The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by the Kenyan government and confirmed a Pre-Trial Chamber ruling refusing to transfer two cases stemming from 2007 post-election violence to Kenyan courts. The Kenyan government appealed the previous decision in June after the ICC announced that they were denying [...]
The UN’s Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Monday began conducting its fitness hearing to prosecute individuals for mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime . The hearing will determine whether the defendants are well enough to stand trial. The hearing commenced with two aging defendants who are [...]
The UN called Tuesday for all states to end the “heinous crime” of enforced or involuntary disappearances . Enforced disappearances refers to the practice of placing people in secret detentions for weeks or months without ever being brought before a judge. Some victims of the practice say they were tortured during their detainment. The UN [...]
Human rights groups Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday said they have evidence that the Sudanese army has committed war crimes in the country’s South Kordofan region. Researchers from the two advocacy groups visited the Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan where they “documented 13 separate bombing incidents in Kauda, Delami [...]
Libyan troops used children as human shields to deter attacks by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) , Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) reported Tuesday. A team of PHR investigators conducted several weeks of interviews in Libya, shortly after Muammar Gaddafi and his loyalists were expelled from Misrata . The report also reflects troops’ pattern [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on Monday issued a temporary injunction blocking an immigration law that was scheduled to take effect Thursday. “The court will issue detailed Memorandum Opinions and Orders ruling on the merits of the pending Motions for Preliminary Injunction no later than September 28, [...]
Pakistani Judge Shahid Raffique on Saturday ordered that the property of former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf be seized and his bank account frozen in connection with his alleged involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto . The judge ordered the nation’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to conduct the seizure because Musharraf had [...]
The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled unanimously that a 3 percent cut to state workers’ pay to fund the retiree health care benefits violates the Michigan Constitution . Specifically, the court ruled last Thursday that the legislature and former governor Jennifer Granholm lacked the authority to side-step the Civil Service Commission. Explaining the balance [...]
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a legislative decree on Sunday repealing earlier more restrictive laws on media. Legislative Decree No. 108 for 2011 lifts oppressive legislation which allowed for imprisoning journalists for “attacking the prestige and dignity of the state, national unity and the morale of the army.” Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud indicated the law [...]
Kenyan Registrar of the High Court Gladys Boss Shollei swore in the nation’s first Supreme Court justices on Friday at a ceremony in the capital city Nairobi. The ceremony was attended by President Mwai Kibaki who emphasized the importance of the appointments to the country’s ongoing institutional reform. “With all these reforms that we are [...]
