Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed Senate Bill 1 into law on Tuesday placing further restrictions on voting in the state. Before Abbot signed what he refers to as the “Election Integrity Protection Act,” he said: “We must have trust and confidence in our elections. The bill that I am about to sign helps to achieve [...]

Syrian refugees who returned to Syria after seeking refuge in another country have been tortured, raped and taken away by Syrian security forces, according to a report published on Tuesday by Amnesty International, The report, titled “You’re Going to Your Death,” documents 24 instances of violence or arbitrary detention against Syrian refugees who returned to [...]

The Minsk Regional Court on Monday sentenced Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass street protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year and a top member of the opposition Coordination Council, to 11 years in prison. Kolesnikova was accused and found guilty of a conspiracy committed with the aim of seizing state power [...]

Tanzanian officials on Sunday suspended another newspaper accused of false stories, despite President Samia Suluhu Hassan pledging to uphold the media freedoms that had been revoked by her predecessor, the late John Pombe Magufuli. The newspaper, Raia Mwema (which translates to Good Citizen), is a leading weekly Swahili newspaper that has been suspended for 30 [...]

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blocked the assets of four Iranian intelligence officials on Friday. The move bars US persons or individuals within the US from “dealings … that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.” The move also warns that non-US persons [...]

JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Myanmar law students are reporting for JURIST on challenges to the rule of law in their country under the military junta that deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding this law student’s name and institutional affiliation. The text has been [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday that it would not tolerate violence against those who are trying to obtain or to provide reproductive health services, after a Texas law banning abortions as early as six weeks into the pregnancy took effect on September 1.  Senate Bill 8 (SB8), signed by Governor Greg Abbott in May, will [...]

El Salvador’s Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ruled Friday that the country’s president can serve two consecutive terms.  The ruling was made by judges who were appointed by lawmakers in May from incumbent President Nayib Bukele’s party. The previous justices had been removed by El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly. UN High Commissioner for [...]

The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Friday blocked a lower court order that would restore voting rights to more than 55,000 North Carolinians on parole or probation for a felony. In 2019, several nonprofit groups, including the Community Success Initiative (CSI), challenged the North Carolina law that barred convicted felons from voting until their [...]

JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a law student in Kabul offers his latest observations and perspective. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding his name and institutional affiliation. The text has been only lightly [...]