Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern Friday over aging men and women becoming the most rapidly growing group in US prisons and the ability of officials to provide appropriate housing and medical care to these individuals. The report , “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States,” asserts that, depending on the [...]
Senegal’s highest court ruled Monday that President Abdoulaye Wade can run for a third term, rejecting an appeal by the opposition. The Senegalese Constitution had no term limits when Wade initially took office in 2000, but it was amended in 2001 to impose a two-term limit. The court found that Wade’s “first term” under the [...]
A Norwegian court on Monday convicted two men accused of planning an attack against the Danish newspaper that published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. This is the first conviction under Norway’s anti-terror laws . Both defendants, Mikael Davud and Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, were found guilty in the Oslo district court, and sentenced to [...]
JURIST Assistant Editor Kimberly Bennett, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2014, argues that although it will be described as judicial activism, same-sex couples must be granted the same rights as opposite-sex couples under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment… (Her opinions are not intended to represent those of JURIST)
JURIST Guest Columnist Anne Twomey of the University of Sydney Law School says that there are considerable challenges to passing the proposed changes to the Australian Constitution, in large part because they raise the question of how much control over the legislative process ought to be granted to Australia’s High Court…
In response to international criticism the Libya Ministry of Justice announced on Sunday that it will be commandeering “makeshift prisons” around the country to prevent further prisoner torture. Deputy Minister Khalifa Ashour acknowledged that primarily loyalists to former dictator Muammar Gaddafi have been tortured in unregulated prisons . Other detainees are citizens under arrest for [...]
State media for Bahrain announced on Sunday that new measures will be taken against protesters in light of recent violence against police officers. Acting under the orders of Prime Minister and Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa , the Cabinet of Bahrain will soon amend the penal code to include a 15-year prison sentence for [...]
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said in a statement delivered Sunday to the African Union Summit that Africa must honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Many African nations still outlaw homosexuality. As of 2011, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled on Friday that the Stolen Valor Act (SVA) , which criminalizes the act of falsely claiming to have received a medal from the US military, is constitutional and not a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The SVA imposes a six [...]
The UN told Maldives on Saturday that Judge Abdulla Mohamed must either be charged or released from indefinite detention. Mohamed was arrested for corruption in an unprecedented move by the military, following a ruling to release a government critic. Mohamed is also accused of obstructing police investigations and having ties to organized crime . The [...]
