The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday ruled 7-0 that Canadians have a limited right to government information if the information is necessary to the effective exercise of the freedom of expression and is not privileged. The court held that under § 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing freedom of expression a [...]
A UN independent human rights expert on Thursday called for the immediate release of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other "prisoners of conscience" in order to create improved conditions for upcoming elections. Suu Kyi is currently awaiting the decision on her final appeal challenging the 18-month extension of her house arrest. The [...]
The Taiwan High Court on Friday extended the jail sentence of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian for two months while the former leader prepares his appeal to a 20-year sentence for corruption and embezzlement. The court denied Chen's request for bail, stating that he posed a flight risk. The ruling marks the fourth time the [...]
A ruling was released Thursday by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) denying a request from former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani to be exempt from prison strip searches, citing security concerns. Kaplan issued the ruling on Monday , but it was not made public [...]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced that the Security Cabinet has agreed to ease the nation's land blockade of the Gaza Strip . The Israeli government has been under increasing international pressure to review its policy towards Gaza since its May 31 raid of several Turkish ships bound for the strip left nine [...]
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Thursday released a report detailing the globalization of organized crime and its threat to international security. The report specifically addressed the global economic impact of human and drug trafficking, sale of illicit firearms, piracy, identity theft and the illegal exploitation of natural resources. The report found [...]
Sara Burhan Abdullah, Pitt Law LLM '08 and JD '11, was an observer to the Iraqi Constitutional Review Committee through the University of Utah Quinney School of Law's Global Justice Project: Iraq. She shares her experiences with the issue of environmental protection in Iraq… The environmental catastrophe caused by the oil spill in the Gulf [...]
JURIST Guest Columnists Olga Martin-Ortega of the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict at the University of East London and Rosa Ana Alija Fernandez of the University of Barcelona argue that Argentina should exercise universal jurisdiction over claims brought by victims of the Franco regime in Spain… The crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War [...]
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday indicted Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad on 10 counts of terrorism and weapons charges related to his alleged role in last month's attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square. Five charges were added to the original complaint , which was filed [...]
A Utah firing squad executed inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner on Friday, after the US Supreme Court failed to stay the execution . The execution comes as the first of its kind in the US in 14 years, and only the third since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Gardner was permitted to [...]
