The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday that EU companies, under permitted conditions, may ban employees from displaying political or religious symbols, including Islamic headscarves. In a related case, the ECJ determined that Belgium security company G4S , which dismissed a Muslim receptionist for wearing a hijab, was not discriminatory and properly applied [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called Tuesday for measures to release detainees in Syria in his address to the UN Human Rights Council . The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic also released a report Tuesday finding that civilians are still suffering severe abuses from all [...]

The Colombian Senate Monday approved a transitional justice structure that will attempt to bring reparations to the more than 8 million victims of the decades-long conflict between the Colombia government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The new system will include a Transitional Justice Tribunal, a Truth Commission and a Missing Persons section, [...]

Seven convicted felons on Monday filed suit alleging Florida’s process of restoring voting rights to felons is unconstitutionally arbitrary. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida by the Fair Elections Legal Network and the Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC on behalf of the seven plaintiffs, seeks to [...]

Taiwanese prosecutors indicted former president Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday on charges of leaking classified information and state secrets. The Taipei District Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted Ma after a six-month investigation and now alleges that Ma ordered the contents of wire-tapped phone calls between the parliamentary Speaker and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Ker Chien-ming be [...]

Five states joined a Washington suit on Monday challenging the revised Trump administration executive order restricting immigration from six majority Muslim nations. The states are seeking an injunction to stop the ban before it goes into effect on Thursday. In the complaint the states argue that the order “will cause severe and immediate harms to [...]

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated on Tuesday that blasphemy is an “unpardonable offense” and ordered the state to remove such content from social media. In a Twitter post through the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz account, Sharif directed Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khanthat to bring to justice all those who have posted blasphemous comments. Because [...]

The UN expert on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana called Monday for a inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) into the death of the estranged brother of North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un . Kim Jong-nam was assassinated last month in Kuala Lumpur. Quintana urged that the investigation be transparent, independent [...]

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a new bill on Monday declaring that the death penalty may only be imposed by a judge upon unanimous recommendation from the jury. Florida’s executions have been on hold since January 2016, when the US Supreme Court held that the state’s death penalty law violated the Sixth Amendment by allowing [...]

The UK Parliament passed the Brexit bill on Monday after the House of Commons voted 273 to 135 to overturn suggested amendments to the bill and sent the bill back to the House of Lords . In response to the vote overturning the Lords’ suggested amendments, those opposed to the bill over EU residency rights [...]