Category Archives: Law

Rebels aim to insert genocide amendment in UK-China trade bill

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UK court would determine whether China is committing genocide against Uighurs if measure passed

The government is struggling to contain a potential backbench rebellion over its China policy after the Conservative Muslim Forum, the International Bar Association (IBA), and the prime minister’s former envoy on freedom of religious belief backed a move to give the UK courts a say in determining whether countries are committing genocide.

The measure is due in the Commons on Tuesday when the trade bill returns from the Lords where a genocide amendment has been inserted. The amendment has been devised specifically in relation to allegations that China is committing genocide against Uighur people in Xinjiang province, a charge Beijing has repeatedly denied.

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British Virgin Islands’ governor launches inquiry into alleged corruption

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Gus Jaspert’s extraordinary step comes amid claims of a climate of fear in the UK overseas territory

Allegations of widespread political corruption, misuse of taxpayer’s money and a climate of fear in the British Virgin Islands have led its governor to take the extraordinary step of establishing an independent judge-led inquiry into the claims.

Gus Jaspert, the British-appointed BVI governor, with the personal backing of the UK prime minister, has established a commission of inquiry to investigate concerns over governance, including specific allegations that point to possible corruption and infiltration by serious organised criminal gangs. The six-month inquiry, to be led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, follows the discovery by police in November of a haul of cocaine worth more than £190m.

Jaspert broke the news to the island on Monday after returning from the UK, where he was on leave. It was reported that he had been struggling with his communications systems in recent weeks, and complained to the premier, Andrew Fahie, but said nothing was done, forcing him to ring newsrooms individually.

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Coroner’s Covid findings stoke calls for inquiry into pandemic policy

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Analysis: bereaved families concerned that lessons were not learned after first wave

The failures and concerns highlighted by a senior coroner, Alison Mutch, following the deaths of two men, Anthony Slack and Leslie Harris, from Covid-19, have reinforced bereaved families’ calls for a government inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, and for more inquests.

Very few inquests have been held into deaths of people from coronavirus, following the then chief coroner’s guidance in March that Covid-19 is “a naturally occurring disease” and inquests are not normally necessary unless a person died due to additional factors, for example neglect.

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Sámi reindeer herders file lawsuit against Norway windfarm

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Indigenous communities say planned Øyfjellet turbines will interfere with migration paths

Indigenous reindeer herders are bringing a legal action against a proposed wind power project that would be one of the largest in Norway.

The Sámi herders from Nordland county are accusing the Øyfjellet windfarm constructors of breaking licensing agreements which stipulated that construction would not interfere with reindeer migration paths.

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G4S migrant workers ‘forced to pay millions’ in illegal fees for jobs

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UK-based security firm faces calls to repay charges made by recruitment agents for jobs in Gulf states and conflict zones

Migrant workers working for the British security company G4S in the United Arab Emirates have collectively been forced to pay millions of pounds in illegal fees to recruitment agents to secure their jobs, the Guardian can reveal.

An investigation into G4S’s recruitment practices has found that workers from south Asia and east Africa have been made to pay up to £1,775 to recruitment agents working for the British company in order to get jobs as security guards for G4S in the UAE.

Forcing workers to pay recruitment fees is a widespread practice, but one that is illegal in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The practice allows companies to pass on the costs of recruitment to workers from some of the poorest countries in the world, leaving many deep in debt and vulnerable to modern forms of slavery, such as debt bondage.

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Dominic Raab calls QC acting for Hong Kong government ‘mercenary’

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David Perry is giving China a PR coup by acting against pro-democracy activists, foreign secretary says

David Perry QC, the barrister acting for the Hong Kong government in its efforts to jail pro-democracy activists, is behaving in “a pretty mercenary way” and providing the Chinese government with a PR coup, the foreign secretary Dominic Raab said on Sunday.

Perry has agreed to represent the Hong Kong government in prosecuting nine activists, including the media proprietor Jimmy Lai, arising from demonstrations in August 2019. The trial is due to begin next month.

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British QC prosecuting activists in Hong Kong fought to be allowed to take case

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David Perry faces accusations of ‘making the wrong choice’ after applying despite local objections

David Perry, the British QC under fire for agreeing to prosecute pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, had to go to court himself to win permission to take the controversial case.

The nine activists facing a potential seven-year jail sentence for alleged unlawful assembly in 2019 include Jimmy Lai, the independently minded newspaper proprietor, and Martin Lee, the so-called father of Hong Kong democracy.

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Air pollution will lead to mass migration, say experts after landmark ruling

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Call for world leaders to act in wake of French extradition case that turned on environmental concerns

Air pollution does not respect national boundaries and environmental degradation will lead to mass migration in the future, said a leading barrister in the wake of a landmark migration ruling, as experts warned that government action must be taken as a matter of urgency.

Sailesh Mehta, a barrister specialising in environmental cases, said: “The link between migration and environmental degradation is clear. As global warming makes parts of our planet uninhabitable, mass migration will become the norm. Air and water pollution do not respect national boundaries. We can stop a humanitarian and political crisis from becoming an existential one. But our leaders must act now.”

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Julian Assange refused bail despite judge ruling against extradition to US

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Judge says WikiLeaks co-founder ‘still has an incentive to abscond from these, as yet unresolved, proceedings’

Julian Assange has been refused bail by a judge who this week rejected a US request to have him extradited to face espionage and hacking charges.

The co-founder of WikiLeaks has been held at Belmarsh prison in south-east London for the past 18 months after he was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he sought asylum for seven years.

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Virginity tests for female rape survivors outlawed by Pakistani court

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Judge said the ‘humiliating’ practice was used to cast suspicion on the victim, and deflected focus from the act of sexual violence

A Pakistani court has outlawed the practice of subjecting female rape survivors to a virginity test in an unprecedented ruling.

Lahore’s high court ruled on Monday that the virginity test has no legal basis and “offends the personal dignity of the female victim”.

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Doubts emerge in US over future of Assange extradition case

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Joe Biden’s priorities could scupper extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder, says departing Virginia attorney

The American prosecutor seeking to put Julian Assange on trial in the US has said he is uncertain if Joe Biden’s incoming White House administration will continue to seek the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder.

Zachary Terwilliger, who was appointed by Donald Trump, made the comments as it was announced that he was stepping down as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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Julian Assange to seek release from prison after extradition ruling

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Legal team for WikiLeaks co-founder expected to refer to Covid risk at Belmarsh prison

Julian Assange will make a fresh appeal to be released from prison this week after a British judge ruled that he cannot be extradited to the US to face charges of espionage and hacking government computers.

While district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected arguments that Assange would not get a fair trial in the US, she blocked extradition on the basis that the WikiLeaks co-founder was at risk of taking his own life if he were to be held in isolation.

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‘Step up’ and face Grenfell inquiry, minister tells cladding firm bosses

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Stephen Greenhalgh said executives should not ‘hide behind’ rarely used French law

The UK government has demanded that executives who supplied combustible cladding to Grenfell Tower “step up to the plate” after their refusal to give evidence to the public inquiry into the disaster provoked anger among the bereaved and survivors.

On Sunday, Stephen Greenhalgh, the building safety minister, escalated a legal and diplomatic dispute over the position taken by three current and former executives at the French division of the US company Arconic. He told them to stop hiding behind an arcane French law.

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Essex lorry tragedy must spur greater effort to stop trafficking from Vietnam

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Criminal networks are depending on the chaos of Covid and Brexit. Now more than ever we need focus and international cooperation to prevent further tragedies

Trials in the UK of the drivers and haulage organisers involved in the Essex lorry tragedy in which 39 Vietnamese migrants perished ended in guilty pleas and convictions. Vietnam also convicted the agents who brokered the victims’ journeys to the UK and sentenced them to terms of imprisonment.

While these are positive developments in achieving some measure of justice for the victims, they won’t do anything to stem the smuggling and trafficking of Vietnamese migrants to the UK. No justice system has reached the actual masterminds and profiteers behind this horrific crime: the organised crime groups.

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The great opportunity: how Covid transformed global crime

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2020 led to surges in everything from domestic abuse to black markets in fake vaccines

By the end of March, one week into the UK’s first lockdown, recorded crime in Lancashire had dropped by a startling 40% compared with the four-year average.

“At first there was some mild panic,” says DCI Eric Halford, of Lancashire Constabulary. “Most senior officers expected a surge in demand.”

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UN expert urges Thailand to stop targeting protesters with royal insult law

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Students among those who could face long sentences under sweeping lese-majesty law

Thailand’s authorities must stop targeting pro-democracy protesters with draconian legal action and instead enter into dialogue, according to the UN’s special rapporteur for freedom of assembly, who warned the country risks sliding into violence.

Clément Voule said he had written to the Thai government to express alarm at the use of the fierce lese-majesty law against dozens of protesters, including students as young as 16.

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Uganda charges leading lawyer for LGBT rights with money laundering

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Human rights organisation says allegations that Nicholas Opiyo withdrew over $300,000 in funds are ‘frivolous’ and ‘fabricated’

Nicholas Opiyo, one of Uganda’s most prominent human rights lawyers, has been charged with money laundering.

Opiyo, known for representing LGBTQ+ people, appeared before magistrates in Kampala on Thursday and was remanded in custody until 28 December.

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‘Shoved aside’: Fiji set to lose top job on UN rights body in global power struggle

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Country’s expected ascension to human rights council presidency is being challenged by a China-backed bid by Bahrain

For a small country in the South Pacific that joined the UN’s powerful human rights council for the first time in 2019, Fiji has made giant strides within the organisation: right to the very top ... almost.

By consensus, Fiji’s chief diplomat in Geneva, ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, was set to assume the presidency of the council for 2021, a historic first not only for Fiji, but for a Pacific region consistently under-represented on the global stage.

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Zelda Perkins: ‘There will always be men like Weinstein. All I can do is try to change the system that enables them’

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When she was just 24 and her colleague was attacked by Harvey Weinstein, Perkins took on the media mogul. She explains the impact of this year’s verdict and why she is still fighting against the non disclosure agreements that kept his crimes being revealed

For more than 20 years, Zelda Perkins had known that the film producer Harvey Weinstein was a sexual predator, though not the scale of his abuse. This year, Weinstein was finally convicted of rape; in March, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Perkins was “blown away”.

Perkins was not one of the women Weinstein assaulted, but her colleague was. Instead, Perkins became – as a naive but furious 24-year-old assistant – one of the few people brave enough to stand up to the rich, powerful man known for his bullying and ability to make or break careers.

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US death row prisoner Dustin Higgs petitions Trump for clemency

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In a last-ditch effort to stay alive, Dustin Higgs, a federal death row prisoner set to be put to death next month as part of the Trump administration’s flurry of executions in its final days in office, has petitioned the president for clemency.

Related: Trump administration has executed more Americans than all states combined, report finds

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