Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld most provisions of controversial legislation that imposes a sentence of death by hanging against individuals convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” In upholding the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the court maintained that though the country’s penal code is “undoubtedly … considered to be a relic from the country’s colonial past,” the bill’s overwhelming [...]
Search Results for: 2014-01-20
India dispatch: SCI Bilkis Bano ruling invites reconsideration of remission and parole processes
Indian law students are reporting for JURIST on law-related developments in and affecting India. This dispatch is from Sunidhi Das, a JURIST Assistant Editor and a second-year student at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. On February 27, 2002, a tragic incident unfolded at the Godhra station in Gujarat, India, when a train [...]
Thailand politician Pita Limjaroenrat sentenced to jail for illegal 2019 opposition rally
A Thai court handed down a suspended sentence on Monday to political figure Pita Limjaroenrat for an illegal rally held in 2019. Limjaroenrat was sentenced alongside seven other individuals involved with his political party, the Move Forward Party (previously the Future Forward Party). The case centred on a rally led by the then Future Forward [...]
The Belgrade Court of Appeal in Serbia acquitted Friday four ex-members of the former Republic of Yugoslavia security services of the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija. Ćuruvija was a journalist and the owner of the first private daily newspaper in Serbia, Dnevni Telegraf. He was shot and killed outside of his apartment on April 11, [...]
Thousands protest far-right party in Germany after mass deportation meeting revealed
Mass protests took place across 114 cities in Germany on Saturday against the country’s far-right political party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The demonstrations were in response to the party’s increasing popularity and allegations that party members attended a meeting to discuss mass deportation. According to the activist group Together Against The Right, the weekend demonstrations [...]
The US’s Biden administration moved Wednesday to designate the Houthi rebels, Ansar Allah, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, the latest effort to cut the group’s financial resources in response to attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The designation will take effect on February 16. Officials stressed [...]
Massachusetts high court rules individuals under age 21 cannot be sentenced to life without parole
The highest court in Massachusetts ruled on Thursday that individuals under the age of 21 cannot be sentenced to life without parole, becoming the first state to do so. In a 4-3 decision overruling the previous legislative action, the court raised the minimum age from 18 to 21, citing brain development science and the Massachusetts [...]
Houthi Attacks in the Red Sea: When Every Path Forward Entails Global Risk, Take the Long View
Author’s Note: The publication of this piece coincidentally aligns with the initiation of a direct military response by the US and UK against the Houthis in Yemen overnight on 12 January 2023. Rather than update the piece, we have decided to publish it as-is. Everything below still stands – the Yemeni people deserve a considered, [...]
Alabama's Nitrogen Gas Execution Will Be Cruel and Unusual Punishment
On Jan. 25, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) plans to execute Kenneth Smith by forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen gas, an untested execution method with profound legal and ethical consequences. Death penalty abolitionists worldwide have railed against this form of capital punishment, but these efforts have thus far failed to alter the state’s [...]
Jimmy Lai lawyers appeal to UN torture rapporteur over China witness treatment
Detained Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai’s international legal team filed an urgent appeal on Thursday with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The team alleged that the Chinese authorities tortured a key prosecution witness to coerce him into providing incriminating evidence [...]