A group of Republican members of the US House of Representatives filed a memorandum in the US District Court for the District of Connecticut on Wednesday, asking the district court to stay a case challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) until a similar case in the US Court of Appeals for [...]
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang on Thursday urged the government of Malawi to improve its human rights conditions and promote accountability in the country. In particular, Kang expressed concern about the overcrowding of prisons and slow process of justice in the country. Kang also urged the government to initiate prosecution of [...]
The International Trade Committee (INTA) of the European Parliament on Thursday rejected the proposed Anti-Countefeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in a vote of 19-12 vote. The ACTA’s goal is to counter intellectual property theft, such as fake consumer goods and medicine as well as digital file-sharing of pirated media. The 31 members of the European Parliament [...]
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt on Thursday appealed a ruling by a district court judge that held that an abortion ultrasound bill is unconstitutional. In his appeal, Pruitt argued that the district court’s ruling prevents women from obtaining important medical information that ultrasounds provide. HB 2780 mandates that any woman seeking an abortion must get [...]
A lawyer for the state of Florida on Thursday defended Florida’s voter-purging policy in his oral argument before the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida . The lawyer argued that there is no evidence to verify that the new practices disproportionately affect minorities, as the federal government contends. The US Department of [...]
A Bahraini doctor who was sentenced to one year in prison last week for his alleged participation in anti-government activity has begun a hunger strike to protest the conviction. Saeed al-Samaheeji said he started the hunger strike to protest the false accusations that have led to his conviction. Al-Samaheeji is one of 20 medical professionals [...]
A former army chief of staff and ally of Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Thursday accused the president of having ordered the killing of his preceding president, Juvenal Habyarimana . During his testimony in a Johannesburg court assessing his own attempted murder in 2010 in South Africa, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa claimed that the killing [...]
Two reports were presented Thursday to the UN Human Rights Council to urge for greater protection for the right to life of journalists and media freedom. Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue and Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns are asking the international community and governments [...]
Presiding judge of the Cook County Chancery Division , Moshe Jacobius, agreed Thursday to combine two lawsuits that claim the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The two suits were filed at the end of May against Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Cook County Clerk David Orr , who issues marriage licenses in the [...]
Lawyers for Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee and convict Omar Khadr on Thursday renewed calls for the Canadian government to respond to a request to transfer Khadr to Canada. A former child soldier for al Qaeda, Khadr has expressed his desire to serve out his sentence in his home country . A request was formally sent [...]
