Muhammad Rayhan Ahmed is JURIST’s Bangladesh correspondent and a law student at the University of Dhaka. This is his inaugural report.  “No one believed. They listened at his heart. Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” These lines are [...]

India’s Karnataka High Court Monday dismissed a petition challenging the contents of the Islamic call to prayer (Azaan). The petition asserted that the term “Allahu Akbar,” Allah is the greatest, hurt the sentiments of other religious beliefs. The court held that Article 25 and 26 of India’s Constitution “embodies the principle of religious tolerance” and [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday wrote an open letter to US President Joe Biden’s Administration about the Israeli government’s targeting of seven notable Palestinian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). HRW reported that Israeli authorities raided the organizations’ offices and issued closing orders against them on August 18.  According to HRW, the organizations included: Defense for Children [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Tuesday denounced apparent plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in the port city of Mariupol. The OHCHR believes that the trials may begin within days and that, according to information currently available, the trials themselves could amount to a [...]

The legal team for former President Donald Trump Monday asked a federal judge to appoint a third-party attorney to oversee the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) review of the documents seized during the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence two weeks ago and to ensure the return of any private personal documents. The move follows a New York [...]

Over 160 organizations Monday sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas calling for the end of religious discrimination against Sikh migrants at US border crossing points. The letter was signed by the Sikh Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ) and the American Civil Liberties Union [...]

This commentary was written just before Raila Odinga filed his Supreme Court petition challenging the announced presidential result of Kenya’s general election.  On 9 August, 2022, Kenyans turned out in large droves to elect the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya, and as in previous elections this one was marked by never-ending drama like [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday published a catalog of citizen actions that have triggered criminal charges and administrative penalties in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly cracked down on free speech rights; in the first few weeks following the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities arrested over [...]

Ukrainian law students and young lawyers are reporting for JURIST on national and international developments in and affecting Ukraine. This dispatch is from Anna Balabina, a law student at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.   Ukraine has a long history being a democratic, independent state with European views and values. But to really achieve the level [...]

Bill Shipsey SC, a former chair of Amnesty International Ireland, Monday urged Ireland to adopt a code of conduct for retired judges following a controversy surrounding the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Courts. Shipsey penned an op-ed in for the Irish Times suggesting that “rules of professional conduct should require retired judges to avoid any [...]