The High Court of Australia on Wednesday ruled that the off-shore detention of more than 150 ethnic Tamil refugees aboard an Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) vessel was lawful under the Maritime Powers Act of 2013 . The case was brought by 157 Tamil refugees fleeing Sri Lanka aboard an Indian-flagged vessel, who [...]
The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday said that its new president has reinstated former chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake , calling the impeachment a procedural error. Both her removal and the installation of her successor, according to the office of President Maithripala Sirisena , are now “null and void according to the law.” Bandaranayake was impeached [...]
Nominee for the position of US Attorney General , Loretta Lynch, stood before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Lynch, a US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, will face two days of hearings led by Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. In her opening statement to the committee, Lynch declared that her “highest [...]
The Bahrain Ministry of Justice on Wednesday commenced the trial of prominent Shiite leader Sheikh Ali Salman for his role in promoting an overthrow of the current Bahrain political system. The current Al-Wefaq Islamic Society secretary general faces charges of inciting a change of government by force, inciting hatred of a segment of society, inciting [...]
The state of Georgia executed inmate Warren Lee Hill Tuesday despite arguments made by his attorneys that he was intellectually disabled. The US Supreme Court denied Hill’s application for stay of execution, rejecting both his petition for habeas corpus and writ of certiorari . Two Justices, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in the denial [...]
A Bangkok Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced “Red Shirt” supporter Jatuporn Prompan to two years in prison for defaming former prime minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva . Prompan was charged with defamation for accusing Abhisit of ordering the killings of protesters and taking action in preventing former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from seeking a royal [...]
JURIST Guest Columnists Dr. Paul Williams and Kelly Brouse of American University, discuss the indictment of Dragomir Vasic by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and emphasize the necessity for accountability not only during, but also after armed conflicts… On December 16, 2014, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina indicted Dragomir Vasic for genocide relating [...]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the state-led coalition in its suit against the Obama administration over November’s executive action on immigration. This brings the total number of states involved to 26, meaning that more than half the states in the Union oppose the president’s action. [...]
The state of Ohio , along with several universities, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Monday challenging taxes imposed on the state through the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) . The state claims that: the federal government has assessed and now collected mandatory monetary [...]
A jury in the US District Court Eastern District of Virginia on Monday convicted former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Jeffrey Sterling of violating the Espionage Act . Sterling was found guilty on all nine of his charges, including acting as a CIA mole and supplying a journalist with insider information about a US plan [...]
