The UN Human Rights Council on Monday reviewed the US human rights record as part of its Universal Periodic Reviews, expressing concern over excessive use of force by law enforcement, racial discrimination, and minority rights, particularly for African Americans. Participating nations recommended the US eliminate excessive use of force by police, work to ensure minority [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Raymond J. Toney discusses the proposed changes to the boards of correction of military records… Senators Boxer, Wyden and Markey have introduced much-needed legislation, the “Legal Justice For Servicemembers Act,” to overhaul protections for military whistleblowers, including victims of sexual harassment and assault, who frequently suffer reprisals for exposing fraud, waste and [...]
The Cairo criminal court on Saturday sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in prison on corruption charges. However, Mubarak and his sons have already spent three years in prison for other convictions, so they will most likely not have to serve out this three year sentence. This corruption case [...]
A former US government employee with the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission was charged with a four count violation of federal law in connection with an attempted phishing scheme involving Department of Energy employee emails. Charles Harvey Eccleston, aged 62, was charged two weeks ago, but the indictment were unsealed on Friday after [...]
The Illinois supreme court on Friday overturned the 2013 Illinois Pension Law that attempted to reduce the state’s pension deficit by eliminating automatic cost of living increases and extending the retirement age. The law itself would apply to four of the state’s five state-funded retirement systems. The state law would have reduced pensions based on [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday said that by releasing Omar Khadr on bail, Canada is taking a “significant step toward ending his ordeal.” HRW is urging the Canadian government to rehabilitate Khadr and assist his integration into society. Khadr, 28, is a Canadian citizen who was captured by US forces at the age of [...]
Forces led by Saudi Arabia ordered civilians in northern Yemen to evacuate the area by Friday afternoon, declaring that the entire region would be deemed a military target, but also announced plans for a ceasefire next week. The coalition dropped leaflets in the area warning they would strike anything in the Saada province after 7pm [...]
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday announced the launch of a federal civil rights investigation into Baltimore’s police. Authorities, Lynch said , would look for discriminating practices by police and begin to review allegations of unlawful searches, seizures and arrests as well as excessive force, and they would seek a court enforceable agreement to [...]
A United Nations body responsible for protecting displaced people on Friday warned that many of the promising developments made in recent refugee history in Africa are at risk of being undone as over 50,000 people have fled Burundi in response to the start of the pre-election violence that began last month. The UN Refugee Agency [...]
UN human rights experts on Friday condemned the growing number of executions in Iran in recent years. According to the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Iran and on extrajudicial executions, Iran has executed about 350 people in 2015 and executed approximately six people per day between April 9 and April 26. [...]
