A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday temporarily enjoined a Florida law restricting what physicians can ask or say about firearms to their patients as violative of the doctors’ First Amendment rights. Under the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA) , violating doctors risk losing their medical license [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to correct an imbalance in its investigations and prosecutions of war crimes and human rights violations. In a 50-page publication titled “Unfinished Business” , HRW assessed the choice of cases made by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in its first five [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Thursday that statements made by Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab while in the hospital following his alleged attempt to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 are admissible. Abdulmutallab argued that the conduct of the FBI agents was coercive because [...]

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Thursday that the government would repeal two strict security laws that had allowed extended detention of suspects without trial, as well as review other laws dealing with freedom of the press. The government will abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960 and the Banishment Act of 1959 [...]

Tunisia announced its intention Wednesday to plead for the return of its remaining citizens being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. A Justice Ministry representative, speaking at an awareness conference in Tunis, called for the repatriation of the five Tunisian detainees still being held at the prison and indicated the nation’s intention to send [...]

The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended the terms for prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) until December 31, 2014. In unanimously adopting resolutions 2006 and 2007 , the Security Council extended the terms of prosecutors Serge Brammertz and Hassan Bubacar Jallow . Brammertz has served as [...]

The Court of Appeal of Paris on Wednesday affirmed the acquittal of former prime minister Dominique de Villepin for allegedly taking part in a smear campaign known as the Clearstream Affair . Villepin was charged with “complicity in false accusation” for his alleged role in a plot to defame several French public figures, including current [...]

Leonard Forsman, Chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, says that the tribe’s decision to recognize same-sex marriage reflects the community’s high value on inclusiveness and the fact that homosexuality historically has not been a divisive issue in the tribe… Last month, the Suquamish Tribal Council amended its existing Marriage and Divorce Ordinance to permit marriages regardless [...]

The District Court of The Hague on Wednesday ruled that the Dutch government must pay damages to one survivor and seven widows of men killed by Dutch troops during a 1947 massacre in Indonesia . The court ruled that the Dutch government is responsible for killings committed in the village of Rawagedeh, now called Balongsari, [...]

The new ruling regime in Libya vowed to investigate allegations of human rights abuses Wednesday after the World Bank recognized the newly formed National Transitional Council (NTC) as the official government. The NTC was responding to an Amnesty International report published Tuesday alleging that both sides of the Libya conflict are responsible for human rights [...]