The U.S. Government has sought to curtail the scope of the Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush and claim authority to decide when Guantanamo detainees may or may not be granted access to legal counsel. As reported by SCOTUS Blog: The Obama Administration conceded to a federal judge early Tuesday that it is cutting back on the legal rights
Read moreLast Friday, prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was hospitalized after being beaten by security forces in the capital city of Manama following a large demonstration. [BCHR; Washington Post] Mr. Rajab believed the security forces to be nationals of Bahrain and of other Middle Eastern and South Asian nations. [For more on
Read moreOn December 7, IJRC hosted Boston Human Rights Night, bringing together the legal, academic and social just communities to learn about one another’s work and discuss the relevance of international law and mechanisms to their advocacy efforts. Panelists Gabor Rona (Human Rights First), Martha Davis (Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy), Christy Fujio (Physicians for Human Rights), John
Read moreThe Committee Against Torture (CAT) completed its 47th Session on Friday, having adopted observations and recommendations on periodic reports from States party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. [UN] Up for review during this session were: Belarus, Bulgaria, Djibouti, Germany, Madagascar, Morocco, Paraguay and Sri Lanka. The Committee also requested that Syria to submit
Read moreOn Tuesday, November 22, the European Court of Human Rights will hold a Chamber hearing in the case Fernández Martínez v. Spain (Application no. 56030/07) and release a number of decisions in applications against Georgia, Malta, Turkey, Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Montenegro and Estonia. The Fernández Martínez v. Spain case concerns the decision not to renew a Spanish priest’s
Read moreFive non-governmental organizations (Alkarama, Amnesty International, the Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF), the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)) have collaborated to jointly webcast the 47th session of the Committee Against Torture (CAT), a United Nations treaty body. [OMCT press release] The Committee, which is charged with monitoring State compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other
Read moreThe European Court of Human Rights‘ judgment this week in Hristovi v. Bulgaria, App. No.42697/05, Judgment of 11 October 2011, concerned allegations of excessive force, intimidation and threats against a Bulgarian couple by armed, masked police officers who burst into their apartment to conduct an arrest and search. The Court held that, while the applicants had not sufficiently proved the
Read moreCases compiled by IJRC contributor Carmi Lecker 1. Huseyn and Others v. Azerbaijan: Criminal proceedings against four opposition activists for allegedly inciting demonstrators to violence were unfair In Huseyn and Others v. Azerbaijan (application nos. 35485/05, 45553/05, 35680/05 and 36085/05), the European Court of Human Rights found the application inadmissible on the merits where the applicants’ allegations of torture and poor
Read moreThe Open Society Justice Initiative and Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights have announced a development in their complaint on behalf of Egyptian political prisoner Mohammed Abderrahim El-Sharkawi. [OSJI] The two organizations recently filed written arguments on admissibility before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which received the complaint in late 2010. [OSJI] El-Sharkawi reportedly spent nearly 16 years in
Read moreVenezuelan police station holding cells are filling up as the country’s new prisons minister orders a freeze on new admissions to the violent, overcrowded prisons operating at nearly 400% capacity. [Washington Post] Venezuelan prisons are known to be effectively run by armed gangs, house inmates in inhumane conditions, and be the scene of numerous violent uprisings and clashes between prisoners
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