World Legal News Round Up for Saturday, 16 September 2017 News
World Legal News Round Up for Saturday, 16 September 2017

Here’s the international legal news we covered this week:

The Office of the Attorney General of Indonesia announced [Jakarta Post report] Thursday that it would rescind a policy that banned lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals from becoming employees.
On Thursday, Tunisia’s presidency spokeswoman, Saida Garrach, announced that the country’s ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men has come to an end.
The Iraqi parliament voted to oust Kirkuk governor Najm al-Din Karim on Thursday following rising Kurdish tensions from a failed referendum petition [official summary, Arabic] on Tuesday.
Three former Google employees filed a lawsuit [complaint] Thursday accusing the company of wage discrimination against women.
[JURIST] The Egyptian Supreme State Security Prosecution on Thursday acknowledged the detainment of Ibrahim Metwally, a human rights lawyer.
[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development Saad Alfarargi [official profile] said [press release] on Thursday that escalating climate change and the global economic crisis are posing increasing threats to the world’s impoverished persons.
The Congress of Guatemala [official website] approved legislation that decreases the penalties for campaign finance crimes on Wednesday by a vote of 105-19.
Spain’s state prosecutor [official website, in Spanish] on Wednesday summoned 712 Catalonian mayors who have said they will allow the use of public space for an independence referendum that is due to take place October 1.
The Angola [BBC backgrounder] Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed four opposition parties’ challenge to the August 23 election in which one party gained over 60 percent of the popular vote.
[JURIST] The Tunisian parliament, the National Constituent Assembly [official website, in Arabic], on Thursday adopted a law pardoning thousands of people who followed orders from corrupt leaders while hundreds protested the decision.
International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda [official profile] renewed her calls [statement] to the Libyan government on Wednesday for the immediate arrest and surrender of Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli, who is alleged to have participated in war crimes in Libya.
A coalition of rights groups, led by Human Rights First [advocacy website], called [press release] on the US Departments of State and Treasury [official websites] Wednesday to use the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act [text] to sanction foreign citizens accused of human violations and corruption.
The Brazil Supreme Court [official website] authorized another investigation on Tuesday into possible corruption and money laundering by President Michel Temer [BBC profile].
[JURIST] The House of Representatives of the Philippines [official website] on Tuesday voted 119-32 to cut the annual budget of the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) [advocacy website] down to 1,000 pesos, equivalent to USD $20.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court [official website] of South Africa ruled [judgment, PDF] Tuesday that the 2015 election of a faction loyal to South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, is invalid.
The Israel High Court of Justice [Official website] ruled [judgment, in Hebrew] Tuesday that a law exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from compulsory military service is unconstitutional [Haaretz report].
[JURIST] The European Commission [official website] said [press release] Tuesday that Poland must address actions it has recently taken to undermine its own judicial system and the independence of Polish judges.
[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [text] on Tuesday that five airstrikes launched by a Saudi-led coalition against Yemen in June amount to war crimes due to the indiscriminate killing of 26 children.
Last month marked a welcome trend in the Ukrainian conflict, with civilian deaths decreasing for the first time in three years, according to a report [text, PDF] released Tuesday by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website].
The council of Iraq [official web site] on Tuesday denied [official summary, Arabic] the referendum petition of Kurdistan to permit its independence.
The British Parliament [official site] on Monday approved a bill [press release] to continue the process of withdrawal from the EU.
[JURIST] Australia’s Coalition Party on Tuesday released a proposed bill to add extra protections to a same-sex marriage postal survey mailed out to the general public.
[JURIST] A Beijing intermediate court [backgrounder] sentenced two brothers to life in prison on Tuesday after ruling that the brothers’ peer-to-peer lending company, Ezubao, was a Ponzi scheme.
[JURIST] The Neubrandenburg state court announced on Tuesday that it is ending the trial of former SS medic Hubert Zafke after experts determined he is unfit to stand trial because of his dementia.
The Congress of Guatemala [official website, in Spanish] voted Monday against lifting immunity for President Jimmy Morales over allegations of illegal campaign financing.This development comes just after a Guatemala congressional committee recommended [JURIST report] that Morales’ immunity be voided to pave the way for an investigation into the matter by the country’s attorney general and the UN.
The UN Security Council [official website] reached a unanimous decision on Monday to adopt a US-drafted resolution [press release] imposing a series of fresh new sanctions on North Korea.
Brizillian billionaire Joesley Batista, owner of JBS [corporate website], and executive Ricardo Saud surrendered to police on Sunday in Sao Paulo for allegedly withholding evidence [Reuters report] during their plea bargain negotiation in the corruption case against President Michel Temer [Britannica profile].
Google appealed its EU antitrust fine on Monday after Intel’s partial victory [JURIST report] last week against a similar EU sanction.
A panel of legal experts for the Polish Parliament concluded [press release, in Polish]y Monda that Poland is entitled to seek reparations from Germany over any acts committed by the country during the Second World War.
Maldives authorities suspended 56 lawyers on Monday for signing and trying to submit a petition to the Supreme Court calling to uphold the rule of law.
A Guatemalan congressional committee on Sunday recommended that President Jimmy Morales’ immunity should be voided so the attorney general and the UN can investigate illegal campaign financing allegations.