Barring the unlikely success of last-minute litigation, today, at 6 p.m. CST, Kenneth Eugene Smith is scheduled to become the first person in history to be executed by forced nitrogen gas inhalation. In Smith’s final minutes, personnel at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama will strap an industrial-grade mask to his face. Secured [...]

The US Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Wednesday refused Kenneth Smith’s application for a stay of his execution by nitrogen hypoxia.   Kenneth Smith is scheduled to be executed by way of nitrogen hypoxia on Thursday night at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. According to the Alabama execution [...]

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi stated on Wednesday that a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) will commence on the alleged mishandling of sovereignty disputes in Pedra Branca by the former administration after the Malaysian King appoints the RCI’s members. In 2003, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) jurisdiction [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected former US president Donald Trump’s appeal to have a gag order against him reviewed by the entire bench—a process known as en banc rehearing—on Tuesday. Originally imposed by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on October 16, the gag order restricts Trump from making public statements [...]

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) released a statement on Tuesday that the Transport Department’s refined application process for a Certificate of Particulars of Vehicle to journalists impedes freedom of press. In the statement, the HKJA claimed the government failed to respect a June 2023 ruling by the Court of Final Appeal (CFA). The case [...]

The UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group examined the human rights record of China, one of the 14 states reviewed during this year’s session, for the fourth time on Tuesday in a meeting at Geneva. The three previous UPR reports on China—which took place separately in February 2009, October 2013, and [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case challenging a Mississippi felon voter disenfranchisement law. Several voters who were previously convicted of felonies challenged the law on the basis of it being an unconstitutional example of cruel and unusual punishment under the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment. The [...]

Iran executed Tuesday Mohammad Ghobadlou, a protester with a long-term psychosocial disability, for the alleged murder of a police officer during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. The Iranian judiciary’s news agency Mizan reported the execution. The Criminal Court of Tehran Province executed Ghobadlou after the Supreme Court of Iran confirmed Ghobadlou’s death sentence. Ghobadlou was [...]

The Sri Lankan Parliament passed a controversial bill Wednesday, which has been condemned by opposition politicians and several human rights groups for curtailing free speech in the country. The Online Safety Bill aims to tackle cybercrimes such as child abuse, data theft and online fraud. However, human rights organizations warned that the bill poses a [...]

Iran must do more to protect its lawyers, advocacy groups and international organizations said Wednesday, as they marked the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer. Each year on Jan. 24, the international legal community honors lawyers around the world who work to advance human rights and the rule of law, even when doing so entails [...]