A Malaysian labor activist jailed for alleging police brutality against illegal immigrants in detention was acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday. Irene Fernandez , the director and cofounder of migrant workers' rights group Tenaganita , was arrested in 1996. In 2003 she was convicted on a charge of violating Section 8A (1) [...]
The legislature in the Papua province of Indonesia is considering a measure mandating that certain individuals infected with HIV or AIDS be implanted with microchips so the government can monitor their movements. The bill, which has yet to be passed, will attempt to monitor the activities of individuals who are infected with HIV/AIDS whom the [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday in a statement in anticipation of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that migrant and domestic workers still face abusive and exploitative treatment throughout Asia and the Middle East. The rights group observed that workers in several countries throughout the region, including millions of women, [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says that as US federal courts begin to demonstrate their capacity and willingness to render justice to Guantanamo detainees whose legal process has been too long delayed, the Obama administration should steer clear of setting up special national security courts with reduced due process [...]
Ariel Cohen : "The Russian Constitution proclaims a presidential republic within a multi-party system, with president as a "guarantor" of the Constituion. However, checks and balances in Russia were underdeveloped since the collapse of communism in 1991 (and non-existent under communism). Moreover, since 2000, Russia further suffered from a serious deterioration of those political institutions, [...]
Some officials in the formative administration of US President-elect Barack Obama have said they support the creation of a bipartisan congressional commission to investigate potentially abusive US counter-terrorism policies, according to a Newsweek report Saturday. The officials have suggested that such an investigation should be similar to the 9/11 Commission , with a focus on [...]
Russia's Supreme Court has decided to review the actions of a Moscow District Military Court judge presiding over the trial of three men accused in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya , according to a court spokesman quoted in local media reports Sunday. Judge Yevgeny Zubov on Wednesday ordered the proceedings to be closed to [...]
The US military has assigned Army judge Col. Stephen Henley to preside over the the war crimes trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , the self proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks , according to a Miami Herald report . Henley replaces Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann whose announced retirement from the post of chief judge of [...]
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Sunday called a report released last week by the UN Committee Against Torture prejudiced and false. The Committee's report had expressed "deep concern" over continued allegations that China authorities carried on the routine and widespread practice of torture and ill-treatment of suspects to extract confessions. In his statement, [...]
The parliament of Burundi voted Saturday in favor of laws abolishing the death penalty and criminalizing homosexuality in the country. The elimination of the death penalty in Burundi was a requirement for establishing a UN-led truth and reconciliation committee and tribunal in the country. Gay rights groups in the country condemned the criminalization of homosexuality [...]
