Word: penal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Despite this tacit backing, activists worked in a legal gray area. Section 377 of the Indian penal code, a law passed by the British colonial administration in 1860, criminalized sodomy and was still in effect, leaving gays vulnerable to the whims of local law enforcement. Police in Lucknow, a city in north India, arrested four HIV outreach workers in 2001 under Section 377 on charges including "conspiring to commit sodomy." The incident was alarming - but ultimately it served as the catalyst for a historic gay-rights ruling. The Naz Foundation filed a public-interest lawsuit on the arrested activists' behalf...
...Turning our state into a terrorist penal colony is not how to attract new families and business investment.' PETE HOEKSTRA, Republican Representative from Michigan, opposing President Obama's proposal to transfer Guantánamo Bay detainees to facilities in Michigan or Kansas or put them on trial in U.S. courts...
...democracy. The Grundgesetz guarantees basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, but it also gives the state the power to ban organizations that threaten the democratic order. Clauses prohibiting the use of symbols which violate the constitution, including Nazi symbols, were added to the German penal code in 1960. In the past few decades, as Germany has seen a rise in right-wing extremism, these laws have been used as tools against neo-Nazis. In 1994, denying the Holocaust itself became a crime. (See pictures of Kristallnacht...
...report calls for a full redraft of the country's penal code, special units to combat corruption and organized crime and constitutional amendments guaranteeing an independent judicial system. "Although indications of fraud and corruption (including collusion with organized crime) are abundant in the public domain, law-enforcement agencies seem reluctant to take the initiative to start an investigation," it says. "What is still missing is sufficient political commitment for broader initiatives which could form a more decisive, strategic approach...
...broader regional movement for gay rights. "This is a huge step forward," says Anjali Gopalan, director of the Naz Foundation India Trust, an advocacy group based in New Delhi that successfully brought a public interest petition to overturn India's anti-sodomy law, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. "We can now take the next step forward for the community in securing our rights...