Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Abu Bakar Khan is a final year law student at University Law College, University of the Punjab. He files this dispatch from Lahore. Lahore hosted the 5th Asma Jahangir Conference, titled ‘People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil [...]
Search Results for: 1998-12-22
In the Halls of Brazil's Senate: Unpacking the Legacy of the US Constitution
To date, America’s greatest contribution to the world has been its Constitution. The importance of this document far surpasses such other cultural achievements as the Moon landing, the telephone, GPS, rubber vulcanization, and Henry Ford’s mass production lines. It is more important, even, than Gone With the Wind, and the hamburger — even though this [...]
Nigeria must comply with recent high court judgment to protect journalists' safety: CPJ
Nigerian authorities must comply with a recent federal high court judgment ordering them to investigate and appropriately punish all attacks against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Thursday. The landmark judgment, delivered on February 16, could have significant implications for Nigerian journalists, who are frequently monitored, arbitrarily arrested, attacked and killed. However, the [...]
Explainer: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Criminal Court
The current conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine raises significant issues of international law and policy. This is part one in an anticipated two-part series that will discuss some of the relevant legal questions before the International Criminal Court (ICC; Part I) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ; Part II). With both courts located in [...]
For Israel, a Two-State Solution Would Be a 'Final Solution'
The evidence is clear. The true aim of all authoritative Palestinian leaderships is not a sovereign and independent state of Palestine – a diplomatic option these leaderships have willfully rejected again and again – but elimination of the Jewish State. In this urgent matter, history deserves immediate pride of place. To begin, there has never [...]
Iran court hands Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi extended prison term
A court in Iran has handed an additional 15-month prison term to the convicted Nobel laureate and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, according to a Monday Instagram post from the activist’s family. The additional jail term was given to Mohammadi for allegedly “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic Republic. The court reportedly based its decision on [...]
Palestinian Statehood and Demilitarization: A Falsifying Conjunction
“For by wise counsel, thou shalt make thy war.” Proverbs 24:6 Though one might think otherwise, there is no Palestinian state at present, nor has there ever been such a state in the past. Still, once the current Gaza War comes to an end – and whatever the tangible correlates of any war termination agreements [...]
In response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians, Israel mounted Operation Swords of Iron. Although international law allows for certain limited uses of insurgent force, including uses directed toward “self-determination,” these residual allowances do not include any rights of indiscriminate violence or of deliberate attacks on noncombatants. “Revenge,” of course, is [...]
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of 'System'
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959) Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]
The UK Government Monday decided to block the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, signed to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender. This action marks a constitutional first in UK history since this is the first time the UK government has used the Scotland Act 1998 to veto Scottish legislation. [...]