On January 31^st, 2022, former Kansas school teacher and resident, Allison Elizabeth Fluke-Ekren, made her first court appearance in Alexandria, Virginia after being charged with plotting multiple bomb attacks in the United States and training an all-female battalion for the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as her involvement in another terror group in Libya.[1]

At its 6^th sitting held on January 26, 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted Resolution 2423 (2022) on poisoning of Alexei Navalny in January 2021. The debate and the Resolution were based on a Report prepared by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.^[1]

The term ‘autonomous sanctions’ denotes unilateral measures of a punitive nature (sanctions), which are ordered by a state against third states, and which target the governments or the regimes in power and/or individuals and companies located / registered in such third states. Moreover, ‘autonomous’ signifies that these measures are applied irrespectively of any punitive measures against the same third states ordered by the Security Council (SC) of the United Nations (UN) in pursuance of its powers and under the authority prescribed in Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It follows that they are freestanding punitive measures, independent of UNSC punitive action. Indeed, they may be inflicted even if, for whatever reason, the UNSC has not taken, or has been prevented from ordering sanctions against recalcitrant states, their governments and officials and their concomitant organizations, etc.

On January 24, 2022, the High Court in London ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal to the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court against extradition to the United States.  The U.S. has requested his extradition on 18 federal counts – 17 of espionage and one of computer misuse – in the U.S. with respect to WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked documents concerning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[1]

On November 18, 2021, the European Commission submitted to the European Parliament and the European Council a report assessing the added value of the Directive (EU) 2017/541 with regard to combating terrorism.[1]

On January 20, 2022, Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ms. Ghada Fathi Wali commended Nigeria for successfully prosecuting 10 pirates, a first for the continent of Africa.  A federal judge in Lagos, Nigeria handed each man a 12-year prison sentence for unlawfully boarding a Chinese fishing vessel and kidnapping the crew.[1]

In December 2021, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a public version of report to congressional requesters regarding the use of virtual currencies to facilitate human and drug trafficking and possible solutions.  Broadly speaking, the report recommends that the U.S. Treasury cooperate with local law enforcement to share typologies, methodologies, and region-specific information of traffickers in an effort to link them with industries that bolster the illicit practices.[1]

On January 20, 2022, a federal grand jury in the United States District Court in Manhattan  charged four senior Belarusian officials with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy for diverting Ryanair Flight 4978 in order to arrest a dissident Belarusian journalist.[1]

On January 18, 2022, the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a set of good practices concerning the use of global supervisory colleges in securities markets.  It has the goal of increasing cooperation and information –sharing among securities regulators.[1]

On January 19, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of Rodolphe Jaar, a dual Haitian-Chilean citizen, after he agreed to return from the Dominican Republic, where he was arrested, to the U.S.[1]