North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Wednesday signed into law a bill that prevents local governments from enacting their own nondiscrimination ordinances. Under the new law, which was passed by both chambers of the state’s legislature during a special session, cities and counties will be unable to pass laws allowing transgender people to use the [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged Iran to end restrictions that prevent access to lawyers for those charged with national security crimes. According to the rights group, there have been several instances of people charged with political or national security crimes being denied access to independent legal counsel during the investigative process or their [...]

Authorities in the US state of Texas on Tuesday executed a 33-year-old man accused of killing a city code enforcement officer. Adam Ward has been on death row in Texas since 2007 . The US Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of Adam Ward last October, despite arguments from his lawyers that Ward had an IQ [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch discusses the flaws of Israeli judicial review in the context of Mohammed al-Qeeq’s hunger strike… After 93 days of refusing food, an emaciated Palestinian journalist named Mohammed al-Qeeq resumed eating on February 26. He began his hunger strike to protest being held by Israeli military officials [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in the case Zubik v. Burwell . The case consolidates challenges by several different religious institutions opposing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The plaintiffs argue that the contraceptive coverage mandate forces non-profit organizations to act against their deeply-held religious beliefs. The US Department of Health and [...]

Former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak alleging corruption and abuse of power. The lawsuit comes after allegations and formal charges were made against Razak for his actions in depositing state funds into his personal account. In January the Malaysian Attorney General’s Office cleared the prime minister [...]

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović expressed concern Tuesday over the deteriorating human rights situation in Burundi. The violence has come with the emergence of armed groups opposed to the government and has the potential to disrupt the nation and the Great Lakes region in general. In a UN report , Šimonović acknowledged [...]

Police in east China’s Shandong Province arrested 37 individuals on Tuesday who are suspected of participation in a national medical drug ring. A mother/daughter duo are suspected of buying and selling more than USD $88 million worth of vaccines since 2011. Three pharmaceutical companies have been implicated in the scandal and national Chinese authorities have [...]

France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation , ruled Tuesday that phone tapped conversations between Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer were legal. Beginning in 2013, investigators recorded conversations between the former French president and his lawyer for a case involving suspicious Libyan funding for Sakozy’s successful 2007 presidential bid. The conversations led investigators to a [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must provide information about potentially discriminatory tax-exempt applications given to tea party members. In its decision , the court stated that the claims against the IRS were that they used political criteria to specifically round up tax-exempt status [...]