Category Archives: Law

Post Office scandal: ex-Fujitsu engineer accused of ‘hiding’ IT problems

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Lawyers acting for victims of Horizon IT scandal accuse Gareth Jenkins of protecting ‘out of control monster’

A former Fujitsu engineer has been accused by a lawyer acting for victims of the Post Office scandal of “hiding” problems with the Horizon IT system to protect the “out of control monster”, a public inquiry heard.

Gareth Jenkins, formerly a senior engineer at Fujitsu, which developed the Horizon IT system, faced tough questioning by lawyers acting for post office operators caught up in the scandal, which has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in recent history.

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India’s supreme court to rule on new penal code permitting marital rape

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Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage

Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.

Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.

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Human rights group urges UK financial regulator to block Shein’s LSE flotation

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Campaigners allege Uyghur people used as forced labour at some of fast-fashion retailer’s cotton suppliers in China

A human rights group has urged Britain’s financial regulator to block the Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein’s planned blockbuster flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

Stop Uyghur Genocide, a UK-based human rights charity that alleges minority Uyghur people are being used as forced labour at some of Shein’s cotton suppliers in China’s north-western Xinjiang region, has begun a legal campaign against the planned stock market listing.

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From a plea deal to a 2am prison call: how Julian Assange finally gained freedom

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A lawyer’s offer, a judgment that foretold years of legal wrangling, and diplomatic pressure all played a part in the release of the WikiLeaks founder

• Julian Assange released from prison – live updates

It was, as his friends described it, the “last kick of the British establishment”. At 2am on Monday, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was woken in his small cell in the high-security Belmarsh prison, south-east London, and ordered to dress before being put in handcuffs.

It was the beginning of the end of Assange’s incarceration in Britain but it was going to be on his jailers’ terms.

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ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian officials over alleged Ukraine war crimes

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Army chief and ex-minister of defence accused over missile attacks on civilian targets including power plants

The international criminal court (ICC) at The Hague has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s ex-minister of defence and current army chief of staff for alleged war crimes in Ukraine after a missile campaign targeting Ukrainian power plants and other civilian infrastructure during the full-scale invasion.

Ex-minister of defence Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, are accused of the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects. They are also accused of crimes against humanity.

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JK Rowling agrees to meeting with Labour about gender transition policy

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Author responds after shadow chancellor says party would be ‘really happy’ to ‘give her assurances’

JK Rowling has agreed to a meeting with Labour after Rachel Reeves said the party would be “really happy” to “give her assurances” over its plans to change the process through which people can legally change gender.

Speaking in Scotland, Reeves said protection for women-only spaces would “absolutely stay”, adding: “We’re not going to be changing anything around biological sex … We’re really happy to talk to JK Rowling to give her assurances about that.”

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UK ‘tried to suppress criticism’ of alleged UAE role in arming Sudan’s RSF militia

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Exclusive UK accused of trying to head off condemnation of Gulf ally over alleged aid to forces accused of genocide in Darfur

UK government officials attempted to suppress criticism of the United Arab Emirates and its alleged role in supplying arms to a notorious militia waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Sudan, sources have told the Guardian.

Claims that Foreign Office officials put pressure on African diplomats to avoid criticising the UAE over its alleged military support for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will intensify scrutiny of the UK’s relationship with the Gulf state.

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Open letter in India calls for withdrawal of go-ahead to prosecute Arundhati Roy

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Over 200 signatories urge government to reverse decision enabling action against writer under anti-terrorism law

More than 200 Indian academics, activists and journalists have published an open letter urging the Indian government to withdraw last week’s decision sanctioning the prosecution of the Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy under the country’s stringent anti-terrorism law.

“We … deplore this action and appeal to the government and the democratic forces in the country to ensure that no infringement of the fundamental right to freely and fearlessly express views on any subject takes place in our nation,” the group said in the letter.

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Britain’s richest family sentenced to jail for exploiting staff in Swiss mansion

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Prosecutors claimed four members of family underpaid staff and gave them little freedom to leave Geneva mansion

A Swiss court has handed jail sentences to four members of Britain’s richest family for exploiting Indian staff at their Geneva mansion.

The Hindujas, who were not present in court, were acquitted of human trafficking but convicted of other charges on Friday in a stunning verdict for the family, whose fortune is estimated at £37bn.

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Namibia high court overturns law banning gay sex

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Victory for LGBTQ+ campaigners who say ban contributes to discrimination and violence by police

Namibia’s high court has overturned a law that criminalised gay sex in a victory for LGBTQ+ campaigners after a number of setbacks in the battle for rights in African countries in recent years.

Namibia inherited a law banning “sodomy” and “unnatural offences” when it gained independence from South Africa in 1990. While the ban was rarely enforced, activists said it contributed to discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, including violence by the police.

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Activists tell UK arms makers they may face criminal liability over sales to Israel

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Campaign groups write to 20 firms warning of potential war crimes for roles in production of F-35 fighter jets

Campaigners have written to the directors of 20 arms manufacturers based in the UK saying they may face criminal liability for failing to prevent war crimes if their companies continue to sell military equipment to Israel.

Four groups, including the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), have written to directors of arms companies that contribute parts or elements of the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel’s air force as part of the bombing of Gaza.

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China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, say human rights groups

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Report finds that religious, historical and cultural references have been removed in crackdown by Beijing

Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party ideology, a report has found.

Research published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp documents about 630 communities that have been renamed in this way by the government, mostly during the height of a crackdown on Uyghurs that several governments and human rights bodies have called a genocide.

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Thailand passes historic bill recognising marriage equality

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Country on track to become third in Asia – after Taiwan and Nepal – to legalise same-sex marriage

Thailand’s senate has passed the final reading of a historic marriage equality bill, paving the way for the country to become the first in south-east Asia to recognise same-sex marriage.

The bill gained the support of nearly all upper-house lawmakers and will be sent to the palace for the pro-forma endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The law will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette.

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ICC must be allowed to carry out work ‘without intimidation’, say 93 member states

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Joint statement of support for international criminal court issued following revelations of Israeli interference

The international criminal court must be allowed to carry out its work “without intimidation”, a group of 93 states has said in a significant public intervention intended to reinforce support for the judicial body.

In a joint statement issued late on Friday, the large group of ICC member states vowed to defend the institution and “preserve its integrity from any political interference and pressure against the court, its officials and those cooperating with it”.

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ECJ to fine Hungary €1m a day until it complies with EU refugee laws

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European court also orders Budapest to pay €200m for ‘unprecedented’ breach of rules

Hungary has been ordered to pay a €200m (£169m) fine for its refusal to uphold the rights of asylum seekers in what was described as an “unprecedented” breach of EU law by the bloc’s highest court.

The European court of justice in Luxembourg also ordered Budapest to pay €1m a day until it complies with EU laws guaranteeing refugees the right to claim asylum inside Hungarian borders.

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Families vow to step up fight for answers on anniversary of Nottingham killings

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Relatives of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates instruct legal team to investigate police and health trust

The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks have vowed to take their fight for accountability “to the next level” on the one-year anniversary of the killings.

In a joint statement, the families of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane in the early hours of 13 June last year, said they had instructed a legal team to help them “leave no stone unturned on our quest for answers”.

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Remaining British judges urged to resign from Hong Kong’s top court

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The three British judges still on territory’s top bench under pressure to quit after two others stepped down last week

Pressure is increasing on the last remaining British judges who sit in Hong Kong’s top court to resign, after two senior justices stepped down last week because of the “political situation” in the former British colony.

Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins resigned as non-permanent overseas judges from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal on Thursday. Collins cited the “political situation in Hong Kong” in a brief statement about his departure.

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Republicans push conspiracy theories after Hunter Biden verdict: ‘A fake trial’

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Rightwing politicians repeat unfounded theories that gun trial verdict is a ‘distraction’ from worse Biden crimes

Republicans responded to Hunter Biden’s conviction on Tuesday of lying about his drug use to buy a gun by doubling down on conspiracy theories that many senior party figures have been using to try and damage his president father.

Despite the fact that Joe Biden’s son could now face a hefty jail sentence, Donald Trump’s election campaign and its surrogates repeated unfounded attack lines that the conviction was part of a conspiracy to deflect attention from more serious crimes and represented the use of the Department of Justice (DoJ) as a political weapon.

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Hong Kong is ‘slowly becoming a totalitarian state​’, says UK judge

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​L​ord Sumption, who last week quit territory’s top court​, speaks out on ‘paranoid atmosphere’ under Chinese rule

A British judge has described the “paranoid atmosphere” in Hong Kong as he explained his decision to step down from the territory’s top court.

Jonathan Sumption, along with another British judge, Lawrence Collins, last week resigned from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal (CFA).

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If home is your ‘castle’, how far can you go to defend it? In Queensland, it’s up for debate

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A Katter’s Australian party petition says homeowners should be allowed to use ‘whatever force necessary’ – but experts warn of dangers

“A Queenslander’s home is their castle” and they should be able to use “whatever force necessary” to protect themselves against intruders.

That’s according to a controversial petition from the Katter’s Australian party MP Nick Dametto to enact “castle law”, which has gained more than 36,000 signatures in support of importing the self-defence doctrine from the US that allows people to kill intruders threatening their homes..

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