The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday seeking information on the use of electronic surveillance tools. At issue are tools called pen registers and trap and trace devices which allow law enforcement to monitor phone calls, emails and websites visited [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday that the legal definition of maritime piracy includes an armed attack to hijack a ship, even if the attempt is unsuccessful. In one case, the court upheld the convictions and life sentences of five Somali pirates who attacked the USS Nicholas in April 2010. [...]
JURIST Columnist Chris Elmendorf, writing the fifth installment of the column authored by the faculty of the University of California, Davis School of Law, says that the “purpose” rather than the “effects” prong of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act may offer a better basis to challenge recent state regulations of the voting process…
The Tunisian government announced Tuesday that the country would extradite former Libyan prime minister Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi , after Libya guaranteed that al-Mahmoudi would have a fair trial. The conditions that Tunisia set for al-Mahmoudi’s extradition to Libya is the guarantee that al-Mahmoudi have the right to a defense and that his human rights [...]
Bahrain informed the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday that it would seek to address its controversial human rights record. Bahrain stated that it would consider several measures , including ceasing to torture prisoners, releasing political prisoners and joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) . In total, Bahrain stated that it would consider 176 [...]
A federal jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of California found on Wednesday that Google did not infringe Oracle patents. However, the jury split on the copyright phase of the trial over whether Google’s use could be considered “fair use.” Oracle alleged that Google’s use of Java in its Android OS [...]
Ten Somali pirates were sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday in the Abu Dhabi Federal Criminal Court of First Instance. The men were convicted of highjacking the MV Arrilah-1, a UAE-owned ship hauling aluminum in the Arabian Sea, in April 2011. The US Fifth Fleet rescued the ship one day later. In addition [...]
A Pakistani doctor was sentenced to 33 years in prison Wednesday for helping the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) locate Osama Bin Laden . After a trial lasting two months during which Shakeel Afridi was not afforded the opportunity to defend himself, a tribal court convicted him of treason and spying . Afridi was part of [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Cristian Minor Sanchez, an LL.M. Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is the author of the eighth entry in a 14-part series from the LL.M. students of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He explores how strengthening the right to information could be key to ending corruption in [...]
China’s chengguan, a para-police organization charged with enforcing non-criminal administrative regulations, is abusing its power, Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday. The report indicated that although the chengguan are not authorized to arrest citizens or use excessive force, they frequently do both. In addition, HRW reported citizens have had their property illegally confiscated by the officers [...]
