The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the US District Court for the District of Arizona to reject the request by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to dismiss the lawsuit pending against him that claims his office discriminated against Latinos and disregarded their constitutional rights. The DOJ had filed a suit in May against [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the country’s new prime minister to reopen the investigation against President Asif Ali Zardari . With the order, the court gave Raja Pervez Ashraf, the new prime minister and former federal energy chief, until July 12 to respond to the order. Ashraf and his predecessor, Yousuf Raza [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Wednesday denied a request by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a temporary injunction barring Florida from continuing the practice of purging its voter rolls. The DOJ alleges that Florida’s policy violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA) as well [...]
The Turkish ruling party plans to abolish the special courts used in coup and terrorism trials, Reuters reported Wednesday. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to present a reform package including the proposed abolition of special courts to the country’s parliament before the recess. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the criticism [...]
Lawyers for alleged 9/11 conspirator and Guantanamo Bay detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Tuesday revealed that they have asked a UN official to investigate allegations of torture. Mohammed reportedly confessed to planning the 2001 attacks after over seven days of sleep deprivation . The letter asks UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez to conduct [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) alleging that they violated the rights of protesters. The lawsuit comes a week after the ACLU released a report alleging widespread abuses by the PRPD. The report documents numerous [...]
The Ethiopian Federal High Court convicted 24 journalists, political opposition leaders and others under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009 , Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday. The human rights group urged the country to drop all politically motivated charges against the convicted. Eskinder Nega, April’s winner of the press freedom award from PEN America [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday announced the launching of its Torture Database , a collection of more than 100,000 Bush-era documents recording “rendition, detention, and interrogation policies and practices.” The database was launched in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention Against Torture , which the UN has designated as [...]
The Rwandan government has helped to create armed groups including M23, which has been conducting a mutiny in North Kivu Province under the leadership of a particularly notorious group of human rights violators, and supplied them with weapons, armor and recruits including children, the Foreign Policy magazine reported on Tuesday. According to a leaked UN [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday sent a letter to Bulgarian Justice Minister Diana Kovacheva urging her to denounce calls to violence by anti-gay groups in anticipation of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride parade in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 30. HRW noted that religious leaders have called for violence and even stoning [...]
