An appeals court judge in Haiti on Thursday ordered former president Jean-Claude Duvalier to face charges of abusing human rights. Duvalier returned to Haiti in 2011 after 25 years in exile, prompting an investigation for crimes he committed from 1971-1986. Last January a magistrate judge dismissed human rights charges against Duvalier , including allegations of [...]
US District Judge James Robart on Thursday restricted the patent lawsuit by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility against Microsoft . The judge ruled that certain parts of three different Motorola patents were not valid. Motorola has sought $4 billion for alleged violations of its wireless and video patents by Microsoft. Microsoft maintains that Motorola is only [...]
Amnesty International (AI) and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) on Wednesday called upon Haiti to ensure that Jean-Claude Duvalier is brought to justice. Duvalier returned to Haiti in 2011 after 25 years in exile, prompting an investigation for crimes he committed from 1971-1986. Both groups stated that Duvalier must not “evade justice” for crimes [...]
Two UN human rights experts on Thursday expressed concern over the death sentence imposed by the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICBT) on Abdul Kalam Azad for crimes during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War . Christof Heynes, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Gabriela Kanul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the [...]
A coalition of rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Thursday to block a portion of Alabama’s latest immigration law that requires law enforcement to publish a list of immigrants who may be undocumented. HB 658 was signed by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley last May and was designed to [...]
The UN on Wednesday welcomed the activation of a mechanism to simplify the means to report human rights abuses to the international community. The instrument, called the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , was developed in 2008 by the international body to provide a voice to victims of [...]
A civilian committee tasked with investigating Israel’s 2010 flotilla raid on several Turkish ships headed for the blockaded Gaza Strip concluded on Wednesday that investigations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of alleged war crimes violations meet the standards proscribed by international law, but that there is still room to improve “the system of reviewing [...]
Lawyers for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday filed a motion in the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking for a review of the court’s decision to proceed with the trial against Kenyatta. The defense claimed that the prosecution’s evidence is fraudulent , especially given that one of the key witnesses who testified against Kenyatta [...]
The International Criminal Court on Thursday ordered Libyan officials to hand over the former intelligence chief for Muammar Gaddafi and allow him to meet with his lawyer. The ex-spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi , has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity stemming from the alleged murders and persecution of Libyan protesters during the [...]
The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced Wednesday that it supports the Libyan General National Congress’ decision to form an elected body that will be tasked with writing the country’s new constitution. The UNSMIL called the decision an important step in creating a government that reflect the needs of the people. It further called [...]
