Earlier this month, Tibetan environmentalist Rinchen Samdrup was sentenced to five years in prison by a Chinese court, found guilty of inciting separatism by posting a pro-Dalai Lama article on his website. Samdrup, the third brother in his family to be jailed, told the Changdu Intermediate People's Court that he did not post the article himself. His lawyer, Xia Jun, was quoted as saying: "It was a mistake, but not a crime." The website is devoted to protecting the environment in the Himalayan region.

Eyewitness accounts confirm that Chinese security forces used disproportionate force and acted with deliberate brutality in the wave of Tibetan protests that began on March 10, 2008, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. The report charges that many violations continue today, including disappearances, wrongful convictions and imprisonment, persecution of families, and the targeting of Tibetans suspected of sympathizing with the protest movement.

In an equivocal ruling that sparked voluble reactions while resolving nothing, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague found by a 10-to-4 vote July 22 that Kosova's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia was legal—but carefully avoided calling the state of Kosova legal. ICJ president Hisashi Owada stated rather obviously that international law contains no "prohibition on declarations of independence" and that Kosova's declaration therefore "did not violate international law."

From Amnesty International, June 21:

Amnesty International has today called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were destroyed in the Jordan Valley earlier this week.

Five Yemeni soldiers were killed in in a suspected ambush by "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" while on patrol in the Shabwa province in southern Yemen July 21. A day earlier, dozens of pro-government tribesmen were killed in clashes with Shi'ite Houthi rebels in northern Saada province, including tribal leader Sheikh Zaidan al-Maknaiee, his son and four bodyguards.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on July 21 granted the habeas corpus petition of Yemeni citizen Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif and ordered his immediate release from the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. Latif, who has been in custody for over eight years, contends that he was in Pakistan for medical treatment when he was arrested and turned over to US forces. According to a lawyer for Latif, he suffers from mental illness and depression, and he remains suicidal. The judge ordered the Obama administration to take all necessary steps to ensure that Latif is released.

Two lawsuits were filed July 21 seeking injunctive relief against a Fremont, Neb., ordinance banning the hiring, harboring or renting property to "illegal immigrants." The ordinance, passed by city voters in a referendum last month, requires all employers in the city to register for the E-Verify program and makes it a crime to rent to "illegal" immigrants. The ordinance also voids any lease entered into by an undocumented immigrant and requires every person seeking to rent residential property to obtain an occupancy permit from the city, requiring the applicant to sign a declaration affirming his or her US citizenship or otherwise provide a visa or employment authorization number.

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega on July 20 accused Colombia of granting exploration permits to oil companies on Nicaraguan territory. Ortega was referring to disputed waters along the Caribbean maritime border between the two countries. The Colombian government sold permits to 80 foreign companies for 230 sites across the country last month—including in the disputed waters. A case over the dispute is still pending at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).