The Taipei District Prosecutors Office (TDPO) charged on Thursday Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of Taipei and leader of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), for bribery and other corruption offenses in connection with a real estate development project known as the Core Pacific City redevelopment project. The prosecutors sought an imprisonment sentence of 28 years [...]

A Russian court sentenced a Dutch citizen, Harry Johannes van Wurden, on Wednesday to three years in prison for assaulting a police officer.  The ruling was issued after van Wurden was found guilty of punching a police officer during an incident in central Moscow last October. Wurden was initially arrested and placed under house arrest [...]

Morocco’s justice and Islamic affairs ministers unveiled significant reforms to the country’s family law on Tuesday in Rabat, marking the first comprehensive review of the Moroccan Family Code in 20 years. The initiative aims to expand women’s rights in child custody, guardianship, and polygamous marriages while addressing broader societal changes. Key amendments include raising the [...]

Iran’s government announced on Tuesday that it had lifted a two-year ban on WhatsApp and the Google Play Store, marking a significant shift in the country’s internet restrictions. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported the decision after a meeting involving top government officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian. This move is seen as an [...]

Several UN Special Rapporteurs on Monday expressed concern over a spike in systemic targeting of Baha’i-religion women in Iran. The UN experts observed that Baha’i women have been facing systemic targeting, including arrests, summoning for interrogation, enforced disappearance, raids on their homes and confiscation of their personal belongings. In a letter from July this year, [...]

The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday issued an investigation report on a massacre carried out by the Wharf Jérémie criminal gang in the municipality of Port-au-Prince of Haiti between December 6 and 11. They noted at least 207 people (134 [...]

A Moscow court sentenced Gene Spector on Tuesday, a Russian-born US citizen, to 15 years in a high-security penal colony on espionage charges. The ruling, delivered on December 24, 2024, adds 13 years to an existing three-and-a-half-year sentence he was already serving for bribery. According to local media sources, the espionage trial was conducted behind [...]

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime on Tuesday, the first international criminal justice treaty negotiated in over two decades. Adopted without a vote by the 193-member General Assembly, the convention addresses crimes committed using information and communications technology (ICT) systems. It targets offenses ranging from online fraud and hacking [...]

Vietnam enforced new internet regulations on Wednesday mandating social media platforms to verify user identities and share data with authorities. The rules, encapsulated in Decree No. 147/2024, have sparked significant criticism from activists and human rights organizations, who contend that they represent a severe infringement on freedom of expression in the country. Under the new decree, [...]