The Uruguayan Supreme Court ruled Monday that amnesty granted for crimes committed by the country’s 12-year dictatorship is unconstitutional. The Expiry Law , adopted in 1986, granted amnesty to military officials accused of human rights violations during the country’s 1973-1985 dictatorship . The court’s ruling will allow investigators to proceed with 20 murder cases against [...]

Palestinian detainees have been subjected to “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” and at times torture by Israel’s Shin Bet Security Agency in violation of international and domestic law, according to a report released Tuesday by human rights groups B’Tselem and HaMoked . The details of the report, “Kept in the Dark,” are based on the [...]

Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Iran on Saturday sentenced Iranian human rights lawyer Mohammed Seifzadeh to nine years in prison and a 10-year ban from practicing law. Seifzadeh was charged with acting against national security in establishing the Defender of Human Rights Center (DHRC) , an organization that issues regular reports about human [...]

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday ordered an indefinite extension of its temporary stay preventing the suspension of the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. The new order will extend the government’s emergency motion to stay the injunction issued by the US District Court [...]

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon told the House of Commons Monday that the Harper administration has agreed to accept Guantanamo Bay detainee and convicted terrorist Omar Khadr after he serves the first year of his sentence in Guantanamo. The announcement comes the day after a panel of seven senior US military officers on [...]

A three-judge panel of US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments Monday on Arizona’s controversial immigration law . The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has argued that parts of the law are unconstitutional while others are preempted by federal law. John Bouma, representing Arizona and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) , [...]

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced Monday that Indonesian soldiers caught on video last month torturing Papuan detainees will stand trial before a military tribunal. Yudhoyono said that the decision to try the soldiers was the result of the government’s dedication to justice and not due to international pressure. He said the alleged perpetrators must [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Ortiz v. Jordan on whether a party may appeal an order denying summary judgment after a full trial on the merits if the party chose not to appeal the order before trial. Petitioner Michelle Ortiz was sexually assaulted by a corrections officer in prison and then [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in five cases and called for views by the Acting Solicitor General on two pending petitions. In JDB v. North Carolina , the court will determine whether a juvenile student who incriminated himself while being questioned by law enforcement officers was in custody and therefore entitled to [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Silvio Waisbord of George Washington University says the “anti-racism” law recently passed in Bolivia is a result of deep divisions in the country, but that it won’t help, and may actually hamper, civil discourse about those issues… On October 10th, Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a new “anti-racism” law. Expectedly, the decision, [...]