The Supreme Court of Spain on Friday overturned the convictions of four individuals charged with distributing neo-Nazi propaganda. The four men were convicted and sentenced to up to three and a half years in prison by a court in Barcelona in October 2009 for advocating genocide and belonging to an illegal association. The men had [...]
Ratko Mladic made his first appearance Friday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) , contesting the charges while simultaneously asking for more time to review them. Characterized by many media outlets as “defiant,” Mladic saluted several times through the proceedings, referred to himself as “General Mladic” and smiled at some survivors [...]
Amnesty International (AI) urged Rwanda to review laws it claims have a “genocide ideology” that are being used to silence critics and dissenters, in a report published Friday. The report says that the government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame has expressed a commitment to reviewing laws that criminalize criticism, but recent prosecution of journalists and [...]
The Alabama Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill expanding restrictions on undocumented immigrants. The House voted 67-29 and the Senate voted 25-7 to pass the bill that includes measures comparable to those passed in Arizona last year. The bill permits police officers to detain a person stopped for a traffic violation [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Thursday that the New York City Department of Education can enforce a rule prohibiting outside groups from using school facilities for after-school worship services. The challenge was brought by the Bronx Household of Faith , which was denied use of school facilities after applying through [...]
Retaliatory killings in the Ivory Coast between factions loyal to ousted former president Laurent Gbagbo and current president Alassane Ouattara have continued, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. Violence has riddled the nation since last November’s disputed election, after which Ouattara was eventually declared the winner. Gbagbo had to be forcefully removed from office and [...]
Turkmenistan adopted a new law on Thursday for regulating presidential elections that changes the qualifications potential candidates must satisfy. The law says that an individual must be either backed by a political party or collect at least 50,000 signatures to qualify as a presidential candidate. The previous law required that a potential candidate receive approval [...]
California Governor Jerry Brown on Thursday indicated that he would ask a federal judge for more time to construct his plan to reduce the state’s prison population. The US Supreme Court ruled last week in Brown v. Plata to uphold an order requiring California to release up to 46,000 prisoners to remedy the state’s overcrowded [...]
A Tanzanian judge on Thursday urged police to arrest Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of the country’s opposition party, Chadema . Judge Charles Magesa issued arrest warrants for Mbowe and six others last week when they failed to appear in court for a hearing on their case. After Mbowe failed to appear in court or send [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and a coalition of other civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit Thursday challenging a Georgia immigration law similar to Arizona law already being challenged in federal court. The groups filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District [...]
