The Pentagon announced Friday that the Periodic Review Board (PRB) has cleared Afghani Guantanamo detainee Obaidullah for release after almost 15 years of detainment. Obaidullah was captured in November 2002 when forces determined he had landmines in his possession and that he had received orders to detonate them. He was later charged with conspiracy and [...]
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights , Nils Muiznieks, criticized prisons in Belgium Friday for their “rapidly deteriorat living conditions. This statement, posted to Facebook , comes during a three-week strike by prison workers throughout the country. As a result of this strike prison conditions have been severely lessened to the point where [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Eric Ruben of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law responds to a recent JURIST article about the Second Amendment and firearm industry immunity…. Eight years after the Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller, Second Amendment law has not [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday ordered Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers appearing in multiple states to take ethics classes after finding DOJ lawyers misled the court. Judge Andrew Hanen found that the DOJ lawyers, who had initially been defending the Deferred Action for Parents of [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled Thursday that Virginia’s voter identification law is constitutional. The plaintiffs challenged SB 1256 , which requires that voters have a valid form of ID either before voting or within three days after voting, alleging that it inhibited “equal participation by protected [...]
A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday repeated its earlier request for the Mexican government to investigate human rights violations in Tlatlaya in Mexico State. Among the human rights violations alleged are the deaths of 22 people, including the summary execution of 12 individuals. Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani [...]
Moise Katumbi, Democratic Republic of Congo presidential hopeful, was indicted on Thursday for hiring foreign mercenaries. According to a Reuters report, Katumbi is claimed to have hired the mercenaries in a plot against the state and current president Joseph Kabila. Katumbi called the charges “grotesque lies” meant to destroy his current political campaign . A [...]
The UK’s High Court of Justice struck down a challenge by several cigarette companies against requiring plain packaging on cigarette packaging. In its almost 400-page decision , the court upheld the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 against the tobacco companies’ claims that this regulation would constitute an intellectual property rights violation. In doing [...]
The Oklahoma Legislature approved a bill Thursday that would criminalize performing abortions. The bill, SB 1552 , reads in pertinent part, “no person shall perform or induce an abortion upon a pregnant woman,” and “ this section shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not less than one (1) year nor more [...]
Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (STJ) on Thursday ruled that an economic state of emergency declared by President Nicolas Maduro is constitutional. The declaration, issued on May 13, gives the president special reach in matters pertaining to the state of the economy for 60 days. The Venezuelan population is currently suffering from the highest inflation [...]
