5 h. ago ‘What is left of our democracy?’: freed Palestinian human rights advocate warns of US authoritarian rule

Mohsen Mahdawi, student detained by Ice last month, pens blistering attack on Trump’s deportation policiesMohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student freed on Wednesday after more than two weeks in immigration detention, has issued a stark warning about the US’s descent into authoritarianism.“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: what is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?” said Mahddawi in an op-ed for the New York Times. Continue reading...

Events

6 h. ago Watch as 100s of trans rights campaigners protest at Glasgow base of Equalities and Human Rights Commission

The Supreme Court ruled that a woman in the UK Equality Act refers to a biological woman

Events

17 h. ago Does human rights law really stop the UK controlling migration? No – and Keir Starmer knows that | Jamie Burton

It would be wrong for Labour to collude in the attack on the European convention. It’s fuelled by myths and false narrativesHere’s a recent quote from a Downing Street source: “We have to be able to say something on this that isn’t just defending the status quo.”The aide was discussing the European convention on human rights (ECHR), a postwar treaty to protect the freedoms of people in Europe, ratified by the UK in 1951. Although it was also central to Keir Starmer’s entire pre-political career, his government is looking to water down some of the key provisions.Jamie Burton is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. Finnian Clarke, also a barrister at Doughty Street, co-authored Continue reading...

Politics

32 h. ago Scottish ministers drop plans to outlaw misogyny and conversion practices

Government says the measures are too legally complex to deliver before the next Holyrood electionThe Scottish government has dropped plans to outlaw misogyny and conversion practices before the next Holyrood election, arguing they are too legally complex to deliver in time.Ministers had long promised a bill to criminalise misogyny after Nicola Sturgeon, the then first minister, accepted recommendations from a working group led by the lawyer and human rights expert Helena Kennedy in 2022. Continue reading...

Politics

33 h. ago We fought and beat the government in the courts because every Briton has the right to protest | Akiko Hart

The appeal court verdict makes clear these anti-protest laws should never have existed. Labour must now reflect on what sort of democracy it wants us to beAkiko Hart is the director of the human rights organisation LibertyWhen we beat the Conservative government over its anti-democratic protest laws in court last year, we thought that would be the end of the story. Judges in the high court had made it very clear that laws that gave the police almost unlimited powers to crack down on any protest that caused “more than minor” disruption were unlawful. It ordered that the laws should be scrapped. We celebrated. Given that the incoming Labour government had voted down these very same laws a year earlier, we believed that protest would be taken out of the culture wars arena and put back into the sacred space of fundamental rights.Yet Labour dragged us back to court, in a misguided attempt to be seen to look tough on public order. And now today, on a day of much Labour soul-searching, we’...

Events

34 h. ago Annual benefits bill for refugee households hits £1BILLION after surging by a third in just one year, leading to calls for Britain to leave human rights treaty

Government data revealed the total amount of universal credit paid to households with at least one refugee claimant soared to £1.1billion last year, up from £828million in 2023.

Economics

35 h. ago ECB bans transgender women from taking part in women’s and girl’s cricket

Trans women had been free to play up to tier three of domestic cricket and throughout the recreational game.

Politics

46 h. ago Equalities watchdog lashes out at critics of Supreme Court trans ruling who question judges' 'integrity'

Baroness Falkner, the chairwoman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) the said it was unacceptable for people to question the integrity of Supreme Court justices.

Events

47 h. ago UK culture sector leaders ‘unwilling’ to police which toilets people use

The Supreme Court ruling on gender has been interpreted to mean that transgender women can be excluded from female toilets.

Politics

54 h. ago Syrian Druze spiritual leader slams government over deadly sectarian clashes

Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri has harshly criticized Syria’s government for what he called an “unjustified genocidal attack” during deadly sectarian fighting in Druze-majority areas south of Damascus this week

Politics

57 h. ago Top KC claims assisted dying bill is not compatible with human rights convention

Exclusive: The legal opinion obtained by a campaign group opposed to assisted dying comes as the government is expected to publish its impact assessment for Kim Leadbeater’s legislation

Events

60 h. ago George Clooney's wife Amal at risk of being banned from US under Donald Trump sanctions

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney is at risk of being banned from entering the U.S. after advising on a war crimes case that led the International Criminal Court to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials

Events

61 h. ago Amal Clooney 'faces possible US ban from Trump over war crimes probe into Netanyahu'

The high-profile British human rights lawyer sat on the expert legal panel that advised the International Criminal Court on evidence from the Gaza conflict

Events

3 d. ago George Clooney's British wife warned she could be BANNED from the US by Donald Trump

Amal, a top international human rights attorney, 47, has reportedly been 'cautioned' by the Foreign Office for legal advice she provided in a war crimes case against the Israeli Prime Minister.

Events

3 d. ago If leaders stay silent, the US won’t survive Trump’s next 100 days | Robert Reich

We are tottering on the edge of dictatorship. Powerful voices across institutions, from politics to academia and religion, must speak outWe have witnessed the first 100 days of the odious Trump regime.The US constitution is in peril. Civil and human rights are being trampled upon. The economy is in disarray.If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present, and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US colu...

Politics

3 d. ago Questions over validity of Supreme Court gender ruling ‘unacceptable’ – Mahmood

Giving evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Shabana Mahmood said that justices at the UK’s highest court had ‘done their job’.

Events

3 d. ago Justice Secretary admits some human rights claims by immigrants to avoid deportation 'don't stand up to scrutiny'

Shabana Mahmood defended the Government's decision to launch a review of the use of the controversial 'right to private and family life' - under Article 8 of the human rights convention

Events

3 d. ago Iran executes man accused of helping Israel kill Revolutionary Guards colonel

Mohsen Langarneshin is accused of being ‘senior spy’ for Mossad, but human rights groups say he was innocentIran has executed a 36-year-old man it accused of helping the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, kill a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Tehran in 2022. Iranian state media said Mohsen Langarneshin was hanged, the usual method of execution in Iran, at Ghezel Hesar prison early on Wednesday morning.Langarneshin’s family and human rights groups insisted the former IT consultant was innocent of the charges against him and that any reported confessions were obtained by torture or blackmail. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Deadly Syria clashes continue for second day outside Damascus

At least 11 civilians and security officials killed in Druze-majority areas around the capital on WednesdayAt least 11 civilians and security officials were killed in clashes in a town near Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, the second consecutive day of fighting in Druze-majority areas around Syria’s capital.Reports said fighting had started overnight in the town of Ashrafiah Sahnaya, south-west of Damascus, after unknown gunmen attacked a security checkpoint. An attack on the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana a day earlier left at least 10 people dead, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago The uniting theme of Trump’s presidency? Ineptitude | Robert Reich

From deportations to human rights to the economy, the president’s actions have resulted in mayhem. Here’s a samplingSome Democrats fear they’re playing into Donald Trump’s hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living.But it’s not either-or. The theme that unites Trump’s inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

Politics