Australia’s Parliament House on Monday lifted a ban on face veils including burqas and niqabs. The short-lived ban was announced earlier this month, prohibiting persons with facial coverings from being in open public galleries. The ban was condemned for segregating Muslim women and potentially breaching anti-discrimination laws. Upon lifting the ban, the Department of Parliamentary [...]
UN officials called on the government of Iraq Sunday to impose a moratorium on the death penalty in response to a significant rise in executions since the country restored capital punishment in 2005. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a new report documenting [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in three cases Monday. In City of Los Angeles v. Patel the court has been asked to resolve a circuit split between the US Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and the Sixth Circuits regarding the constitutionality of hotel guest registry inspection ordinances that authorize unwarranted police inspections of [...]
The semi-official news group Iranian Students’ News Agency reported on Sunday that an Iranian court has banned a prominent human rights lawyer from practicing law for three years. Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has won numerous awards for her work, stated that she will not appeal the decision. However, she plans to stage a protest outside the [...]
US-led airstrikes carried out on Friday against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria killed 10 civilians, it was reported by an observing group on Saturday. Washington responded, stating that there is no evidence to back up the report. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that seven civilians were killed by airstrikes on a gas [...]
The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Nevada’s implied consent law , which allows police officers to take blood samples of motorists to determine impairment, is unconstitutional. The case involved a man named Michael Byars who was stopped by state troopers for driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Upon questioning the suspect [...]
Prominent Thai scholar Sulak Sivaraksa was cited in a criminal complaint on Thursday for his comments about a Thai king who died 400 years ago. Two retired senior army officers filed the criminal complaint, which included a charge of lese-majeste, or intentionally insulting the monarchy. The action that gave rise to this complaint was the [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Roland Adjovi, Assistant Professor at Arcadia University, discusses some of the possible implications of the recent arrest and accusations levied toward Martina Johnson … Martina Johnson joined the National Patriotic Front of Liberation (NPFL) of Charles G. Taylor in 1990. She was actively involved in the major military operation known as Operation [...]
Defense lawyers for former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan announced Saturday their intent to boycott the second trial against their clients in the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) until the lawyers have had time to appeal the men’s earlier conviction. In August the ECCC found [...]
The US Supreme Court on Saturday allowed Texas to enforce a strict 2011 voter identification law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. The court provided no reasoning in its order, which will be in effect for November’s general elections. Early voting in the state begins this Monday. Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, joined by [...]
