New Zealand’s High Court heard judicial review proceedings filed by northern Māori iwi on Thursday seeking to stay a district council’s decision to disestablish its Indigenous constituency. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua, a body corporate representing the Indigenous applicants, sought an interim injunction on the basis that the Kaipara District Council (KDC) has not fulfilled [...]
The Libyan Attorney General’s Office ordered the detention of oil and gas minister Khalifa Abdul Sadiq on financial corruption charges Wednesday. The office stated that Abdul Sadiq violated the law by coercing a corporate accountant to approve a document that authorized an unidentified foreign company to spend 457.6 million euros and acted inconsistently with his [...]
A report released Tuesday by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem featured allegations of systematic abuse and torture of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities. The report, titled “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps,” is based on interviews with 55 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and [...]
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice (ONSC) certified a class action lawsuit on Tuesday involving the Canadian federal government and the detention of 8,360 immigration detainees in 87 provincial prisons across Canada. The plaintiffs in the class action include two representative plaintiffs, Tyron Richard, and Alexis Garcia Paez, as well as members of a subclass [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Wednesday documenting the Russian government’s crackdown on fundamental civic liberties following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The report, titled “Russia’s Legislative Minefield: Tripwires for Civil Society since 2020,” underscores that the suppression is a continuation of an existing trend that has continued for more than [...]
Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered the progressive Move Forward Party’s (MFP) dissolution on Wednesday based on the party’s proposal to amend the country’s controversial lèse-majesté law. The lèse-majesté law, enshrined in section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, imposes severe penalties for defaming, insulting, or threatening the Thai monarchy. The MFP proposed amending this law and defended [...]
The American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) released a roadmap on Tuesday outlining Democratic nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign commitments regarding reproductive freedom and how the ACLU will ensure their delivery. The roadmap is part of the organization’s memo series exploring potential policies concerning a range of civil liberty issues that are likely [...]
A US federal judge on Tuesday ruled that key parts of a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination can move forward. The lawsuit was filed in January by a recent graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Alexander Kestenbaum, alongside Students Against Antisemitism, Inc. (SAA), an advocacy group. [...]
Two Turkish law professors and cyber-rights activists have filed a lawsuit regarding the recent ban on Instagram by the Turkish government, according to a Monday social media post. The lawsuit, presented by Yaman Akdeniz and Kerem Altiparmak, founders of the İstanbul-based Freedom of Expression Association, requests the cancellation of the ban, alleging it infringes on [...]
23 states have either renewed or amended their declarations of intervention in the ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case brought by Ukraine against Russia concerning allegations of genocide in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to a Tuesday ICJ press release. Six states have maintained their original declarations without adjustments while eight states have [...]