Former president of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva filed a petition with the UN Human Rights Committee Thursday, claiming his corruption investigation has been riddled with impartiality and abuse of power by the judge. The petition , signed by da Silva’s lawyers and British human rights lawyer Georffrey Robertson, alleges that Judge Sergio Moro [...]
The Detroit News reported Friday that six state employees have been criminally indicted in relation to the Flint water crisis. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed the criminal charges against three employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and three Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) employees. The DHSS employees indicted were Nancy [...]
Indonesia implemented a firing squad to execute four individuals convicted of drug charges Friday, despite international outcry for the nation to cease the use of the death penalty in drug crimes. The four individuals comprised two Nigerians, one Senegalese and one Indonesian. As many as 10 other people may await the same fate, many of [...]
Following released footage showing indigenous children being abused while in detention in Australia’s Northern Territory, Amnesty International (AI) called upon the Australian government Thursday to alter its current juvenile detention policies. Among the abuses are use of tear gas, hooding the children and strapping them to restraint chairs, all of which AI Senior Research Adviser [...]
Jin Kyung-joon, a senior prosecutor in South Korea, was indicted on charges of bribery Friday. Jin has been accused of accepting more than USD $11 million from an executive at the online-game company Nexon during collusive stock transactions over a nine-year period. Jin is the highest ranking official in recent history to face a corruption [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Thursday that Chelsea Manning is being investigated for charges in relation to her recent attempt at suicide. Manning, the Army solider convicted of releasing classified and sensitive military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks , is currently facing a 35-year sentence and, if convicted of the “administrative offenses,” could [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled Wednesday that an Arkansas law prohibiting political “robocalls” is unconstitutional. The judge stated that the law violates the First Amendment right to free speech, in particular political speech. The judge explained that as the law was a content-based restriction, strict scrutiny [...]
Russian and Syrian forces are using cluster bombs to target civilians and rebels in the northern portions of Syria, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. More than 46 attacks related to cluster munition have been documented since May, and it is estimated that dozens were injured or killed by their usage. HRW has long decried [...]
The European Commission (EC) called upon Poland Wednesday to guarantee political freedom to its top court, saying the rule of law in the country is under “systematic threat.” Poland’s highest court, the Constitutional Tribunal, has faced rapid changes and international criticism over the past year as the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has come [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday urged Indonesia to halt the imminent executions of 14 individuals, convicted mainly for drug-related offenses. The executions are set to take place as early as Friday on Nusa Kambangan island in central Java. Zeid called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty, [...]
