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Bahrain officials charge Shiite opposition leaders over alleged coup plot
Prosecutors in Bahrain on Saturday charged 23 Shiite Muslims with terrorism-related offenses and conspiring to overthrow the government, claiming that they were acting under the direction of an unnamed foreign government. The suspects, who have bee (More) |
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Rights group urges Bahrain to investigate torture allegations
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Wednesday on Bahraini authorities to make a prompt investigation into torture allegations made by four Shia activists who have been detained for more than two weeks. On August 27, after 15 days of solitary confineme (More) |
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UN rights chief urges Gulf countries to respect human rights
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Monday encouraged the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [official website, in Arabic; GlobalSecurity backgrounder] states to address continuing rights issues , including women's rights, trea (More) |
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Bahrain using torture to extract confessions: HRW
The government of Bahrain has reverted to using torture to gain confessions from detainees after a decade of reform banning such practices, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW conducted interviews with 20 former (More) |
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Human rights continuing to deteriorate in Arab region: Cairo group report
Human rights conditions in 12 Arab nations continued to deteriorate last year, according to a report [text, PDF, in Arabic; synopsis, PDF] issued Tuesday by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) . The publication, entitled "Basti (More) |
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Qatar's new supreme court has potential to force modernization of legal system
Louay Bahry [Professor of Political Science, University of Tennessee]: "The new Supreme Constitutional Court in Qatar, established by Law No. 12 of 2008 was supposed to start functioning on October 1, 2008, but was postponed for "administra (More) |
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Law at Sea: Challenges Facing Japan's Anti-piracy Mission
JURIST Guest Columnists Hitoshi Nasu and Donald Rothwell of the ANU College of Law, Australian National University, say that while Japan's proactive approach towards fighting maritime piracy marks a significant step in its rehabilitation as a glo (More) |
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US State Department releases annual rights reports
The US State Department (DOS) on Wednesday released its 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices . Announcing the release [Flash video; statement text], Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the new Barack Obama administration is seeki (More) |
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Human rights conditions worsening in Arab region: report
Human rights conditions are worsening in 12 Arab nations, according to a report [text, PDF, in Arabic; synopsis, PDF] published Friday by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) . The publication, which is the group's first annual r (More) |
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Guantanamo interviews may have been recorded
Meetings between Guantanamo Bay detainees and representatives of their governments may have been recorded, according to a Tuesday Washington Post report . In 2002 and 2003, the US State Department advised foreign delegations that their meetings wo (More) |
Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance
On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools.
The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was more recently the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life offers more Pledge of Allegiance resources.
