TOTTORI, Shimane Pref. (Kyodo) The Tottori Prefectural Assembly passed a bill Friday to suspend indefinitely a controversial human rights ordinance it approved last year that critics have condemned as arbitrary.

The assembly adopted the ordinance last October, before the central government failed in its own attempt to enact a human rights bill. The ordinance was to take effect June 1.

Assembly members, however, changed their minds after the ordinance was criticized for being vague in its definition of human rights violations.