A panel of three federal judges in California on Monday granted the state an extension until February 28, 2016, to reduce overcrowding in its massive prison system. The California prison system currently houses about 120,000 inmates but is only designed to hold about 80,000. Included in the order is the appointment of a compliance officer [...]

Four legally married same-sex couples on Monday filed a civil right lawsuit with the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio , seeking a court order to force the state of Ohio to recognize both spouses’ names on birth certificates. Three of the couples are legally married lesbian couples who have become pregnant [...]

Jamaat-e-Islami party (JI) leader AKM Yusuf , died at age 87 on Sunday of cardiac arrest. Bangladeshi authorities arrested Yusuf in May on 13 charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War . Yusuf became ill while in jail, where we was detained while facing the war crimes charges, which [...]

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Saturday issued the 2013 Annual Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict , which found a total of 8,615 civilian casualties in 2013, a 14 percent increase since 2012. According to the report, 74 percent of the total civilian deaths and injuries in 2013 were inflicted [...]

Spanish Judge Ismael Moreno issued international arrest warrants for several former Chinese officials Monday, including retired president Jiang Zemin and former prime minister Li Peng as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged genocide by China against Tibet. Though the warrants were originally issued last year, they were delayed by legal technicalities . Moreno stated [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Stephanie Toti of The Center for Reproductive Rights discuss the challenge to Massachusetts buffer zone laws in McCullen v. Coakley…

The Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday alleged that Congolese war crimes suspect Bosco Ntaganda was instrumental in organizing and ordering militias of “child soldiers” to attack civilians. Ntaganda is accused of 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, pillage, using child soldiers and [...]

Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday issued an order denying a request by Samsung for a retrial in its patent dispute with Apple, meaning that the award of $290 million in damages will stand. In the order Koh also chastised Apple for its closing arguments [...]

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) on Monday released a report urging the Egyptian government to promote the independence of the judiciary and to end selective prosecution. In June IBAHRI carried out a fact-finding mission in Egypt, where it conducted interviews and examined extant Egyptian law and practice, as well as proposed amendments. [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced Friday that her office will open a preliminary investigation into the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), stating that the increase in violence has created a “new situation” than that referred to her office in 2004, necessitating a new and separate investigation. Bensouda stated that [...]