Hamsa Subramaniam discusses the knowledge she gained as a 2008 Clinton Fellow at SAATHII, an HIV/AIDS technical assistance organization in Chennai, India… In 2007, the World Health Organization reported that 2.3 million people above the age of 15 are infected with HIV in India, a prevalence which ranks second only to South Africa. Approximately 40 [...]

A Florida man wrongfully imprisoned for three years and seven months accepted $179,000 in compensation Tuesday, becoming the first person to receive compensation under the state's Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act . Leroy McGee was convicted of robbery in 1991, a crime he did not commit. After his release, McGee refused to accept the [...]

The Bangladesh government announced on Tuesday that prosecutors and investigators for the country's war crimes tribunal should be appointed by the first week of March. The tribunal will be used to conduct fair and transparent trials for those accused of war crimes during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan . The announcement came after [...]

A closed prison court in Myanmar on Monday sentenced Naw Ohn Hla and three other women to two years imprisonment with hard labor. The women, supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi , were accused of causing public unrest. According to Nyan Win, spokesperson for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) , the [...]

The Icelandic Parliament began considering measures Tuesday aimed at increasing protections for journalists and promoting freedom of speech and transparency in government. The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) was developed by lawmakers in conjunction with Wikileaks, a non-profit website focused on exposing corruption and unethical actions perpetrated by governments and corporations. The measures were developed [...]

The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday that it will withdraw trade benefits from Sri Lanka because of alleged human rights violations in the country. The decision to limit trade advantages comes after a year-long EC investigation in Sri Lanka that ended last October. The EC investigation report claimed that Sri Lanka has violated several [...]

Egypt's State Council (Maglis id-Dowla) association, an administrative court system with jurisdiction over cases involving the state, voted Monday to bar the appointment of female judges to the council. Of the 376 judges who participated in the vote , 334 supported the bar against female appointments and 42 rejected it. Despite the overwhelming support the [...]

Controversial full-body scanners currently used in two UK airports may be illegal, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced Monday. The EHRC made the statement in a letter to Department for Transport (DFT) Secretary Lord Andrew Adonis . The commission's primary concerns relate to passengers' privacy and right to be free from discrimination: We [...]

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Monday appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) claiming that documents he seeks from former UN peacekeeper countries would provide evidence of arms smuggling to Bosnian Muslims during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict . Only Germany, France, and Croatia entered appearances at the hearing to [...]

Al-Zahrani, et al. v. Rumsfeld, et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia, February 16, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Guantanamo Bay.