Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday praised the rejection of a proposed law that would have established harsh penalties for reporters who spread libel. The bill, which passed on its first reading, would have established fines and other punishments, including prison and correctional labor sentences, for spreading false information about another person. After being heavily [...]

The Hamas criminal justice system is rife with human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Wednesday. The report, entitled “Abusive System: Criminal Justice in Gaza,” claims that under Hamas rule, people in the Gaza Strip are subject to numerous rights violations including warrantless arrests and torture. The report includes a list of specific recommendations [...]

A Malaysian court on Tuesday awarded damages to a group of five opposition politicians and activists who were unlawfully detained pursuant to the country’s controversial Internal Security Act of 1960 (ISA) , which permits indefinite detention without trial for terror suspects, dissidents and political opponents. Three politicians and two activists were detained without trial for [...]

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced Tuesday that the state’s voter identification law will not take effect before the November 6 election. The new legislation , which would require voters to show photo ID to vote in any election in the state, must be approved by the US Department of Justice pursuant to Section 5 [...]

The Verkhovna Rada , the Ukrainian parliament, on Tuesday approved a draft law that would ban pro-gay “propaganda” in Ukraine. The bill, roughly translated as the “the law on the protection of children’s rights to safe information space” would amend laws to create liability for promoting homosexuality, although it does not specify what constitutes promotion [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. In US v. Bormes the court heard arguments to determine whether the federal government has sovereign immunity for damages arising from the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) . The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in 2010 that the Little [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Monday dismissed a suit challenging a Pennsylvania House Resolution declaring 2012 the “Year of the Bible” . The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) claimed that HR 535 violated the Establishment Clause . The defendants in the case, Representatives Rick Saccone, Clancy [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Karlanna Lewis, Yale Law School Class of 2015, uses the Pussy Riot incident to draw comparisons between Russia and the West in terms of their restrictions and protections of freedom of expression…

A new Japanese copyright law that criminalizes illegal downloads of music and video files came in effect on Monday. The revised law now imposes penalties of two years in prison and fines of up to two million yen (USD $25,627) upon those who illegally download copyrighted files. The law was revised in June with the [...]

A judge for the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday preventing Pennsylvania’s voter identification law from taking effect for the upcoming presidential election. On remand from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania , Judge Robert Simpson enjoined enforcement of Act 18, which amended the provisional ballot section of the Election Code. Simpson held [...]