspended 10-month sentence . The controversial case focused on several comments Say made through Twitter . Say’s lawyers contend that Say did not intend to insult religion and that he made no [...]
A Cairo Court of Appeals ordered the release of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Monday, as he served the maximum two years in temporary detention. However, he will remain in custody until his fraud charges are adjudicated. Mubarak was originally sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of charges related to the [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to the New York state gun law requiring those who desire to carry a concealed handgun to show they have a special reason before they can obtain a license. The case, Kachalsky v. Cacace , was decided last November by the US Court of [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged US President Barack Obama to press United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to act upon the worsening human rights situation in the UAE. Al Nahyan will visit Obama in the US on Tuesday. HRW’s concerns are in response to UAE authorities’ crack-down on [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday heard oral arguments in the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over land surrounding the Temple of Preah Vihear . The ICJ awarded the temple to the Cambodian city of Phnom Penh in 1962. However, parts of the Cambodia-Thailand border have never been formally demarcated, resulting in [...]
