A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland on Tuesday upheld two key provisions of the Maryland Firearms Safety Act of 2013 that ban certain types of “assault weapons” and a limit gun magazines to 10 rounds. Judge Catherine Blake found that the state’s law served the government’s legitimate interest in [...]

A Moroccan court Tuesday sentenced human rights activist Ouafa Charaf to one year in prison after being convicted of falsely alleging that she had been tortured by police. Charaf was also fined €4,500 (USD $6,000) by the court. According to Charaf, after leaving a solidarity sit-in in May with a group of laid off workers [...]

A group of UN human rights experts on Tuesday urged Iraq and the international community to intervene against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist advance on the displaced Yazidi people and other minority groups trapped in rebel-controlled territory in Northwestern Iraq. The UN experts are part of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council [...]

A Tennessee county judge has upheld Tennessee’s same-sex marriage ban, marking the first time a court has found the Constitution does not protect same-sex marriage since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning of the federal Defense of Marriage Act in June 2013. Roane County Circuit Judge Russell Simmons Jr., of Kingston, Tennessee upheld the State’s Anti-Recognition [...]

Egyptian security forces killed more than 1,150 demonstrators in July and August 2013, Human RIghts Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday. The year-long investigation documented instances where Egyptian police and military forces used deadly force on crowds of demonstrators opposed to the ousting of President of Mohamed Morsy. The report calls on the UN Human Rights Council [...]

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, expressed concern Tuesday over the latest political developments, calling on the country’s political leaders to respect the president’s constitutional responsibilities. He also called on security forces to avoid any actions that may be perceived as interference in any matters related to the democratic transfer [...]

The UN Human rights Council on Monday appointed three experts to an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged international humanitarian and human rights law violations committed by both Israelis and Palestinians during the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip. The goal of the commission will be to establish the circumstances surrounding violations and crimes [...]

The US military systematically covered up or disregarded “abundant and compelling evidence” of war crimes in Afghanistan, Amnesty International (AI) reported Monday. The report, entitled “Afghanistan: Left in the dark: Failures of accountability for civilian casualties caused by international military operations in Afghanistan,” examines the record of accountability for civilian deaths caused by international military [...]

A judge for the US District Court Middle District of North Carolina on Friday rejected preliminary relief in the form of an injunction against a new voter law in North Carolina. The law will require voters to show a picture ID at the polls by 2016, but other changes are already in effect and were [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled Thursday that a New Mexico city must remove a Ten Commandments monument placed outside of Bloomfield city hall. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2012 against the city of Bloomfield by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of two [...]