Hungary to propose more amendments
BUDAPEST, Hungary – The Hungarian government said Thursday it is proposing new amendments to the country’s constitution to avoid giving critics further grounds for criticism.
Robert Repassy, state secretary at the Justice Ministry, said the draft of the constitution’s fifth amendment presented in June is being fine-tuned and will include, among others, new rules on the recognition of religious groups and modify a ban on political advertisements on commercial television and radio stations.
Repassy said the government felt it was being forced into having to adopt the changes to the Basic Law, as the new constitution has been called in Hungary since taking effect in 2012.
“The government wants to put an end to the situation were apparently legal problems can serve as pretexts for further attacks against Hungary,” Repassy said.
The EU, the U.S. and international rights watchdogs have criticized Hungary’s legislation on, among others, homeless people, churches and the justice system.
Pakistani who helped CIA to get new trial
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A senior judicial official on Thursday overturned the prison sentence of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden and ordered his retrial, citing procedural problems with the initial trial.
The official, Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, issued the ruling because the person who sentenced Dr. Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison was not authorized to hear the case, said Feroz Shah, a government administrator.
Afridi was convicted in May 2012 of “conspiring against the state” by giving money and providing medical treatment to Islamic militants in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal area, not for helping the CIA track down bin Laden. The doctor’s family and the militants denied the allegations.
The case has caused friction between Pakistan and the United States.
Associated Press
