At the end of October, Egyptian Prosecutor-General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud ordered an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations of forgery during the recent presidential elections. The order came after former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq alleged that ballots were forged and votes were bought by Morsi. Shafiq is one of the many former politicians under Mubarak's regime who are facing corruption charges. In August the former secretary for Mubarak's political party, Safwat El-Sherif, was referred to a criminal court [JURIST report] on corruption charges. He was accused of having abused his office by obtaining real estate at discounted prices and illegally obtaining USD $49.2 million. In July an Egyptian court rejected pleas to release [JURIST report] Mubarak's two sons while they await trial. Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, along with seven others, were charged [JURIST report] with stock market fraud and using unfair trading practices and illegally manipulating the market. In June Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life [JURIST report] after an Egyptian court found him guilty of complicity to kill protesters during the Arab Spring protests [JURIST backgrounder]. During the protests that resulted in the overturning of Mubarak's 30-year regime, Mubarak ordered government officials to use gunfire and other violent measures to subdue protesters, causing more than 840 deaths [JURIST report]. Mubarak's trial ended [JURIST report] in February with the chief prosecutor asking the court in his closing remarks to issue a death sentence against the former ruler.

Kosovo was recognized as an independent state by the US and several major EU countries in February 2008, and the EULEX has been investigating war crimes [JURIST reports] since December 2008. Last year the EULEX sentenced a former ethnic Albanian rebel fighter [JURIST report] to five years in prison for crimes committed against civilians during the war in Kosovo. Also last year the EULEX charged 10 former members [JURIST report] of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), including Limaj, with war crimes.

Russia has been cracking down on political dissent recently. On Tuesday Russia's new NGO law went into effect [JURIST report]. The new law requires NGOs that are financed from abroad to register as "foreign agents," a move that critics have said is an attempt to discredit NGOs. Three weeks ago Russia implemented a new Internet regulation law [JURIST report] that gives the Russian government the ability to completely block access to certain websites. Earlier in November Russia's parliament passed a bill to increase the penalties for treason [JURIST report]. In October Russia freed one member of the controversial feminist rock collective Pussy Riot [RASPI backgrounder; JURIST news archive] but upheld prison sentences for the two other band members [JURIST report].

As a member of the International Whaling Commission, New Zealand has an interest in ensuring that the IWC works effectively and that the Whaling Convention is properly interpreted and applied. ... New Zealand has worked hard with Japan for over three years to try and find a permanent solution to whaling in the Southern Ocean. The government will continue to use all avenues possible to try to bring a halt to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Japan's whaling program remains extremely controversial. Australia initiated proceedings against Japan [JURIST report] in May 2010. In July 2010 a Japanese court convicted New Zealand anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune on charges of assault, trespass, destruction of property, illegal possession of a weapon and obstruction of business for boarding a Japanese whaling vessel [JURIST reports] as part of an anti-whaling protest in January of that year. Berthune, who called the charges "bogus," was extradited to New Zealand, and he will not serve prison time unless he returns to Japan. Commercial whaling has been banned by the International Whaling Commission since 1986.