A court in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday sentenced 19 ethnic Uzbeks for their involvement in the June 2010 ethnic violence that resulted in more than 300 deaths and an additional 2,000 injuries. Seventeen of the Uzbeks received life sentences and two received 25-year sentences for their participation in a June 13 riot that blocked a major [...]

The Federal Court of Malaysia , the country’s highest court, on Wednesday rejected a defamation suit filed by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim against former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad . Anwar filed suit in 2006 after Mahathir allegedly suggested at a human rights conference that Anwar was unfit for office because of his supposed [...]

JURIST Contributing Editor Michael Kelly of Creighton University School of Law says that US President Barack Obama made the right move in recommending India for a permanent position on the UN Security Council, but that the Council also needs to undergo more extensive changes in order to reflect current geo-political realities… President Obama threw American [...]

Lydia Gall : “In a Romani settlement in Slovakia, a boy attending a mainstream school was awarded a small scholarship for being a gifted student. He dreamed of growing up and being an auto mechanic. Later, following a dispute with a teacher, he was placed in a special class for pupils with mental disabilities attended [...]

JURIST Guest Columnists Lawrence Friedman and Victor Hansen of New England Law Boston say that the Ghailani trial demonstrated that, even without evidence obtained from questionable interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects, the government can make and prove its case…. Last week, a federal jury in New York acquitted Ahmed Ghailani of 279 terrorism-related charges. [...]

A lawyer for former Iraqi foreign minister and deputy prime minister under Saddam Hussein , Tariq Aziz filed a petition Tuesday asking Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to pardon the former leader. Aziz was sentenced to death by hanging last month by the Iraqi High Criminal Court following a conviction on charges related to the former [...]

Alleged Nazi death camp prison guard John Demjanjuk issued a statement on Tuesday accusing the German judges conducting his trial of bias after the they rejected a number of defense petitions. In total, the judges rejected 23 petitions , including motions regarding whether Demjanjuk, who is Ukranian born but obtained US citizenship after World War [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday expressed her concern over Iran’s crackdown on human rights defenders. Pillay expressed particular concern for Nasrin Sotoudeh, the human rights lawyer who has been conducting hunger strikes since her imprisonment in September for allegedly spreading propaganda and colluding against national security. Earlier this year, Amnesty [...]

The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled Monday that defendants with limited English proficiency have a constitutional right to court interpreters in criminal trials. The court’s decision overturned the Georgia Court of Appeals ruling denying the defendant’s motion for a new trial. Annie Ling, whose native language is Mandarin Chinese, filed the motion after a jury [...]

The Israeli Knesset approved legislation Monday that would require referendums on peace treaties involving ceding land that the country has annexed. In a 65-33 vote, the legislature decided that a referendum would be required for any agreement involving the surrender of annexed land that fails to win a two-thirds majority in parliament. The legislation would [...]