· June, 2013

Stories about Law from June, 2013

US Got Snowden's Name Wrong on Extradition Papers, Hong Kong Says

Hong Kong's secretary of justice explained othat officials permitted American whistleblower Edward Snowden to fly out of the city because the US failed to respond to their questions in time regarding their case against Snowden as well as address Snowden's allegations that the US hacked Hong Kong.

26 June 2013

Jamaica: Working for Women?

Jamaica Woman Tongue takes a closer look at an antiquated law that restricts women working at night. “It looks like progress,” she says, “but there’s definitely a downside to freeing...

26 June 2013

Saudi Human Rights Activist Sentenced To 8 Years in Prison

Abdulkareem al-Khadar, founding member of the Kingdom's defiant leading human rights organisation, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was sentenced to eight years in prison for inciting public opinion and establishing an unlicensed human rights organization, among other charges.

24 June 2013

New Law in Slovakia Would Require Citizens to Report Long Stays Abroad

Slovakia's president has vetoed a controversial new law that would require citizens who plan on leaving the country for more than 90 days to inform the nearest Ministry of Interior office of their intended whereabouts during that time. The legislation has prompted highly visible anger from Slovaks on blogs and social media.

21 June 2013

The Kremlin's Kitchen Serves Up Russia's Free Press

RuNet Echo

Novaya Gazeta has implicated Vladimir Putin’s favorite restaurant owner in a bizarre scheme to defame several of the country’s most prominent news publications, involving a conspiracy to plant false information in different newspapers, in order to convince Russians that the news is for hire.

21 June 2013

China Announces Campaign to Weed Out Party Corruption

The Chinese Communist Party is launching a year-long campaign to clean up the party to do away with corrupt elements in its organization. But many Chinese netizens have expressed skepticism toward the campaign, arguing that democracy with the open participation of the people, and not a closed internal process, is the best way to get rid of corruption.

21 June 2013

Thousands Are Joining Bosnia's ‘Babylution’

The death of a baby girl has people in Bosnia-Herzegovina crossing the country's deep ethnic divides by the thousands to protest together against the government's failure to remedy a lapse in the law that is preventing newborns from being given an identity number and, by extension, travel papers and healthcare.

20 June 2013

Caribbean: Is Somebody Watching?

The ongoing saga with U.S. Internet surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has captured the attention of the world. In two blog posts, one from Trinidad and Tobago and the other from Cuba, there is an interesting juxtaposition between high-tech spying and old-fashioned intelligence, even though they both pit the citizens against the state.

18 June 2013

Orphaned in US, SOPA Finds Home in Russia

RuNet Echo

America’s controversial Stop Online Piracy Act is back—and it’s poised to become law in a matter of weeks. SOPA, however, isn’t coming to the US, where a wide coalition defeated the legislation in January 2012. A law that creates similarly harsh penalties for online copyright violations is on the cusp of finding a home in Russia.

14 June 2013

Parliament Restricts Kyrgyz Women's Rights

After lengthy debates, the parliament in Kyrgyzstan has adopted legislation banning young women from travelling abroad without parental consent. On Registan.net, Alisher Abdug'oforov suggests that the new legislation not only...

14 June 2013

Dog Thefts in Vietnam

Mike Tatarski clarifies that most Vietnamese do not eat dog. However, there is demand for dog meat which gives rise to dog thefts: The main reason this trade continues is...

13 June 2013

No Witnesses? No Rape, Says Pakistan's Islamic Council

A ruling by Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) dismissing DNA as primary evidence in rape cases has received much flak from activists in the country. The ruling has its fair share of supporters though, with some happy that there is a legitimate institution pondering religious issues in Pakistan.

12 June 2013