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 [...]
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday announced that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Missouri, for alleged unjust policing. According to Lynch’s statement, the lawsuit alleges “a pattern or practice of law enforcement conduct that violates the Constitution and federal civil rights laws.” The filing [...]
A German court on Thursday began the trial of a 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder. The accused, Reinhold Hanning, voluntarily joined the armed Schuzstaffel (SS) when he was 18 years old and was was transferred to Auschwitz two years later where he served as a guard at the [...]
The prosecutor in the trial of Hissène Habré on Wednesday requested that the former Chadian leader be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. The sentencing recommendation was made by Senegal special prosecutor Mbacke Fall after his closing arguments. Lawyers for the civil parties in this trial began summing up on Monday. Habré, who has [...]
Ohio lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill that would block federal and state funds from reaching groups that promote or perform abortions, effectively defunding Planned Parenthood. The bill passed in the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 62-32 and will now be sent to Governor John Kasich , who is expected to sign. [...]
The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) on Wednesday called for the Central African Republic (CAR) to address numerous human rights violations stemming from an outbreak of violence in Bangui last year. Last fall an eruption of violence in the capital city of Bangui resulted in at least 47 civilian [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Eric A. Johnson of University of Illinois School of Law discusses the recent Criminal Code Improvement Act … In November 2015, the House Judiciary Committee voted to send “The Criminal Code Improvement Act of 2015” to the House floor. The bill would, among other things, add to the federal criminal code a [...]
The High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania on Wednesday upheld the 20-year sentence of Soviet-era prison commander Alexandru Visinescu for crimes against humanity. Visinescu was head of the Romanian prison Râmnicu Sărat for seven years, beginning in 1956, over the course of which approximately 14 political prisoners died. The suit was initially brought [...]
Colombia’s Constitutional Court on Monday revoked the mining licenses of all 347 private mining companies that had previously been granted approval to develop the ecologically endangered Colombian Andes. The resolution contradicts part of the National Development Plan organized by the National Planning Department , which had banned the granting of new mining licenses, but had [...]
