Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday condemned the five-year prison sentence handed down to Remi Rowhani, a Baha’i religious dignitary, following a a months-long trial by Qatari authorities. Rowhani was charged for promoting an ideology that casts doubt on the foundations of Islam, with the accusation stemming from several social media posts by members of [...]

The Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona handed down a ruling on Wednesday, finding the current K-12 school funding system unconstitutional and siding with the schools after a years-long lawsuit. The plaintiffs in this case are several school districts in Arizona, taxpayers, and organizations Arizona School Boards Association, the Arizona Education Association and the Arizona [...]

Advocacy groups filed criminal charges against Germany’s foreign and interior ministers on Friday, accusing them of “failing to prevent” the deportation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan, despite their “having been granted admission to Germany.” The 34 Afghan nationals, who had applied for asylum in Germany, were deported by Pakistani officials just days before the lawsuit [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against California on Thursday, seeking to prevent the state from enforcing its own emission standards for heavy trucks. The suit came three days after major manufacturers, including Daimler and Volvo, filed a related complaint against the California Air Resources Board (CARB), stating that they were “caught in [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern on Friday over accusations of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, stating that a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office highlights the need for accountability. HRW specifically urged the UN Human Rights Council to take action to protect human rights in the country, including by supporting the [...]

The Russian Ministry of Justice added Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) to its list of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) deemed “undesirable” in the country on Thursday. RSF Director General, Thibaut Bruttin, said in a statement responding to Russia’s actions that the Kremlin’s message was to continue to gag voices that exposed its censorship and [...]

The US District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a motion by defendants World Federation of Advertisers, Diageo PLC, WPP PLC, and GroupM Worldwide, Inc. to dismiss an antitrust suit on Wednesday that was filed by Rumble, Inc., a media company with ties to President Donald Trump.  Rumble had accused the defendants, all [...]

The UK’s official human rights commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), sent a letter on Friday expressing concern about the “reports of police engagement” that involved “heavy-handed policing” at pro-Palestine protests. The EHRC’s letter was addressed to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and the chief of the metropolitan police, Sir Mark Rowley. In the [...]

In addition to its as-yet undetermined consequences for a potential US-Iran nuclear deal, “Operation Midnight Hammer”—the US military operation that involved aerial strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities in June—has brought a long-standing legal debate with considerable implications for US foreign policy to the fore: the scope of executive war powers under the US [...]

The correspondent filing this dispatch is a law student in Mumbai who must remain anonymous. On Monday, the Indian Parliament’s monsoon session was disrupted once again as opposition parties took to the streets of New Delhi in protest. The session had so far been marred by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar’s resignation, multiple adjournments, and a [...]