A German court in Koblenz Thursday sentenced Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian colonel who directed operations at a civil prison in Damascus, to life in prison. This unprecedented trial was the world’s first trial prosecuting state-sponsored torture in Syria. German human rights lawyers argued for the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing crimes committed in [...]
The Austrian Data Protection Authority (DPA) Thursday ruled that an Austrian website provider’s continuous use of Google Analytics and the resultant transfer of personal data to Google violated the European Union’s (EU) privacy law, the General Data Protection Rules (GDPR). The ruling responded to a series of representations filed by the Austrian privacy advocacy group [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Tuesday held Bulgaria’s laws on secret surveillance, including retention and accessing of communications data, violate the right to respect for private life and correspondence under Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention. The application was lodged in October 2012 by two Bulgarian lawyers, Mihail Tiholov Ekimdzhiev and [...]
A military-run court in Myanmar Monday found ousted civilian leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi guilty on charges including the possession of walkie talkies and the breach of COVID-19 regulations and sentenced her to four more years in prison. This ruling came just over a month after she was first convicted by a [...]
Somali prisoner and Guantánamo Bay detainee Guled Hassan Duran was approved for transfer and will be released from detention, his lawyers announced Monday. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Duran is the first detainee designated as “high value” to be approved for transfer. Duran is a Somali citizen and was captured by the [...]
Australia’s Federal Circuit and Family Court Monday ruled that Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa was improperly cancelled by Australian border services, and that he must be allowed to enter Australia immediately. The reversal came about after Djokovic’s initial ban from entering Australia to compete in the Australian Open due to a failure to prove [...]
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), one of Egypt’s last independent human rights organizations, closed Monday. ANHRI made the announcement in a statement posted to its website, citing government pressure as the reason for its closure. ANHRI was founded by a team of lawyers and activists in 2004 with a mission of defending [...]
The Italian government has approved a decree that extends the scope of the country’s green pass system and requires anyone over the age of 50 living in Italy to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Italy’s green pass system, which has been in place since October 15, currently requires all workers to present a green pass to [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar Thomas Andrews Monday said that Myanmar’s military must halt its attacks on the town of Loikaw. In a message on Twitter, Andrews wrote: “Min Aung Hlaing must immediately halt the air and ground attacks that junta forces have unleashed on Loikaw, Karenni State, lift the blockade of [...]
European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Wojciech Wiewiórowski notified an order Monday directing the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to erase datasets uncategorized within six months, since they could potentially contain data on individuals with no link to criminal activity. Annex II.B and Articles 18(3) and 28(1) of the Europol Regulation allow Europol [...]
