UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Richard Falk on Friday called on Israel to release two Palestinian detainees who have been on hunger strike for several weeks. Falk reported that Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, who have been on hunger strikes for 82 and 58 days respectively, are in poor health and remain [...]
The Canadian Department of Justice on Thursday refused to acknowledge last week’s criticism from the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) that Canada has been complicit in torture. During a court hearing in Ottawa for Abdullah Almalki, the federal lawyers asked the Justice Charles Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice why the court hears [...]
The government of Malawi announced on Friday that it will not host the African Union (AU) summit in July after the AU invited Sudanese president and war crimes suspect Omar al-Bashir to the summit. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide and international war crimes charges. Malawian President Joyce Banda stated [...]
Opponents of Maryland’s new same-sex marriage law have obtained enough signatures to challenge the legislation in a referendum, according to an unofficial count posted on Maryland’s State Board of Elections . The count suggests that the petition has gained over 70,000 signatures, which is well over the requirement of about 55,000. The petition was organized [...]
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law a controversial bill which greatly increases penalties for protesters who violate demonstration regulations. It was passed by both houses of the Russian Parliament earlier this week. The new law raises the maximum fines for participating in an unsanctioned rally from 2,000 rubles (USD $60) to 300,000 [...]
The Supreme Court of Switzerland announced Friday that it has ruled partially for Google in a case over privacy violations through its Street View service. The federal tribunal based in Lausanne held that Google is not compelled to completely blur all faces and license plates but should do so manually if someone files a complaint. [...]
The Mongolian Election Commission on Thursday voted to ban former Mongolian president Nambar Enkhbayar from the upcoming parliamentary election due to allegations of corruption and abuse of power during his former presidency. Enkhbayar’s corruption trial began on Monday. He was charged with abusing his power during his time as president until 2009. Enkhbayar told reporters [...]
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic said Thursday that killings in Syria likely amount to crimes against humanity . Simonvic addressed the General Assembly on behalf of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to urge the international community to convince both the Syrian government and the armed forces to cease their [...]
A panel of UN human rights experts urged the government of Malaysia on Thursday to protect non-governmental organizations advocating for reform of the electoral process against acts of intimidation and harassment from various groups. The UN panel particularly urged Malaysian authorities to protect members of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, known as Bersih [...]
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt on Thursday appealed a ruling that struck down an Oklahoma law restricting how doctors may use abortion-inducing drugs to treat patients. Three weeks ago, a judge for the District Court of Oklahoma County invalidated the Oklahoma law on the grounds that it violated women’s fundamental rights to privacy and bodily [...]
