Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday that hostilities in eastern Ukraine have damaged or destroyed hundreds of schools, many of which were being used for military purposes. According to a detailed investigative report , government forces and Russia-backed militants have deployed forces in and near schools, turning the schools into legitimate military targets. The resulting [...]
A Moroccan judge on Thursday ordered the release of Younis Chekkouri, a former Guantanamo detainee who had remained in custody for nearly five months despite diplomatic assurances that he would be freed after his transfer to the country . Chekkouri’s case drew scrutiny because authorities in Morocco apparently told the US that he would be [...]
UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories Makarim Wibisono urged Israel on Thursday to address its use of excessive force against Palestinians and to charge or release all administrative detainees. In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, Wibinso claimed that there have been 157 Palestinians killed and 5,680 Palestinians improperly detained as of last [...]
Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is obeying orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples according to a federal court ruling Tuesday. US District Judge David Bunning denied a request by the American Civil Liberties Union to order Davis to reissue licenses she had altered by removing her name and title. The judge found that Davis [...]
Morgan Stanley agreed Thursday to pay about $3.2 billion to settle charges that it misled investors in residential mortgage-backed securities. The charges come from an investigation by the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Group that serves to prove potential misconduct from the financial crisis. $2.6 billion of the settlement will go towards resolving the claims by the [...]
Nearly 40 years after the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the nation’s legal structures are still “deeply flawed,” according to an 87-page report released Thursday by Amnesty International (AI) . Describing how the revolution elicited sweeping changes in the justice system, the report discusses Iran’s new Criminal Procedure Code, criticizing it sharply as a “lost opportunity” [...]
The French National Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill that would strip convicted terrorists of their citizenship rights. The amendment to the constitution would also grant the president greater power to act in an emergency or terrorist situation. The legislation, dubbed the draft to protect the nation, would allow for a state of emergency to [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein , expressed “utmost alarm” Thursday at the worsening situation in Syria. Zeid said that warring parties were “constantly sinking to new depths,” attacking women, children, the sick and the elderly with unprecedented force throughout the nation. He noted how the Governorate of Aleppo, in conjunction [...]
The Northern Ireland Assembly rejected proposed amendments to the region’s strict abortion laws on Wednesday. The Assembly voted against a proposed amendment to the Justice Bill that would allow terminations in cases of sexual crime, fatal fetal abnormality or incest. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission decried Wednesday’s vote as an infringement on human rights [...]
Amnesty International USA (AI) alleges that Mustafa al-Hawsawi , one of the accused 9/11 ringleaders, is in desperate need of medical care in a letter to the Pentagon that was made public on Wednesday. In the letter the agency states that Hawsawi is in severe rectal distress due to interrogation methods that amount to torture [...]
