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University of Washington School of Law

2005

Human Rights Law

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Follow The Leader?: Japan Should Formally Abolish The Execution Of The Mentally Retarded In The Wake Of Atkins V. Virginia, Simon H. Fisherow Apr 2005

Follow The Leader?: Japan Should Formally Abolish The Execution Of The Mentally Retarded In The Wake Of Atkins V. Virginia, Simon H. Fisherow

Washington International Law Journal

Japan is the only industrialized democracy in the world to not explicitly proscribe the execution of the mentally retarded. In the face of opposition from both international bodies and non-governmental organizations, Japan persists in engaging in a practice condemned by both international law and the laws of the vast majority of the world's nations. Even the United States, a nation that remains staunchly pro-death penalty, abandoned its practice of executing the mentally retarded in 2002 due to the emergence of a national consensus against the practice. This Comment examines Japan's use of the death penalty and its imposition on mentally …


Do Constitutions Requiring Adherence To Shari`A Threaten Human Rights? How Egypt’S Constitutional Court Reconciles Islamic Law With The Liberal Rule Of Law, Clark B. Lombardi, Nathan J. Brown Jan 2005

Do Constitutions Requiring Adherence To Shari`A Threaten Human Rights? How Egypt’S Constitutional Court Reconciles Islamic Law With The Liberal Rule Of Law, Clark B. Lombardi, Nathan J. Brown

Articles

Over the last thirty years, a number of Muslim countries, including most recently Afghanistan and Iraq, have adopted constitutions that require the law of the state to respect fundamental Islamic legal norms. What happens when countries with a secular legal system adopt these "constitutional Islamization" provisions? How do courts interpret them? This article will present a case study of constitutional Islamization in one important and influential country, Egypt. In interpreting Egypt's constitutional Islamization provision, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt has interpreted Shari'a norms to be consistent with international human rights norms and with liberal economic policies. The experience of …