JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Myanmar law students are reporting for JURIST on challenges to the rule of law in their country under the military junta that deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. The 10th of February 2024 was a particularly dark day for the citizens of Myanmar. At 8:00 PM, the Ministry of Information under the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) issued a significant notification regarding the People’s Military Service Law, a compulsory military service statute origin

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced on Wednesday that sanctions will be imposed on senior officials of the prison where the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was detained and later died. The sanctions on six individuals will include a ban from entering the UK and asset freezes. The UK is the first country to impose sanctions in response to Navalny’s death.

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The UN called for measures to address the tribal violence in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, urging the country to adequately address the heightened violence between tribes in its Highland region. The organization called on the nation’s government to engage with local leaders to establish peace and promote human rights. UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence stated, “[t]he Government must take immediate measures to address the root causes of the violence, and work toward tr

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Peruvian law students from the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Políticas , Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in and affecting Perú. All of them are from CIED ( Centro de Investigación de los Estudiantes de Derecho , a student research center in UNSAAC’s faculty of law dedicated to spreading legal information and improving legal culture through study and research, promoting critical and reflective debate to contribute to the dev

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Alexei Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in a Salekhard city court against Russian officials, contesting their refusal to release her son’s body. This complaint followed previous attempts from Lyudmila Navalnaya and Navalny’s team of lawyers to retrieve the deceased activist’s body. After Navalny died Friday in an Arctic prison colony, his body was transferred to Salekhard so investigators could determine the cause of his death.

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on six individuals affiliated with various armed factions in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday. Sanctioned individuals were allegedly involved in obstructing disarmament and repatriation efforts, committing human rights violations such as murder and sexual violence, recruiting child soldiers, orchestrating or carrying out attacks on civilians, and facilitating destabilizing activities through the illicit

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The US Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear an appeal from a group of attorneys associated with former president Donald Trump, led by Sidney Powell, against sanctions placed upon them for allegedly abusing the Michigan state legal system in their 2020 election fraud lawsuit. The case, Powell v. Whitmer , began in 2020 when Michigan saw a record-high voter turnout for then-candidate, now President Joe Biden.

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

A previously unknown Greek anarchist group, “Armed Response,” claimed responsibility Monday for a bomb attack against a judge earlier this month. The incident occurred at a courthouse in Thessaloniki, and explosive experts defused the parcel bomb before it caused any harm. The statement released by the group criticized the work of judicial officers, alleging that their actions were aimed at torturing and impoverishing prisoners and individuals facing punishment.

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

A federal judge blocked a California law on Wednesday which would have required background checks for individuals seeking to buy ammunition. The judge found that the California law, known as Proposition 63, violated the US Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In 2016, California voters passed Proposition 63, which established background check requirements with US Department of Justice databases for individuals seeking to purchase ammunition.

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

The Pakistan court that sentenced former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for leaking state secrets released its full opinion on Thursday. The court, which sentenced Khan to ten years imprisonment, found that as a result of the actions of Khan and Vice President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shah Mahmood Qureshi, “Pakistan has faced serious economic, diplomatic and political consequences.” The case concerned the actions of Khan and Qureshi following Khan’s removal as PM i

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JURIST

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

US President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday enabling sanctions to be issued against violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The first round of sanctions under the order targets four individuals implicated in settler violence towards Palestinians: David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjjl, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi. The sanctions imposed include blocking the individuals’ financial assets and barring their entry into the United States.

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

Iranian authorities on Sunday released two journalists who spent over a year in prison for covering the death of Mahsa Amini , an Iranian woman whose arrest in Tehran by the morality police for opposing mandatory hijab standards and subsequent death in police custody sparked nationwide and global protests, local media outlets reported. Footage on social media also showed Hamedi and Mohammadi reuniting with family and friends immediately following their release.

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery Tomoya Obokata warned the UK government that reports of forced labor under the country’s seasonal worker scheme could amount to potential breaches of international law, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) said on Friday. The seasonal worker scheme was introduced in 2019 to remedy labor shortages that were caused by Brexit, such as acts of intimidation, threats, sexual harassment and poor living conditions for people working o

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

Two migrant children and their mother drowned on Friday while trying to cross from Mexico into the United States, after Texas law enforcement authorities prevented officials with the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) from reaching the victims to render life-saving aid, said US Representative Henry Cuellar. Cuellar represents a district on the border.

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

The Lok Sabha privilege committee, responsible for investigating breaches of privilege in the lower house of India’s Parliament, adopted on Friday a resolution to lift the suspension imposed on three opposition members during the ongoing winter session, according to reports from local news sources. The suspension was originally enforced on the members over charges of disruptive conduct within the lower house.

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

The US and UK defended the legality of their strikes launched in Yemen against Houthi rebels at the UN Security Council’s Friday meeting. The airstrikes, conducted by an international coalition led by the United States and supported by Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, drew international attention and sparked a broader debate on the humanitarian situation in Yemen and compliance with Security Council resolution 2722 (2024) , which demands an end to Houthi attacks on

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday set aside a Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision suspending the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) earlier order against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) that revoked the party’s bat election symbol. This means that PTI will not be able to use their iconic bat symbol. PTI, which is led by former prime minister Imran Khan, uses a bat as its election symbol.

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JURIST

JANUARY 13, 2024

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a press release that it recorded the testimony of former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob about the use of RM700 million in funds that were “spent for publicity and promotion purposes during the previous government’s administration” on Wednesday. The Keluarga Malaysia (Family Malaysia) program , launched by Ismail Sabri in August 2021, aimed to enhance the economic well-being of families by implementing various initiativ

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JURIST

JANUARY 14, 2024

The Danish Eastern High Court upheld on Friday the conviction of three Iranian nationals found guilty of promoting terror and espionage, and handed down prison terms to the convicted Iranians. The three Iranian men, who are believed to belong to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, were arrested in February 2020 in connection with a deadly attack on a military parade in the Iranian city Ahvaz in September 2018.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

The President of India Droupadi Murmu assented Monday to the controversial Telecommunications Bill , 2023, which aims to reform the telecommunications sector in India. The bill was passed by the lower house of India’s Parliament, the Lok Sabha, on December 20 through a voice vote amidst a record suspension of MPs from the opposition for protesting over a recent security breach in the Parliament.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), the political party of detained ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, asked the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday to find the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and administration members in contempt for violating the court’s December 22 order directing the ECP to ensure fair grounds for the upcoming general election.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

The Canadian government has offered to provide a matched settlement to Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on Tuesday following their incarceration in Chinese prisons in 2018, according to government sources for Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. The two Canadians were charged with espionage and a breach of state secrets amidst a dispute between Canada and the US against China.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Izhar Ahmed Khan is a 2022 LL.B. graduate of the Pakistan College of Law (University of London International Program). Abu Bakar Khan is a final year law student at University Law College, University of the Punjab. They file this dispatch from Lahore.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

India’s president assented Monday to three new post-colonial criminal law reform bills, paving the way for their enactment. The president’s assent extends to three bills: the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill ( BSB ), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita ( BNSS ), and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita ( BNS ). The BSB and BNS are slated to replace the colonial-era Indian Evidence Act of 1872 and the Indian Penal Code of 1860 , respectively.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a statement to the press on Monday that it is assisting local law enforcement in investigating threats against the Colorado Supreme Court. The announcement comes almost a week after the court disqualified former US President Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot for the 2024 presidential race.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 27, 2023

The Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee approved on Tuesday Sweden’s NATO membership. This is the first step in Türkiye’s process to full approval, which entails submission to the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament, followed by ratification from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Upon successful ratification, Hungary will be the final NATO member to approve Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.

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JURIST

DECEMBER 9, 2023

Indian politician Mahua Moitra was expelled from the lower house of the Parliament, known as the Lok Sabha, for indulging in “unethical conduct” and committing “serious misdemeanours” following a recommendation by the Ethics Committee. Moitra belongs to the opposition party, Trinamool Congress, headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee. The Ethics Committee Report accused Moitra of taking bribes and luxury gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in return for asking questions in Par

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JURIST

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump presented oral arguments before a DC appeals court Monday, arguing that the gag order prohibiting Trump from disparaging participants in his election interference criminal case violates the former President’s right to free speech. A three-member panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit weighed Donald Trump’s First Amendment rights with the interest of a fair and impartial trial.

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JURIST

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday dismissed an appeal by Jamaat-e-Islami , the country’s largest Islamist party, which sought the reversal of a 2013 High Court ruling that declared the party illegal. The decision barring the party from contesting elections was based on the rationale that it had violated the constitutional principle of secularism.

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JURIST

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Spanish police sources told Reuters on Sunday that a military officer was arrested for possession of a pistol at a protest against an amnesty law that would drop all charges against the Catalan separatists involved in the failed 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Spanish media reported that the man arrested is a second lieutenant stationed at the Zaragoza Military Academy training base.

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JURIST

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Human rights group Afghan Witness released a report on Monday saying that abusive online posts and hate speech targeting politically engaged women in Afghanistan have tripled since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. The group analyzed more than 78,000 abusive posts between June to December in 2021 and 2022 and interviewed Afghan women in finding that the abusive posts had “chilling effect[s]” on female engagement online.

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NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Peruvian law students from the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Políticas , Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in and affecting Perú. All of them are from CIED ( Centro de Investigación de los Estudiantes de Derecho , a student research center in UNSAAC’s faculty of law dedicated to spreading legal information and improving legal culture through study and research, promoting critical and reflective debate to contribute to the dev

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JURIST

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

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 law student at the University Law College, University of the Punjab. He files this from Lahore. Last week on November 12, the Islamabad High Court issued a stay order that put a halt to the in-prison trial of the 71-year-old former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, in a cipher case.

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JURIST

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Sharon Basch is an Israeli American who lived in Israel before starting her JD at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she is currently a 2L. As of early Sunday morning, Israel has confirmed over 600 deaths, 2,000+ injured , an estimated 100+ kidnapped, and hundreds more missing following Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas. Hamas launched over 4,000 rockets into Israel, in a surprise attack already being likened to the attack that started the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

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JURIST

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Israeli law students are reporting for JURIST on law-related developments in and affecting Israel. This dispatch is from Tamar Silam, a law student in the Buchmann Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University. Imagine waking up to a morning marred by ceaseless blaring sirens. Yesterday morning at 6:30 AM, the ominous echoes of rocket explosions pierced the tranquility as Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel.

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JURIST

OCTOBER 8, 2023

A federal judge allowed Oklahoma’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors to take effect on Thursday. In the opinion , Judge John Heil, III stated that the plaintiffs asking for injunctive relief “failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits” of their multiple constitutional claims. The plaintiffs challenged the law, SB 613 , on several constitutional grounds.

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JURIST

OCTOBER 7, 2023

Israeli law students are reporting for JURIST on law-related developments in and affecting Israel. This dispatch is from Mayan Lawent, a law student in the Buchmann Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University and a JURIST Staff Correspondent in Israel. Today, Saturday the 7th of October, was the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, a day where many people dance, pray, and have festive meals with their families celebrating the Torah.

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