News Clips – August 26, 2016 – International Justice Resource Center

A member of the United Democratic Party, an opposition political party in Gambia, died while in detention last Saturday, prompting the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn the death and conditions of detention. [UN News Centre]
The Ethiopian government announced this week that it will not prosecute the Olympic athlete who publically protested against the government during the Olympic Games in Rio. [Washington Post]

Admitting to the war crime of destroying historic buildings in Mali, Ahmed Al Faqi Al Mahdi became the first person to plead guilty before the International Criminal Court. [International Justice Monitor]
A former Argentine general and 28 co-defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, including hundreds of forced disappearances, committed during the Dirty War. [TeleSUR]

The National Human Rights Commission of Mexico has found that 22 civilians killed during a drug raid in 2015 died due to excessive use of force and arbitrary execution. [JURIST]
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this week condemned the killings of black individuals in the United States by police officers using excessive force and expressed concern over the impunity in the killings. [IACHR Press Release]
Three human rights experts of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights sent a joint letter of appeal to the government of Ethiopia on allegations of killings, beatings, excessive use of force, and arbitrary arrests associated with recent protests. [ACHPR Press Release]

The trial of 18 people accused of construction code violations associated with the collapse of Rana Plaza was postponed this week after defendants petitioned the high court to challenge their charges. [Al Jazeera]

Following the enactment of local bans prohibiting burkinis, a full-body swinsuit, in several towns in France, the French Council of State ruled that such bans are unenforceable after police this week enforced the ban in Nice by ordering a woman to remove her clothing. [Guardian; CNN]

Kenya announced this week that it will not close the Dadaab refugee camp, a home for over 320,000 Somali refugees, until Somalia is at peace. [International Business Times]
The European Union and Turkey have reinitiated diplomatic talks to reach an agreement on migration management. [Guardian]

A federal judge in the United States recently issued an injunction on the Obama administrations guidelines that state transgender students may use the bathrooms they choose to use. [Reuters]
Belize repealed a law that criminalized same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults. [IACHR Press Release]
The Constitutional Court of Indonesia held a fifth hearing this week on the constitutionality of several provisions in the criminal code that criminalize same-sex behavior. [HRW]
After the recent killing and rape of an LGBT activist and transgender woman, hundreds demonstrated in Istanbul. [Washington Post]

A peace deal between the Colombian government and Farc, a rebel armed group, was reached this week after 52 years at war. [Guardian]
As part of an operation called Euphrates Shield, Turkish tanks and warplanes have entered Syria in an effort to combat ISIS’s hold of Jarablus. [Guardian]
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report identifying alleged violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in the conflict in Yemen, and calling for a formal inquiry. [UN News Centre]
After thousands of cholera victims brought suit in United States courts against the United Nations for its involvement in the epidemic, the U.S. court hearing the case upheld the UN’s immunity from the claim. [Washington Post]