Recently in Human Rights Category

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson may be taken to court over his decision to impose a last-minute ban on adverts set to be displayed on London buses which claimed that gay people could be converted from homosexuality.

The adverts were produced by groups of evangelical Christians, and were set to run along with the slogan 'Not gay, and proud'.

The groups were disappointed by the mayor's decision to intervene at the last moment, and have now said that they are taking legal advice on whether the decision by the mayor can face a judicial review.

The justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has dismissed criticism of UK proposals to reform the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the 'Brighton declaration' would result in a reduced workload in Strasbourg.

Dismissing criticism by British judge Sir Nicholas Bratza, the president of the court, the justice secretary has said that the declaration would see more cases handled at national court level, speeding up the process of tackling the backlog of more than 150,000 cases waiting to be heard.

However, he also acknowledged that there is some opposition from other states within the Council of Europe and that progress on getting an agreement had been slower than he had hoped.

A Libyan national's lawsuit against former Home Secretary Jack Straw could finally shed light on the murky practice of sanctioned rendition of suspected terrorists for torture and detention without trial.

The case in question concerns Abdelhakin Belhaj, a former Libyan dissident who is now head of the Libyan armed forces after the deposing of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi last year.

Mr Belhaj is suing the British Government for their collusion with the former Libyan regime. This week Mr Belhaj announced that he will also sue the former Home Secretary under Labour, Jack Straw, for his part in sanctioning the rendition of Mr Belhaj by MI5.

The European Court of Human Rights has defended Germany's right to have a law banning sexual relationships between direct family members. The court, ruling in the case of Stübing v Germany unanimously upheld German law which is thought to date back some 500 years.

The case concerned Patrick Stübing, a German man who was raised away from his biological parents from a young age. He sought out his parents when he was in his twenties, making contact with his biological mother, and eventually meeting his biological sister.

Events took a turn when he fell in love with his sister. After the death of his mother, they commenced a sexual relationship, having four children together.

David Cameron has spoken out to support plans to indoctrinate so called 'secret courts' into UK law, despite protests from his coalition partner, Nick Clegg.

The plans will see intelligence-related cases heard behind closed doors, and may also impose greater surveillance on internet users.

The plans, which have been criticised by the House of Commons human rights committee this week, will see cases involving sensitive intelligence heard away from public and media scrutiny. Downing Street claims that the proposals will make it easier for the judiciary to see what intelligence was being used, and will limited damages claims.

The parliamentary human rights committee has condemned the justice and security green paper which it says is seeking to restrict the information which British judges can disclose in UK courts.

The paper, the committee claims, is seeking to indoctrinate into UK Law what MI5 and MI6 call the 'control principle'. Under this principle, whoever originally gathers sensitive intelligence is entitled to determine what parts of it can and cannot be disclosed, in any jurisdiction.

The law would give the CIA the power to limit disclosure in UK Courts of intelligence gathered by them and shared with MI5 and MI6.

Thomas Hammarberg, the European Commissioner responsible for Human Rights has spoken out to criticise the UK justice system for jailing a 21-year-old who posted racist abuse about Fabrice Muamba as he lay fighting for his life.

Liam Stacey is a student at Swansea University. He pleaded guilty in court to causing offence with racist intent, after repeatedly posting abuse about Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba.

The insults came just hours after Mr Muamba had collapsed on the pitch during an FA Cup semi-final tie at Tottenham Hotspur.

The European Court of Human Rights is set to rule tomorrow on a case concerning the police tactic of kettling.

The case has been brought by four protesters who were penned-in by the Metropolitan Police during a May Day march in 2001.

In what is widely considered the leading case on the subject of police crowd-control techniques, seventeen judges sitting in the grand chamber of the court will rule on whether the tactic breached protesters' rights to liberty under article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case has taken more than ten years to come before the European Court.

Human rights lawyers will today stand in the High Court to accuse civilian staff working at the Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ) of war crimes.

The lawyers will argue that staff that work at GCHQ in Cheltenham are secondary parties to murder, because their information is used by the US to target drone attacks in Pakistan.

The legal action has been brought by firm Leigh Day & Co and the charity Reprieve against foreign secretary William Hague. Mr Hague is the minister responsible for the work of GCHQ, which the prosecution claim provides 'location intelligence' to the US military.

A group of experts in medical ethics have risked the wrath of many by claiming that parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed.

The group, with ties to prestigious Oxford University, says that newborn babies are "morally irrelevant" and that ending their lives is therefore no different from a legal abortion.

The group published an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, a forum for controversial views on all sides of medical ethical debate. In their article they claim that a newborn baby cannot be an "actual person" and that therefore they cannot possess a "moral right to life".

A leaked draft of a document which has been circulated to member states of the Council of Europe has demonstrated that the UK is planning to launch a reform agenda for the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The document includes plans to wrestle power back from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and to give national courts increased power to interpret decisions of the ECHR in their own way.

The document is 12 pages long, and was circulated to the 46 member nations of the council of Europe. It claims that changes to the way the ECHR operates would cut back on its caseload, freeing it up to concentrate on the most complex and important disputes, and empowering national legislatures to do more.

The President of the European Court of Human Rights has spoken out to warn the UK that plans to create an override for EU decisions in UK courts would be totally destructive of the entire human-rights system.

Campaigners in the UK have argued for years that British courts, and those of other member states so-minded, should have the ability to veto or override decisions of the European Court that they disagree with.

Speaking after Prime Minister David Cameron's address last week to the Council of Europe, Sir Nicolas Bratza said that despite some news reports to the contrary, there is no open conflict between the European court and its UK counterparts.

Two Libyan dissidents are taking a former senior MI6 officer to court to challenge a little-known law which protects members of the security service from criminal liability for acts carried out abroad, providing that they are sanctioned by a cabinet minister.

The law is contained in section seven of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 which states that British security and intelligence officers are not liable under the criminal or civil law of any part of the United Kingdom for acts authorised by a senior minister. The clause has been dubbed Britain's 'licence to kill' law.

Abdul Hakin Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi have launched the legal challenge after claiming that they were tortured by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's secret police. They accuse Mr Allen, who was the most senior officer in MI6 responsible for counter-terrorism at that time, alleging that he was complicit in their torture.

A man paralysed from the neck downwards after suffering a stroke will take his case to the High Court today in order to win the right to allow doctors to end his life.

Tony Nicklinson is suffering from a condition known as 'locked-in syndrome', where almost all the muscles in his body are paralysed except for those in his eyes. This means that although he is awake and alert he can only communicate by blinking his eyes, and must be fed through a tube.

His solicitor, Saimo Chahal agrees that the case raises "difficult legal, moral and ethical questions."

The UK Government yesterday lost its legal battle to have a terror suspect deported to Jordan to face trial.

Abu Qatada was formerly described as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, but seven judges at the European Court of Human Rights have ruled that he would not receive a fair hearing in the Middle Eastern state.

Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman, has been detained in the UK facing deportation for six years.