The Supreme Court of India has issued notice on a petition challenging the so-called “love jihad” laws made by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand but refused to stay the controversial legislations. The petition was filed by Citizens for Justice and Peace, a non-governmental organisation. Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices V [...]
A court in Vietnam on Tuesday sentenced three freelance journalists known for their criticism of the government to between 11 and 15 years in prison. The three, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan are prominent members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), a politically independent journalist organization. Dung [...]
An Algerian military appeals court on Saturday acquitted three top officials who were jailed in 2019 during mass protests. On trial was Said Bouteflika, brother of the country’s longtime former leader, and two ex-intelligence chiefs, General Mohamed Lamine Mediene and his former right hand General Athmane Tartag. Also on trial was Louisa Hanoune, who had [...]
More than 100 retired bureaucrats and diplomats urged the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to repeal a new law that criminalizes forced religious conversion of brides on Tuesday, warning that it risks fueling communal tensions. Demanding withdrawal of the “illegal” ordinance and suitable compensation for those booked under it, the letter [...]
Argentina’s Senate on Wednesday passed a law legalizing abortion after a marathon 12-hour session, a victory for the country’s women’s movement that has been fighting for the right for decades. In addition to allowing abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, the legislation establishes that even after that period, a pregnancy can be legally [...]
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for “disseminating sacrilegious content” through their platforms. According to the authority, these websites are hosting misleading content about the present khalifa (spiritual head) of Islam. The searches on these platforms show the current leader of the Ahmadiyya community as the “present khalifa [...]
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday commended the Republic of Chad for adopting its first asylum law to enhance protection for close to 480,000 refugees currently hosted in the country. Chad has one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. At present, it hosts more than 915,000 refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced [...]
Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, was convicted Wednesday on charges of terrorism in Turkey and sentenced in absentia. The Istanbul court convicted Dündar of aiding an armed terrorist organization and espionage. It sentenced him in absentia to 27 years and six months in prison. Dündar was first sentenced to five years [...]
The Chilean Senate unanimously approved a bill to reserve 17 of its 155 seats for indigenous communities in its upcoming constitutional convention. The bill provides a fixed number of seats for representatives of certain indigenous communities in the country. Mapuche, the largest indigenous group, will enjoy seven seats. The Senate did not reserve seats for [...]
UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Michele Bachelet Friday condemned ongoing human rights violations in Belarus and called on the government of that country to release imprisoned protestors. Mass protests erupted in August after President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner for a sixth term in a disputed election. Since then, police have cracked down [...]
