The Bahrain Court of Cassation on Monday upheld jail sentences issued to nine medics convicted for their involvement in Bahrain’s pro-democracy uprising in February and March of 2011, the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported. According to BNA, the medics were working at Salmaniya Medical Complex , and, during the time of the uprising, “took over [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, Yale Law School Class of 2014, posits that while Pussy Riot advocates much-needed overarching political and legal reforms, it also needlessly tramples current laws in so doing…

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed on Monday violated a court-ordered travel ban when he left the capital city of Male on what was supposed to be the first day of his now-postponed trial for abuse of power. In anticipation of the Monday proceedings the Hulhumale Magistrate Court issued an order last week prohibiting Nasheed from [...]

A Moscow court on Monday delayed an appellate hearing for three members of the Russian feminist activist group Pussy Riot after band member Ekaterina Samutsevich unexpectedly fired her lawyer. The move led prosecutors to accuse the defense of causing deliberate delays. However defense lawyer Nikolai Polozov said that Samutsevich may have made the decision due [...]

California Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday signed into law a bill that bans therapy intended to change the sexual orientation of minors. California is the first state to pass a law banning this type of therapy. The bill was supported by the National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter, the American Association for Marriage and [...]

JURIST Columnist Charles C. Jalloh of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law examines allegations made by Alternate Judge El Hadji Malick Sow at the end of Charles Taylor’s trial and argues for the establishment of an independent, fact-finding commission to promote transparency and public confidence in the Special Court for Sierra Leone… Introduction On [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque on Friday applauded a new California law creating a right to safe drinking water. Assemblymember Mike Eng sponsored the legislation, which declares “the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, [...]

Egyptian Defence Minister General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday ordered a reduced sentence for a group of military officers who took part in opposition protests in April 2011. There were 22 officers, known as the April 8 Officers, arrested for their participation in protests in support of the revolution and against the Supreme Council of the [...]

Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill after 14 hours of debate on Saturday that provides for a broad range of reforms to Mexico’s labor market. The bill seeks to improve the transparency of Mexico’s trade unions and make labor regulations more flexible. The bill was a bipartisan effort between the conservative outgoing National Action [...]

Canadian citizen Omar Khadr was transferred to Canada from Guantanamo Bay early Saturday morning to serve out the rest of his prison sentence under the authority of the Correctional Service of Canada . Khadr pleaded guilty to murdering US Sergeant First Class Christoper Speer, an Army medic, as well as charges of conspiracy and spying, [...]