Law

ANC leadership to meet with former President Jacob Zuma

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The African National Congress (ANC) leadership has proposed a meeting with Zuma over his refusal to appear before the Zondo commission of inquiry into the state capture.

Zuma agreed to a meeting which is expected to take place soon.

“With regards to former President Zuma, there are quite a number of engagements that are happening, and one of those is an engagement with the top leadership of the ANC which should be happening any day soon,” Ramaphosa told the South African National Editors’ Forum.

“It’s been agreed. He agreed to it. We’ve all agreed to it, that we are going to engage with him. He is a disciplined member of the ANC and we will be able to have an engagement with him. The massage will be earnest, simple and straightforward, that let us all abide by our constitution, respect our institutions, particularly the judiciary,” said Ramaphosa.

Zuma was recently summoned to testify at the Zondo commission. However, his lawyer wrote to the commission saying that would not be attending.

By Zakithi Dlamini

China charging Uighurs with “looking for an argument”

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Uighurs in China’s mostly Muslim Xinjiang province are receiving long prison terms for charges like “looking for an argument,” according to Human Rights Watch, with is claiming the legal attitude amounts to systematic persecution.

Claiming a ned to impose quick and severe sentences in the name of counter-terrorism, Chinese police and prosecutors are arresting and sentencing people who have not committed any real offense, according to the human rights organization. “Despite appearances of legality, many of the people in Xinjiang prisons are ordinary people who have been sentenced for going about their lives and practicing their religion,” said HRW Researcher Maya Wang in a statement.

More than 250,000 people in the northwestern region have been formally imprisoned since 2016, reported HRW, adding it has noted a dramatic increase in the lengths of prison sentences. Since 2017 the number of sentences for 5 years or more has risen from 11% to 87%. There are also an estimated one million Uighurs in “political education” camps in Xinjiang, according to HRW.

By Milan Sime Martinic

South Africa’s constitutional court asks for ex-President to be jailed for contempt

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The country’s constitutional court said that ex-President Jacob Zuma’s defiance of a legal summons that compels him to appear before a commission of inquiry to answer corruption allegations could lead to lawlessness and is asking the Supreme Court to jail him for defying the court’s order.

Accused of letting a wealthy family “plunder state resources” and influence government decisions, Zuma denied the charges and accused the commission of partisanship. The court’s request, however, is for contempt of court. Zuma said repeatedly he is not afraid of jail, but armed and uniformed supporters were outside his home to impede an potential arrest.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Dominion sues MyPillow for $1.3 billion, accusing the company of lying to sell pillows to Trump supporters

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Following similar defamation lawsuits in federal court against former Trump attorneys Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell (both also sued for $1.3b) for claiming election fraud to enrich themselves, this lawsuit has a twist in that it alleges MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell used conspiracy claims against the voting systems company “because the lie sells pillows,” according to the suit.

Citing numerous recurring untruthful statements by Lindell on TV interviews, a 2-hour YouTube video, and social media posts that got him and MyPillow’s corporate account banned from Twitter for “spreading misinformation,” the lawsuit charges, “MyPillow’s defamatory marketing campaign  —  with promo codes like “FightforTrump,” “45,” “Proof,” and “QAnon” —  has increased MyPillow sales by 30–40% and continues duping people into redirecting their election-lie outrage into pillow purchases.”

By Milan Sime Martinić

ICC rules past trauma not a defense against the war crime of forced pregnancy

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The international court concluded a case against a former child soldier whose defense included that he had been a victim himself when he was abducted and conscripted into Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army at the age of 10. The acts for which he was tried took place later on, when he was a high ranking commander of that force.

The ruling establishes for the ICC that “suffered victimization in the past is not a justification, nor an excuse to victimize others,” as was argued by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in her opening statements of the trial in 2016.

The ruling is considered to be somewhat of a landmark because it expands the ICC’s definition of war crimes and crimes against humanity to include forced pregnancy and forced marriage.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Nevada might give tech companies the ability to set up their own mini governments if they move to the state

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The Las Vegas Review-Journal stated that the draft of new legislation being considered by the state’s governor refers to the current government model of trying to attract new businesses as “inadequate alone to provide the flexibility and resources conducive to making the State a leader in attracting and retaining new forms and types of businesses and fostering economic development in emerging technologies and innovative industries,” proposing its “alternative form of local government” to make the state into a high-tech development zone.

If the law were to go through, companies in Nevada would be able to set up in their zones of operation with their own local taxes, government services, schools, police, and courts of justice.

The types of businesses that would be able to obtain such a deal from Nevada would be limited to specific innovative technologies, according to the Review-Journal, including blockchain, autonomous technology, the Internet of Things, robotics, A.I., wireless technology, biometrics, and renewable resource technology.

Nevada has some of the U.S.’s largest, emptiest counties that could be put to use this way. The bill proposing the new approach to tech government is not in it’s final form, but reports are that officials in the counties affected were initially skeptical despite investment requirements of over $1 billion in the first 10 years.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Bolivian town wants to charge woman for calling town “ugly”

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Uyuni Salts
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Authorities in the tourist town of Uyuni, famous for its salt flats, are demanding the extradition (from one department to another) and prosecution of a Bolivian singer who goes by the pseudonym Frances P. The musician in a social media post said the town was so ugly she would not move there even for $3,000,000.

Bolivian law has a “duties of tourists” clause that prohibits “discriminatory comments.” Bolivia has in the past arrested a newscaster for making derogatory comments about another city.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Angola has decriminalized homosexuality

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The Southern African country also passed a law criminalizing discrimination based on sexual orientation, which will come into play when a person tries to get a job or receive services.

Only a handful of African nations have laws to protect homosexuals, and many criminalize the lifestyle with potentially heavy punishments — sometimes even a death sentence.

Angola has been revising its 1975 penal code which was interpreted to ban homosexuality through its “vices against nature” provision.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Proud Boys join al-Qaeda, ISIS, and al-Shabab on Canada’s Terrorist Entity List

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The far-right American group famous for its participation in the January 6th insurrection in Washington is now officially a terrorist organization in Canada, based largely on the events at the U.S. Capitol.

Public Safety Canada detailed the group’s inclusion in their terrorist list: “Members of the group espouse misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and/or white supremacist ideologies and associate with white supremacist groups. The group and its members have openly encouraged, planned, and conducted violent activities against those they perceive to be opposed to their ideology and political beliefs. The group regularly attends Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests as counter-protesters, often engaging in violence targeting BLM supporters.”

Canadian Criminal Code requires businesses and individuals to immediately disassociate from groups on the Entity List.

By Milan Sime Martinić

Brazilian Supreme Court rules there is no right to be forgotten in media

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SAO PAULO – Despite a 2018 decision that allows the right to de-indexation of certain information from search engines, a majority of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has voted that there is no right to prevent media from disclosing truthful old information obtained legally, citing the Freedom of Expression Clause of the Brazilian Constitution and noting that such right does not degrade over time. The ruling sets precedent to guide jurisprudence over similar cases that come before the courts.

By Milan Sime Martinić

ICC has jurisdiction over Palestine, it says

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International Criminal Court judges found that the court has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories because Palestine had been granted membership to the tribunal’s founding treaty.

The decision refers to the territories without attempting to say anything about the question of Palestinian statehood or national borders. The ICC’s jurisdiction, the judges found, extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem–territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

The finding may lead to the ICC taking up war crimes cases against the Israeli Defense Forces and armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas, according to ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

In response, Netanyahu issued a televised message where he said that “When the ICC investigates Israel for fake war crimes, this is pure antisemitism.” He said Israel was defending itself against terrorists, and pointed to dictatorships in Iran and Syria “who commit horrific atrocities almost daily” which the ICC “refuses to investigate.”

The US also opposed the decision. Human Rights Watch, though, said it “finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity.”

Abortion legalized in Argentina

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Previously in the country abortion was only legal in rape cases and when the mother’s health was in danger, but now it’s legal as a choice until 14 weeks into a pregnancy. Just two years ago the Argentinian senate most recently voted against legalizing abortion. Abortion had been illegal in the country since 1921.

The senate vote was a split decision, 38-29-1, taken after a 12-hour debate. During the debate large crowds of campaigners on both sides of the issue assembled outside Congress in Buenos Aires.

The Latin Church opposed the Catholic country’s move, but Argentinian center-left President Alberto Fernández had made reintroducing the abortion bill one of his campaign promises, stating at one point “I’m Catholic but I have to legislate for everyone.”

The president also commented on the health facet of the issue, stating that 3000 women had died in the past 40 years due to clandestine abortion procedures, and almost 40,000 women each year make trips to the hospital as a result of such procedures.

The vote was also noteworthy because several Congresspeople, who had been undecided or who had voted against previous legalization bills, voted in favor of legalization this time. One such, Senator Silvina García Larraburu, stated “My vote is in favour of free women, of women who can decide according to their own conscience.”

Arguing for the other side, senator Inés Blas said, “The interruption of a pregnancy is a tragedy. It abruptly ends another developing life.”

The change in law was brought about largely by the country’s grassroots “green wave,” part of Argentina’s growing women’s movement. These activists have been working toward abortion legalization for 15 years and have introduced seven similar bills over that time to Congress without success.

In legalizing abortion on request, Argentinia follows in Latin America Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico, some Mexican States, and most recently Uruguay, who legalized abortion in 2012.

Many have noted that pro-abortion activists in other Latin American countries, where similar abortion laws exist, will see the Argentinian vote as a possible precedent for change.