Vincent Reynouard discovered living double life in Scottish village where he worked as a tutor, reports say
A Holocaust denier who was arrested in a Scottish fishing village will be extradited back to France after spending two years on the run from the authorities.
Vincent Reynouard lost his extradition battle after his arrest in November 2022. He had been discovered living a double life in Anstruther, Fife, where he worked as a private tutor, according to reports.
Continue reading...Senior ministers including Yoav Gallant condemn ruling while Palestinians dismayed it did not go further
Israeli officials have accused the international court of justice of antisemitic bias and expressed dismay that a South African case alleging that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide was not thrown out altogether, after the court issued an emergency interim ruling.
The ruling on Friday said Israel must take “all measures in its power” to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip but stopped short of calling for a full ceasefire. It ordered six so-called provisional measures to be implemented to protect Palestinians, including orders for Israel to prevent death and destruction and enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to the strip’s trapped population.
Continue reading...UN court’s ruling is devastating for Israel and awkward for allies such as the UK and US, which belittled South Africa’s case
In seeking a provisional order from the international court of justice restraining Israel from committing potentially genocidal acts in Gaza, South Africa put not just Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the dock but also the whole post-second world war rules-based order, including the authority of the ICJ itself. Never has there been such a high-profile case brought in the middle of such a bloody conflict, and rarely have so many staked so much on the outcome.
In the words of the Irish barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who set out part of South’s Africa case to the court, “the imminent risk of death, harm and destruction that Palestinians in Gaza face today, and that they risk every day during the pendency of these proceedings, on any view justifies – indeed compels – the indication of provisional measures. Some might say that the very reputation of international law – its ability and willingness to bind and to protect all peoples equally – hangs in the balance.”
Continue reading...International court of justice stops short of granting South Africa’s request to order immediate ceasefire
The UN’s international court of justice has ordered Israel to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a historic decision.
In an interim judgment delivered on Friday, the president of the court, Joan Donoghue, said Israel must “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that fall within the scope of the genocide convention and must ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces do not commit any of the acts covered by the convention.
Continue reading...Judges in The Hague to decide on whether to order Israel to end its military campaign against Hamas
The international court of justice in The Hague is set to give a preliminary ruling on Friday in South Africa’s case alleging genocide by Israel in Gaza, as the world watches to see whether the judges will order a ceasefire.
At a two-day hearing this month, South Africa asked the court to issue provisional measures requiring Israel to immediately end its military campaign in Gaza, which began after the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Snipers around the vicinity of al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, are shooting people as they try to leave the buildings, according to an Al Jazeera reporter.
Hani Mahmoud, a journalist reporting for the Qatari-state owned news organisation, said the hospital was under military siege. He writes:
This hospital has been under siege for the past few days and now it’s completely out of service.
But what’s really shocking right now is the fact that there are snipers around the vicinity of this hospital. The buildings of the hospital accommodate hundreds of displaced Palestinians. They’re being shot if they try to leave the buildings.”
We are very concerned that the attacks on Red Sea shipping are adding tensions to global trade, exacerbating [existing] trade disruptions due to geopolitics and climate change
Continue reading...Behind bullish statements officials have been examining potential scenarios for impending decision in case brought by South Africa
Israeli officials are bracing for an expected interim ruling from the international court of justice on South Africa’s allegation that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians, an emergency measure that could expose Israel to international sanctions.
The UN’s top court, which settles disputes between states, said on Wednesday that it would hand down its landmark ruling on Friday. The Hague-based body could order Israel to stop its three-month campaign in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on 7 October. ICJ rulings are binding and cannot be appealed against, although the court has no power to enforce them.
Continue reading...ONS figures, which include civil partnerships, spark calls for changes in laws for cohabiting couples
The proportion of people aged 16 or older in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50% for the first time.
The figure dropped to 49.4% in 2022, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Continue reading...Ignoring urgent orders to halt flights would break international law, says head of European human rights court
The UK would break international law if it ignored emergency orders from the European court of human rights to stop asylum seekers being flown to Rwanda, the head of the court has said.
Síofra O’Leary, the ECHR president, told a press conference there was a “clear obligation” for member states to take account of rule 39 orders, interim injunctions issued by the Strasbourg-based court.
Continue reading...Rights groups hail change to Braverman policy that denied support to people with criminal convictions
The Home Office has performed a U-turn on a policy to deprive some modern slavery victims of protection from traffickers.
Human rights campaigners and lawyers representing trafficking victims have welcomed the government’s change of heart, which they say reinstates vital protections to vulnerable people.
Continue reading...James wrote A Life Inside column while serving sentence for murder and later edited Inside Time newspaper
Erwin James, the writer of an influential Guardian column about life in prison who would go on to be a leading voice on criminal justice, has died.
James, real name Erwin James Monahan, was convicted of murder in 1984 and served 20 years in prison.
Continue reading...Royal college voices concern at rise in number of prosecutions of ‘deeply traumatised’ women
Medical staff in the UK should not report women to the police if they believe their patients may have illegally ended their own pregnancy, a professional body is to say.
New guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) will say it is never in the public interest to report women who have abortions to law enforcement agencies, according to the BBC.
Continue reading...Human rights worker Ayman Lubbad is among the Palestinian prisoners claiming abuse in Israeli custody, where six have died
The Gaza-based human rights activist Ayman Lubbad has not seen his wife and three children for more than a month, since he was ordered to strip to his underwear in the street outside his home, then driven away with other Palestinian men for a week of abuse and detention.
He was tortured and humiliated, he said, giving one of various accounts of recent Israeli abuse of Palestinians in detention; at least six have died, and one autopsy report showed serious injuries, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Continue reading...Powers bestowed by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 are not being used effectively, say critics
HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion.
Critics say the data, released under freedom of information laws to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and TaxWatch, suggests that HMRC is undermining its own deterrents against corporate tax evasion by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.
Continue reading...Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin’s convictions linked to British Transport Police officer Derek Ridgewell posthumously quashed
Two men who were jailed based on evidence from a racist and corrupt police officer have had their convictions posthumously overturned by the court of appeal.
Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin are the 10th and 11th people to have convictions relating to the British Transport Police (BTP) officer DS Derek Ridgewell quashed. Their appeals after a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) were uncontested on Thursday.
Continue reading...Death row prisoner Kenneth Smith, 58, to be killed via nitrogen-gas procedure animal scientists have ruled out for ethical reasons
Alabama is preparing to execute a death row inmate using nitrogen gas, an experimental method that veterinarians in the US and across Europe have deemed unacceptable as a form of euthanasia for most animals.
Barring last-minute appeals, Kenneth Smith, 58, is scheduled to be judicially killed on 25 January using a previously untested technique. Alabama’s department of corrections is proposing to strap him to a gurney, apply a respirator mask to his face, then force him to breathe pure nitrogen which would cause oxygen deprivation and death.
Continue reading...Flagship policy passes committee stage after tense lead-up in which Tory divisions came to the fore
Rishi Sunak has survived a damaging row over his flagship Rwanda bill after a Conservative rebellion melted away and dozens of rightwing MPs balked at further undermining the prime minister’s authority.
After a crucial 11th hour meeting of more than 45 Tory rebels, the group’s leaders concluded that defeating the bill by voting alongside Labour during an election year could risk collapsing the government.
Continue reading...Sunak’s press secretary says Downing Street not shown legal basis for rebel amendments, despite this being offered and asked for
Rishi Sunak starts with the usual spiel about his engagements, and how he has got meetings with colleagues.
Rishi Sunak is taking PMQs in 10 minutes.
Continue reading...Suggestions that 13-year-old was pushed into river by schoolmate led to online comparisons with Stephen Lawrence murder
A senior police officer has raised concerns that a “narrative” was built up suggesting the death of a black boy allegedly pushed into a Welsh river by a schoolmate was a racist killing.
Det Ch Insp Matt Powell, who led the police investigation into 13-year-old Christopher Kapessa’s death, said comparisons to Stephen Lawrence’s murder on social media led to tensions rising in the community and meant the suspect had to be given protection.
Continue reading...European court of human rights orders Athens to pay €80,000 to family of Belal Tello, who died after 2014 incident
The European court of human rights has ruled that Greece violated a Syrian refugee’s right to life when coastguards fired more than a dozen rounds at the people smugglers’ boat he was on nearly a decade ago.
The Strasbourg-based court ordered Greece to pay €80,000 (about £68,000) in damages to the wife and two children of Belal Tello, who was shot in the head as Greek coastguards attempted to halt the boat he was travelling in. Tello died in 2015, after months in hospital.
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