US President Barack Obama on Tuesday granted clemency to 111 non-violent criminal offenders, including 35 federal offenders serving life sentences. These new grants of clemency bring Obama’s total to 673, including 325 in the month of August alone. Mostly drug offenders, the commuted sentences are part of Obama’s ongoing effort to reduce the size of [...]
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the definition of “parent” under a section of the state’s Domestic Relations Law should be expanded, in a decision that will serve to better accommodate same-sex couples. Because the previous legal definition of a parent “has become unworkable when applied to increasingly varied familial relationships,” the [...]
Iraqi militias are recruiting children from at least one civilian camp of displaced persons in the region of Kurdistan, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday. Witnesses reported that at least seven children were recruited as fighters on August 14 to combat the Islamic State (IS) forces. The Iraqi Security Forces are preparing to [...]
Palestinian authorities are violating free speech rights by arresting and abusing dissenting activists and journalists,Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. The report details five cases in Gaza and the West Bank where journalists and activists were arrested or detained by authorities due to their peaceful criticism of authorities. Activists also suggest that court proceedings are [...]
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Tuesday denied the final appeal of Mir Quasem Ali, an opposition leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, and upheld his death sentence. Ali was sentenced to death in 2014 by the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh (ICTB) for murder, confinement, torture and incitement to religious hatred during during the Bangladesh war [...]
The European Commission ruled on Tuesday that Ireland may recover up to €13 billion from Apple after the company benefited from undue tax breaks. The commission ruled the tax breaks were illegal based on EU law because the tax benefit meant that Apple paid less taxes to operate in the country than other businesses, resulting [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday dismissed a 2014 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case against AT&T Mobile , which took issue with AT&T’s disclosures regarding the reduction of a customer’s data speed . The process, known as “data throttling,” involves an Internet service provider (ISP) slowing data speed once customers [...]
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed on Monday expressed “outrage” regarding Iran’s execution of 12 people for drug-related charges on Saturday. The day before the execution, Shaheed had publicly appealed to the Iranian authorities not to proceed with the planned executions. He specifically noted that international law only allows [...]
A UN expert on Monday urged the participants of the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference in Myanmar to prioritize human rights in their discussions. Yanghee Lee , the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, noted that human rights are at the core of the conflicts in Myanmar and thus must be [...]
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy stated to the press on Monday that he would amend the constitution to ban full-body “burkini” swimsuits if re-elected next April. His comments came after a statement was made by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who said a ban on burkinis would be unconstitutional . In response, Sarkozy said: “Well, then [...]
