UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Monday called for an international investigation into possible war crimes committed by both sides during the 25-year Sri Lankan civil war that ended in May 2009. Citing an alleged failure of domestic authorities to properly investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes, Pillay reportedly stated that an [...]
Gay rights and HIV activist Paul Kasonkomona was acquitted Tuesday by the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court of charges of encouraging homosexuality. Kasonkomona, a well-known activist for LGBT rights in highly-conservative Zambia, where homosexuality is illegal, was arrested in April 2013 after speaking out on a television program for “soliciting in a public place for immoral purposes.” [...]
Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation , on Monday dismissed the convictions of five Italian agents related to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) abduction and extraordinary rendition of Egyptian cleric and terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr . The five agents included the former chief of Italy’s SISMI Intelligence service , Nicolo Pollari, [...]
The Commonwealth of Virginia on Monday filed a notice of appeal of a recent ruling overturning the state’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit . The amendment was struck down as unconstitutional in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by federal judge [...]
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a measure into law Monday expanding the reasons for which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can be subject to unscheduled audits, or “snap inspections.” These reasons include allegations of extremism and suspected violations of the law, and the inspections may be ordered by the heads of authorized agencies, or requested by prosecutors [...]
Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat on Monday referred 504 members of the Muslim Brotherhood for a mass trial. The members are accused of a variety of crimes stemming from the Day of Rage clashes on August 16, which resulted in 95 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The Muslim Brotherhood was banned by the Egyptian government [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday condemned the recent escalating violence in Thailand and called for a cessation of violence, asking the government to bring all responsible parties to justice. Additionally, the Secretary-General urged all parties involved to respect human rights, and to communicate openly in order to advance reform. He offered his readiness to [...]
A Russian court on Monday sentenced seven anti-Putin protesters to up to four years in prison for rioting and inciting violence against police at a 2012 protest. The protesters were arrested the night before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration to his third term as president. At the protest in 2012, police cut off access to the public [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on the federal government’s power to regulate certain greenhouse gases. In United Air Regulatory Group v. EPA , which was consolidated with six other cases, the court has limited the grant of review to the following issue: Whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permissibly determined that its [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear rule on three new petitions that address the scope of the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The Supreme Court denied the petitions , two of which were filed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) , without opinion. In NRA v. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms , the [...]
