Myanmar began releasing as many as 15,000 prisoners Tuesday as part of an amnesty program after a visit from a special envoy from the UN secretary-general, but rights groups claim the government has not gone far enough. On Monday, President Thein Sein issued an order commuting death sentences to life sentences and commuting prison sentences [...]
Lawyer for former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Tuesday appealed his December conviction and requested that an Investigative Committee open a probe against Judge Viktor Danilkin. In February, Danilkin’s assistant accused the judge of not writing the verdict and stated he was coerced into reading it . Khodorkovsky’s lawyers allege that Danilkin committed fraud [...]
A Palestinian human rights group released a report this week criticizing Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas security forces for violations of civil rights in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In its newest annual report, the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) accuses the PA of torture, onerous security screenings and arbitrary detentions, while [...]
US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a bill Tuesday amending the 25-year-old Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (EPCA) , which he authored, to require the government to obtain a warrant before searching private e-mails and other data stored on an Internet cloud. The bill removes the 180-day rule that only requires a warrant to search [...]
A panel in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on Monday denied a motion for pretrial release by former Khmer Rouge official Ieng Sary . Ieng, 85, served as deputy foreign minister under the Khmer Rouge regime during its reign in Cambodia from 1975-1979. Citing Rules 63(6-7) and 68(1) of the Internal [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned Tuesday that hate crimes against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people are on the rise worldwide, marking the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Pillay said that statistics show that homophobic-based crimes are on the rise around the world, urging that states act to stop [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a Minnesota campaign financing law prohibiting direct contributions to candidates and affiliated entities. The Minnesota law was being challenged by two non-profit advocacy organizations and a for-profit business which argued the law was in violation of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday convicted former Rwandan army chief Augustin Bizimungu and three others involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Bizimungu was sentenced to 30 years in prison while two others, Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye and Innocent Sagahutu, to 20 years in prison and Augustin Ndindiliyimana to time served since his [...]
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) Tuesday is seeking reinstatement of its dismissed lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform law . The ACLJ filed an appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asking the court to reverse a lower court decision to dismiss the [...]
German prosecutors said Monday they are appealing a German court’s decision to release Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk after he was convicted of helping murder thousands during the Holocaust. Last Thursday, a German court in Munich found the 91-year-old Demjanjuk guilty of assisting in the murder of nearly 28,000 Jews while serving as a [...]
