Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday criticized China’s proposed new counterterrorism legislation as a “recipe for abuses.” The Chinese government maintains that their draft law conforms to UN resolutions and that it allows for human rights to be “respected and guaranteed.” HRW, however, notes various areas of concern in the document. The draft defines terrorism [...]
Germany’s top human rights official on Tuesday urged Israel to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories. After a prosecutor for the ICC announced the investigation last week , Israel’s government said that it would not work with the ICC and called for its funding to be [...]
French police are abusing and harassing asylum seekers in the port city of Calais, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday. These asylum seekers and migrants are reportedly living in destitution in Calais and have been subjected to “routine abuses by police officers,” including “beatings and attacks with pepper spray,” leaving some individuals with broken bones [...]
A Guatemalan court on Monday convicted a former police official for the killings of 37 people when the Spanish Embassy burned down during the country’s civil conflict in 1980. Pedro Garcia Arredondo, a former special investigations chief for the Sixth Commando of the National Police, was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the homicides, [...]
The UN Security Council on Monday condemned attacks by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria and called for an end to terrorist attacks and release of abducted child soldiers. The hostilities include mass killings, destruction of civilian homes and suicide bombings where children where induced to carry out the attacks and act as suicide [...]
Argentine authorities said Tuesday they would full investigate the death of the prosecutor who had accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of covering up Iran’s involvement in a 1994 terrorist attack. Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead on Sunday, the day before he was scheduled to testify about his accusation. Argentine Security Minister Sergio Berni [...]
Attorneys for four death-row inmates on Monday proceeded in a challenge to an Ohio law by filing a motion for a preliminary injunction. HB 663 is a measure providing for the confidentiality of entities involved in the manufacture of drugs for use in capital punishment by lethal injection, and of the persons involved in executing [...]
Brazil and the Netherlands on Sunday recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia after an Indonesian firing sqaud executed six convicted drug traffickers, sparking international condemnation from human rights groups and foreign leaders. The executions took place in Jakarta, Indonesia and are the result of strict anti-drug legislation. The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff , expressed outrage [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Sunday reported that the International Criminal Court (ICC) took legal custody of former commander of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Dominic Ongwen in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui last week. AI believes that transferring Ongwen to the ICC is a huge step to ensuring justice for the crimes against humanity committed by [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments for the case Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar which may undo campaign finance restrictions on state judicial candidates around the country. The plaintiff Lanell Williams-Yulee was a county judge candidate in Florida, who during her 2009 campaign sent out a mass email asking for donations. For [...]
