Amnesty International stated on Wednesday that a Tunisian appeals court upheld and in fact lengthened prison sentences for Ennahda party leaders in the “Conspiracy against State Security 2” case. Amnesty International emphasized that this verdict, which was handed down on Monday, demonstrates the continued use of the judiciary to crack down on the country’s political [...]

READ MORE
Fibonacci Blue, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A US federal judge in Oregon issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday that limits when federal officers can use tear gas and other less-lethal force against protesters who assembled near a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon. The lawsuit was filed by protesters and freelance journalists represented by the American Civil [...]

READ MORE
Thomas Kirchel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A South Carolina Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee on Tuesday held an hours-long public hearing on legislation that would significantly expand abortion restrictions in the state. The bill remains stalled in committee following the hearing, with no vote to advance it to the full Senate. Senate Bill 323, titled the “Unborn Child Protection Act”, would make [...]

READ MORE
Airman 1st Class Tra'Vonna Hawkins, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Tennessee court on Thursday granted a temporary injunction restraining state officials from continuing the deployment of Tennessee National Guard personnel to Memphis. A group of Shelby County and Memphis officials brought the case, arguing that the deployment violates Tennessee’s Military Code by bypassing the statutory conditions required for activating state militia forces. The deployment [...]

READ MORE
Marincyclist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A US federal judge on Friday issued a broad preliminary injunction expanding on her earlier order restoring more than $500 million in federal research grants to UCLA. The new ruling blocks the federal government from using a broader “Task Force Policy” to pressure the entire University of California (UC) system with funding suspensions and coercive [...]

READ MORE

Amnesty International and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) released on Thursday more than 2,700 New York Police Department (NYPD) documents obtained after a five-year lawsuit. The groups say that the documents reveal extensive and discriminatory surveillance practices. The records, ordered to be disclosed by a New York state court in 2022, show repeated use [...]

READ MORE
The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The US must place human rights at the forefront of its diplomatic agenda as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Washington this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. “Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is trying to rebrand himself as a global statesman, but the reality at home is mass repression, record numbers of [...]

READ MORE
AgainErick, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

UN experts, including the special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, cautioned on Tuesday that a pending amendment to Peru’s General Law on Persons with Disabilities risks reversing progress toward de-institutionalization and independent living for people with disabilities. The experts expressed concern that the new text opens the door to the creation of [...]

READ MORE
DHSgov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday reported that large-scale immigration raids in Los Angeles, carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies this year, violated Latino residents’ civil rights and utilized racial profiling. According to the organization, since May ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal law enforcement [...]

READ MORE
Almonroth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday halted the Trump administration’s plans to layoff thousands of federal employees in the wake of the government shutdown, ruling that the administration may not proceed with any new reductions-in-force (RIF) notices issued as a result of the shutdown. US District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District [...]

READ MORE