Bangladesh’s minister of law on Sunday told the press that the arrest of a well-known magazine editor, Shafik Rahman, was not politically motivated. Recently, Rahman was named the convener of the international affairs committee for the opposition Bangladesh National Party. Rahman was apprehended on Saturday. The law minister, Anisul Huq, denied the arrest was tied [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 7-1 in Welch v. United States that the court’s 2015 decision in Johnson v. United States created a substantive rule of constitutional law and the holding applies retroactively to cases that are on collateral review. The case involves petitioner Gregory Welch, a convicted felon who was sentenced to [...]
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill on Sunday legalizing medical marijuana. The bill establishes a statewide program, which will take 18 to 24 months to implement and will allow patients with serious medical problems to receive medical marijuana from state dispensaries after receiving physician certification. Though implementation will take up to two years, parents [...]
The lower house of Brazil’s National Congress on Sunday voted in favor of impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff for manipulating government accounts. The Chamber of Deputies voted for impeachment by the required two-thirds majority, splitting 367 to 137. The matter now moves to the upper house, whose 81 members will vote by simple majority whether [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Cristián Correa of the International Center for Transitional Justice discusses how waterboarding, if not torturous treatment, is at the very least illegal… In a recent academic commentary, Professor Jeffrey F. Addicott claims that the use of waterboarding by the US has not involved torture in violation of the 1984 United Nations Convention [...]
The Supreme People’s Court of China on Monday clarified that the maximum penalty for the crime of corruption in the form of embezzlement or accepting bribes amounting to high sums of money will be the death penalty. The notice by the China high court explained that in an extremely serious case, bribes and the act [...]
A Gambian activist on Saturday died while in detention after being detained on Thursday following protesting. Many rights groups are now calling for an inquiry into how Solo Sandeng, the National Organizing Secretary of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), died after sustaining injuries during the protest. Amnesty International (AI) stated that the organization has [...]
People began protesting in Baghdad this weekend demanding a new government amid the third parliament session cancelled this week as officials discuss political reforms. The session of parliament was cancelled because the chambers could not be secured by forces as tempers flared again. The political turmoil has been the result of a plan by Haider [...]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Friday she will allow a criminal inquiry to proceed against German comedian Jan Boehmermann after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a complaint. The comedian made sexual references to Erdogan on the public television station ZDF two weeks ago and could be prosecuted under a rarely used section of [...]
The US Department of Defense (DOD) announced the transfer of 9 Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia on Saturday as they continue their efforts to close the facility. They would have sent the prisoners back to their home country but the instability in Yemen made transfer to Saudi Arabia inevitable. Eight of the 9 [...]
