US Attorney General Eric Holder invoked the state secrets privilege Monday to block evidence in a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over its investigation into Muslim mosques. The Department of Justice (DOJ) also filed a motion to dismiss claims and for summary judgment in the US District Court for the Central District [...]
A Vietnamese appeals court on Tuesday upheld the seven-year sentence of prominent rights lawyer and dissident Cu Huy Ha Vu, convicted in April of carrying out anti-state propaganda. The court dismissed the appeal despite Vu’s arguments that his advocating for a multi-party system did not mean he was against the Communist party. Vu said he [...]
The trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak began on Wednesday, with Mubarak pleading not guilty to all charges. Mubarak is charged with murder, attempted killing of protesters and other charges related to general abuse of power stemming from his response to pro-democracy demonstrations in Egypt earlier this year. He is on trial with his [...]
The Nigeria Ebonyi State Commissioner of Justice and the Attorney General, Ben Igwenyi, called Monday for the establishment of a special court to hear corruption cases. He argues that corruption cases in the regular courts take too long to process causing people to forget about them, perpetuating the appearance of corruption in the government. He [...]
The Constitutional Affairs Committee , an Italian parliamentary commission, on Tuesday approved a draft law that bans women from wearing full-face veils, including the Islamic burqa and niqab , in public. Women who violate the ban would face fines of 100 to 300 euros. The ban would also punish individuals who force women to conceal [...]
Russian investigators on Tuesday reopened a case against former lawyer and purported whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in November 2009. Magnitsky was arrested on allegations of tax fraud after implicating Russian police in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scandal while working as outside counsel for the London-based investment fund Hermitage Capital Management . [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist and former JURIST Executive Director Abigail Salisbury says that the Ethiopian government has used the War on Terror to maintain its power, labeling opposition groups, journalists and others as terrorists and detaining them under legislation that is purportedly aimed at furthering the War on Terror… It is not entirely out of the [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tuesday criticized a report released by the Sri Lankan government for not taking responsibility for alleged violations of the laws of war. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense released its report Monday entitled, “Humanitarian Operation Factual Analysis” , where for the first time it admitted that the military caused civilian deaths [...]
A Vietnamese court on Tuesday began hearing the appeal of well-known lawyer and activist Cu Huy Ha Vu, who was convicted in April of carrying out anti-state propaganda. Vu was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and an additional three years of house arrest after a trial that lasted only one day. Vu has been [...]
The Casa de Maryland immigrant rights group filed a challenge Monday to a public referendum over a Maryland law providing in-state tuition to undocumented college students. The group filed the challenge in the Maryland Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County after opponents of the Maryland DREAM Act collected enough signatures to put the law to [...]
