The District Court of Hong Kong sentenced Portuguese national and former president of the now-dissolved Hong Kong Independence Party Joseph John on Thursday to five years in prison for conspiring to incite others to commit secession under the China-imposed National Security Law. John is the first European citizen jailed under the law. John was convicted [...]

The District Court of Hong Kong sentenced Hong Kong accountant Jacky Ho Tsan-kei on Wednesday to 33 months in prison on rioting charges. This is the first time an individual not a part of the white-shirted group that conducted the Yuen Long mob attack on July 21, 2019 has been sentenced in connection with the [...]

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak filed a judicial review application to the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday seeking an addendum order from former King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, according to reports from local media. The order would allow Najib to serve his six-year sentence under house arrest. Najib claimed in his [...]

The Constitutional Court of Thailand said Wednesday it accepted the Election Commission’s petition to rule on whether the opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) should be dissolved for proposing to amend the country’s royal insult law, which is also known as the “lèse-majesté” law. The MFP proposed to reduce sentences of lèse-majesté violations under Section 112 of [...]

The Royal Bahamas Police Force announced on Thursday that they are investigating a shooting incident that killed former Bahamian parliamentarian and deputy chairman of the Free National Movement Party Donald Saunders. According to the police, the shooting occurred before 9:00 PM local time on Wednesday in Gambier Village. Saunders was seated outside a business establishment [...]

Head of INTERPOL Jürgen Stock expressed concerns over the expansion of organized Southeast Asian crime rings of human trafficking-based cyber fraud into a global human trafficking crisis. Stock said on Wednesday that the global human trafficking crisis has millions of victims. Its global network makes up to 3 trillion Singapore dollars a year. According to [...]

A European Commission spokesman expressed regret to Reuters on Thursday over Slovakia dissolving its Special Prosecutor’s Office without safeguards to ensure the continuity of effective investigations in the country. The spokesman said that the dissolution of the office would potentially undermine the effectiveness of investigations. The office was officially dissolved on March 20 after its dissolution [...]

UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews warned on Wednesday that Myanmar’s ruling military junta escalated violence against civilians in response to resistance victories by pro-democracy and ethnic armed groups. He wrote last week that the junta escalated aerial attacks on villages, obstructed humanitarian aid and announced plans to conscript youths into the military. According to Andrews, [...]

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council waived the 12-day prior notice requirement under the Notice of Motions and Amendments to resume the second reading of the new local national security bill upon Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang’s request in a letter to the Legislative Council’s House Committee on Friday. The Notice of Motions and Amendment authorizes [...]

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance upheld pro-democracy activists Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong’s convictions of failing to comply with notice to provide information under Article 43 of the China-imposed National Security Law. Schedule 5 of the Implementation Rules of Article 43 states that the Commissioner of Police may serve a notice [...]