The Egyptian parliament convened Tuesday in a brief session despite a court order dissolving the entire parliament. The session only lasted for five minutes but was still enough to deepen the tension between the newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) . Tuesday’s session was initiated by [...]
The International Criminal Court sentenced convicted Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo to 14 years in prison on Tuesday for his role in recruiting child soldiers. In summarizing the decision of the three-judge panel, Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said that the “vulnerability of children mean that they need to be afforded [...]
The Constitutional Court of Romania on Monday approved the Parliamentary vote to suspend President Traian Basescu and replace him with a member of the centre-left coalition. Last Friday the Romanian Parliament voted 356-114 for impeachment on the grounds that Basescu overstepped his authority by interfering in judicial and legislative affairs. Controversy has been brewing since [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday set the trial dates for two Kenyan post-election violence cases for next April. The trial of former Kenyan minister William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang will begin on April 10, 2013, while the trial of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former civil service chief Francis Muthaura [...]
US Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) on Monday released data from wireless carriers showing large increases in law enforcement agencies’ requests for customer cell phone records. Last month Markey sent letters to nine cell phone companies requesting details about their policies and practices for sharing customer phone records with law enforcement. Markey found that more than [...]
Laws in all countries of the world are limiting assistance and options available to individuals infected with HIV/AIDS, a UN commission reported on Monday. The Global Commission on HIV and the Law found that a variety of laws and practices worldwide affect infected persons’ ability both to prevent exposure to the virus and to seek [...]
South Sudan celebrated its first anniversary on Monday, marking one year since it seceded from northern Sudan to become the world’s newest nation. President Salva Kiir marked his nation’s first independence day with an address to assembled dignitaries and a crowd of cheering South Sudanese citizens in the capital city Juba, calling on the nation [...]
Egyptian-born radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri , currently detained in the UK, filed an appeal challenging a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) allowing his extradition to the US. The ECHR ruled in April that conditions in US prisons for terror suspects do not violate Article 3 provisions of the European [...]
Two UN Special Rapporteurs on Monday urged the government of Philippines to protect human rights defenders and ensure that they can pursue their work without interference. Margaret Sekaggya, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and Christof Heyns , the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, reported that numerous human [...]
Proponents of a Minnesota ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage under the state constitution on Monday petitioned the state Supreme Court to restore the original title of the proposed amendment. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie last month changed the title of the ballot initiative from “Recognition of Marriage Solely Between One Man and One Woman” [...]
