The highest Bahraini appellate court on Monday upheld the convictions of 13 prominent pro-democracy protestors convicted by military tribunal in 2011 on charges of plotting to overthrow the monarchy. Bahrain’s Court of Cassation rejected the appeals of the 13 activists, all part of a group of 20 convicted by the military National Safety Courts after [...]

China’s Communist Party Politics and Law Committee head Meng Jianzhu on Monday notified Chinese media sources of the nation’s plan to end its 56 year-old “re-education through labor” program , which authorizes government entities to legally detain citizens for as long as four years without trial. The proposed legislation is pending approval from China’s National [...]

North Carolina on Friday announced plans to appeal a ruling finding “Choose Life” license plates unconstitutional. Judge James Fox of the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina ruled in December that “he State’s offering a ‘Choose Life’ license plate in the absence of a pro-choice alternative constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation [...]

Bank of America (BOA) on Monday reached a $10.3 billion settlement with Fannie Mae to settle claims that Countrywide Financial Corporation , now a BOA subsidiary, employed faulty lending practices on $1.4 trillion in mortgages that were sold to Fannie Mae as investment products from 2000 to 2008. BOA has agreed to pay Fannie Mae [...]

The second International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) rejected a plea on Monday from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla for a re-trial. Justice Obaidul Hassan of the ICTB rejected the petition for re-trial and ordered the defense to commence with arguments. The prosecution completed its arguments on December 27. The court will return [...]

The Court of Appeals of Sri Lanka on Monday ordered parliament to drop the impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, quashing a guilty verdict against her. This decision further fuels the dispute between the legislature and the judiciary, and raises international concern over the independence of the country’s judiciary. The decision quashed a report [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Faisal Kutty of the Valparaiso University Law School says that the global community must engage in a serious debate over the limits of free expression as it applies to the defamation of cultures and religions, and that in order to do so the extremists on both sides must face their own hypocrisy…

Dissident groups, such as the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said Sunday that the Cuban government imprisoned more than 6,000 political activists last year. This is more than 2,000 more than were arrested in 2011. Most prisoners are released within a few days, but the groups claim this strategy is being used [...]

Libyan Justice Minister Salah Maraghni announced Saturday that the war crimes trials of Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi , and brother-in-law and former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi , will occur within the next month. Maraghni stated that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi and Gaddafi’s former spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi will be [...]

An Egyptian court on Saturday acquitted former culture minister Farouq Hosni, who had served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak , on charges of corruption and illegal enrichment. Prosecutors alleged in September that Hosni had illegally acquired $3 million and had failed to account for $1.5 million. Hosni was referred to criminal court after an investigation [...]