The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases on Monday. In Montgomery v Louisiana , the court was asked to determine whether, in light of Miller v. Alabama , collateral review is due retroactively to those sentenced to life in prison while they were still juveniles. Henry Montgomery is currently serving a life sentence [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Tseliso Thipanyane, of the Columbia University Law School and the Safer South Africa Foundation, discusses human trafficking and slavery issues in Africa and the causes … More than two hundred years since the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade on March 25, 1807, a trade that saw millions of African people taken [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York gave final approval Friday to a $970.5 million settlement for shareholders of the insurance giant American International Group (AIG) to settle claims that shareholders were misled about the subprime mortgage exposure that led to a liquidity crisis and over $180 billion [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Monday on the Cambodian government to act on criminal charges brought against former Khmer Rouge leaders. Earlier this month an international judge for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) charged two new suspects with homicide and crimes against humanity, including enslavement, extermination and other inhumane acts. However, [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari in Frank v. Walker , allowing Wisconsin’s voter identification law to stand. Wisconsin’s Act 23 , which requires residents to present photo ID to vote, was struck down by a federal district court, but reinstated by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in September. [...]
A special court in the Republic of Senegal on Monday sentenced the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade to six years in prison for corruption. Karim Wade was on trial on charges of corruption and embezzlement of approximately USD $238 million.The corruption claim centers on Karim Wade’s acquisition of real estate and foreign companies, including [...]
The UN special envoy to Yemen warned the UN Security Council during an emergency meeting Sunday that the situation in Yemen is teetering on the brink of civil war. The special envoy, Jamal Benomar , warned the Council that the increasingly violent and expanding conflict in Yemen could erupt into civil war, pitting a number [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday urged EU leaders France, Germany and Switzerland to raise human rights concerns directly with Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambaev about abuses occurring in his country. HRW has called on the leaders to “seek firm promises” that the country reject two bills that they claim will violate human rights. Introduced in [...]
The New Mexico legislature on Saturday passed a bill that will end civil asset forfeiture in the state. The bill, HB 560, was passed in the senate by a vote of 37-0. Civil asset forfeiture is a police practice in which authorities can take an individual’s property without charging that person for a crime. The [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Sunday to reject amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would interfere with the rights of defense lawyers to call witnesses during trials. The amendments, which were adopted by the Egyptian cabinet in February, give judges the sole discretion in determining what witness [...]
