Turkish politician and Kurdish rights activist Leyla Zana was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for spreading terrorist propaganda. Zana was convicted by a court in the city of Diyarbakir for two speeches delivered at the Kurdish political congress and protest in 2008. Zana has previously been convicted for spreading propaganda under Turkey's anti-terrorism [...]

US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that Spain has agreed to resettle four detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The four detainees are in addition to a Palestinian detainee transferred to Spain earlier this year. The governments have yet to decide which detainees will be transferred. Holder met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose [...]

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Adel Hassan Hamad filed suit in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington Wednesday against the US government and more than a dozen government officials. Hamad, a Sudanese aid worker captured in Pakistan in 2002, claims he was tortured during his time at Guantanamo Bay. A lawyer for [...]

18th Amendment Bill of the Pakistan Constitution, Pakistan National Assembly, April 8, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the Pakistan Constitution.

A group of citizens from Kinston, North Carolina, on Wednesday filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia claiming that Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of race. Section 5 requires certain voting districts to seek federal approval before making any changes to [...]

Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic: Decision on Motion to Stay, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, April 8, 2010 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on Radovan Karadzic.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled Thursday that a prominent gay rights organization may field candidates in the upcoming national elections as an accredited political party. The decision invalidates an order issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in November that rejected a bid for party recognition by Ang Ladlad . In denying Ang [...]

Pakistan's National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a constitutional amendment that would curtail the powers of the president. The 18th Amendment Bill would reverse the expansion of presidential powers under former military leader Pervez Musharraf by transferring presidential powers to the office of the prime minister , effectively reserving the presidency as a figurehead. Among [...]

Former Kyrgyz foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva announced Thursday that she will lead an interim government in Kyrgyzstan after violent protests Wednesday apparently ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his administration. Otunbayeva, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan , urged Bakiyev to resign and said that her temporary government will rule for six months until [...]

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that five additional states will join in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . The five states – Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada, and Arizona – will join 13 other states in a legal battle that began last month [...]