The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in March that the victims of Stanford's $7 billion Ponzi scheme would be allowed to pursue a class action. The trial against Stanford began in January after a judge ruled that he was competent to stand trial, overruling a previous holding [JURIST reports] to the contrary. In February 2011 Stanford accused [JURIST report] several federal agents of having deprived his constitutional rights by using abusive law-enforcement methods. Stanford was first indicted [JURIST report] in 2009.

A similar finding was made in January by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. It expressed concern [JURIST report] over aging prisones becoming the fastest growing group in US prisons. HRW's report [text, PDF] revealed that the cost to effectively house and treat older prisoners is three to nine times higher than those for younger prisoners. Not only the costs are higher but prisons have been deemed to be ineffective to provide the group appropriate housing and medical care. During the same month, the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that California prison officials have failed to protect disabled parolees by not providing them wheelchairs and other mobility assistance devices. In June of last year, California Governor Jerry Brown [official website] submitted [JURIST report] a plan to reduce the state's prison population to comply with US Supreme Court [official website] ruling two months earlier. The Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Plata [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] upheld an order requiring California to release up to 46,000 prisoners because the overcrowding of the state's prison system is causing inmates to receive inadequate medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment [text].

Egypt's transition to a new government after the fall of Mubarak's regime has faced many legal and political obstacles. The Egyptian parliament on Tuesday elected another panel [JURIST report] of 100 delegates to write a new constitution for the country. The election was able to take place when lawmakers finally reached an agreement [JURIST report] on the composition of the constitutional council last week after a controversy over the political balance threatened to halt drafting of a new constitution. Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court in April effectively suspended [JURIST report] the work of the 100-member panel responsible for drafting the country's new constitution after ruling in favor of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the formation of the panel. Egypt's ruling army approved the political isolation law in April after it was passed by parliament [JURIST reports] earlier that month.

Last December, the government of Myanmar announced [JURIST report] that it would allow the NLD to register for 2012 elections. Suu Kyi's party decided to reenter the political forum in November after boycotting 2010 elections in which Suu Kyi was banned from running. The Myanmar Police Force released [JURIST report] Suu Kyi in November 2010 from her almost eight years house arrest. The country became a civil system from its 20-year military regime after holding its first elections in March. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] welcomed the release of hundreds of political prisoners in October of last year while calling [JURIST reports] the country to free the remaining prisoners as well. A month earlier Myanmar formed [JURIST report] the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) to promote and safeguard the country's constitutional rights.

In May, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC rejected [JURIST report] the prosecution's application for an arrest warrant [text, PDF] against Mudacumura because the application failed to state any "specific reference to the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court" that is required under articles 58(2)(b)(c) and (3)(b)(c) [texts] of the Rome Statute [text]. The court also noted that the listing of Mudacumura's alleged crimes was not enough to satisfy the specificity requirement of the Rome Statute because the prosecution had failed to support the allegations with facts underlying those crimes. The rejection came a day after the Appeals Chamber of the ICC upheld [JURIST report] the pre-trial chamber's decision that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to try Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana [ICC materials]. Mbarushimana was accused of having relations to the murder, rape and torture of Congolese villagers by Hutu militia in 2009.

The victims filed a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] in March 2011. The suit was brought on behalf of all individuals who were subjected to experimentation in Guatemala or were infected to be used as vehicles to infect test subjects for the venereal disease experiments. The complaint alleges that the PHS conducted the human medical experiments in Guatemala to test whether penicillin could also be used as a prophylaxis immediately following exposure to the syphilis bacteria. The plaintiffs sought relief under the Alien Tort Statute [28 USC § 1350], the Fifth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment [materials]. Evidence of the PHS program [report] was discovered by Professor Susan Reverby [academic profile]. US President Barack Obama [official website] apologized [BBC report] to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom for the testing. Reverby's study shows that the PHS infected more than 700 people in Guatemala with syphilis and gonorrhea. The patients were prisoners and people suffering from mental health problems and were unaware they were being tested.

The en banc decision is similar to the decision of a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit that was delivered [JURIST report] in October 2010. The panel struck down the portion of an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration and held that the state law was inconsistent with the NVRA while upholding the requirement of showing proof of identification before casting a ballot. The panel's decision closely resembles the Supreme Court's October 2006 decision [JURIST report] in which it held that Arizona can enforce the law requiring voters to show government-issued ID cards at the polls. It concluded that the law would not necessarily result in the turning away of qualified, registered voters by election officials for lack of proper identification. The Supreme Court had upheld similar laws in other states. In April 2008, the court let stand [JURIST report] Indiana's controversial voter identification statute requiring voters to present photo identification as a prerequisite to voting. It held that such requirement did not place an undue burden on voters and thus, did not violate the US Constitution.

The victims of the alleged torture and international law violations in this case filed their supplemental brief [JURIST report] in the Supreme Court Monday, arguing that the ATS is not limited to torts that occur in the US. While accepting that international law is the proper authority to define human rights violations, the petitioners, Nigerian plaintiffs suing foreign-based oil companies, argued in February that domestic US common law should fill in the blank in ATS over who could actually be sued for such atrocities. The US government originally sided with the petitioners, with Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler providing the additional argument that international law does not independently foreclose foreign corporate liability the way that it immunizes a foreign government from liability for official wrongdoings. The government's new brief still supports this position but argues that the courts should only accept limited foreign lawsuits. The respondent oil companies argued that international law is wholly controlling in such a situation and that domestic US common law has no bearing on the proceedings. Respondents pressed the fact that not only does international law not recognize corporate responsibility for the alleged offenses, but the world community has never recognized corporate liability for the misdeeds of individuals.

The army crackdown has been targeting towns and villages seen as opposition strongholds. In most of the places visited by Amnesty International, soldiers had deliberately and unlawfully killed (extrajudicially executed) civilians not involved in any fighting, as well as armed opposition fighters who had been captured or were otherwise hors de combat—having surrendered or been captured or wounded. They had deliberately, wantonly and systematically destroyed homes, shops, medical facilities and other property. They had indiscriminately fired bullets and shells in civilian residential areas. They had prevented injured people from receiving life-saving medical treatment. They had tortured most of those they detained - sometimes to death - and subjected others to enforced disappearance.

Earlier this month, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic had already voiced his concern [JURIST report] that the violence in Syria amounts to crimes against humanity. He addressed the General Assembly on behalf of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official website] to urge the international community to convince both the Syrian government and the armed forces to cease their violence and ongoing human rights violations. Syria has been attacked for its human rights violations especially in the wake of last month's Houla incident that killed more than 100 people, including women and children. Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council [official website] approved [JURIST report] in a 41-3 vote a resolution blaming "pro-regime elements" and government troops for the massacre in Houla. On the same day, the Syrian government released [JURIST report] more than 500 prisoners detained during pro-democracy demonstrations. The release of "arbitrarily detained persons" was a key point in the six-point plan which was supposed to begin on April 12 but has not yet been successfully executed despite a resolution approved [JURIST report] by the UN Security Council to send 300 unarmed soldiers and other civilian aid for 90 days to supervise the implementation of the plan. In May, a three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a report claiming that the Syrian security forces are predominantly responsible for the violence in the country.

Libya is still attempting to recover from the effects of its months-long conflict [JURIST backgrounder] and the fall of Gaddafi's regime. While the country is in the process of bringing the parties responsible to justice, it is still facing criticism for numerous human rights violations. Last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] postponed [JURIST report] the transfer of Gaddafi's son, Safi al-Islam Gaddafi [BBC profile], to the ICC's jurisdiction after the Libyan government challenged the admissibility of the case in the ICC. On the same day, the Libyan government began its prosecutions [JURIST report] of various senior officials who had served Gaddafi. Among them is Libya's ex-intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who faces charges [JURIST report] of illegally entering the country of Mauritania. In addition to these proceedings, the NTC has faced criticism for enacting laws that opponents claim are not based on the rule of law, such as a law passed [JURIST report] in May that allows police to detain people who are considered "threats to security" for up to two months. In March, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] urged [JURIST report] Libya to investigate into the alleged human rights violations committed during the Libya conflict.

States have struggled to define the rights and responsibilities of the homeless. In April the US Department of Justice [official website] found that ordinances criminalizing homelessness may violate human rights [JURIST report] as well as the Fourth and Eighth Amendments [text]. The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in 2008 that current state laws regarding sex offenders are unconstitutional as applied to homeless people [JURIST report]. The state court determined that the law, which did not permit listing "homeless" as an acceptable address, "[did] not give homeless sexual offenders without a residence address fair notice of how they can comply with the statute's registration requirement." In 2008, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that his administration had reached a settlement [press release' JURIST report] in a long-standing lawsuit over homeless families' right to use shelters throughout the city. The main lawsuit, McCain v. Koch [decision], was initially filed in 1983 by the Legal Aid Society [official website]. As that lawsuit progressed through the court system other complaints were filed, prompting the city to declare a right to shelter [Coalition for the Homeless report, PDF] which was enforced through the court system. The new agreement allowed the City to resume complete control in setting its policy for dealing with its estimated 9,000 homeless families.

In November, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered a special commission [JURIST report] to investigate a report and make recommendations after the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) concluded in a report that Bahraini authorities used excessive force and tortured detained protesters during the pro-democracy demonstrations earlier that year. A Bahrain court in October began hearing the appeals [JURIST report] the 20 convicted medical staff members. They were granted the opportunity for retrial in civilian court earlier that month after their harsh sentences received international criticism. The medics were sentenced in September to terms ranging from five to 10 years [JURIST report] imprisonment for events that occurred at the medical complex.

A similar finding of insufficient intelligence and planning in the flotilla incident had been made in July 2010 when an Israeli military probe concluded [JURIST report] that the Israeli Navy failed to sufficiently consider the possibility that its troops could encounter violent resistance. Numerous investigations into the flotilla raid have been conducted since the incident took place. The UN panel's report was released in early September 2011 finding that Israel had used excessive force during the flotilla incident but the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was lawful. However, few weeks later after conducting numerous interviews with eye-witnesses and viewing other evidence, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] found [JURIST report] that Israel violated several international laws including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Fourth Geneva Convention [texts]. Israel has responded to the report by calling it "biased, politicized and extremist." A month earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry [official website] had announced that it will investigate on its own to the incident and report the results to the UN panel that was appointed [JURIST reports] by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website].

Holder had confirmed [JURIST report] in September 2011 that the Obama administration remained committed to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, despite political opposition. Obama has faced criticism for not closing Guantanamo after issuing an executive order [text, PDF] in January 2009 directing that the military prison be closed [JURIST report] "as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order." However, Congress blocked the executive order and barred the transfer of detainees to the US. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a congressional hearing in February 2011 that Guantanamo Bay is unlikely to be closed [JURIST report] because of security concerns.

Ben Ali has also been sentenced to five years for torturing military officers over an alleged coup plot, 15 years [JURIST reports] on drug and gun charges and another 35 years [Reuters report] on theft and unlawful possession of jewelry charges. Ben Ali fled Tunisia to Saudi Arabia in January 2011 during protests against his 23-year autocratic rule in which his family amassed substantial wealth [Reuters report] that many Tunisians say was at their expense. Ben Ali has indicated that he was "duped" into leaving [AFP report] the capital Tunis, according to a statement released through his lawyer. He said that he was trying to get his family out of the country after assassination threats and that the plane left him in Saudi Arabia despite orders to wait for him. Justice Minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi announced in April 2011 that Ben Ali had been charged with 18 offenses [JURIST report].