Venezuelans began voting Sunday on a proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate presidential term limits in the country. The amendment, which would allow President Hugo Chavez to seek re-election in 2012, was passed by the Venezuelan National Assembly last month, but must pass the referendum before taking effect. A similar amendment was among constitutional reforms rejected by [...]
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Saturday maintained that the government was determined to form a local tribunal to address the December 2007 post-election violence , despite a defeat in the Kenyan Parliament last week. Odinga said he had discussed the situation with mediator Koffi Annan and remained hopeful that lawmakers would establish a Special [...]
The first trial in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is in danger of being tainted by the body's failure to meet international fair trial standards , Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Saturday. The ECCC will begin its prosecution of former Khmer Rouge leaders with Kaing Guek Eav , better known as [...]
Palestinian leaders urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Friday to initiate an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes during the recent conflict in Gaza . Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Justice Minister Ali Khashan called on the ICC to conduct the investigation, expressing concern that alleged war crimes not [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted an en banc rehearing to Wal-Mart, Inc. Friday in a long-running gender discrimination suit against the retailer. According to the order, a majority of the Ninth Circuit judges, excluding the three judges who heard an earlier appeal in which class certification was upheld, voted in [...]
An Obama administration official said Friday that a review of detainees, the first step in closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay , has begun . US President Barack Obama issued the executive order last month that initiated the review process. The order called for the review to be conducted by a "Special Task Force on [...]
A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled this week that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA) , which makes it a federal crime for a sex offender to attempt to move to another state while failing to register in a nationwide database, is unconstitutional. [...]
A judge for the Erie County Court of Common Pleas in Ohio issued a permanent injunction Thursday against a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bylaw that restricted the eligibility of student baseball players who were assisted by legal counsel during negotiations with professional baseball clubs. The case, Oliver v. NCAA, concerned an Ohio resident playing [...]
The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced Friday that no charges will be filed against London Metropolitan Police Service ("Met") officers involved in the shooting death of Brazilian immigrant Jean Charles de Menezes in a London Tube station. De Menzes was shot to death by officers in July 2005 after they mistook him for terrorism [...]
Kerim Yildiz and Saniye Karakas : "Although it represents a concerning violation of international human rights standards, the decision to convict and sentence Aysel Tugluk comes as no surprise, as recently amended anti-terror laws have been used as a sword of Damocles for writers, journalists, activists, authors and particularly Kurdish politicians and human rights defenders [...]
