An Egyptian court on Tuesday upheld the in absentia death sentences of seven Coptic Christians and an American preacher on charges stemming from the amateur anti-Muslim film Innocence of Muslims , which sparked violent protests in the Middle East last year. A criminal court in Cairo sentenced the convicted defendants in November, pending the final [...]
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sent a letter to the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court on Monday requesting an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of the state’s right to work law. Under Article 3, Section 8 of the Michigan Constitution , the governor can request an advisory opinion from the supreme court as to [...]
Myanmar’s state-run newspaper Myanma Ahlin reported Tuesday that President Thein Sein abolished Order No. 2/88, which banned gathering and delivering speeches in public by a group of five or more people. The order, which was established in 1988 when the the military government came into power, has been criticized by the international community as a [...]
The UK Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that a Criminal Records Bureau law requiring individuals to divulge all previous convictions to certain groups of employers is a breach of human rights. The court held that the disclosure provisions of three legislative acts that required certain job applicants to disclose all minor crimes, including those committed [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Monday warned the Malian government over reports of human rights abuses by Malian forces. In the statement, Bensouda urged Malian authorities to put an immediate stop to the alleged abuses and to investigate and prosecute those responsible. Bensouda announced last week that her office has launched [...]
A Guatemalan judge on Monday ordered former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from the killing of more than 1,700 villagers of Mayan ancestry. Judge Miguel Angel Galvez announced that Montt, along with one of his former generals Jose Rodriguez Sanchez, must answer for the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday refused to reinstate a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by investment fraud victims of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff . The investors had sued the SEC under the waiver of sovereign immunity in the Federal Tort Claims Act that allows a [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday voiced concern over the growing violence and rising death toll in Egypt stemming from ongoing protests throughout the country. At least 50 people have been killed since protesters took to the streets to commemorate the second anniversary of the start of the Egyptian Revolution that [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday reinstated a lawsuit by a Virginia prison inmate seeking gender reassignment surgery. The court ruled that Ophelia Azriel De’lonta, an inmate suffering from gender identity disorder (GID) , has sufficiently stated a claim that the Virginia Department of Correction (VDOC) may have been deliberately [...]
A group of eight senators from both parties released a framework Monday of comprehensive immigration reform legislation that they plan to introduce by March. The framework focuses on four “pillars” that the legislation will include: creating a path to citizenship for current unauthorized immigrants, contingent upon securing the borders; reforming the immigration system to ease [...]
