Two same-sex couples filed a lawsuit against the state of Mississippi on Monday challenging the state’s same-sex marriage ban. The Campaign for Southern Equality , which filed the suit on behalf of the couples in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi , works to promote equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and [...]
Panama officials on Monday suspended a justice of the Supreme Court over corruption charges in a landmark case. Alejandro Moncada has been battling accusations that he profited from his ties with former president Ricardo Martinelli. Documents emerged that Moncada had paid mostly cash for two luxury apartments worth over USD $1.7 million, properties that seem [...]
Mentally ill British man Haroon Aswat was extradited to the US Tuesday to face terrorism charges after losing a nine-year legal battle. Aswat was accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, 15 years ago, conspiring with radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri . Aswat had been fighting extradition since his [...]
Libyan militant Ahmed Abu Khatallah on Monday pleaded not guilty to 17 charges related to the September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, including some charges that warrant the death penalty. Prosecutor Michael DiLorenzo suggested that the government may file additional charges against other defendants. When US District Judge Christopher Cooper asked [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Monday urged Venezuela to release politician and opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez . Al Hussein expressed concern over the detention of Lopez and 69 others who were arrested in connection with public protests that took place across Venezuela starting in February. Lopez was arrested on [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Angie Lin, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2015, is the author of the fourth article in a twelve-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Lin discusses inadequate federal regulation of donated reproductive tissue in assisted reproductive fertility treatments…The one dream that will [...]
The Bolivian top electoral court on Sunday confirmed the reelection of President Evo Morales , making this the politician’s third consecutive term. The president, who will serve in office until January 2020 , received 61 percent of the vote. According to the electoral court, a recount will be conducted at select polling stations due to [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Stefan Kirchner, of the University of Lapland in Finland, discusses the possibility of global discrimination during the ongoing Ebola outbreak … The current Ebola outbreak has lead to discrimination against those infected with Ebola as well as against health care workers caring for those infected or suspected of being infected with Ebola. [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Monday released a report documenting extra-judicial killings by both pro-Russian separatists and pro-Kyiv forces in eastern Ukraine, though the advocacy group cautions that the actual number of atrocities is not on the scale reported by Russian media. According to the report, it is likely that a number of human rights violations [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist D’Arcy Kemnitz, Executive Director of the National LGBT Bar Association discusses reasons why the “gay panic” defense should be outlawed… Just over a year ago, barely a dozen states recognized lesbian and gay marriages. Today, following a sea of change spurred on by rapidly evolving public opinion and a US Supreme Court [...]
