The appeals chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday upheld the criminal convictions of four Serbian senior officials stemming from the Bosnian Civil War , while reducing the sentences for three of them. Former Serbian prime minister Nikola Sainovic’s sentence was reduced from 22 to 18 years imprisonment, while [...]

A court in Pakistan on Thursday sentenced 65-year old Mohammed Asghar to death for blasphemy, convicting him of writing letters claiming to be a prophet. Asghar was convicted under Section 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code , making it illegal to make derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. He received the maximum sentence after confessing [...]

The Iraq Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday the execution by hanging of 11 Iraqi prisoners convicted of terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people. These executions come mere days after the country’s execution of 26 Iraqi nationals , also for terrorist related offenses. Thursday’s acts bring the total number of Iraqi executions this week to [...]

An Oklahoma state court judge on Thursday ruled the state’s emergency contraception law unconstitutional. The law requires women younger than 17 to obtain a prescription and show photo ID in order to receive Plan B One-Step and other generic emergency contraceptive pills. Women 17 and older would be allowed to receive the contraceptives over-the-counter. The [...]

The Supreme Court of Nepal settled a major political dispute on Thursday when it ruled that the selection of a new president was not an immediate need, and should be postponed until the adoption of a new constitution. Though President Ram Baran Yadav was initially elected to serve only two years, he has been in [...]

The UN humanitarian chief on Thursday called for an immediate investigation by authorities following reports of alarming levels of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. In a brief statement, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos stated: I am deeply concerned about reports of alarming levels of violence, including the killing of many [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday agreed to delay the trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta , which was originally schedule for February 5, after prosecutors requested more time for trial preparation. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked for a new start date after considering the sufficiency of the evidence against Kenyatta. In the order [...]

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng warned on Thursday that urgent national and international action is necessary to stop the violence in Central African Republic (CAR) . Dieng reported, “Given the serious nature of continuing violations in an environment of complete impunity, CAR is on the brink of descending into [...]

Virginia Attorney Genera lMark Herring announced Thursday that his office will no longer defend legal challenges to the commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriage. Herring explained his position saying, “After thorough legal review, I have now concluded that Virginia’s ban on marriage same sex couples violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution on two grounds: [...]

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) , an independent agency created by Congress to protect American privacy under anti-terrorism laws, issued a report on Thursday calling the NSA’s metadata program illegal and saying that it should be ended. In a 3-2 vote , the five-member board said that Section 215 of the USA [...]