US President Barack Obama announced Saturday that prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl had been released into US custody in exchange for five detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Bergdahl was the only confirmed US prisoner of war from the conflict in Afghanistan remaining in enemy custody . The Obama administration brokered the deal for Bergdahl’s exchange [...]

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 34 supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi each to two years in prison and a USD $1,600 fine for their alleged participation in violence during celebrations of the three-year anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution . The defendants were convicted for violating Egypt’s recent protest law which requires demonstrators to [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Friday that Missouri’s ban on desecrating the American flag is unconstitutional. On October 20, 2009, Frank Snider was arrested for violating Missouri Revised Statute 578.095 by shredding an American flag and tossing the remnants in the street, a Class A misdemeanor. Upon review of Texas [...]

The Departmental Appeals Board of Health and Human Services (DAB) on Friday revoked a National Coverage Determination (NCD) barring Medicare payment for gender reassignment surgeries. The revoked NCD was issued in 1981 and refused to pay for surgery as a treatment for gender dysphoria due to a lack of knowledge about the safety of the [...]

A Cambodian court on Friday convicted 23 workers and activists for inciting violence during a mass garment workers’ strike but suspended their jail sentence, which has caused a lot of controversy and international scrutiny. The ruling reverses the appeals court’s decision in February, which refused the release of the workers and activists facing criminal charges. [...]

The Constitutional Court of Turkey on Tuesday ruled that a previous decision to ban Youtube violated users’ freedom of speech rights. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had imposed the ban on YouTube and Twitter after illicit recordings of top security talks were posted on YouTube and distributed through Twitter. The court cited Article 26 of [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Bruce Schneider of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. discusses the First Amendment and the “extended use” of public schools … The Framers saw the two religious freedoms secured by the First Amendment as being in harmony: the prohibition against a government-established church was what enabled religious minorities to freely exercise their [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ayesha Khan of Americans United for Separation of Church and State discusses the contraceptive coverage requirement of the Affordable Care Act and the current cases challenging the requirement … On April 24, JURIST ran a column by Joseph LaRue of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents a company that seeks an exemption [...]

The Court of Appeal of Kenya on Thursday issued orders blocking the High Court of Kenya’s arrest warrant for journalist Walter Barasa. Barasa is accused of attempting to bribe witnesses testifying against Deputy President William Ruto . The arrest warrant was originally ordered in cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) , acting pursuant to [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on the government of Morocco Thursday to enforce the human rights provisions in its 2011 constitution . While commending the country for its growth since her office’s last visit 13 years ago, Pillay noted that the changes to the constitution made during the Arab Spring have [...]