The Civil Court of Thailand on Wednesday ruled that orders targeting anti-government protesters from the Prime Minister and a Special Security Command Center under the special security law known as the Internal Security Act were unconstitutional, violating the protesters’ constitutional rights. In addition to ruling on the constitutionality of the special orders, the court upheld [...]
A UK court on Wednesday rejected a challenge lodged by Brazilian journalist David Miranda, who was detained and questioned by UK authorities in an airport for possessing classified documents leaked by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden . Miranda, a partner of The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, reportedly alleged that UK authorities [...]
A court in Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday sentenced former Rwandan mayor Onesphore Rwabukombe,to 14 years in prison for his role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide . Rwabukombe was convicted of ordering the April 11, 1994, massacre of between 400 and 1200 ethnic Tutsis who had taken refuge from ethnic violence in a church in Kiziguro, [...]
The FBI on Tuesday released preliminary crime statistics indicating declines in reported violent crimes and property crimes in the US. The statistics are based upon data collected during the first six months of 2013 submitted by nearly 13,000 federal and state law enforcement agencies around the nation. According to the FBI, the numbers indicate that [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday said there can no longer be any excuses for inaction in North Korea following the release of a 372-page report documenting widespread crimes against humanity. Pillay referred to the acts committed in North Korea as so atrocious as to not have any parallel in the [...]
A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday warned against recent amendments to Libya’s penal code. Law No. 5 of 2014 imposes prison sentences on any individual “undermining the February 17 revolution” and for “publicly insulting one of the legislative, executive or judicial authorities.” Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani [...]
Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Tuesday approved legislation to heighten Internet restrictions, granting the country’s telecommunications authority the ability to block websites or remove content without the court’s approval. While Gul and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continue to reaffirm the law’s purpose of protecting online privacy, many have waged harsh criticism against the [...]
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Tuesday held that law enforcement must typically obtain a warrant before using a criminal suspect’s cell phone data to track his movements. Plaintiff in the case, Shabazz Augustine, was a suspect in the 2004 homicide of his girlfriend. Augustine was arrested after police obtained his cell phone records [...]
A panel of five judges for the UK Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that UK laws do allow for whole life prison sentences, despite a July European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling finding whole life sentences violate human rights, unless there is a system that requires parole review. In Tuesday’s ruling, the court extended [...]
Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Agency on Tuesday formally charged Prime Minister Yingluck Sinawatra with neglect of duty relating to management of the country’s multi-billion dollar rice-subsidy program. The charges allege that Shinawatra failed to adequately address reports of corruption in the allocation of the subsidies, at a large financial cost to the state. The agency has [...]
