Tag Archives: Global: Bench and Bar

AP: The latest issue appeared relatively minor – Ahmadinejad’s intention to visit a prison north of Tehran. The head of the judiciary branch, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, said permission from his office was needed to visit Evin prison, and Ahmadinejad angrily rejected that.

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Benjamin Bull adds the court was critical of the law, and he believes that ought to be the end of the matter. “Because the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s decision, it’s going to be extremely difficult for religious or political debate to be found in breach of Alberta’s human rights laws,” the attorney asserts.

LifeSiteNews: Boissoin’s lawyer, Gerald Chipeur, Q.C., who is an allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), pointed out that not only did Justice O’Brien throw out the AHRC’s decision, but ruled that a human rights panel had no constitutional authority to preside in such circumstances. “This was a watershed case,” Chipeur said. “Very important, in terms of freedom of expression and religious liberty. Going forward, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for religious or political debate to be found in breach of Alberta’s current human rights laws.” “Christians and other people of faith should not be fined or jailed for expressing their political or religious beliefs. There is no place for thought control in a free and democratic society,” Chipeur remarked. “The tools of censorship should not be available to prohibit freedom of religious expression in Canada. The court rightly found that this type of religious speech is not ‘hate’ speech.”

Gatestone Institute: In Islamist radical convicted of stabbing two German police officers during a protest against “offensive” cartoons has been sentenced to six years in prison. Murat K, a 26-year-old German-born Salafist of Turkish heritage from the western state of Hessen, openly admitted that he had attacked and wounded the two police officers with a kitchen knife during the cartoon riots in May. He showed no remorse, however, during his trial at the district court in the city of Bonn; he said he had been morally obligated to follow Islamic Sharia law.

WorldNetDaily: Now, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, the decision from the Alberta court likely signals an ultimate victory in the 12-year legal fight. “Christians and other people of faith should not be fined or jailed for expressing their political or religious beliefs. There is no place for thought control in a free and democratic society,” said Gerald Chipeur, one of more than 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, who served as counsel in the suit. “The tools of censorship should not be available to prohibit freedom of religious expression in Canada. The court rightly found that this type of religious speech is not ‘hate speech.’”

AP: An Egyptian court on Tuesday asked the country’s highest tribunal to rule on whether to disband the body tasked with writing a new constitution. That could give Islamists time to finish drafting the document before a legal ruling.

Alberta’s highest court strongly upheld a pastor’s free speech Wednesday in what’s likely to be ultimate victory in a 12-year-old legal battle.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Today’s “globalistas” rarely expose their material interests to public debate, but rather couch their aims in terms of “universal human rights.” At first these seem noble enough, ridding the world of slavery and genocide, but the system of global governance by its nature ever expands its reach. Forty percent of the UK’s parliamentary agenda simply rubber stamped laws already set by the EU, a legislator told Fonte, and the figure was some 60-70% in Austria. The European Union is both the world’s best example of global governance, and its most powerful proponent at UN conferences.

The opinion is here: Lund v. Boissoin, 2012 ABCA 300. The following is an excerpt from the opinion: _____________________ INTRODUCTION [1] This appeal requires the Court to construe the prohibition found in Alberta’s human rights legislation against language commonly known …

Boston Globe (AP): Egypt’s highest court lashed out Tuesday at an Islamist-led panel tasked with writing the country’s new constitution, saying that some provisions proposed for the text undercut the court’s mandate and keep it under the president’s power.

Piero Tozzi at C-FAM: European and American pro-life academics and practitioners gathered late last month at the University of Warsaw for a conference on the “Intellectual Foundations and Legal Means for the Protection of Human Life in the Prenatal Phase.” The event was under the High Honorary Patronage of Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Honorary Patronage by His Highness Paul, Duke of Oldenburg, and Poland’s Minister of Justice, Dr. Jaroslaw Gowin . . . One of the themes explored involved the interplay between domestic law and constitutions protective of life and transnationalist “soft law” norms, which are often cited by abortion activists as requiring abortion liberalization. Nikolas Nikas of the Bioethics Defense Fund introduced a panel on international law which featured Jane Adolphe of Ave Maria University, Stefano Gennarini of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM, publisher of the Friday Fax) and Alliance Defending Freedom’s Piero Tozzi.

FoxNews: A court order that barred a rape victim Tuesday from having an abortion has sparked a heated controversy in Argentin

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: An interesting case, S.B. v. W.A. (N.Y. trial court Sept. 26, 2012). A quick and oversimplified summary . . .

LifeSiteNews: In a landmark decision last Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that people who are HIV-positive do not need to tell their sex partners they have the disease, as long as they have low levels of the virus and use a condom during sexual intercourse.

The Globe and Mail: The country’s newest Supreme Court of Canada judge, Mr. Justice Richard Wagner, turned inexperience into a virtue on Thursday, telling a parliamentary committee that he will bring to the top court a practising lawyer’s sense of street savvy.

National Review: But Iran is still Iran, and now it has moved against Pastor Nadarkhani’s heroic Muslim lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkah, detaining him and ordering him to serve a lengthy prison term. His crime? Providing pro bono legal representation to persecuted religious minorities. In the perverse logic of Iran’s theocratic regime, this representation constitutes “aiding and abetting” his clients alleged (and often imaginary) crimes.

Baptist Press: A cloud has been cast on the Turkish courtroom where proceedings began Sept. 3 against 19 suspects in the murder of three Christians in 2007.

B92.net: Russia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday declared legal the prohibition of propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors.

NY Daily News: The Delhi High Court Wednesday reserved its order on a plea seeking direction to the central government for acting against Google India for not removing videos of controversial anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” from YouTube.

The Globe and Mail: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has strengthened his imprint on the Supreme Court of Canada bench, naming a centrist judge from Quebec – Mr. Justice Richard Wagner – as his fifth appointment to the nine-judge bench since the Tories came to power in 2006.

AP: Bangladesh’s High Court asked the government on Wednesday to explain why local officials failed to provide security to minority Buddhists whose homes, temples and businesses were attacked over a picture of a burned Quran posted on Facebook.

The Hindu: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre and Chief Secretaries of all States on a petition from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), asking for a direction to include the category of transgender people as a third category in providing various opportunities and facilities such as the voter ID card, passport, driving licence, ration card and admission to educational institutions.

Reuters: A regional elections court in Brazil has ordered the arrest of the head of Google’s operations in the country after the company failed to take down YouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate.

AP: Kuwait’s highest civilian court Tuesday rejected a government bid to rewrite the Gulf nation’s election rules, giving an apparent boost to the rising power of opposition groups led by Islamists.

AP reports that Colombia’s Constitutional Court this week released a Directive it issued in June that prohibits courts in the country from using quotations from religious texts to directly support the reasoning for a decision or judgment.

LifeSiteNews: The judge who told a pro-life activist “Your God is wrong” earlier this year came under scrutiny during an all-day appeal hearing at the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on Wednesday.

Oliver Marc Hartwich at Business Spectator: So what was the role of the Constitutional Court, then? Simply to make sure that any euro crisis decisions taken are compatible with the constitution in general and with its democratic principles in particular. First and foremost among these democratic principles are parliament’s budget rights. No democracy can work if parliamentarians had no control over taxes and expenditures, and thus the Bundestag could not divest itself of this core right of fiscal autonomy, the court stated. Along with this, the judges demanded clarifications in the course of ratifying the European treaties.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: In a previous post, our friend Grégor Puppinck informed about a case currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights in which the petitioners, a lesbian couple from Austria, claim to have been victims of “discrimination” because the Austrian legislation does not allow homosexual adoption. As Grégor explains in more detail, one of the two applicants has a child from a previous (heterosexual) relationship; the father of that child is still alive, pays alimonies, and has no intention to renounce to his paternal rights. What is deeply disturbing about this case is not that every now and then there are people who file such frivolous and manifestly absurd applications, but that the Court decides to hear them.

AP: How much does it cost to tell the one of the EU’s top officials he has “the charisma of a damp rag?” About (EURO)3,000, or close to $4,000, as a European member of Parliament has discovered.

Radio Free Europe: Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled that a controversial ban on gay propaganda does not extend to public demonstrations and discussions of gay rights.

Nature.com: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is set to decide whether Costa Rica, the only country that completely prohibits in vitro fertilization (IVF), has infringed basic rights with its ban. The tribunal — which is based in the Costa Rican capital of San José but rules on human-rights violations throughout Central and South America — met last week to hear a case brought by affected couples against Costa Rica.

Christian Institute: Sharia law is undermining the “concept of judicial equality” at the expense of the vulnerable, a prominent peer has warned. Baroness Cox says Britain no longer operates “under a single legal code” and that Sharia is “effectively a parallel quasi-legal system operating within some Muslim communities”.

UK Human Rights Blog: The Ministry of Justice has published its annual report to the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the Government response to human rights judgments 2011–12. By signing up to the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK has committed to “abide by” judgments of the court. This commitment is monitored by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.

Reuters: The euro rose to a four-month high against the dollar on Wednesday after Germany’s Constitutional Court gave its approval to the euro zone’s new rescue fund and budget pact, allowing its ratification under certain conditions.

The Guardian: As the new academic year starts, let’s get back to basics. Which courts decide human rights cases, when, and by what rules?

Paul Coleman on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: Will Europe’s highest court respect religious freedom in workplace? | MP3 audio 15:43 mins

One News Now: Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Paul Coleman was there for the arguments involving the cases in which the courts in the U.K. “failed to respect religious freedom in the workplace.” “Two of them involve the right to wear a cross at work,” he tells OneNewsNow. “When other members of the workforce were given accommodations for their religious symbols — be it the Hijab or the Sikh turban — Christians were told they were not allowed to wear the cross.”

Guardian: Decision is likely to give financial rescue fund the go-ahead against a background of German disillusion with single currency

The Bourne Local: A Cabinet minister has insisted the Government was right to contest a European legal challenge over religious freedom after four British Christians including an Exeter nurse took their fight to the European Court of Human Rights.

Christian Concern: Government lawyers have told the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Christians should “leave their religious beliefs at home or move to another job” when faced with a clash between the requirements of their faith and their employment . . . Paul Diamond, representing Christian Legal Centre clients Mrs Chaplin and Mr McFarlane, said: “These are real people, real lives, real damage suffered. There is no knowing where this will end as society moves in a secular direction. The situation in the UK is now critical.”

Religion Clause Blog: The European Court has issued a press release describing the cases, and has posted a webcast of the hearing.

BBC: Four British Christians who claim they lost their jobs as a result of discrimination against their beliefs are taking their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.

Christian Institute: The “Human Rights agenda” is in danger of becoming a new form of totalitarianism, according to a bishop in comments ahead of four religious liberty court cases.

Christian Institute (includes audio): The case of Lillian Ladele, a Christian registrar from Islington who was disciplined because of her stance against civil partnerships, is in the European Court of Human Rights today.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys Paul Coleman and Roger Kiska will be available for media interviews Tuesday immediately following oral arguments at the European Court of Human Rights in four pivotal cases that involve religious freedom in the workplace.

allAfrica.com: The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) will sue the government over this week’s riots in Mombasa, which left four churches destroyed. NCCK General Secretary Peter Karanja told journalists on Wednesday that the council would also seek the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) intervention on the matter, claiming that the violence was politically instigated.

Opinio Juris: It is a draft platform, but these parts of the 2012 GOP Platform are certainly interesting. It appears to have strong language in favor of “American Exceptionalism” and American sovereignty.

AP: A court ruling that overturned the impeachment of Romania’s president has been approved by Parliament.

AP: Pakistan’s top court on Monday gave the country’s prime minister three more weeks to decide whether to obey its order to reopen an old corruption case against the president or face the prospect of being ousted from office like his predecessor.

Jurist: The Court of Appeal of Singapore [official website] ruled [judgment, PDF] Tuesday that a man charged with gross indecency under a provision of the penal code criminalizing sexual acts between men can proceed with a constitutional challenge against the law in court . . .

Washington Times: The sign above the military patrol securing the Bank of Egypt in this small town in the northern Sinai Peninsula announces the official opening of “The House of Shariah Law” near the marketplace downtown.

AP: Romania’s constitutional court has ruled that a referendum to whether to impeach the country’s president has failed because the minimum voter threshold was not reached.

Tommaso Virgili at the Legal Project: The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), a supranational tribunal based in Strasbourg, France, which was set up in the framework of the Council of Europe, is increasingly determining important speech cases involving Islam-related topics. This Court’s jurisdiction covers alleged violations of human rights, as enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, by the states-parties. Unlike cases in a European nation’s courts, a case before this court may be triggered either by individuals, provided that the latter have exhausted their domestic remedies, or by another state acting as a party. Technically, the ECHR is empowered to grant individuals more protection than they are legally entitled to enjoy based on their own states’ laws.

CBC.ca: The federal government should ensure there are at least four women on the Supreme Court of Canada’s bench, according to retiring Justice Marie Deschamps, but she doesn’t think appointees have to be bilingual on day one of the job.

AP: Kuwait’s government has asked the country’s Constitutional Court to determine whether its election law is legal.

AP: The U.S. and the European Union have voiced doubts about Bucharest’s commitment to democracy, after a court failed to rule on whether a referendum to suspend President Traian Basescu was valid.

NY Times: “This trial is the outcome of a political struggle,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent defense lawyer, referring to powerful enemies of Mr. Bo, a brash up-and-coming politician who alienated many party luminaries. “Any trial to which the central party pays this much attention had no chance of being fair.”

LifeSiteNews: The Russian punk rock band “Pussy Riot,” currently on trial for desecrating Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, is being elevated by Western elites and media outlets to the status of a human rights icon.

Christian Science Monitor: For all its noble intentions, the ICC is a political creature, the Rome Treaty is the product of intense negotiation and compromise. First and foremost, the court and its legacy are closely tied to the politics of the preeminent organization charged with safeguarding international peace and security: the United Nations Security Council.

NY Daily News: Pakistan’s Supreme Court has asked the country’s new prime minister to appear later this month for ignoring a request to ask Swiss authorities to reopen cases against the president. The court had given the prime minister until August 8 to write to Switzerland and last week struck down a law passed by parliament that sought to exempt members of the government from contempt trials.

AP: Prostitutes have the right to work from motel rooms in an Australian state, a court said after finding the owner’s refusal to rent to a sex worker was discriminatory.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The International Criminal Court has faced criticism from various quarters, but perhaps not one so elevated and personal as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. Until now . . .

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The Senate thankfully has not been able to vote on the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities this week, in time for the summer recess. But sooner, rather than later, and possibly as soon as September, the Senate will be asked to vote on the Treaty.

AP: The court could repeatedly disqualify prime ministers over the issue, undermining the government and forcing an early national.

Cyprus Mail: HE EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has agreed to examine a legal challenge against Turkey for the north’s continued failure to repeal a law banning homosexuality.

NY Times: The country’s Constitutional Court said Thursday that it could not certify the results of last Sunday’s referendum to remove the president, which initially failed for lack of sufficient turnout, even though the overwhelming majority of ballots were cast in favor.

AP: Judges at the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri have rejected challenges to the court’s jurisdiction.

DutchNews.nl: A Dutch political party which operates according to a strict interpretation of the Bible and opposes votes for women has lost its efforts to stop women from becoming MPs on its behalf. | Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij v. Netherlands, No. …

Di-Ve.com: The European Court of Human Rights, in a judgment given last Tuesday 17th July, found a violation of a mother’s rights stemming from the fact that, after her children had been put under a care order, she did not have access to an independent and impartial tribunal to review such order after circumstances had changed.

LA Times: Mali’s government has requested the International Criminal Court to investigate possible war crimes by Tuareg and Islamic rebels who seized the north of the country in recent months.

AP: A New Zealand judge has stepped down from overseeing the extradition case of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom after jokingly referring to the United States as “the enemy.”

Reuters: Brawls broke out in an Egyptian courtroom as judges tried to debate rulings on Tuesday that could either bolster the country’s new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, or undermine him in his power struggle with the military.

The Hill: Opponents have locked in enough votes to block Senate ratification of the controversial Law of the Sea treaty championed by White House and the Pentagon.

NY Times: It was exactly the kind of case the International Criminal Court was created to investigate: Yemen’s autocratic leader was clinging to power, turning his security forces’ guns on unarmed protesters. Hundreds were left dead, and many more were maimed.

AP: European Union officials questioned Tuesday the speed with which Romania’s supreme court has upheld the parliament’s suspension of President Traian Basescu . . .