US President Joe Biden, in one of his final acts before leaving office, issued preemptive pardons to former chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley, several officials who served on the January 6th congressional investigation committee, and members of his own family. The pardons, announced hours before former President [...]

Tehran’s First Criminal Court has sentenced the popular singer Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, to death on appeal after he was convicted of blasphemy for “insulting Prophet Muhammad,” according to Iran International. The case was reopened after the prosecutor rejected the original verdict to sentence Tataloo to 5 years of imprisonment. Tataloo, the 37-year-old [...]

Human rights organizations in Latin America issued a joint statement on Friday, expressing deep concern about the systematic non-compliance of several Latin American states with international human rights, sexual rights and reproductive rights (SRHR) obligations. SRHR are fundamental rights protected by a range of international and regional human rights treaties and in national laws and [...]

Egyptian human rights activist Hossam Bahgat was released on bail Sunday after facing charges of “joining and financing a terrorist group” and “spreading false news,” according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). Bahgat, the executive director of the EIPR, was summoned last week by Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) and questioned for [...]

A coalition of US states and energy industry organizations filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Biden administration, challenging two presidential memoranda that withdraw over 627 million acres of offshore waters from future oil and gas leasing. The suit, filed with the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, argues that the withdrawals [...]

CNN reached a legal settlement with a security contractor on Friday after the Florida First District Court of Appeal ruled the network liable for defamation. The jury found CNN had defamed the US Navy veteran, Zachary Young, by suggesting he was charging “exorbitant prices” to evacuate people from Afghanistan during the US withdrawal in August [...]

Human rights organizations, including the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), urged an immediate end to the violence between illegal armed groups in the Colombian region of Catatumbo on Sunday. WOLA joined the Colombian movement “Defendamos la Paz” in a call for armed groups in Catatumbo to end their armed conflict. In a statement, WOLA [...]

Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, was sentenced to serve eight-and-a-half years in prison this Friday for his role in the “tuna bond” scandal by a Brooklyn court. In 2005, Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza named Manuel Chang as minister of finance with a mission of leading the fight against poverty. Ironically, Chang — along with [...]

The Federal Court of Canada granted a motion on Saturday to expedite a legal challenge to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s request to prorogue Parliament until March 24, 2025. The Chief Justice clarified that if the hearing were to follow the Federal Court’s usual timelines, there would be no opportunity for Canada’s elected representatives to debate [...]

Two senior Iranian judges were killed on Saturday in a shooting attack carried out by an unidentified armed man at the Supreme Court in Tehran. Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh were assassinated by a gunman who immediately afterward committed suicide while attempting to flee. While attacks against judges are rare, Iran has witnessed a significant [...]