The Russian State Duma on Tuesday approved legislation imposing stricter penalties for individuals convicted of sex offenses against minors. The legislation, initiated by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev , prohibits probation and sentence deferrals for perpetrators and provides that repeat offenders could face up to life in prison. Offenders are also permitted to voluntarily submit to [...]
US and Arab Gulf states are not legally bound by a decision to grant immunity to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and should refrain from doing so, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Wednesday. Last month, the Yemeni parliament approved a bill granting complete immunity to Saleh for crimes committed during his [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Wednesday allowed “secret evidence” to be used against an Iraqi refugee for terrorism charges, finding probable cause that he is “an agent of a foreign power.” Mohanad Shareef Hammadi is charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and terrorist [...]
The Washington state House of Representatives voted 53-43 Wednesday to approve a bill to legalize same-sex marriage . Washington currently grants expanded domestic partnership rights rather than full marriage or civil union rights to same-sex couples. The Senate passed the bill last week, and Governor Christine Gregoire is expected to sign it into law next [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Scott Shackelford of Indiana University, Kelley School of Business says that the recent decision by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on genocide raises pertinent questions about the legal standards used to prosecute those who commit the ultimate human rights abuse…
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is authorized to use and pass on information obtained through torture when Canadian lives are at stake, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Tuesday. The statements come in response to a controversial 2010 directive authorizing the use of such information that was obtained earlier this week by a Canadian [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the international community to take action to protect Syrian civilians. Pillay argued that the failure of the UN Security Council to agree on collective action against Syria has encouraged the Syrian government to attack and kill civilians in order to quash dissent. Pillay declared [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Gregory Gordon of the University of North Dakota School of Law says Léon Mugesera may be the last significant incitement decision arising from the Rwandan genocide, and it could be the ideal capstone opportunity for Rwandan incitement jurisprudence…
The Parliament of Uganda on Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would criminalize certain homosexual activities. Amnesty International (AI) has criticized the bill as “a grave assault on human rights.” The proposed legislation is a new version of another bill first introduced in October 2009. The original bill contained provisions requiring the death penalty for “repeat offenders.” [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Eric Leonard, the Henkel Family Chair in International Affairs at Shenandoah University, says the ICC should constantly adhere to a policy of prudent advocacy, since interfering in “low-level” situations would cause a multitude of legal, political and financial problems… Recently a group of Maldives lawyers submitted a case to the International Criminal [...]
