JURIST Guest Columnist Oday T. Mahmood, an S.J.D. candidate for 2019 at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses needed legal and constitutional reforms in Iraq post Islamic State… In 2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized three large cities in Iraq which were Anbar, Salah al-Din and Mosul. In fact, [...]

A Mississippi man was sentenced to 49 years in prison and a fine of $20,000 on Monday in the first-ever conviction under the Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act , a federal hate crime statute. Joshua Vallum murdered Mercedes Williamson in May 2015. Vallum initially claimed that he killed Williamson in a [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Monday denied Georgia death row inmate J.W. Ledford’s request that his execution be carried out by firing squad rather than lethal injection. Ledford’s counsel argued that lethal injection would violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment because Ledford has been taking a prescribed drug [...]

After a five-day mutiny soldiers in the Ivory Coast on Tuesday agreed to a government settlement to end the disruption. The mutiny began Friday when soldiers began firing bullets at the army headquarters in the central business district of Abidjan, the economic capital, and in several army barracks located nearby. The military then seized control [...]

Cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday said they have found evidence that could link North Korea to the recent cyberattack that affected 300,000 computers in 150 countries over the weekend. The so-called WannaCry ransomware has lines of code that are identical to the malware used by a group of hackers called Lazarus that have been connected to [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday heard the case of the coming execution of Indian officer Kulbhushan Jadhav who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani Field General Court Martial earlier this year. Both India and Pakistan made their arguments before the court, wherein India accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention and [...]

President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans Monday to expand the so-called Mexico City Policy blocking international family planning assistance through the US Agency for International Development to any groups or programs that provide abortion or abortion education to women. Trump’s plan, named “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance”, implements “the manner in which U.S. Government [...]

The US State Department said Monday that it has evidence showing the Syrian government has been using crematoriums to dispose of inmates’ bodies in the Saydnaya prison . Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Stuart Jones asserted that about 70 people are held in each five-person capacity prison cell and approximately 50 inmates [...]

South Africa’s highest court heard arguments on Monday from opposition parties who demanded that the motion of no-confidence against President Jacob Zuma be voted on using a secret ballot. Zuma, who has been implicated in a series of corruption scandals, has survived similar past impeachment efforts and is also the leader of the African National [...]

The Ukrainian Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on a series of Russian tech companies Tuesday, citing security concerns over possible cyber attacks. The council said that the sanctions were imposed to protect against companies “whose activities threaten the information and cyber security of Ukraine”. The sanctions froze any assets held by the Russian companies [...]