Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that Syrian army commanders and officials have ordered troops to attack unarmed protesters in an all-out effort to stop public demonstrations. These allegations are detailed in an 88-page report based on more than 60 interviews with defectors from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies who describe, in specific detail, [...]

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have essentially repealed the state’s Racial Justice Act . The 2009 law, which allows death row inmates to appeal their sentences based on statistical evidence of racism, was designed to address concerns that racial bias plays a role in sentencing. In an accompanying statement [...]

JURIST Managing Editor Dwyer Arce, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2012, is the 2011 Janavitz Fellow in First Amendment Law and serves as a Teaching Fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. He argues that an interstate compact altering presidential elections missed a unique opportunity to partially remedy the denial of federal [...]

An Egyptian military court on Thursday reduced the sentence of a blogger charged with criticizing the military. The court reduced the three-year sentence of blogger Maikel Nabil to two years. Nabil was convicted and sentenced to prison in April for criticizing the Egyptian army and raising questions over reform in the wake of revolution. The [...]

The White House on Wednesday announced that President Barack Obama no longer intends to veto the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 . The about face comes after revisions by lawmakers that address the concerns of the Obama administration related to the treatment of terror suspects. The administration had threatened to veto the legislation because [...]

Algerian lawmakers on Wednesday approved a controversial new media law that critics say will impede freedom of expression. The law restricts journalists from undermining Algeria’s sovereignty, national identity, economy and security, providing for fines up to USD $3,900 and jail time. The law has been criticized for being vague and overbroad by groups such as [...]

A French court on Thursday convicted former president Jacques Chirac on corruption charges, handing him a two-year suspended sentence. The charges stem from his time as mayor of the city of Paris and accused him of using public funds to support his political ambitions. In September, the prosecution asked the court to drop all charges [...]

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday reduced the sentence of Theoneste Bagosora , called the “kingpin” of the 1994 Rwandan genocide , from life to 35 years in prison. The court overturned several of his convictions but affirmed his convictions for genocide and crimes against humanity. The ICTR [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday revived a six-year-old lawsuit over the Plan B emergency contraceptive , but declined to hold the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in contempt. The suit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights in 2005 after the FDA failed [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder pledged Tuesday to enforce civil rights during next year’s elections. Speaking at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum in Austin, Texas, Holder stressed the importance of the right to vote, calling it the “cornerstone of our system of government.” He expressed concern over several recently enacted state laws currently [...]