News

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Israeli limits on Gaza aid may be ‘war crime’, UN warns

A new consultation seeks views on a considerable increase in court fees from November this year. Court fees are already due to rise by two per cent from the beginning of next month.

A police department has begun issuing photos of suspects with Lego heads superimposed on their bodies to comply with a new privacy law. Since the start of the year, California law has prevented police from sharing photos of individuals accused of non-violent crimes, KRCR-TV reports.

A company accountant jailed for defrauding thousands of pounds from his employers has been ordered to hand over £77,000 under proceeds of crime legislation. John Brown, 61, of Cumbernauld, was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment in March 2023 for defrauding £275,000 from Farmfoods

The 2019 Parliament has exposed systematic weaknesses in the UK constitution, according to members of the United Kingdom Constitution Monitoring Group (UKCMG).

Martin Burns has joined Inksters Solicitors. Mr Burns has over 30 years’ experience as a solicitor. For 15 of those years he was a sole practitioner at the Bathgate Family Law Practice.

A leaked draft of Saudi Arabia's first written penal code has been condemned by human rights campaigners as contravening international law and codifying existing repressive practices into written law. A 66-page report published by Amnesty International provides a detailed analysis of the leaked draf

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has condemned the public executions by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Three people were executed by gunfire in two sports stadiums in the presence of de facto court officials and members of the public during the last week of Febr

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of baby Sophia Smith. Baby Sophia died at the Royal Hospital for Children at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Campus, Glasgow on 11 April 201

Janie Law, one of the founding partners and latterly consultant at Family Law Matters Scotland LLP, will be leaving legal practice at the end of this month to take up the post as head of professional practice for mediation at Relationships Scotland. Ms Law holds a post-graduate diploma in counsellin

A man who sent unsolicited photos of his erect penis to a 15-year-old girl and a woman has become the first person in England and Wales to be convicted and jailed for cyber-flashing. Cyber-flashing became a specific criminal offence in England and Wales on 31 January 2024. Similar legislation took e

Cat McGarrell has joined Gilson Gray after nine years at Thompsons Solicitors. During this time, she was responsible for a range of sensitive group cases involving personal injury and medical product liability and the Kenyan tea farmers’ claim against one of the largest global tea producers la

Dear Editor, It is astonishing to me that in the current brouhaha concerning the plaque on the Melville monument that no mention has been made of the judicial oppression of democratic reformers that was orchestrated by Henry Dundas and his nephew Robert, whom Uncle Henry ensured was appointed lord a

Rachael Kelsey has become an associate tenant of 4PB. Many of her cases have international or intra-UK jurisdictional issues, an area of specialism for which she is well known and in respect of which she has built up a UK-wide practice. She has a particular interest in the issues that arise when act

Tesco has lost an English court appeal against a finding that its yellow-and-blue Clubcard logo infringed on the trade mark of rival supermarket chain Lidl. The High Court last year agreed with Lidl's argument that the Clubcard Prices logo led to a "perception of price matching by Tesco to Lidl", up