Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged Morocco to release five prisoners who were allegedly convicted based on false confessions obtained through torture. Six activists were convicted last week in Casablanca for assaulting and insulting police officers during anti-monarchy protests held in July. When released from police custody, the group stated that they had been [...]

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Monday called on Libyan authorities to implement a transitional justice strategy in order to rebuild and reshape its decades-long history of dictatorial cruelty and last year’s civil war. The report, Transitional Justice – Foundation for a New Libya , makes several recommendations that UNSMIL believes will move [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday suspended litigation between the Authors Guild and Google pending an appeal of a May ruling allowing a class action lawsuit over Google’s book-scanning initiative . The court’s order will halt the Guild’s seven-year attempt to block Google from creating the world’s largest library of [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Frank Barile, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2013, is the author of the fourth article in a 15-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Barile explains the negative impact of a new Florida law on welfare law and policy…

UN investigators testified before the UN Human Rights Council on Monday that human rights violations in Syria committed by both sides of the conflict are growing in number and severity . Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic Paulo Pinheiro stated that both sides of the Syrian conflict are [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned human rights violations in Mali on Monday and called for international action to address the problems. Pillay stated that two militant Islamic groups, Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Ansar Dine, are recruiting child soldiers, committing cruel punishments such as amputations and [...]

Myanmar officials on Monday announced amnesty for 514 prisoners. The Ministry of Information did not identify the prisoners who will be freed, but activists have identified several political detainees and foreigners slated to be released . The release announcement comes a week before President Thein Sein is scheduled to travel to New York to attend [...]

Bangladesh’s personal laws governing marriage, separation and divorce overtly discriminate against women, according to a 109-page report published Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . “Will I Get My Dues … Before I Die?”: Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce” documents how the country’s personal laws leave many women [...]

Opposition fighters in Syria are committing war crimes , including torture and extrajudicial and summary executions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. HRW documented war crimes in the cities of Aleppo, Latakia and Idlib. Although opposition fighters initially assured HRW they would not commit war crimes, when HRW confronted them with information about the violations [...]

An Omani blogger was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by a Muscat court on Sunday and must pay a fine of 1,000 Omani Rials (USD $2,600). The blogger, Mukhtar bin Mohammed bin Saif al-Hinai, was convicted on charges of slander and violating the country’s information technology laws. Al-Hinai is employed by Al-Zaman newspaper, which [...]