Ukraine’s imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko announced on Monday that she would go on a hunger strike to show her support for the demonstrators who have been protesting Ukraine’s decision to abandon a planned EU trade pact. Demonstrators allege that Ukraine has caved to pressure from Russia. Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister, was sentenced [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Alex Kreit of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law says that 2014 is going to be a truly groundbreaking year for marijuana policy in the US, when Colorado’s and Washington’s marijuana legalization takes effect …

Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday invoked a special security law in districts of Bangkok and nearby areas after protesters stormed and occupied several key ministries. The law, known as the Internal Security Act, gives police additional powers to block routes, impose curfews, ban gatherings and carry out searches. The demonstration against Shinawatra is [...]

A court in Azerbaijan on Monday convicted a group of 29 people of plotting terrorist attacks in the country. The court sentenced the group to prison terms ranging from nine years to life. The group was arrested in April and May 2012 and was accused of plotting to kill Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev , and [...]

Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi announced on Monday that plans to hold the country’s constitutional referendum will likely be delaying until January, rather than taking place in December as originally expected. The interim government, which has been in place since Mohamed Morsi’s removal from office , has organized a committee of 50 members who [...]

UN Special Rapporteur Sheila Keetharuth on Monday urged the Eritrean government to respect its obligation to human rights, and called for protection for the hundreds of thousands of citizens currently fleeing the country for safety. It is mandatory that young Eritreans, both male and female, serve in the national military, regardless of religious or other [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt , on Monday urged the government of Malaysia to overturn the nation’s ban on a Catholic publication’s use of the word “Allah” to refer to God. Allah is the Arabic word for God and has been used by Christians Malaysians for centuries to [...]

The Afghanistan Justice Ministry has proposed new provisions to the nation’s penal code that allow for stoning as punishment for adultery, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Monday. According to the advocacy group the provision of the proposed penal code, drafted by a Justice Ministry led working group, provides that married individuals found guilty of engaging [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Jason Huang, University of Windsor Faculty of Law Class of 2016, discusses recent British Columbia Court of Appeals decision, Carter v. Canada, upholding the ban on assisted suicide…

Amnesty International (AI) on Monday urged Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to protect human rights embodied in the country’s new constitution . The report, entitled “Human Rights Agenda,” calls on Zimbabwe’s government to end human rights violations, such as suppressing freedom of expression and intimidating individuals and organizations that speak out against the government. In the [...]