The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal class action lawsuit on Wednesday against the city of Biloxi, Mississippi, the Biloxi Police Chief, a Municipal Court judge and Judicial Correction Services, Inc. for allegedly arresting and jailing poor people illegally in debtor’s prisons. The plaintiffs were arrested for failing to pay traffic fines and [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Thursday urged the Czech Republic to stop detaining migrants and refugees in “degrading” conditions. According to Zeid, the numerous migrants and refugees who have arrived in the Czech Republic since August 2015 have been subjected to human rights violations. The report outlines the violations [...]
Two Brazilian lawyers filed a new petition on Wednesday in a renewed attempt to impeach President Dilma Rousseff , alleging she forged accounts in 2014. On Monday a parliamentary commission found there was no proof that Rousseff, her predecessor or Petrobas were involved in the nationwide scandal concerning investors’ loss of over $2 billion. Rousseff’s [...]
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday that converting cash into Bitcoin , a virtual currency that is used online and over the Internet, should be exempt from value added tax (VAT) within the 28-country bloc. The court found that the conversion should not be charged a sales tax because the transaction [...]
Fourteen members of Parliament in Vanuatu were sentenced to prison Thursday for bribery. Thirteen politicians reportedly accepted bribes of 35 million vatu (USD $312,000) from Deputy Prime Minister Moana Caracasses of the opposing party last year in exchange for their support in a vote of no confidence. Caracasses was sentenced to four years in prisonn [...]
States should protect human rights even when acting transnationally, urged UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Méndez in a statement on Tuesday. Méndez made the comments while presenting his latest report on torture , which addresses extraterritorial application of the ban on ill-treatment under international law and mantains that governments have a duty to ensure [...]
The Bahrain Court of Appeals convicted rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja on charges related to her ripping up a photo of the Bahraini king during a court hearing in 2014, Amnesty International (AI) said Wednesday. Her appeal reduced her charges for insulting the king from three years to one year in prison. She has also been [...]
A Sri Lankan panel led by retired judge Maxwell Paranagama presented a report to parliament on Tuesday, concluding that allegations that Sri Lankan troops committed war crimes are credible. He said that there is enough evidence in the footage captured by the Channel 4 documentary “No Fire Zone” to suggest that prisoners were indeed tied [...]
Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have faced horrific abuses at sea, Amnesty International (AI) reported Wednesday, warning of the potential for another “sailing season” crisis. According to AI, many of the Rohingya have been rendered essentially stateless by discriminatory laws and persecution and have become victims of human trafficking. The report took the accounts of more [...]
Following a landmark settlement allowing transgender inmates to receive sex-reassignment surgery , California prison officials on Tuesday announced the criteria inmates must meet to qualify for the surgery. Seeking to standardize the process, California prison officials will require that mental health professionals refer the inmates for surgery, that the inmates are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, [...]
