The Council of Europe on Tuesday urged Turkey to move more quickly in its efforts to reform legislation. Council Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland , speaking at a conference in Ankara, emphasized the importance of reform in the laws governing freedom of expression and anti-terrorism, and the pressing need for action : Freedom of expression and media [...]
The UK Parliament voted 400-175 on Tuesday in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in England and Wales. The legislation , which was introduced late last month , would extend the application of the Marriage Act of 1949 to same-sex couples as well as opposite-sex couples. The bill also contains exceptions for religious institutions that do [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday filed a lawsuit against credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) for the misrepresentation of the credit risk of complex financial products. S&P assessed the credit risk of structured financial instruments, such as residential mortgage backed securities (RMBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO), and assigned securities with [...]
A group of UN independent human rights experts on Tuesday urged Iran to end the recent crackdown on journalists and to release those who have been already been detained. The group includes the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on arbitrary detention, the Special Rapporteur on human [...]
Colonel James Pohl, the military judge presiding over the trial of suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , on Monday ordered a mental health examination for the defendant to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. Nashiri is accused of masterminding the suicide bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 that left 17 [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on North Korea Marzuki Darusman has urged the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly to investigate human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In a report released Tuesday, Darusman noted the accrual of 22 separate reports filed since 2003 documenting various violations of human rights, including torture, arbitrary [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released report on Tuesday detailing numerous war crimes committed by the rebel group 23 March Movement (M23) and Congolese military forces during M23’s occupation of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last year. M23 officially withdrew from Goma on December 1 after the Congolese government agreed to negotiations [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor David Crane of Syracuse University College of Law says that the upcoming prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky by the Russian government is an unprecedented violation of rule of law principles…
JURIST Guest Columnist Linda M. Keller of Thomas Jefferson School of Law explores the potential impacts for the International Criminal Court of new Palestinian status at the UN in part two of this two-part series …
The Supreme Court of the Philippines on Tuesday has again stopped the government from enforcing a cybercrimes law passed last year. The law was also suspended for 120 days in October so the court could consider the civil liberty implications of the law. The court has issued a fresh temporary restraining order for more time [...]
