US Air Force Major Margaret Witt, who was discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, will become the first openly gay person to serve in the US military after the Obama administration Wednesday did not pursue a stay of a previous federal court decision ordering her reinstatement. The US Department of Justice [...]
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld restrictions on the use of genetically modified (GM) crops. The German state of Saxony-Anhalt had challenged the 2008 law, which requires “buffer zones” between GM and conventional crops. The law also mandates that GM farmers compensate neighbors if their crops become contaminated. Upholding the restrictions, the court found [...]
A court in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday sentenced 19 ethnic Uzbeks for their involvement in the June 2010 ethnic violence that resulted in more than 300 deaths and an additional 2,000 injuries. Seventeen of the Uzbeks received life sentences and two received 25-year sentences for their participation in a June 13 riot that blocked a major [...]
The Federal Court of Malaysia , the country’s highest court, on Wednesday rejected a defamation suit filed by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim against former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad . Anwar filed suit in 2006 after Mahathir allegedly suggested at a human rights conference that Anwar was unfit for office because of his supposed [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Michael Kelly of Creighton University School of Law says that US President Barack Obama made the right move in recommending India for a permanent position on the UN Security Council, but that the Council also needs to undergo more extensive changes in order to reflect current geo-political realities… President Obama threw American [...]
Lydia Gall : “In a Romani settlement in Slovakia, a boy attending a mainstream school was awarded a small scholarship for being a gifted student. He dreamed of growing up and being an auto mechanic. Later, following a dispute with a teacher, he was placed in a special class for pupils with mental disabilities attended [...]
JURIST Guest Columnists Lawrence Friedman and Victor Hansen of New England Law Boston say that the Ghailani trial demonstrated that, even without evidence obtained from questionable interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects, the government can make and prove its case…. Last week, a federal jury in New York acquitted Ahmed Ghailani of 279 terrorism-related charges. [...]
A lawyer for former Iraqi foreign minister and deputy prime minister under Saddam Hussein , Tariq Aziz filed a petition Tuesday asking Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to pardon the former leader. Aziz was sentenced to death by hanging last month by the Iraqi High Criminal Court following a conviction on charges related to the former [...]
Alleged Nazi death camp prison guard John Demjanjuk issued a statement on Tuesday accusing the German judges conducting his trial of bias after the they rejected a number of defense petitions. In total, the judges rejected 23 petitions , including motions regarding whether Demjanjuk, who is Ukranian born but obtained US citizenship after World War [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday expressed her concern over Iran’s crackdown on human rights defenders. Pillay expressed particular concern for Nasrin Sotoudeh, the human rights lawyer who has been conducting hunger strikes since her imprisonment in September for allegedly spreading propaganda and colluding against national security. Earlier this year, Amnesty [...]
