The Omani Appeal Court on Sunday granted bail to eight out of 11 political protestors charged with “illegal gathering with the intention of provoking a riot” and “blocking the flow of traffic” under Oman’s penal code. Omani authorities detained the men in June for participating in peaceful sit-ins in Muscat that sought the release of [...]

Police in Zimbabwe arrested a prominent human rights lawyer on Sunday, along with four other officials from the prime minister’s political party. The arrests came just a day after the country voted in a constitutional referendum calling for increased protections from human rights violations. Human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa is being charged with obstructing or [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Passed Thursday on a party line vote of 10-8, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 would prohibit the sale, transfer, importation and manufacture of 157 specifically named military-style assault [...]

Egypt’s criminal court on Saturday acquitted former ministers of tourism and housing, Zohair Garanah and Ahmed al-Maghrabi, of charges of corruption. Both men were charged with profiteering and illegally selling state-owned land during their time as ministers under former president Hosni Mubarak . Garanah was originally convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to three years [...]

More than 130 UN member states on Friday agreed to adopt new measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in a document produced at the conclusion of the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. The document, called the Agreed Conclusions, condemns violence against women [...]

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday appealed the results of Kenya’s 2013 election to Kenya’s Supreme Court. Kenya’s election commission declared Uhuru Kenyatta , son of Kenya’s first president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the winner of the nation’s 2013 presidential election earlier this month. Odinga has accused electoral authorities of “electoral theft” and stated that [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Thursday that the use of national security letters under 18 USC § 2709 is unconstitutional. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) challenged the use of national security letters by the FBI on behalf of an unnamed telecommunication company. The statute allows the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist George Kegoro of the International Commission of Jurists argues that the results of the 2013 presidential election in Kenya are unavoidably marred by technological failures and the shortcomings of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissions… Now that Kenya has completed the general elections for 2013, which ended with the declaration of Uhuru [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Lara Wharton, Emory University School of Law Class of 2013, discusses the human rights abuses in the Philippines…

The Syrian regime is expanding its use of widely banned cluster bombs, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Saturday. According to the report, the Syrian military has used cluster munitions in 119 locations across Syria, dropping at least 156 bombs over the last six months and killings dozens of civilians. The use [...]