The Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany, on Wednesday convicted former Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) officer Eyad A. of aiding and abetting torture and deprivation of liberty as crimes against humanity committed against 30 persons. Eyad received a sentence of four years and six months in prison. The 30 persons, who were all civilians, had [...]

In a report published Friday, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan found that over two years after the signing of a peace agreement ending a civil war that started in 2013, the country is still experiencing extreme levels of violence. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after experiencing decades of civil war. Another [...]

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) found in a landmark decision released Wednesday that the Jamaican government is responsible for violating the human rights of two of its nationals within the LGBT community. The Human Dignity Trust (HDT), a charity composed of international lawyers championing LGBT rights, brought the case in 2011 on behalf [...]

In a unanimous decision rendered Thursday by the three-member International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh, one person was acquitted, three persons were sentenced to imprisonment till death and five were sentenced to 20 years in prison for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. The court found each of the eight persons guilty of [...]

Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul was released Wednesday after spending a total of 1,001 days—almost three years—in prison. Al-Hathloul had been championing Saudi women’s rights since 2013 and lobbied especially for the right to drive, as well as for an end to male guardianship laws in the kingdom. While women were granted the right [...]

German prosecutors issued Friday an indictment against a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary, alleging 10,000 counts of aiding, abetting, and being complicit in attempted murders as part of the Nazi apparatus of terror. According to the prosecutors, she “assisted those responsible at the camp in the systematic killing of Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday convicted Dominic Ongwen, a former brigade commander of the African rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from July 2002 to December 2005. Ongwen was accused of 70 counts of these crimes. In a 1,077-page judgment, Trial Chamber IX of the [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) held the first hearing in the case against Mahamat Saïd Abdel Kani on Thursday and Friday. Saïd is believed to be a former commander of the Séléka, a primarily-Muslim coalition of armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR). CAR officials surrendered Saïd to the ICC on January 24. Saïd [...]

The Russian parliament unanimously ratified a bill Wednesday to extend Russia’s Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden had agreed Tuesday to extend the treaty. The New START treaty was signed in April 2010 and entered into force in February 2011. It is the [...]

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday held Russia responsible for several breaches of the European Convention of Human Rights following its 2008 five-day armed conflict with Georgia. Georgia and Russia have a history of tensions between them, which escalated on August 7, 2008, when Georgia claims it sent its troops [...]