Thailand’s opposing party, the Pheu Thai Paty, called for amendments to the strict royal insults law in a statement on Sunday. The law in question includes lese majeste, whereby insulting a member of the royal family can lead to a 15-year prison sentence, under section 112 of the Criminal Code. The party stated that the [...]
The US and human rights groups Monday condemned the conviction of a teenage boy in Cambodia over social media messages insulting the ruling party. Sovann Chhay, who is sixteen and on the autism spectrum, was arrested after making the posts on Facebook and Telegram. He was charged with incitement and insulting public officials. These charges [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report Monday stating the need to call out Tajikistan’s human rights crackdown. The report states that since banning in 2015 its sole remaining opposition party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the Tajik government has jailed hundreds of political activists, journalists, and lawyers. Torture and ill-treatment are routinely [...]
Seven US military jury members signed a letter urging clemency for convicted terrorist Majid Khan, rebuking Khan’s alleged mistreatment by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The letter, which was signed Friday, came after a 26-year sentence was handed down by the military jury. Khan, formerly a resident of Baltimore, was convicted of war crimes in [...]
A 2019 United Nations (UN) report found that “it is imperative that environmental laws are widely understood, respected, and enforced and the benefits of environmental protection are enjoyed by people and the planet.” Globally, more and more governments are coming to this realization: that there are vital (and fragile) links between the environment and all [...]
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas, two cases concerning a Texas law that effectively bans all abortions after six weeks. The Court agreed to fast-track the two cases after declining to block enforcement of the law, despite being asked to do so by the Department [...]
The Colorado Supreme Court Monday approved a congressional redistricting plan drawn by the state’s new Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission, despite objections that the new map dilutes Hispanic voting power. Redistricting power had been held by the state General Assembly, but during three of the last four redistricting cycles, the Assembly was unable to come to [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday addressed Roman Catholic Diocese v. Emami in a brief order. The Court vacated the lower court’s judgment and ordered the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department, to reconsider the case in light of Fulton v. Philadelphia. Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch noted that they would [...]
The New York Times Sunday published the results of an investigation into police traffic stops in the United States finding that in the last five years officers have killed more than 400 vehicle occupants who were “not wielding a gun or knife under pursuit for a violent crime.” Since 2016, only five officers have been [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision Friday vacating two lower court rulings that had allowed healthcare workers to claim religious exemptions to New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The decision also vacated an injunction from the Northern District of New York and a prior Second Circuit ruling on an Eastern [...]
