Category Archives: Law

UK’s ‘headlong rush into abandoning human rights’ rebuked by Amnesty

Posted on by

Covid failings, crackdown on protest, police discrimination and resumed arms trade with Saudi Arabia all listed in annual report

Amnesty International has published a stark rebuke of the UK government’s stance on human rights, saying that it is “speeding towards the cliff edge” in its policies on housing and immigration, and criticising its seeming determination to end the legal right for the public to challenge government decisions in court.

In its annual report on human rights around the world, Amnesty International says the UK’s increasingly hostile attitude towards upholding and preserving human rights legislation raises “serious concerns”.

Continue reading...

Freshwater part 6: the decision

Posted on by

The court of appeal in London hears the appeal of the Freshwater Five. In the final part of our miniseries, we find out how the judges reach their decision and what it means

The case of the Freshwater Five, convicted a decade ago of attempting to smuggle £53m (A$96m) worth of cocaine into the UK, makes it to the England and Wales court of appeal, where new evidence is heard that the men hope will clear their names. Anushka Asthana follows the week-long hearing, sitting alongside the men’s families as the barristers argue the case.

The court of appeal can consider new evidence not heard by the original jury, and so the bar to overturning the convictions is set high. Nevertheless, the appeal has several grounds: one aspect focuses on new radar data that the men hope would show they were not close enough to the cargo ship that was alleged to be the other vessel involved in the transfer of drugs. There is also evidence purporting to show a new suspect vessel in Freshwater Bay as well as a surveillance plane that should have been able to spot the drugs floating in the water if indeed they were there at the time the prosecution suggested.

Continue reading...

Coercive behaviour must be prioritised in domestic abuse cases, court of appeal says

Posted on by

New guidance for England and Wales welcomed but critics say it fails to address perpetuation of rape myths and ‘contact at all costs’ approach

The family courts should prioritise the issue of coercive and controlling behaviour when considering disputes between parents in domestic abuse cases, court of appeal judges have advised.

Three senior judges set out fresh guidance on how these sensitive cases should be approached as part of a 47-page judgment after hearing four linked appeals brought by mothers over child contact.

Continue reading...

Ever-changing Covid rules on protest set up conflict with the police

Posted on by

Analysis: public disorder could have been avoided with more clarity about the legality of protests in the UK

Ambiguous, confusing and a mess is how the current coronavirus regulations dealing with protest have been described by MPs and peers tasked with scrutinising the government’s record on human rights. And it is the backdrop to the police versus protesters debate that should not be ignored.

In fact, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a cross-party group, concluded that protest has never has been completely illegal during the pandemic, even under lockdown.

Continue reading...

Who pays for Suez blockage? Ever Given grounding could spark years of litigation

Posted on by

Ship likely to be centre of protracted legal battle over what caused it to run aground in the Suez and who is to blame

After hauling its 220,000-ton bulk down the Suez canal a week after blocking the essential waterway, the Ever Given container ship is likely to become the centre of a protracted battle over who will pay for its rescue.

The 400-metre-long vessel was aground on the banks of the Suez canal for a week, causing an estimated £7bn loss each day in trade owing to ships stuck on either side, and up to £10.9m a day for the canal. “We managed to refloat the ship in record time. If such a crisis had occurred anywhere else in the world, it would have taken three months to be solved,” said Osama Rabie, the head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

Continue reading...

Is pornography to blame for rise in ‘rape culture’?

Posted on by

Analysis: experts split on whether easy access to porn has fuelled sexual harassment, abuse and assault among young people

The harrowing reports of sexism and assaults in schools detailed on the everyonesinvited.uk website has fuelled concerns of a “rape culture” in educational settings.

The disclosures have raised concerns that easy access to pornography is part of the problem.

Continue reading...

Watchdog steps in over secrecy about UK women in Syria stripped of citizenship

Posted on by

Exclusive: Home Office refusal to disclose how many women are in same position as Shamima Begum prompts action

The Home Office’s refusal to disclose the number of women who, like Shamima Begum, have been deprived of their British citizenship after travelling to join Islamic State is under investigation by the information commissioner.

The watchdog said it would step in after the government refused to share the data with a human rights group concerned about the conditions of British women and children detained in camps in north-east Syria, where conditions are dire.

Continue reading...

‘We’re treated as children,’ Qatari women tell rights group

Posted on by

Gulf state’s male guardian rules deny women right to wed, travel, work or to make decisions about their children, report says

Women in Qatar are living under a system of “deep discrimination” – dependent on men for permission to marry, travel, pursue higher education or make decisions about their own children, according to a new report.

Opaque rules on male guardianship leave women without basic freedoms, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has analysed for the first time the way the system works in practice.

Continue reading...

The UK professor, a fake Russian spy and the undercover Syria sting

Posted on by

Ex-Observer journalist tells of role in trap to expose disinformation tactics of defenders of the Assad regime

A more sceptical academic than Paul McKeigue might perhaps have wondered if the emails flooding into his inbox from “Ivan”, a purported Russian spy, were too good to be true.

Ivan appeared to share many of McKeigue’s own personal obsessions, particularly his desire to discredit investigators who compile evidence of war crimes committed in Syria. And he claimed access to both ready cash and secret intelligence.

Continue reading...

The attorney general v the ABC

Posted on by

Christian Porter is suing the ABC for defamation over an article reporting that an anonymous senior cabinet minister had been accused of rape in 1988. Porter later identified himself as the minister in question and strenuously denied the allegation. Paul Karp explores how this case could play out, and whether Porter can continue to do his job while fighting to clear his name

The crisis support and suicide prevention service Lifeline can contacted on 13 11 14. Support for sexual assault is available at 1800RESPECT.

Read more:

Continue reading...

De Klerk seeks accountability. What about his own?

Posted on by

Apartheid-era South African president calls for justice for female victims of violence in Guardian article but some say his own record needs scrutiny

South Africans don’t give much thought to FW de Klerk these days. Like Mikhail Gorbachev, his fellow Nobel peace laureate, the last apartheid president is more highly regarded outside his own country than in it.

But some South Africans were taken aback to see De Klerk putting himself forward in a Guardian article on 10 March as an advocate of protecting women from violence and asserting that “holding perpetrators accountable, irrespective of how long ago the crime was committed, is essential to stamping out impunity and preventing future atrocities”.

Continue reading...

13 protesters arrested at march against Covid lockdown in London

Posted on by

Thousands of demonstrators gather in Hyde Park for Piers Corbyn as police urge crowd to disperse

Thousands marched under a heavy police presence through central London in protest against lockdown on Saturday, with at least 13 arrested.

Demonstrators gathered at Speakers’ Corner by Hyde Park at about midday, where anti-lockdown figurehead Piers Corbyn gave a speech saying he would “never take a vaccine” and falsely claiming that the scale of deaths from Covid was not dissimilar to those from flu each year.

Continue reading...

Dominic Raab ‘totally misunderstands’ Northern Ireland Brexit terms, warns EU

Posted on by

European vice-president Maroš Šefčovič says claim about Brussels trying to erect barrier down Irish Sea undermines UK’s reputation

Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has been accused by Brussels of displaying a “total misunderstanding” of the Brexit deal after claiming the EU was trying to erect a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president, said Raab’s comments raised major questions, and warned that Britain was tarnishing its global reputation by ignoring the terms of its agreements with Brussels.

Continue reading...

French MPs approve ‘non-consent’ law to protect children from sexual abuse

Posted on by

Draft legislation says a child under 15 cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act

French MPs have unanimously approved a long-awaited draft law to protect children from rape and sexual abuse.

The legislation, drawn up after a series of scandals involving high-profile figures, establishes an age of “non-consent” at 15 under which a child cannot be considered to have willingly engaged in a sexual act. In cases of incest, the age has been set at 18.

Continue reading...

FBI facing allegation that its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh was ‘fake’

Posted on by

A Democratic senator has asked attorney general Merrick Garland to facilitate ‘proper oversight’ into concerns on the investigation

The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate “proper oversight” by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

Continue reading...

Endemic violence against women is causing a wave of anger

Posted on by

Analysis: Sarah Everard’s disappearance sparks furious demands to address misogyny in UK

Women feared this was coming. They waited, messaging each other in WhatsApp groups and on social media. They talked about their own attempts to stay safe, discussed their near misses.

When the news came on Wednesday evening – that police investigating the disappearance of Sarah Everard had found the remains of a body – a wave of grief crashed over them, followed quickly by anger.

Continue reading...

Bangladesh shipbreakers win right to sue UK owners in landmark ruling

Posted on by

Appeal court clears wife to sue company in London over husband’s death while helping to scrap tanker in Chittagong

British shipping companies that sell old vessels to be scrapped cheaply in dangerous, low-paid conditions in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan may now be sued in London for workers’ deaths or injuries.

In the first ruling of its kind by any higher court anywhere in the world, the court of appeal of England and Wales has held that a shipping company in London selling a vessel in south Asia could owe a legal “duty of care” to shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh even where there are multiple third parties involved in the transaction.

Continue reading...

EU parliament strips Carles Puigdemont and two other Catalans of immunity

Posted on by

Spain seeking extradition related to separatists’ role in organising 2017 independence referendum

The European parliament has voted to lift the immunity of the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and two of his ministers, taking them a step closer to extradition and prosecution in Spain.

MEPs voted by 400 to 248 with 45 abstentions in the case of Puigdemont and 404 to 247 with 42 abstentions regarding Antoni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, respectively the former health and education ministers in Puigdemont’s government.

Continue reading...

UK failed to inform EU countries about almost 200 killers and rapists

Posted on by

Exclusive: total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to relevant EU capitals over eight-year period

The conviction of 109 killers, 81 rapists and a man found guilty of both crimes in UK courts was not passed on to the criminals’ home EU countries due to a massive computer failure and subsequent cover-up, the Guardian can reveal.

The most serious cases are among a total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to the relevant EU capitals over an eight-year period due to a catastrophic computer error, which some fear has put lives at risk.

Continue reading...