David Dadge : "The International Press Institute (IPI), as an organisation that has campaigned for almost 60 years for press freedom, wholeheartedly welcomes the proposals made in the Icelandic parliament. By selecting the best elements from existing laws overseas and combining them in these new proposals, Iceland hopes to become a shining beacon of press [...]

Iranian authorities have released 30 political prisoners from Evin prison, opposition website Cyrusnews reported Sunday. The release is being attributed to family members of the imprisoned, who gathered outside the prison for a week demanding their relatives be freed. It is estimated that hundreds of students, activists, and journalists have been arrested as political prisoners [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled in Wilkins v. Gaddy that excessive force claims must be decided based on the nature of the force rather than the extent of the injury. The district court had dismissed a prisoner's excessive force claim after determining that his injuries were "de minimis." The Supreme Court found that [...]

US President Barack Obama on Monday released the administration's health care reform proposal , four days in advance of a bipartisan summit on the issue. The proposal seeks to reconcile the versions of the bills passed last year by the House of Representatives legislation and the Senate . The administration has detailed what it considers [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in two cases. In County of Los Angeles v. Humphries , the court will be asked to address whether a plaintiff must show that a constitutional violation by a public entity was the result of a policy, custom, or practice of that entity before declaratory relief can [...]

Turkish police on Monday detained more than 40 people in connection with an alleged military plot to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government. According to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan , the arrests occurred during security operations in which 14 senior military officers, including former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina and former navy chief Ozden Ornek, were [...]

An Algerian criminal court on Sunday acquitted former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mustafa Hemlili of charges of counterfeiting and affiliation to a militant group that is active abroad. Hemlili was released from Guantanamo, along with fellow inmate Hederbash Sufian, after a six-year detention period. The court separated the trials of the two defendants, stating that the [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnists Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior counsel at the Constitution Project, and Karen Bloom, legal fellow with the Constitution Project, say that the US Supreme Court's decision in the upcoming Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project case challenging the constitutionality of laws prohibiting “material support” to terrorist groups may have serious implications for our [...]

A Buddhist monk was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Myanmar during a visit by UN High Representative for Human Rights Tomas Ojea Quintana , an opposition lawyer confirmed Saturday. Gaw Thita was convicted Wednesday by a special court in Insein Prison for violating immigration laws in relation to a trip he took to Taiwan, [...]

Saudi Justice Minister Mohammed al-Eissa announced Saturday that women will be allowed to argue cases in court under a new law that his department is drafting. The law is expected to be issued in the near future and would allow female lawyers to represent other women in cases related to family law, such as child [...]