Stories about Law from July, 2011
United Arab Emirates: Adjournment of Blogger Ahmed Mansour's Tria
”Poor Arab and Emirati intellectuals and thinkers!” bewails Ahmed Al Mouhareb [ar] while reporting on his Twitter account the deferment the trial of the blogger and activist Ahmed Mansour and of four of his companions until September 26 [en]. Arrested in the beginning of April 2011, after having signed a...
Practicing legal profession in Vietnam
Attorney Huynh Van Dong writes about the challenges facing lawyers in Vietnam. He reports that an increasing number of lawyers are now in jail for “expressing their own personal opinion.”
China: Journalist Beaten by Police for Reporting on Riot
China Digital Times has a translation of a journalist, Lu Chaoguo's account of his experience when reporting the riot in Anshun, Guizhou province. The journalist was detained and beaten by local police.
U.S.A., Japan: The US Declares War On The Japanese Mafia
Investigative journalist Jake Adelstein reported [en] that US President Obama has officially declared war on the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, as it represents an “extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Japansubculture.com also published the text of the actual executive order.
Ukraine: Timoshenko Facing the Law
LEvko of Foreign Notes follows up on the trial against former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Timoshenko, and finds that – despite a weak case – the process is likely to end with a guilty verdict for a number of political reasons.
Kenya: Facebook Should Unfriend John Mwau
A Kenyan blogger, Daudi Were, has raised an interesting question about whether the U.S. government will be willing to enforce the Kingpin Act against Facebook for apparently doing business with a Kenyan national Mr Harun Mwau who had earlier this year been designated as a drug lord under the Kingpin Act.
El Salvador: National Assembly Repeals Decree 743 Requiring Unanimity on Constitutional Court
Decree 743 “the controversial law which attempted to impose a requirement of unanimity on the Constitutional Court” was repealed this week by El Salvador's National Assembly, as Tim reports in his blog. The blog Voices from El Salvador describes the repeal as an “important indication that civil society and public...
Bangladesh: Indigenous or Not Indigenous, That Is The Question
In recent months many Bangladeshi indigenous people have taken the streets holding meetings, human chains and rallies, demanding constitutional recognition of their identity. Bloggers also voice their opinions on this issue.
Haiti: Martelly's Promises
Toussaint on Haiti suggests that Haitians who voted for a Martelly presidency may now be suffering from buyers’ remorse.
Cuba: Call for Justice in Death of Teen
Laritza's Laws posts an update about the shooting death of a teen by a retired police officer: “Relatives and neighbors of the victim suspect the police are looking for excuses not to prosecute him, and they are demanding justice for the death of Angel Izquierdo Medina, that it not go...
Ukraine: Timoshenko Case Turning Sour
Levko of Foreign Notes argues that the trial against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko is quickly becoming a liability for President Yanukovich, with mounting international and domestic critique, and the trial in itself giving an additional political platform for Timoshenko.
The Balkans: Trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić
At OpenDemocracy.net, Eric Gordy writes on what there is to expect from the upcoming ICTY trials of Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić.
EU, Poland: Airport Body Scanners; Shaminder Puri's Case
Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska of Europe of Human Rights writes on BlogActiv.eu about airport body scanners, “human dignity” and the case of Shaminder Puri, a British Sikh who was harassed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport last year.
Belarus: Schengen Visa=Guilty
Pyotr Kuznetsov mentions [ru] a Belarusian police officer who interpreted a Schengen visa in the passport of one of the women detained at a protest rally as a solid proof that she was not a law-abiding citizen. He said this to a colleague who used to know the woman and...
Belarus: Overview of Political and Economic Situation
An overview of the political and economic situation in Belarus – by Natalia Leshchenko at OpenDemocracy.net.
Bermuda: Waiting in Vain for PATI
According to Vexed Bermoothes, “there is no sign of ‘freedom of information act’ preparation in any part of Government”, despite the fact that a year has passed since the Public Access to Information Act was passed in the Bermuda Legislature.
Jamaica: Unimpressed with Minaj
Active Voice publishes a guest post about singer Nicki Minaj's performance at Jamaica's recent Reggae Sumfest: “Minaj messed up when she displayed such flagrant disrespect to Jamaica by announcing that she was warned about profanity but went ahead merrily, regardless.”
Russia: Policeman that Promised to “Rob and Kill” Dismissed
A policeman that was caught on camera saying that if he would be dismissed he would “go to the streets to rip, rob, and kill” (video [ru]) was dismissed, lenta.ru reported [ru]. The dismissal (result of a bloggers’ activity in spreading the word about the case), however, didn't solve a...
China: Chengguan kill handicapped street vendor in daylight
Jing Gao from MInistry of Tofu collects information about a mass incident happened in Guizhou province on July 26, in which two men and one woman from the Chengguan squad, killed a handicapped street vendor in daylight and riot police used tear gas to drive speculators away.
Russia: Megafon/Yandex Text Message Leak
Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes that “one of the largest Russian mobile carriers [Megafon] and the leading Russian search engine [Yandex] need to explain quite a lot of things to their users […] due to an unspeakable data leak as thousands of SMS messages sent via Megafon website got publicly...
Cuba: Attacks vs. Women
Pedazos de La Isla blogs about violence against women in Cuba, here, here, here and here.
