Amnesty International reported on Wednesday that global executions fell by nearly one-third last year to the lowest figure in at least a decade. In its 2018 global review of the death penalty, Amnesty assed known executions worldwide, except in China, where executions thought to be in the thousands remain classified as a state secret. Kumi [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Russia violated the rights of opposition leader Alexei Navalny by placing him under house arrest in 2014. Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, spent 10 months under house arrest in 2014 while Russian authorities investigated him for embezzlement charges. The court found that Navalny’s confinement violated [...]
A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found nine members of the 2014 pro-democracy “Umbrella Movement” guilty of charges including conspiracy and inciting a public nuisance. The convictions are the latest of a series stemming from protests calling for increased democracy in Hong Kong which occurred nearly five years ago. The protests shut down parts of [...]
The Troika (the UK, US and Norway) on Tuesday released a joint statement on the current unrest in Sudan, urging the Sudanese authorities to respond to the demand from peaceful protesters for a transition to a political system that is “inclusive and has greater legitimacy.” The Troika urged a “credible plan for this political transition”, [...]
The High Court of the Indian state of Manipur on Monday ordered the government to release television journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem from police custody. He was detained in November under the National Security Act for “activities prejudicial to the security of the state and to the maintenance of public order.” Wangkhem, who works for a local [...]
A South African judge ruled Monday that Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang, charged in the US with loan fraud of more than USD $2 billion, can be extradited to the US to face trial. Chang, who was Mozambique’s finance minister between 2005 and 2015, was indicted in December for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, [...]
The Trump administration announced Friday that it canceled the December agreement between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) regarding player transfers that was intended to “end the dangerous trafficking of Cuban players who desire to play professional baseball in the United States.” The agreement would violate the US embargo against Cuba, which [...]
The White House released a statement Monday designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is the first time the US has formally labeled another country’s military as a terrorist organization. The briefing statement indicates that IRGC “actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism [...]
The UK government on Monday proposed a plan for a “world-leading” package of online safety measures that will make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups. The proposed regulations, outlined in the Online Harms White Paper, suggest establishing in law a new duty of care towards users, which [...]
The US State Department has revoked the entry visa of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda after cautioning that it would revoke visas of any individuals investigating allegations of war crimes committed in Afghanistan by the US military. In March Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US would deny visas to ICC personnel investigating any [...]
