The New Jersey Supreme Court  on Monday ruled that police dashboard recordings are exempt under the Open Public Records Act , which requires government records to be made accessible to the general public. This decision reverses the New Jersey Superior Court 2016 ruling in favor of John Paff, a notable public records advocate. Paff had filed a [...]

The European Commission sent a “reasoned opinion” to the Polish government Tuesday over the new law lowering the mandatory retirement age of the Polish Supreme Court from 70 to 65. The lowering of the mandatory retirement age is largely seen as a way to pack the Polish judiciary by the Law and Justice Party. The European [...]

The West Virginia House of Delegates voted  on Monday to impeach all remaining state Supreme Court justices. The House voted to adopt 11 of 14 proposed Articles of Impeachment  previously approved  by the House Judiciary Committee. The articles outlined the actions of each current justice, mentioning Justice Allen Loughry in seven, Justice Robin Davis in [...]

UN human rights experts on Monday urged  Bangladesh authorities to immediately release photographer Shahidul Alam , who was arrested and charged with spreading propaganda and false information against the government after he reported abuses against student protesters demanding road safety. Alam was arrested earlier this month only hours after a news outlet released an interview with him on [...]

The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICTB) on Monday sentenced  five people to death for crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 war of independence  from Pakistan. After lengthy testimony, the three-judge panel unanimously found the men guilty of “abduction, confinement, torture, murder, and rape.” As members of Razakar Bahini, a pro-Pakistan paramilitary force, the court held that the men [...]

The Criminal Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia  on Monday released  former president Robert Kocharian from custody, saying he was unconstitutionally taken into custody in 2008. According to Kocharian’s lawyer, Ruben Sahakyan, the court’s decision hinged on article 140 of Armenia’s Constitution . Specifically, the constitution declares that: “during the term of his or her powers and [...]

Judge Dabney Friedrich of the US District Court for the District of Columbia held Monday that the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller was constitutional. The opinion denied the motion to dismiss by defendant Concord Management and Consulting LLC. Concord’s motion argued that Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lacked the power to appoint a special counsel. In addition, [...]

Several leaders of the outlawed Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood  were sentenced  to life in prison on Sunday by the Cairo Criminal Court on charges of incitement to murder and violence. Among the sentenced, include head Mohamed Badie, Mohamed al-Beltagi and Essam al-Erian. Badie and other prominent leaders of the party were previously convicted  and sentenced to life [...]

The UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the UN Human Rights Office released a joint report on Monday advising Somalia to take precautions to ensure that the human rights violations that occurred last year would not have a negative impact on their peace efforts or future elections. According to UNSOM, these violations had a direct [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warned in an interview with The Guardian on Monday that Trump’s attacks on the press are “very close to incitement to violence.” Zeid fears that the current President’s designation of the press as an “enemy of the people” could have dire consequences: We began to [...]