A Pakistani court on Monday dismissed charges against Islamic cleric Hafiz Muhammad Saeed , the founder and leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic group suspected of playing a key role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks . A two-judge panel of the Lahore High Court dismissed the charges, which included using language criticizing Pakistan and [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Margaret Maffai of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies says that to prevent governments from hiring private military contractors to dodge their international human rights obligations, lawmakers in countries such as the US must ensure that no corporation or private contract employee can escape prosecution for human rights violations when they [...]
The Uruguayan Parliament on Monday unanimously approved legislation that provides rules for individuals seeking to change their gender identity. The bill, which was approved by Uruguay's Senate on Monday, had been approved by the House of Representatives last month. The legislation allows an individual to undergo a sex change at age 18, and allows the [...]
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas proposed Monday that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) reconvene to vote to endorse the findings of a report by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict , which criticized Israel's role in last winter's Operation Cast Lead . Abbas's statement comes less than two weeks after [...]
The Chilean government will begin a non-binding consultation process on Tuesday to survey the indigenous inhabitants of Easter Island on tourism influx and immigration into the island. The consultation comes as the Chilean Supreme Court ruled last week that a measure requiring all visitors to Easter Island to fill out Special Visitor's Cards (TEV's) with [...]
Joe Stork : "President Obama and his team have another opportunity to do the right thing regarding the report of the UN Fact-Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict when the UN Security Council meets on October 14 for an open debate on the Middle East. The Commission's report and recommendations will be a major item [...]
A Sudanese court again sentenced four men to death on Monday for the January 2008 murder of two US Agency for International Development (USAID) employees. The men were previously convicted and sentenced to death in June for the murders of John Granville and Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, but their sentences were vacated after Abbas's father forgave [...]
The Federal Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday convicted an American citizen of engaging in terrorist activities and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. Naji Hamdan, who confessed to the terrorist activities while being tortured, pleaded not guilty at the trial. Hamdan consistently denied the charges, claiming his confessions were [...]
The Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi in China's Xinjiang province on Monday sentenced to death six men convicted of murder and other crimes such as arson and robbery for their roles in July's violent demonstrations that left about 200 people dead and many more injured. A seventh man was given life imprisonment because he confessed [...]
Tens of thousands of gay rights activists participated in the National Equality March in Washington, DC on Sunday to demand equal rights, one day after US President Barack Obama pledged his support to the gay and lesbian community. At a Human Rights Campaign event on Saturday, Obama spoke directly to gay Americans, vowing to repeal [...]
