Search Results for: secret prison

Civil action and criminal prosecution are the two great substitutes invented by law to replace revenge, a deeply wired instinct among humans expressed in a Mesopotamian maxim, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In Pakistan, most ironically, civil litigation and criminal prosecution have become the revenge instrument, particularly among ruling elites fighting [...]

Chinese authorities Monday sentenced two of the country’s most prominent human rights activists to prison for the crime of “subversion of state power.” Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced in a court in Shandong province to 14 years and 12 years in prison, respectively. Senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch Yaqiu Wang called [...]

Investigators from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Friday formally charged Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Evan Gershkovich with espionage. Nevertheless, Gershkovich and WSJ continue to deny the charges and maintain the American reporter’s innocence. Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich on March 29 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Since then, Gershkovich has been kept in a Russian detention [...]

A Cambodian court Friday sentenced leading opposition figure Kem Sokha to 27 years in prison for treason. Sokha was accused of developing a “secret plan” in cooperation with foreign organizations to overthrow Hun Sen’s government and was previously arrested in 2017 during a midnight raid involving hundreds of security personnel. The accusations against him have been [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday reversed a lower court’s decision allowing the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to withhold the names of its pentobarbital suppliers. BOP withheld the names of the pentobarbital suppliers, claiming justification under Exemption 4 of FOIA, which allows the government to withhold confidential commercial [...]

It’s become increasingly clear that Australia could be in breach of its human rights commitments as reports of mistreatment continue to emerge from youth detention centers in Western Australia. On January 12, a class action involving more than 500 young children and adults who have been held in Western Australia’s Banksia Hill detention center was [...]

A Myanmar court Friday sentenced former leader of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi to another seven years of prison on charges of corruption. Suu Kyi’s total prison sentence now stands at 33 years. Suu Kyi’s trial took place entirely behind closed doors in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. The five counts of corruption alleged that Suu Kyi abused [...]

Hong Kong’s Court of Appeals Monday dismissed a bid by prosecutors to prevent Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media entrepreneur charged with violating the controversial National Security Law (NSL), from having a UK barrister on his legal defense team. In October, Lai pleaded not guilty on NSL collusion charges. Under the NSL, a jury trial can [...]

The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Monday proposed a 13-point plan to close Guantánamo Bay prison. Co-chairs Claire Finkelstein and Harvey Rishikof complied a diverse analysis of the prison to create a proposal that is both comprehensive and nonpartisan. Among the report’s 13 recommendations are a proposal [...]

“What does not benefit the entire hive is no benefit to the bee.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations There are many reasons to fear Donald J. Trump’s return to the American White House, but one reason remains especially worrisome. It stems from the former president’s explicit recommitments to “America First.” A previously failed foreign policy orientation, [...]