An adviser for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday announced that the government would consider lifting the country’s 48-year-old state of emergency law and would work to better protect citizens’ human rights. Presidential spokesperson Buthaina Shaaban said that the government might repeal the emergency law , which bans political protests, in addition to making other [...]
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to rule on an order enjoining Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette from publishing a legislative measure designed to curb the collective bargaining power of unions. The case will move on to the state Supreme Court , which will decide whether a court has the authority [...]
An Argentine court sentenced former general Luciano Benjamin Menendez to life in prison on Wednesday for the 1976 attack and murder of five urban guerrilla group members during the country’s 1976-1983 “Dirty War” . Menendez is already currently serving another life sentence for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four political dissidents. Menendez, a [...]
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution on Thursday, appointing a Special Rapporteur to investigate human rights violations in Iran. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 22 in favor, 7 against and 14 abstentions. The Special Rapporteur is required to present an interim report to the sixty-sixth session of the General [...]
The Spanish Supreme Court on Wednesday denied legal status to new political party, Sortu, in response to the government’s concerns that its links to the Basque separatist group ETA had not been completely severed. ETA is an organization committed to fighting for full nationhood of the Basque region of Spain and France. Spanish and French [...]
Egypt’s interim government, the Cabinet of Ministers released a decree on Wednesday that will impose prison sentences for strike actions and inciting protests. Although the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has yet to rule on the decree, many citizens were outraged and have planned a protest for Friday . Strikes have been ongoing since [...]
The Idaho Senate voted 24-10 on Wednesday to approve a bill that would prohibit most abortions after 20 weeks of gestation. The “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” similar to bills passed in Nebraska last year and approved in Oklahoma and Missouri last week, is based on evidence suggesting that a fetus can feel pain after [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday denied a motion to lift the stay order prohibiting gay couples from marrying while an appeal of the invalidation of Proposition 8 , California’s same-sex marriage ban, is pending. The court relied on the Supreme Court ruling in Nken v. Holder , which explains [...]
Specialist Jeremy Morlock pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of murder as part of a plot contrived with fellow soldiers to kill Afghan civilians. At the court-martial, held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord , Morlock also pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, conspiracy, obstructing justice and illegal drug use in exchange for a maximum [...]
A commission of Arab and Egyptian human rights groups have accused former president Hosni Mubarak and the police of murdering protesters during the demonstrations in Egypt, according to a local newspaper on Wednesday. The joint commission has submitted their report to Egypt’s top prosecutor for further investigation. The Supreme Military Council of Egypt, which took [...]
