Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday expressed concern about Algerian authorities suppressing demonstrations in the weeks leading up to the Algerian elections. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is running for a fourth term, and the crackdown on protests appears to focus on demonstrators opposing Bouteflika’s election to a fourth five-year term. Demonstrations in Algeria’s capital city, [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Joseph J. Vacek of the University of North Dakota School of Aerospace Sciences argues that the recent decision by an Administrative Law Judge of the NTSB that struck down the FAA’s ban on the commercial use of drones for procedural reasons raises a larger issue concerning the FAA’s authority to regulate low-altitude, [...]
El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Sunday confirmed the presidential victory of former Marxist rebel Salvador Sanchez Ceren, denying conservative candidate Norman Quijano’s call for annulment. Sanchez Ceren received a narrow 50.11 percent of the votes in the run-off election, making him the nation’s first ex-rebel to serve as president. Based on the court’s findings, [...]
The admitted mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed , on Sunday gave a statement in defense of Sulaiman abu Ghaith, claiming that Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law had no involvement in al Qaeda’s military activities. Mohammed stated that abu Ghaith did not provide support to the terrorists, but rather served as a visiting [...]
The environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace International on Monday filed a lawsuit against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of the Arctic 30 , a group of Greenpeace activists who spent two months in a Russian jail following a peaceful protest against drilling in the Arctic. Greenpeace is requesting “just compensation” for [...]
The England and Wales High Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS) challenging planned government cuts to legal aid for prisoners. The charitable organizations challenged the legal aid cuts , which were enacted in December, on the grounds that it would undermine prisoners’ [...]
Egyptian prosecutor Moumin Salman on Monday referred Abdullah Morsi, youngest son of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, to trial on allegations of drug use and possession. Officers say that two rolled hashish cigarettes were found in the car of the university freshman, who was arrested on March 1 with a friend. A urine test given to [...]
Chairperson of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea Michael Kirby on Monday compared the alleged crimes of the North Korean regime to those of Nazism, apartheid and the Khmer Rouge. In February UN human rights investigators released a 372-page report detailing allegations of widespread crimes against humanity in North [...]
The Crimean parliament on Monday formally declared the region independent and asked to join the Russian Federation following a vote to secede from Ukraine. The US and EU have called the vote illegal , and the EU stated that the vote’s outcome would not be recognized . The US on Monday announced sanctions against seven [...]
Sri Lankan authorities on Sunday arrested human rights activists Ruki Fernando, advisor to the Human Rights Documentation Center, and Catholic priest Father Praveen of the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation for alleged violations of anti-terror laws. Reports indicate authorities arrested the activists for assisting the families of allegedly “disappeared” persons living in Northern Sri [...]
