The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore, Pakistan sentenced Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, leader of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to five years in prison for terror financing on Friday. The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested Lakhvi on January 2, 2021 for running a medical dispensary to collect and disburse funds for terrorist activities. The ATC [...]

Indonesia released Abu Bakar Bashir, the leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), from prison on Friday. Bashir is responsible for orchestrating a terrorist attack that killed 202 people in Bali in 2002.  JI allegedly has a connection with Al-Qaeda and both groups were responsible for the 2002 bombings. JI is also responsible for a [...]

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Thursday that plaintiffs cannot recover punitive damages from the state when a law enforcement officer uses excessive force. Punitive damages are awarded as a way to punish the defendant and to deter that same conduct in the future. The Iowa Tort Claims Act (ITCA) prohibits an award of punitive damages [...]

President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye Thursday pardoned  four journalists who were imprisoned for “attempting to undermine state security.” The Head of the Information and Communications Division for the Office of the President, Willy Nyamitwe, tweeted Thursday that Ndayishimiye “has favorably responded” to a letter from journalists Agnès Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi, Egide Harerimana, and Térence Mpozenzi requesting a [...]

President Trump announced 26 new pardons on Wednesday, including full pardons for his longtime ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairperson Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, the father of White House senior advisor Jared Kushner. The US Department of Justice in November 2019 found Roger Stone guilty of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of [...]

Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, has expressed dismay at China’s treatment of human rights defenders and lawyers, claiming they continue to be charged, detained and tortured under the guise of national security concerns. “Since the so-called ‘709 crackdown’ began on July 9, 2015, the profession of human [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is detaining hundreds of migrants, mainly Ethiopian, in degrading conditions at a deportation center in Riyadh. Migrants alleged to HRW that authorities are keeping them in overcrowded rooms for extended periods. Migrants also alleged that guards have beaten and tortured them with rubber-coated metal rods, which has [...]

Iran’s Guardian Council approved a bill on Wednesday that would increase uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of nuclear sites, measures that go against the 2015 nuclear deal, if sanctions are not eased against Iran within two months. The new bill comes from the Iran parliament after the killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Iran blames [...]

The US Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in Edwards v. Vannoy on whether the Supreme Court’s prior decision in Ramos v. Louisiana applies retroactively to cases on federal collateral review. The Supreme Court held in Ramos earlier this year that criminal defendants have a right to a unanimous jury verdict in state criminal trials under [...]

Malaysia lawmaker Chin Foon Hing on Tuesday called on the government to do more to stop online hate speech in light of a Reuters report that shows hate speech on Facebook incited violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar. Hing questioned the government for their plan to curb anti-migrant hate speech and sentiment on [...]