The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of a Missouri law that makes it a crime to disturb a worship service. The ACLU contends that the law in question, the House of Worship Protection [...]

A Bahraini appeals court on Thursday overturned a conviction of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab . Bahrain’s government attributed the ruling to “uncertainty regarding the evidence submitted to support the lawsuit.” Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights , was arrested in June and has served half of a three-month sentence for [...]

The South Korean Constitutional Court on Thursday nullified a 2007 regulation that required South Koreans to use their real names in Internet forums. Under the terms of the regulation online discussion participants had to pass a verification process in order to express their opinions on most websites. The nine-justice court held that the Real Name [...]

A panel of UN human rights experts on Tuesday urged Chile to make sure that people who have been convicted of enforced disappearances serve their sentences . The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) stated that while Chile has made great strides since it transitioned to democracy, many challenges remain. While the [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the government of Thailand on Thursday to order its army chief to stop obstructing investigations into political violence in 2010 arising from anti-government protests . Last week the army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, told the Thai Ministry of Justice to stop accusing soldiers of killing protesters during government crackdowns in [...]

A gay rights group urged the US Supreme Court on Tuesday to review a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denies benefits to married same-sex couples. The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) specifically challenged Section 3 of DOMA, which restricts tax, health care and other benefits of marriage to married [...]

German prosecutors announced Wednesday that they are contemplating charges against an 87-year-old man suspected of having been a Nazi prison guard. The German special prosecutors’ office that pursues Nazi-era crimes is recommending that charges be filed against the man alleged to have served as an SS guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War [...]

An Iraqi man pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky Tuesday on charges of conspiring to aid terrorists. Mohaned Shareef Hammadi pleaded guilty to 10 charges including sending money, weapons and explosives to al Qaeda in Iraq. Hammadi also pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to the US [...]

The World Trade Organization (WTO) admitted the Russian Federation as its 156th member on Wednesday, bringing to a close accession negotiations that began in June 1993. The lower house of the Russian parliament ratified the WTO accession package protocol in July, clearing the way for Russia’s membership in the global trading system after 19 years [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona heard arguments on Tuesday concerning whether to enjoin a controversial provision of Arizona’s immigration law that requires law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of persons they stop or arrest if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the [...]