The Iraqi Council of Representatives passed a law Saturday criminalizing same sex relationships and transgender individuals. The law has garnered widespread criticism from human rights groups and diplomats across the world. The Anti-Prostitution and Homosexuality Law amends a previous law from 1988. It provides prison sentences and fines for most of its offenses. Anyone convicted [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that a UN judge was unlawfully detained in Türkiye in 2016. The Turkish court failed to recognise Aydin Sefa Akay’s diplomatic immunity when they arrested and detained him on terrorism charges following a failed coup d’État in 2016. Akay made his application to the ECHR in [...]

Polish authorities arrested three people on Friday in relation to the attack on an ally of the late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Leonid Volkov was “brutally attacked” in mid-March outside his home in Lithuania, where he lives in exile. The arrests were announced by Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, who released a statement on X [...]

The UK Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that part of the UK’s trade union laws are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) was held to breach Article 11 of the ECHR, which guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and [...]

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the Italian government on Friday to amend their planned reforms to defamation legislation to comply with European and international law. This comes days after amendments to this proposed legislation were revealed to include a potential ban on working as a journalist as well as increased fines. RSF heavily criticized the [...]

A district court in Minsk sentenced a dissident Belarusian rock band to two and a half years of correctional labour on Friday after the members were convicted of active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order, according to human rights group Mayday Team. The band has been behind bars since their arrest in [...]

A Norwegian court Tuesday acquitted Indigenous activists who refused to pay their fines for blocking entrances to government buildings during a protest. The court held that the police who issued the fines to the protestors acted unreasonably. In its ruling, the court recognized the defendants’ right to a peaceful assembly and demonstration. It ruled that [...]

The Russian Foreign Ministry called on Saturday for an investigation into a drone strike in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. The ministry condemned the strike as a a “yet another provocation” to the region. The kamikaze attack targeted a Transnistrian defense ministry unit on Friday, resulting in damage to a radar station. The attacked facility was [...]

Climate protestors who attempted to create a road blockade at The Hague were detained Saturday by Dutch police. Among the protestors detained was prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg. Protesters took to the streets of The Hague demonstrating against fossil fuel subsidies on Saturday. Fossil fuel subsidies refer to government action that lowers the cost of [...]

A Thai court acquitted 67 individuals on Friday of terrorism charges for protests that caused two airports to shut down in 2008. The protests were orchestrated by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in opposition to the then government, which was headed by allies of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Bangkok Criminal Court issued the [...]