In June Kenneth Gallant of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law wrote that Taylor's sentencing should have included the provision of reparations for his victims [JURIST op-ed], and that the prosecution ought to raise that issue on appeal. In February Taylor's lawyers asked that the SCSL reopen the case [JURIST report] in light of new evidence, including a report by the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia. His lawyers claimed that the new evidence demonstrated that Taylor was not instrumental in the war crimes committed by rebel forces, but the court declined to reopen the case. The SCSL heard closing arguments [JURIST report] in March 2011. Taylor denied all the charges [JURIST report] against him. His defense lawyers opened their case [JURIST report] in July 2009 and have claimed that he could not have commanded rebel forces in Sierra Leone while acting as the president of Liberia. Taylor's trial continued after the court denied his motion for acquittal [JURIST report] in May 2009.

Lower courts have been split on this issue. In February the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that buccal mouth swabs may be used to extract DNA samples from any adult arrested or charged with a felony in California, thereby upholding a 2004 voter-enacted provision [Proposition 69 materials] of the DNA and Forensic Identification Database and Data Bank Act of 1998 [text]. It also reversed a decision [JURIST report] issued last August by a three-judge panel for the California First District Court of Appeals [official website] holding that DNA samples cannot be taken broadly from any adult arrested or charged with a felony. In January the Minnesota Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a state law requiring the collection of DNA samples by people convicted of crimes does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Circumcision remains a controversial throughout the world. In October California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will prevent local governments from banning [JURIST report] male circumcision. The law was written in response to a ballot measure proposed in San Francisco that would have made male circumcision illegal if the recipient was under the age of 18, with perpetrators penalized by a fine of $1,000 or imprisonment.

This report is intended to canvass some of the more significant trends in reproductive health legislation and highlight some of the most troubling restrictions passed thus far. While the majority of reproductive health legislation enacted this year was restrictive, there were also some positive advances in the form of policies related to maternal health and rights. ... [However, i]n at least 17 states, legislation designed to restrict women's access to reproductive health care and impinge on their constitutional rights has already become law. As the year continues, and more restrictive bills are considered, pro-choice advocates and legislators in several states will have the opportunity to prevent these harmful public health choices from being made in their own states.

Last week the Guttmacher Institute [official website] released a study [JURIST report] detailing how the enactment of numerous anti-abortion laws over the past decade has affected the reproductive rights of American women and created discrepancies among states. The report notes that over the course of 2011 legislators in the 50 states introduced more than 1,100 provisions related to reproductive health and rights, of which 135 new reproductive health provisions were enacted. Also last week CRR and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona [advocacy websites] filed a lawsuit challenging an Arizona law [JURIST reports] that prohibits abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy unless there is a medical emergency. A day earlier the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] extended its initial temporary injunction following a lawsuit [JURIST reports] brought by an abortion clinic, blocking a controversial Mississippi abortion law that was supposed to go in effect at the beginning of this month.

Egypt is still struggling with political unrest since former president Hosni Mubarak [Al Jazeera profile; JURIST news archive] was ousted last year. Earlier this month, Morsi issued a decree [JURIST report] appointing a fact-finding committee to investigate the deaths of protesters in last year's demonstrations. A court struck down [JURIST report] a government decree in June that restored broad arrest powers to Egyptian military officials. Days before its dissolution, the Egyptian parliament elected a new constitutional council after lawmakers finally reached an agreement [JURIST reports] on the political composition of the council. In April the country's Administrative Court effectively suspended [JURIST report] the work of the 100-member council responsible for drafting the country's new constitution after ruling in favor of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the formation of the panel. SCAF has been criticized for its use of violence against protesters in an attempt to suppress opposition of any form. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] reported that SCAF has committed [JURIST report] numerous human rights violations, including abuse of protesters and journalists who voice their dissatisfaction with the government.

For their laws to take effect, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas must receive from the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] Section 5 preclearances [DOJ backgrounder] under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) [materials]. The VRA was enacted to put an end to the systematic disenfranchisement of minority voters that ran rampant in Southern districts in the 1960s. Section 5 relies heavily on patterns of past discrimination to determine which state, county and local governments must obtain preclearance for election changes. Wisconsin's Dane County Circuit Court [official website] struck down that state's voter ID law as unconstitutional in March and again last week [JURIST reports]. The court issued a temporary injunction [JURIST report] barring the law from taking effect, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court [official website] has refused to consider appeals [JURIST report], presently leaving the matter to the Wisconsin Courts of Appeal. The law could go into effect if the rulings are overturned. There are now more than 30 US states [NCSL backgrounder] that require voters to present some form of ID at the polls, including 17 states that have passed laws that require a photo ID.

Ben Ali was already sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the killing of 22 protesters the same day he was sentenced to 20 years [JURIST reports] on charges of inciting violence and murder in connection with the death of four protesters. The two sentences were added to previous sentences amounting to 55 years in prison including 15 years for drug and gun charges and 35 years [JURIST reports] on charges of theft and unlawful possession of money and jewelry. The court decided to sentence the former president rather than punishing to death as the prosecution initially sought. In April, the country's military appeals court upheld [JURIST report] the convictions against the former president for torturing military officers over an alleged coup plot in 1991. In January a military court started its trial against Ben Ali focusing on who ordered snipers to kill 41 protesters during last year's revolution. Ben Ali had denied [JURIST report] all charges brought against him.

Earlier this week at an informal meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, Pillay urged member states to consider proposals to strengthen the world's human rights treaty body system [JURIST report]. She had made the same call in June to the international community to strengthen the treaty body system, stating it was in crisis in that the human rights treaty body system has doubled in size since 2004 while the resources needed to maintain the system stayed the same. Pillay recommended several measures to help face the challenges and strengthen the complex system, such as the creation of a reporting calendar. She also noted that one of the main key factors is the increase of visibility of and accessibility to these treaty bodies. In March, while addressing [JURIST report] enforced disappearances' effect on women and children, Pillay stated that the system has a significant influence on the enjoyment of human rights across the globe, but while the system has grown exponentially human and financial resources have failed to grow with it.

My Office has been following the situation in Mali very closely since violence erupted there around 17 January 2012. On 24 April, as instances of killings, abductions, rapes and conscription of children were reported by several sources, I reminded all actors of ICC jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on the territory of Mali or by Malian nationals. On 1 July, I stressed that the deliberate destruction of the shrines of Muslim saints in the city of Timbuktu may constitute a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.

Malian Justice Minister Malick Coulibaly said last week that he would ask the ICC to open an investigation [JURIST report]. In May Amnesty International reported that Mali is facing its worst human rights crisis [JURIST report] since it gained independence in 1960. Human Rights Watch released a similar report in April claiming that all sides to the conflict are committing war crimes [JURIST report]. Earlier in April the ICC said they would monitor the situation [JURIST report] in Mali for potential crimes under the ICC's jurisdiction. All of this has come after Malian soldiers took control of the government [JURIST report] and suspended the constitution in March. Many in the international community have expressed concern over the situation, including the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [JURIST reports]. The turmoil began when Taureg rebels attacked Malian soldiers [Al Jazeera report].

Violence against women remains an issue around the world. Last week Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] submitted a briefing [report, PDF] to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women [official website] detailing the failure of the Mexican government [JURIST report] to protect women from torture, killings, sexual violence and other ill-treatment. AI had reported that the violence increased rather than declined, especially the incidence of murder. During the same week, Women Under Siege [advocacy website] reported 81 instances of sexual assault [JURIST report] and rape by military forces in Syria since anti-government demonstrations began in March 2011. In June Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported that Syrian forces are sexually abusing [JURIST report] men, women and children who have been detained during the ongoing conflict. HRW also called on the Afghanistan government in March to release women and girls [JURIST report] who were imprisoned for "moral crimes" such as flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence and "zina," which is sex outside of marriage due to rape or forced prostitution. In January, a UN expert on violence against women urged Italy [JURIST report] to stop the violence against women. The US has also been criticized [JURIST report] for its continued prevalence of violence and discriminatory treatment of women by Manjoo. In March 2011 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] called on Tunisia and Egypt [JURIST report] to ensure the protection of women's rights guaranteed by their constitutions.

Last week a federal judge rejected a motion by BOA to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit [JURIST report] alleging BOA's purposeful concealment of the bank's exposure to billions of dollars in loan repurchase claims and its problematic reliance on an electronic loan registry. In 2009 the US Treasury Department [official website] issued a series of rules to restrict executive compensation [JURIST report] for firms that had accepted special assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) [text]. As such, BOA executives had a strong motivation to repay the $45 billion in federal bailout funds the bank had borrowed, the funds for which they raised through an unusual stock offering. Plaintiffs claim that executives concealed BOA's exposure to billions of dollars in repurchase claims to ensure the offering's success, enabling repayment of the TARP funds and freeing the company from the federally imposed executive pay restrictions. In December BOA reached a $315 million settlement of claims brought by investors alleging they were misled with respect to mortgage-backed investments, and a $335 million settlement [JURIST reports] with the Department of Justice, relating to discriminatory lending practices. In June 2011 BOA announced an $8.5 billion settlement [JURIST report] agreement arising from claims that it had sold bad securities that contributed to the housing market collapse.

This bill is viewed by critics as being part of a continuing effort to crackdown on the freedom of speech and assembly in Russia. Earlier this month the State Duma approved [JURIST report] the third reading of a controversial Internet regulation bill. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia had shut down its site [JURIST report] on earlier this month in a one-day protest of the legislation, which it said in an article "may become the basis for real censorship on the internet." In June Putin signed into law a controversial bill which greatly increases penalties for protesters [JURIST report] who violate demonstration regulations. Critics of the bill stated that the new penalties, which included a 150-fold increase in the fine for participating in an unsanctioned rally, were draconian. In May prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekeyev became the first to be convicted [JURIST report] under a St. Petersburg city ordinance that prohibits the spreading "homosexual propaganda" to minors. People who oppose the new law, which was introduced in November and signed into law [JURIST reports] in April, claim it will prevent gay rights groups from being able to assemble in public.