Russia’s Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights will look into the verdicts handed down against former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev . During a recent council meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev , council member Tamara Morshchakova, a former judge for the Constitutional Court announced that the [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that the Detroit Immigration Court has ordered the removal of a Michigan man accused of killing Jews while serving as a member of the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP) in L’viv, Ukraine, during World War II. John Kalymon, found to have personally shot Jews while serving in [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed the life sentence of Ahmed Abu Ali, a US citizen who joined al Qaeda while studying abroad in Saudi Arabia. Abu Ali was convicted in November 2005 on nine charges related to conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, including plotting to assassinate then-president George [...]

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed documents ratifying the New START treaty , an agreement between Russia and the US intended to reduce nuclear arms in both countries. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed a bill into law last week ratifying the treaty after the Russian Federation Council approved the treaty’s ratification. The new treaty, [...]

The human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Tuesday accusing Indian security forces of committing human rights violations in response to terrorist attacks and urging reforms in the country’s justice system. The report titled “The ‘Anti-Nationals’: Arbitrary Detention and Torture of Terrorism Suspects in India”, accuses Indian security forces at [...]

Kazakhstan’s parliament on Wednesday approved amendments to the constitution which allow President Nursultan Nazarbayev to hold presidential elections in 2012 instead of extending his presidency until 2020. The bill was signed into law by Nazarbayev after unanimous approval by both houses of parliament. On Monday, Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Council rejected a proposed referendum extending Nazarbayev’s presidency [...]

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood on Tuesday requested that the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana order the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) to fulfill its legal obligations to aid victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Hood is seeking a federal judge to direct Kenneth Feinberg [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday accused military officials overseen by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of running a secret jail in Iraq that is not subject to inspection by international groups and torturing suspects in another detention center. The report claims that the Iraqi Army’s 56th Brigade controls the secret prison located in Camp [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday praised the efforts of Egyptian protesters while repeating concerns over casualties , calling on the nation’s leaders to give citizens the democratic reform they demand. There are currently unconfirmed reports of 300 casualties and 3,000 injured. Citing Article 21 of the of the Universal Declaration [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment Monday in favor of the government in CCR v. Obama , ruling that the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) lacked standing to challenge the legality of information obtained by Bush-era warrantless surveillance programs . CCR argued that the Terrorist [...]