An Iranian appeals court sentenced filmmaker Keywan Karimi to one year in prison for “insulting sanctities” on Monday, reducing his initial sentence of six years. The sentence resulted from Karimi’s film focusing on political graffiti in Iran since the 1979 Revolution. Iran has recently cracked down on freedom of expression, harshly punishing journalists and poets. [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Friday reported that Turkey has denied entry to many injured Syrian refugees attempting to cross its borders. The refugees are fleeing after bombing in the northern Aleppo countryside over the last two weeks. According to AI, Turkish authorities have even shot and injured those attempting to cross the border unofficially in [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday criticized Omani courts for jailing two online activists over posts they wrote on social media websites. In one of the cases, former diplomat Hassan al-Basham was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month for insulting God and the country’s leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, on [...]

The Nigerian army on Saturday set up a human rights office at its headquarters in the capital city of Abuja in order to continue training officers about respecting rights of citizens. This comes in light of the country’s ongoing battle against the insurgent Islamic group Boko Haram , as well as other terrorist groups. The [...]

A former member of the Black Panthers was released from prison on Friday after having spent a record 43 years in solitary confinement. Albert Woodfox had been detained in solitary confinement since 1972 after being charged and convicted of fatally stabbing a prison guard. Authorities first moved Woodfox to isolation in the Louisiana State Penitentiary [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Bryan H. Wildenthal of Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego discusses the history of Supreme Court vacancies and presidential nominations during presidential election years… Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the most provocative judges in American history, was known for his brilliantly argued views on the plain text and original meaning [...]

UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced Saturday that the UK will hold a referendum on June 23 to vote on whether the nation will remain a part of the European Union (EU) . EU and UK leaders met over the previous two days in Brussels to negotiate terms that would keep the UK in the [...]

The Georgia State Senate passed an amended version of a religious freedom bill, HB 757 , which some critics believe may be used to discriminate against same-sex couples. The bill gives religious leaders the right to refuse to marry any couple if it is against their religion without facing penalties and bars the government from [...]

The US Supreme Court upheld on Friday, in a one-sentence order, a decision of the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina forcing the state to redraw the 1st and 12th congressional voting districts. The lower court held that the 2011 district redrawing was unconstitutional as it was done to increase minority voting [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed a motion to compel Apple to unlock the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters . The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking Apple’s help to access Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone, but the tech company has refused. In a letter to its [...]