The US Supreme Court announced Monday that they will rehear arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum , a case dealing with corporate liability for human rights violations occurring overseas. The court originally took the case in October and heard arguments last week to determine whether three oil companies are immune from US lawsuits under [...]

Former prime minister of Iceland Geir Haarde went on trial Monday on charges of negligence relating to the 2008 financial crisis . The charges stem from the collapse of the country’s three major banks in 2008 while Haarde was leader of the country’s ruling Independence Party. The trial originally began in September with Haarde’s lawyers [...]

Iran’s Supreme Court on Monday overturned the death sentence of alleged US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spy Amir Mirzaei Hekmati and ordered a retrial. The Supreme Court objected to the ruling and annulled it , sending it back to another branch for retrial. No other details were given by the spokesman for the judiciary. The [...]

A group of shareholders in the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on Monday filed a USD $67 billion lawsuit against TEPCO officials for failing to prevent the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant . The group of 42 shareholders have accused 27 current and former TEPCO directors of ignoring warning signs and [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday ordered Russia’s prosecutor general to conduct a study into 32 criminal cases, including the case of ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky . Khodorkovsky, who was once in charge of Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos , was arrested in 2003 on charges of tax evasion and fraud. Khodorkovsky and his former [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday in Martel v. Clair that, when ruling on a defendant’s motion to replace counsel in a capital case, “courts should employ the same ‘interests of justice’ standard that they apply in non-capital cases under a related statute.” . Kenneth Clair was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. [...]

Iranian human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after being found guilty by a Tehran Revolutionary Court of spreading anti-government propaganda, his daughter confirmed on Sunday. In addition to his prison sentence, Soltani is also forbidden from practicing law for 20 years . Soltani was arrested last year and [...]

Israel’s Ramat Gan Family Court ruled Sunday that a lesbian couple can both be recognized as mothers of a child they had together. The women received permission from the Health Ministry in 2006 to conceive the child by fertilizing one woman’s egg with the sperm of an anonymous donor and implanting the embryo in the [...]

A group of three UN human rights experts on Friday implored Pakistan to increase efforts to curb growing sectarian violence . Noting a recent uptick in sectarian related attacks, the group of experts warned that “sectarian violence threatens to worsen if the Government does not respond swiftly and decisively to confront it.” Speaking before the [...]

The Egyptian parliament began discussions Saturday regarding the make-up of the constitutional assembly that will be responsible for writing Egypt’s new constitution. The newly elected parliament will choose the members of the 100-member council that will ultimately determine the structure of the government and the rights conferred by the constitution. This has caused an intense [...]