A judge in Pakistan’s Lahore District and Sessions court on Friday sentenced Liaquat Ali to death for blasphemy. Ali was arrested in 2012 on accusations of blasphemy by a Mughalpura area prayer leader. Traditionally, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws made it a crime to insult religious beliefs or destroy religious objects or places of worship, punishable up [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Méndez on Thursday outlined the substantial progress Georgia has made in eliminating torture and poor conditions in their prisons. But Mr. Méndez stressed that further changes still must be made. According to the report, Georgia’s prison system has improved in the past three years due to extensive legislative [...]
The Supreme Court of Florida on Thursday ordered re-sentencing hearings for four individuals who were convicted of felonies as juveniles. The court ruled that new sentences must comply with two US Supreme Court decisions. One of which says juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison if they have not killed someone, and another, Miller [...]
A Belgrade court on Friday ordered a 30-day detention of eight Serbian suspects in connection with the 1995 Srebenica massacre , in which some 8,000 Serbian Muslim men and boys were killed in a single town. The Belgrade Higher Court said the suspects must remain in jail due to concerns that they may flee or [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee on Wednesday called on state authorities to address ongoing challenges to the democratic reform process in Myanmar. Recent studies found that excessive force has been used against civilians within the country. Although the government is implementing efforts to reform media governance, “journalists [...]
An Indonesian court on Thursday delayed a hearing for two Australians that are known leaders of the Bali Nine narcotics organization. Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are currently facing execution for drug smuggling charges, including heroin. Earlier this year an Indonesian court scheduled the appeal which is now delayed. Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, coordinating minister for [...]
An Egyptian court on Thursday acquitted Habib el-Adly , former Interior Minister under Hosni Mubarak , of the final case of corruption pending against him . El-Adly had been accused of using his political influence to acquire approximate 181 million Egyptian pounds (USD $23 million). El-Adly’s lawyer told Ahram Online that this acquittal is “paving [...]
Greece’s Hellenic Parliament passed an anti-poverty bill on Thursday, despite requests from international creditors to hold off on the vote until they had time to assess its budgetary impact. The anti-poverty bill is the first law passed since the leftist government was elected in January. The majority of lawmakers in Greece’s 300 seat Parliament voted [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed rebel forces consistently used cluster munitions in eastern Ukraine earlier this year, killing at least 13 civilians, including two children. HRW said that using cluster munitions in such densely populated areas violates the laws of war because of its haphazard nature. Cluster munitions [...]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit on Wednesday against the US Department of Labor (DOL) over a plan that would allow same-sex couples medical leave benefits. The proposed legislation involves the Family Medical Leave Act , which requires employers to allow employees time off for certain familial emergencies. As Texas has not legalized same-sex [...]
