Thailand king commutes former PM's 8-year sentence to 1 year
The Thai Royal Gazette announced on Friday that Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn granted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra a royal pardon, reducing Thaksin’s eight-year prison sentence to one year. A royal pardon, which may be granted as an unconditional release or commutation of punishment at the discretion of Thailand’s king, is the act of forgiving [...]
Showing the Prophet Muhammad’s Paintings in a Classroom is Not Islamophobic
Hamline University in Minnesota has fired adjunct art professor Erika Lopez Prater for showing 14th-century paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The University asserts that the professor’s act is Islamophobic and that bringing the artwork to the classroom with Muslim students breached the limits of academic freedom. The facts do not suggest that Professor [...]
India Must Reform its Anti-Defection Law to Prevent Further Corrosion of Democracy
“Defectors often cause more difficulty than disinterested disbelievers” – Neal Ash Maxwell, American scholar, educator, and religious leader. Recent events in the Indian state of Maharashtra reaffirm the existence of glaring loopholes in a law aimed at bolstering political stability in India. The recent fall of the democratically elected government led by the state’s former [...]
Explainer: Unpacking Conspiracy Theories Around the Ouster of Pakistani Prime Minister Khan
In a dramatic midnight move on April 9, Pakistan’s National Assembly voted to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan in a no-confidence resolution. Minutes before voting, the Speaker of the House, a member of the ruling party and a known friend of Khan, resigned from office after waving a quasi-confidential letter at the legislators. This letter [...]
After successfully flattening the curve in late 2020, India witnessed a horrific resurgence of cases. Many attributed this to the “policy casualness” of the government of India, and the lack of effective measures taken by it to ensure social distancing and the wearing of masks. As restrictions were lifted, sights of holiday-goers reaching jam-packed airports [...]
Will Myanmar Comply with Provisional Measures in Gambia v. Myanmar?
Introduction On November 11, 2019 The Gambia submitted an application against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging that Myanmar had violated its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). The representation made by The Gambia as a ‘proxy’ and on behalf of [...]
Federal appeals court rejects release of Abu Ghraib photographs
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday that photographs of detainees taken by US military personnel can be withheld from release. In 2003 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the release of photographs depicting torture at military detention facilities in [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin, of Lewis and Clark Law School, discusses the effectiveness of TSA screening policies and how those policies affect our privacy rights...In the fall of 2001, I went on the market to become a law professor,...
Embassy Bomber Faces Justice; What Do These Cases Say About Terrorism Prosecution?
JURIST Guest Columnist Tung Yin of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon discusses recent terrorism trials...On August 7, 1998, al Qaeda terrorists simultaneously attacked the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania with massive truck bombs, killing a combined...
