Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern Thursday over the investigation into post-election violence in the Ivory Coast in 2010 and 2011 and advocated six-month extension of the probe. HRW’s primary concern rests on the short time-frame of the investigation, begun in January 2012 and currently finalizing its findings, as well as reports that it has [...]
The Advancement Project filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of four other rights groups alleging that the new Wisconsin voter ID law, Wisconsin Act 23 , is unconstitutional because it is racially discriminatory. The new law states that all voters must present photo identification at the polls in order to vote in local, state or [...]
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning , joined by attorneys general from six other states, filed a lawsuit Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Nebraska challenging new health care mandates that require the provision of contraception for all employees, including those of religious institutions. The new mandates were promulgated as a result [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Gregory Gordon of the University of North Dakota School of Law says atrocity justice localization may not work for countries, such as Cambodia, so thoroughly lacking in justice culture and infrastructure and that localization may ultimately contribute more to the culture of impunity than to the rule of law…
UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallstrom on Thursday presented the Secretary-General’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence to the UN Security Council . The report documents numerous conflict-related sexual violence cases in Colombia, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Libya, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan. Notably the report named for [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin of the Lewis & Clark Law School says the standard of review of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications too heavily favors the government by creating an evidentiary burden nearly impossible for defendants to overcome…
Pfc. Bradley Manning was formally charged with 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, under the Espionage Act on Thursday. Manning declined to enter a plea at the hearing. The maximum penalty Manning faces is life in prison. The government alleges that Manning transferred more than 700,000 confidential documents and video clips to Wikileaks , the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that buccal mouth swabs may be used to extract DNA samples from any adult arrested or charged with a felony in California. The 2-1 decision upholds a 2004 voter-enacted provision of the DNA and Forensic Identification Database and Data Bank Act of 1998 requiring [...]
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has told the court that he is saddened by “charges of unfair and baseless fabrications” and expressed his confidence in the Egyptian judicial system. Mubarak’s remarks were published in form of a memo by Tahrir newspaper on Thursday. Mubarak’s remarks to the court became public a day after the defense [...]
The continuing dispute between Cambodia and the UN over the appointment of Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) threatens the legitimacy of the court , the Open Society Justice Initiative said Thursday. Kasper-Ansermet took over for Judge Siegfried Blunk who resigned in October due to Cambodian political interference [...]
