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 Legal news from Monday, June 27, 2005 |
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Monday, June 27, 2005 |
Senators say Gitmo should remain open, but detainee rules need to be defined
Alexandria Samuel at 8:32 PM ET
[JURIST] After spending the weekend at Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay, US Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) [official website] and Ben Nelson (D-NE) told reporters Monday that while closing the military detention center is not necessary, establishing a precise legal status for prisoners and clarifying the rules governing them is. In a statement [text] posted on his website, Nelson noted that recent changes in management and increased oversight of the facility warrant it remaining open. Earlier this month, US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter opened hearings [JURIST report] on the legal rights of detainees. The committee is expected to propose legislation delineating the rights and legal status of terror suspects in US detention. AP has more.
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UN commissioner urges asylum for refugees
Alexandria Samuel at 8:02 PM ET
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Defense Department releases new medical policies for detainees
Alexandria Samuel at 7:24 PM ET
[JURIST] US Department of Defense officials Monday released [press statement] a new policy on responsibilities of military healthcare providers to detainees. The memorandum [PDF], circulated internally last week [JURIST report], reaffirms standards similar to those used in US federal prisons, indicating that military healthcare personnel have a duty to protect the physical and mental health of detainees, and establishes a clear separation of duties between "personnel providing healthcare to detainees and behavioral science personnel consulting with interrogators". Earlier this month, an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine [text] alleged that military interrogators at Guantanamo had access to detainees' medical records, and had exploited information from the records during questioning. A Pentagon spokesman insisted again Monday that DOD had "no credible evidence that a military physician participated in detainee abuse."
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Corporations and securities brief ~ SEC investigating IBM disclosures
James Murdock at 6:42 PM ET
[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC [official website] is investigating IBM [corporate website], the company announced today. In a press release, IBM said that it received a request to voluntarily comply with the SEC's informal investigation. The inquiry is related to IBM's first-quarter report and how it disclosed methods of expensing employee equity compensation. AP has more.
In other corporations and securities law news...- GM [corporate website] has banned top executives from trading shares of the company's stock. The ban is designed to protect employees from liability for insider training. The move follows GM's April announcement that it would not be providing earning guidance for investors.
MarketWatch has more.
- The SEC has fined David Klarman, former chief counsel for U.S. Wireless, $3.9 million. In a press release, the SEC says the fine represents ill-gotten gains Klarman received by transferring money from the now-bankrupt telecom to his private off-shore accounts. MarketWatch has more.
- HealthSouth [corporate website] has restated its financial results for 2000 and 2001 with the SEC. In a press release issued today, the company called the restatement a "significant achievement toward HealthSouth's recovery." HealthSouth's SEC filings are available. Reuters has more.
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Former Guantanamo detainees allege Koran desecration
Alexandria Samuel at 6:42 PM ET
[JURIST] Six Pakistanis formerly held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] told reporters Monday after their release from subsequent detention in a Pakistani prison in Lahore that US personnel at the camp had abused the Koran in their presence. After being greeted by their families the men alleged that American interrogators threw, tore, and otherwise desecrated the holy book as part of their interrogation techniques. A Pentagon spokesman dismissed the charges by stating that claims of mistreatment are "standard operating procedure in al-Qaida training manuals". In May, a later-retracted [JURIST report] story of Koran abuse in Newsweek magazine sparked deadly anti-US rioting in Afghanistan, and helped prompt Senate Judiciary Committee hearings [JURIST report] on the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo. Human Rights Watch has an overview of the religious abuse allegations. AP has more.
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States brief ~ Colorado Supreme Court upholds juror questioning of witnesses
Rachel Felton at 5:38 PM ET
[JURIST] Leading Monday's states brief, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled [PDF text] today that allowing jurors to submit questions to witnesses is not a per se violation of a defendant's right to a fair trial in criminal cases. One defendant's attorney argued that the threat of unfair questions from the jurors should be reason to bar the practice of juror questioning, while the state's Assistant Attorney General argued in support of juror questioning as the questions are filtered through the judge, and the prosecuting and defense attorneys before being asked to the witness. Rule 24(g) of Colorado's Rules of Criminal Procedure [text] allows jurors to ask witnesses questions and became effective in July 2004. AP has more.
In other state legal news ...- In Colorado again, the state supreme court Monday threw out the conviction of a Republican campaign aid who was convicted in 2003 of disrupting a lawful assembly in a case that demonstrated tensions between the right to free expression and the right to lawfully assemble. The opinion [PDF text] upheld state laws which limit political dissension, but found there was insufficient evidence to determine that the campaign aid had significantly disrupted the democratic candidate's rally. A spokesman for the state's Democratic party [official website] said the ruling gives activist a clear idea of the legal limits of political dissension, and a spokesman for the state's Republican Party [official website] said that the ruling enshrined the right to free speech. AP has more.
- The Sierra Club [press release] and state and federal highway officials settled a lawsuit Monday that was holding up the widening of a freeway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Sierra Club agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for the federal government's agreement to install air filtration systems at schools along the highway segment and to also pay for the relocation of portable classrooms and a playground at one of the campuses. The lawsuit was heard in January by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a decision had yet to be issued. The settlement needs the approval of the appeals court and of a Las Vegas federal judge who placed the project on hold last year. AP has more.
- Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevick has signed [press release] two hate crime laws that create civil penalties for housing discrimination and extend protection from hate crimes. The first bill [text] makes it a civil rights violation to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with an individual's right to fair housing. The second bill [text] makes it a hate crime to use electronic communication to harass or threaten someone because of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability. The Chicago Tribune has more.
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Iraqi VP says other nations pressing for delay of Saddam trial
David Shucosky at 4:39 PM ET
[JURIST] Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdulmahdi told local leaders in the southern Iraqi province of Nassriya on Monday that some countries are pressing for a delay in the trial of Saddam Hussein. He did not specific which countries, but Iraq's justice minister has previously accused the US of stalling the trial because it has "secrets" to hide [JURIST report]. On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari [BBC profile], on a state visit to the US, said he wanted the trial to be "over and done with" [JURIST report]. From Jordan, Al Bawaba has more.
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Turkey seeks life sentences for Istanbul bombing conspirators
David Shucosky at 3:32 PM ET
[JURIST] A Turkish prosecutor has asked for life sentences for four alleged conspirators in the November 2003 bombings in Istanbul [BBC report] that killed 61 people and wounded hundreds more. The trial [JURIST report] actually encompasses 71 defendants; in addition to the four life sentences, prosecutor Zekeriya Oz asked the court for sentences ranging from 1 to 22.5 years for 36 defendants and acquittal for the remaining 31. Reuters has more.
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Italy may seek extradition of CIA agents who kidnapped imam in Milan
Tom Henry at 3:21 PM ET
[JURIST] An Italian judicial source told Reuters Monday that Italy plans to formally seek the extradition of 13 agents working for the CIA for their alleged role in the 2003 seizure and deportation from Italy of Egyptian imam Abu Omar [Washington Post report]. The same source said Italy might put out a general international arrest warrant for the agents as common fugatives. An extradition request would be the first time that a major US ally has sought the extradition of American agents involved in US "renditions" of terror suspects to other jurisdictions for questioning. The news comes after an Italian judge last week issued domestic arrest warrants on the 13 agents [JURIST report] for abducting Abu Omar. International legal experts consider it highly unlikely [NYT report], however, that the US government would voluntarily turn over its own agents in such circumstances. Reuters has more.
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Iraqi Special Tribunal questions Aziz about Kurd killings
David Shucosky at 3:15 PM ET
[JURIST] The Iraqi Special Tribunal [JURIST news archive; official website] has questioned former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz [BBC profile]. The urbane onetime Iraqi foreign minister, the only Christian in the Iraqi leadership and often the global media face of Saddam Hussein's government, was shown in court footage released Monday, in which he was asked about correspondence with Hussein discussing the UN inquiry into the 1991 killings of Kurds. The tribunal did not say when Aziz was questioned, but his lawyer says it was June 21. Ali Hassan al-Majid, or Chemical Ali [JURIST news archive], was also seen being questioned in other footage released. The questioning of former officials has stepped up light of recent government pushes to start Saddam's trial [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.
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Judge denies Killen request for new trial
David Shucosky at 2:35 PM ET
[JURIST] Mississippi Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon Monday denied a request for a new trial by lawyers for Edgar Ray Killen [JURIST news archive]. Last week Killen was convicted of manslaughter [JURIST report] for the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers in Mississippi and sentenced to 60 years in jail [JURIST report]. His lawyers argued that the trial was for murder and they didn't expect the option of a manslaughter conviction to be presented to the jury, but Gordon ruled that under Mississippi law manslaughter is a lesser included offense. AP has more.
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High court declines to take reporters' appeal on confidentiality of sources
Tom Henry at 1:38 PM ET
[JURIST] In a significant denial of certiorari Monday, the US Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from two reporters asking the Court to allow them to refuse to identify their sources and not risk facing fines or jail time. Matthew Cooper of TIME [JURIST report] and Judith Miller of the New York Times [JURIST report] face up to 18 months in jail for refusing to reveal their sources as part of an investigation into who revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame [Wikipedia profile], whose husband, US Ambassador Joseph Wilson [Wikipedia profile], had been critical of US policy on Iraq. After the DC Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear the case [JURIST report] in April, intervention by the Supreme Court was sought by news groups arguing for the need to protect confidentiality. AFP has more. In a statement Monday, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [advocacy website] said it was "disappointed" and "troubled" by the ruling: "Because of the split in the federal and state courts, the decision not to hear the case leaves reporters with little guidance on whether or not they can assure sources that promises of confidentiality will be upheld in court. It also provides no guidance to the federal courts reviewing the reporter's privilege in at least four other pending cases.." Read the full text of the RCFP statement. The RCFP offers more on reporters and federal subpoenas.
The Supreme Court Monday did granted certiorari in five other cases, including Bank of China v. NBM, regarding whether plaintiffs in civil RICO cases alleging mail and wire fraud as the acts on which they base their litigation need to establish reasonable reliance and Whitman v. DOT, regarding whether the Civil Service Reform Act [text] prevents suits by federal employees in federal court asserting statutory or constitutional violations relating to their employment. Other cases are Hudson v. Michigan, Hartman v. Moore, and Texaco v. Dagher, consolidated with Shell Oil Co. v. Dagher. Read the court's full Order List.
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French interior minister joins call for EU expansion halt after constitution crisis
Tom Henry at 1:21 PM ET
[JURIST] French interior minister Nicolas Sarcozy [BBC profile] said Monday that the European Union should suspend any further enlargement [EU overview] given the strong rejection of the European Constitution [JURIST news archive] by French and Dutch voters. The statement was understood to be directed mostly at Turkey as Sarcozy added that Bulgaria and Romania should be allowed to join because of the progress made in including them already. Sarcozy's comments come in the wake of a similar statement by EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner [JURIST report] some two weeks ago. French President Jacques Chirac has said that the EU must follow through with its decision to start the entry process with Turkey. British Prime Minister Tony Blair also backed the inclusion [10 Downing Street press release] of Turkey in a recent press conference, but stressed that admission criteria are "absolute and must be met in full." Reuters has more.
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Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in death of UK activist
David Shucosky at 12:54 PM ET
[JURIST] An Israeli military tribunal Monday convicted former Israeli soldier Taysir Hayb of manslaughter in connection with the killing of Tom Hurndall [JURIST report], a British peace activist [Guardian obituary]. Hurndall was shot while helping Palestinian children avoid gunfire in Gaza. His family was barred from entering Israel to view the trial, which a source in the Israeli government said was because his brothers refused to promise not to participate in any pro-Palestinian activities while in the country. Hurndall was a member of the International Solidarity Movement [advocacy website], which complained that the verdict didn't "question the policy and decision makers responsible" [statement]. Reuters has more.
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Lawyers frustrated by lack of hearings for Guantanamo detainees
David Shucosky at 12:42 PM ET
[JURIST] Lawyers for detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] say they are frustrated by delays that have prevented any court hearings for their clients, despite a US Supreme Court order from almost a year ago that granted them access to US courts [JURIST report]. Differing interpretations of the order have stalled appeals from detainees, with a ruling still months away. Attorneys for a number of Kuwaiti and Yemeni detainees claim their clients have been directly and indirectly pressured by US interrogators to drop their cases, a charge which has been denied. USA Today has more.
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Putin set to abolish inheritance tax in Russia
David Shucosky at 12:26 PM ET
[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website, English version] is set to sign into a law a measure passed by both houses of the Russian parliament that will abolish the country's inheritance tax, according to reports on Monday. After Putin made the proposal in an April address his plan was swiftly enacted, receiving 414 votes of approval in the 450-seat lower house and garnering widespread public support. A small group opposed the law, claiming it benefitted only the few richest people. The US debate over its inheritance taxes [Wikipedia backgrounder] has prompted change, but so far nothing as far-reaching as this Russian initiative. MosNews has local coverage.
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Advocacy tribunal verdict accuses US, UK of war crimes in Iraq
David Shucosky at 12:25 PM ET
[JURIST] The World Tribunal on Iraq [advocacy website] an unofficial grouping of antiwar activists and intellectuals who have held some 20 meetings around the world over the last two years, concluded its final session [JURIST report] in Istanbul Monday by releasing a scathing preliminary declaration [full text] insisting that the Iraq war was an illegal war of aggression based on false information, that US and UK forces had committed war crimes in the country, and that the United Nations had breached its responsibilities under the UN Charter for failing to stop the war or hold countries properly accountablke for it. US, UK and serving UN officials did not participate in the Tribunal's process, although invited to do so. Reuters has more.
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Spanish prosecutor insists on primacy of "rule of law" at end of 9/11 trial
David Shucosky at 11:49 AM ET
[JURIST] A Spanish prosecutor Monday called for legal rather than military means of fighting the war on terror during closing arguments in the trial of three men suspected [JURIST report] of aiding the 9/11 attacks. Apparently referring to US strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said "We don't need wars. We don't need detention camps, but rather this kind of trial that strengthens the rule of law" and called for "exemplary sentences" against the accused - jail terms in excess of 74,000 years [JURIST report] for Imad Yarkas [JURIST report], Driss Chebli, and Ghasoub al Abrash Ghalyoun, on charges that they helped prepare and plan the attacks. Chebli is also charged in connection with the Madrid train bombings [JURIST report]. AP has more.
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Supreme Court says cable companies can keep broadband lines to themselves
Tom Henry at 11:42 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld an FCC determination [FCC press release] that broadband cable modem companies are free from the mandatory regulations that apply to common-carriers. The 6-3 ruling means cable companies are allowed to keep rival internet providers from using their lines, a decision that lessens competition and consumer choice. The decision is likely to be seen as a victory for a Bush administration seeking to promote broadband investment. Read the Court's opinion [PDF] in the consolidated cases of Nat'l Cable and Telecomm. Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Servs. and FCC v. Brand X Internet Servs. [Duke Law backgrounder]. AP has more.
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High court rules police can't be sued over enforcement of restraining orders
Tom Henry at 11:25 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers are immune from suits based on how they enforce restraining orders. In a 7-2 decision the Court said that a woman whose estranged husband murdered her three children did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of the restraining order in place against her husband. Read the Court's opinion [PDF] in Castle Rock v. Gonzales [Duke Law backgrounder]. AP has more.
Also Monday, the Court ruled 5-4 that the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit abused its discretion by ordering consideration of new evidence in a Tennessee death row inmate's case. Read the Court's opinion [PDF] in Bell v. Thompson [Duke Law backgrounder].
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No retirement announcement from Rehnquist as court recesses
Bernard Hibbitts at 11:16 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court recessed for the summer Monday morning without any announcement from Chief Justice William Rehnquist [OYEZ profile] on his possible retirement from the bench after 33 years of service. Speculation had been rife that the ailing and increasingly frail Rehnquist, 80, might take the occasion of the court's last sitting of the term to indicate that he would be stepping down, setting the stage for a critical nomination battle over his replacement. Recently, however, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, had ventured a "strong suspicion that he [Rehnquist] may be with us a while" [JURIST report]. A retirement announcement could, however, still be forthcoming by press release or publicly-disclosed letter to the President. AP has more.
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BREAKING NEWS ~ High court allows Commandments display on capitol grounds
Tom Henry at 10:53 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Ten Commandments can be displayed on the grounds of a state capitol building. The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled [PDF] in Van Orden v. Perry [Northwestern University backgrounder] that a six-foot-tall display of the Commandments on the grounds of the Texas state capitol in Austin was constitutionally acceptable because it had a secular purpose and a resaonable viewer touring the capitol grounds would not conclude that the state was endorsing the Commandments' religious message. Read the Court's opinion [PDF]. AP has more.
The high court ruling follows one announced earlier Monday that held that courthouse displays of the Commandments were constitutionaly prohibited [JURIST report].
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BREAKING NEWS ~ Supreme Court rules Grokster violates copyright law
Tom Henry at 10:41 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that developers of software violate federal copyright law when they provide computer users with the ability to share music and movie files downloaded from the internet. Read the Court's opinion [PDF]. AP has more.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had previously held [PDF ruling] in MGM Studios v. Grokster [Duke Law backgrounder] that Grokster was not liable for vicarious copyright infringement. The court determined that Grokster had neither the right nor the capability to stop the direct infringements.
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BTK killer pleads guilty to 10 murders
David Shucosky at 10:34 AM ET
[JURIST] Dennis Rader [Court TV profile], charged with 10 murders [JURIST report] that took place between 1974 and 1991 as the "bind, torture, kill" (BTK) killer, pleaded guilty on Monday as his trial began in Wichita, Kansas. Prosecutors said before the hearing that no deal had been made. No date was set for sentencing, but Rader cannot face the death penalty because the crimes were committed before the establishment of a capital punishment statute in Kansas. AP has more.
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BREAKING NEWS ~ Supreme Court rejects Commandments displays in courthouses
Bernard Hibbitts at 10:19 AM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed in courthouses. The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky [Northwestern University backgrounder] that Kentucky counties that had put framed copies of the Ten Commandments in county courthouses and schools were in violation of the Establishment Clause because they were predominantly religious had the effect of endorsing religion. Read the Court's opinion [PDF] written by Justice Souter, with a dissent by Justice Scalia. AP has more.
The issue of Commandments displays - which profoundly divides religious conservatives and liberals and has come up in repeated court contests - was recently highlighted in the case of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore [advocacy website], who was removed from office last year by Alabama's judicial ethics board after he refused to comply with a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the rotunda of the his state's courthouse.
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Greece to investigate possible involvement in Srebrenica killings
David Shucosky at 10:18 AM ET
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Three acquitted of conspiracy charges for Kenya hotel bombing
David Shucosky at 10:14 AM ET
[JURIST] A Kenyan magistrate on Monday acquitted three men charged with conspiracy in connection with a 2002 suicide bombing at a hotel. The attack, which al-Qaida claimed responsiblity for, killed 15 people [Jersualem Post file report]. Earlier, four other defendants were acquitted [JURIST report] on charges of actually carrying out the bombing. The ruling marks the third high-profile terrorism case in Kenya to result in no conviction [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.
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World prison population tops 9 million; US leads incarceration rate
David Shucosky at 10:13 AM ET
[JURIST] Over 9 million people are now in prison worldwide and the number is growing, according to a new report [PDF text] by the London-based International Centre for Prison Studies [NGO website]. The statistical survey included convicts and persons held in pre-trial detention. The US, China, and Russia account for about half of the total, with the US holding 2.09 million, China holding 1.55 million (plus pretrial detainees and prisoners in what is termed "administrative detention") and Russia 760,000. The US has the highest incarceration rate by population: 714 persons per 100,000. Guardian News Services has more.
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US military planning new prison in Iraq
Tom Henry at 9:05 AM ET
[JURIST] The US military is planning to expand the current Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] and Camp Bucca [Wikipedia backgrounder] detention facilities in Iraq and build a third major facility in the north of the country to accommodate a growing number of Iraqi prisoners. Military officials say the existing prisons - now holding over 10,000 detainees - are nearing their maximum "surge" capacities with no decrease in the number of new prisoners expected. Expansion and a new facility for 2,000 could allow the US to hold as many as 16,000 detainees. Both Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca have been scenes of repeated riots and escape attempts [JURIST report] and the notoriously hot summer in Iraq plus a likely rise in violence as the constitution drafting and ratification process continues through the summer and early fall are only expected to increase intake and problems with inmates. The Los Angeles Times has more.
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Gang-rape victim Mai appeals to Pakistan Supreme Court
Tom Henry at 8:08 AM ET
[JURIST] Pakistan's Supreme Court [official website] on Monday began hearing an appeal by Mukhtar Mai [BBC profile] against the acqittal of five men who allegedly brutalized her in a gang-rape that attracted national and international attention and condemnation. Mai was raped in 2002, allegedly on the orders of a traditional village council after her younger brother offended the honor of a large clan by befriending a female member. Originally, six men were convicted of the crime but these five were acquitted on appeal and the sixth had his sentenced reduced [JURIST report] to life in prison. The decision was widely denounced around the globe, but Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Wikipedia profile] fueled more anger earlier this month by temporarily banning Mai from leaving the country to speak about her ordeal. Mai's passport has since been returned to her and she is now free to travel. AFP has more.
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Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.
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