Asian Legal Review

Two Cambodian journalists who used to work for US-funded Radio Free Asia were charged on Saturday with providing information to a foreign country and face 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutor Sieng Sok issued the charge, which accuses the two journalists of “providing information to a foreign state which may damage the nation”.
If found guilty, the two journalists face from seven to 15 years in prison.
Uon Chhin and Yeang Socheameta both had…

A Philippine court has convicted a man for a daring 2007 motorcycle bombing that killed a Muslim congressman, who was once a rebel leader, and three other people and wounded 10, including two legislators.
Judge Ralph Lee of the Regional Trial Court Branch 83 on Friday convicted Ikram Indama but acquitted two other key suspects in the November 13, 2007 bombing that killed Wahab Akbar as he walked out of a lobby at the House of Representatives.
Indama, who has links to Muslim militants, was…

Cyclists delivering food on behalf of Deliveroo are self-employed, rather than ‘workers’ who would be entitled to unionise, a labour rights body has ruled.

Businesses should review the restrictive covenants written into their employees’ contracts on a regular basis to ensure that the terms provide fitting protection against the risks of confidentiality breaches, an expert in dispute resolution has said. 

Oktovianus Warnares gathered with five other men outside a government building on the picturesque island of Biak, just off the coast of the Indonesian province of Papua.
It was May 1, 2013, the 50th anniversary of Indonesia assuming control of Papua from the United Nations. Warnares and his crew had gathered to raise the outlawed Morning Star flag of independence to protest against the rule of Jakarta – a distant city not only in kilometres but ethnicity and religion. Warnares estimates…

Mongolian sumo champions involved in brutal drunken brawl
Police in Japan have launched an inquiry into claims sumo grand champion Harumafuji assaulted fellow Mongolian competitor Takanoiwa during a drunken brawl in October that left the victim with serious injuries and unable to compete. Harumafuji was drinking with about 10 other sumo wrestlers in Tottori, western Japan, when he hit Takanoiwa with a beer bottle for looking at his smartphone while he was being scolded for his behaviour….

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was entitled to open an inquiry into claims for relief from income tax made by two investors in film partnership schemes, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The man who led Malaysia through the final two decades of the 20th century and has waded back into its politics in recent months said Thursday the country’s current government is deeply problematic and “must go.”
“We are facing a lot of difficulties with a government that ignores the rule of law,” Mahathir Mohamad told an audience in Thailand at a forum about Southeast Asia.
“These kinds of people must go,” he said of current Prime Minister Najib Razak…

Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the country’s main opposition party and banned more than 100 of its politicians from office for five years on Thursday, in a ruling blasted by a rights groups as the “death” of the nation’s democracy.
The verdict was widely expected of a justice system warped by the influence of premier Hun Sen, whose is accused of ruthlessly targeting rivals ahead of 2018 polls.
It nevertheless delivers a crushing blow to the Cambodia National…

The regulatory approval of a new ‘digital pill’ in the US is an exciting development that highlights the potential of connected technologies in health care, an expert in life sciences has said.