Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said Saturday that approximately 100 people imprisoned for their participation in the massive 2009 presidential election protests have been pardoned and released by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . Though the pardoning of “repentant” prisoners traditionally coincides with the conclusion of Ramadan, analysts have viewed their release as a political, [...]
Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced on Sunday that he will dismiss charges against some of the protesters detained for their participation in pro-democracy demonstrations in the country. In a nationally televised speech , Khalifa conceded that some of the protesters had been subjected to violence during the demonstrations which began in February [...]
The European Union Rule of Law Mission to Kosovo announced Monday that US prosecutor John Clint Williamson will lead an investigation into allegations that Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci participated in an organ trafficking scheme during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War . Claims made in a report authored by Council of Europe (COE) member Dick Marty [...]
Cole County Circuit Court of Missouri issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday enjoining the State of Missouri from implementing Missouri Revised Statutes § 162.069.4 , which prevents students and teachers from communicating through social networking sites that cannot be accessed by school administrators or parents. Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled that the statute implicated the [...]
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) on Friday adopted an interpretation of certain articles of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region , removing lawsuits against sovereign nations from the jurisdiction of Hong Kong courts. The Standing Committee of the NPC adopted an interpretation that “stipulates that Hong’s Kong’s laws concerning rules on [...]
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Friday ruled that there is a clearly-established First Amendment right to film police officers performing their duties in a public space. The case stems from a 2007 incident, when police officers arrested Simon Gilk after he openly recorded three police officers arresting a suspect on [...]
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Friday ruled on motions to dismiss made by British Petroleum (BP) and other defendants in litigation over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . Among other issues, Judge Carl Barbier ruled that all state law claims in the case are preempted by federal maritime law and [...]
South Carolina’s Senate Minority Caucus filed an objection on Friday with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) , asking for the rejection of the state’s new voter identification law. The caucus, comprised of Democrats in the state Senate, argued that the law, which will require South Carolina residents to present a current government-issued ID, is [...]
Spain’s major political parties, the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the Popular Party (PP) , reached an agreement on Friday to modify the country’s constitution with provisions that will regulate the limits of the national deficit in order to avoid risks of debt crisis and a bailout. The proposed amendment, to take effect in 2020, [...]
The Arizona Attorney General filed a suit on Thursday asking for an injunction on portions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) , arguing that it is unconstitutional for a state to clear any voting regulations with the Department of Justice (DOJ) . Section 5 requires states to clear changes in voting districts, polling places and [...]
