The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday transferred the case of Bernard Munyagishari to the authorities of the Republic of Rwanda. The Referral Chamber of the ICTR ruled upon the prosecution’s request to refer the case to Rwanda subject to several guidelines and requested an expedited trial in the High Court of [...]
A judge for the US District Court Southern District of New York ruled Wednesday that the US government cannot hold people indefinitely, relying on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, for their alleged connection to al Qaeda if they are not connected to the 9/11 attacks. Judge Katherine Forrest issued an opinion and order [...]
Louisiana Governor Bob Jindal signed a bill on Friday increasing abortion restrictions in the state. The bill was approved by the Senate in April as a measure to ensure informed consent for women seeking abortions. The new legislation increases the waiting period between a mandatory ultrasound and the procedure itself from 2 to 24 hours. [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted a report on Wednesday to the UN Security Council concerning the situation of children affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. The report concluded that the LRA still poses a threat to children and civilians, leading 45,000 people to leave their homes. It also detailed six crimes against [...]
Federal prosecutors urged a judge on Wednesday to give Allen Stanford the maximum sentence of 230 years in prison for his involvement in a $47 million Ponzi scheme. This would be the maximum sentence under federal sentencing guidelines and 90 more years than Bernard Madoff received in 2009. Defense lawyers for Stanford, who has been [...]
A former associate of deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was convicted in absentia on Thursday of embezzling money and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Mohammed Rashid , along with two other businessmen, was convicted in a special Palestinian corruption court based on allegations that he set up dummy corporations in order to steal [...]
Spain’s public prosecutor’s anti-corruption unit on Wednesday began its investigation against Bankia to determine whether there is sufficient ground to take penal action against the nationalized company. This measure was initiated after public outrage against the government over its handling of the listing and nationalization of the bank last year and last month, respectively. Protesters [...]
Egyptian lawmakers reached an agreement on the composition of the constitutional council on Thursday after a controversy over the political balance threatened to halt drafting of a new constitution. Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court in April effectively suspended the work of the 100-member panel responsible for drafting the country’s new constitution after ruling in favor of [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday urged the Pakistani government to continue to work to improve its human rights situation. In particular, Pillay stressed that the government must work to eliminate institutionalized discrimination and to prevent torture and corruption. She also stressed the importance of emphasizing women’s rights. In her statement, [...]
The Brazilian government on Monday issued an official apology to more than 120 former detainees of Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ruled the country until 1985. It was made at a former holding facility in Rio De Janeiro during a reparation ceremony. The apology comes just after the Brazilian Access to Information Act took effect last [...]
