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 Legal news from Monday, November 21, 2005 |
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Monday, November 21, 2005 |
Israel parliament passes dissolution bill following Sharon exit from Likud
Joshua Pantesco at 7:38 PM ET
[JURIST] The Israeli Knesset [official website] voted 84-0 Monday in favor of a preliminary motion to dissolve itself shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [BBC profile; official website] defected from the right-wing Likud [party website] political party he helped create. Once the bill is finally approved, a parliamentary election must take place within 90 days, well before the originally-scheduled November 2006 date. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, a Likud member, said he would push for the required three final votes to take place Tuesday. Sharon told Israeli President Moshe Katsav [official website; Wikipedia profile] earlier Monday that "it is impossible to carry on as Prime Minister" with the current parliament and called for a dissolution under Article 29 of the Israeli Basic Law [text]. Katsav announced that he will accept the results of the vote, and will work to ensure that Knesset factions opposed to Sharon will allow the Prime Minister to appoint interim ministers so that the essential government operations will be unaffected by disbandment of the assembly. Eight members of the Labor party faction of the Likud-led coalition party resigned from the government shortly before the vote. Relations between Sharon and the Likud party have been increasingly tense since Sharon's extremely controversial decision to withdraw settlers from Gaza and four West Bank settlements, which was approved by the Knesset despite Likud opposition. Reuters has more. from Israel, Haaretz has local coverage.
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Abramoff lobbying partner pleads guilty to congressional bribery charge
Joshua Pantesco at 7:18 PM ET
[JURIST] Lobbyist Michael Scanlon [Wikipedia profile] pleaded guilty in federal district court Monday to one count of bribery, a charge anticipated [JURIST report] after a DOJ criminal information disclosed Friday accused him of defrauding Indian clients and "providing things of value" to US Representative Bob Ney (R-NY) [official website]. Scanlon agreed to pay $19 million in restitution to the Indian tribes he allegedly defrauded while representing them in attempts to gain favorable federal gambling legislation. Scanlon is a former partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff [Wikipedia profile], currently under federal indictment for bank fraud. Abramoff is also being investigated for bribing congressmen in exchange for gambling-friendly legislation, and for providing Representative Tom Delay (R-TX) [JURIST archive], for whom he once worked as an aide. with trips abroad and a free sports arena skybox. Scanlon is expected to testify against Abramoff in exchange for a reduction or elimination of the five year maximum prison sentence he now faces. AP has more.
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Ex-UN human rights chief says US record on detainees weakening influence on rights
Joshua Pantesco at 6:52 PM ET
[JURIST] Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson [official profile] said in an interview with Reuters reported Monday that the US has lost international influence due to its position on the Iraq war and the its record on the rights of Guantanamo detainees [JURIST news archive], among other issues. "The Iraq war has weakened the moral authority of the United States and its allies to tackle the likes of China and Russia over their poor records on civil liberties," she said. "There's the ambivalence about torture and now we find that the Iraqis are torturing those that they have detained, so some of the reason to justify this unjustifiable war on Iraq is also fading." During an Asian tour ending Monday, President Bush [JURIST archive] urged China [JURIST report] to expand the religious, political, and social freedoms enjoyed in the country. Reuters has more.
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IAEA not referring Iran to UN Security Council for nuclear program
Joshua Pantesco at 6:20 PM ET
[JURIST] Anonymous officials revealed Monday that a US-European coalition has backed down from earlier threats to refer Iran [JURIST news archive] to the UN Security Council [official website] to account for its allegedly unsafe nuclear program. The officials say the decision not to have the 35 member-countries of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] refer Iran at a meeting this Thursday gives Iran more time to consider an offer by Russia, its nuclear partner, to move its uranium enrichment process to Russia itself, which would eliminate the chance of Iran producing weapons-grade material. Though Iran insists it is not interested in weapons-grade uranium, it has resisted Russia's proposal, claiming a right to all stages in the nuclear production process. Iran's parliament voted [JURIST report] Sunday to block UN inspectors from its nuclear facilities if the nation were referred to the Council; the Foreign Minister previously condemned a potential referral [JURIST report] as a "politically and illegally motivated decision." AP has more.
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UPDATE ~ Kenya constitution referendum held with only minor incidents
Tom Henry at 3:42 PM ET
[JURIST] Following up on a report earlier today in JURIST's Paper Chase, Kenyans voted Monday in a divisive referendum [Reuters backgrounder] that officials said proceeded relatively smoothly, despite minor incidents in Nairobi's largest slum and various allegations of bribery. Voters came out to support or oppose a proposed new constitution [PDF text] that critics claim fails to limit presidential powers and gives women the right to inherit family land, contrary to the customs of some tribes. Supporters praised the proposed land reforms that block foreigners from owning land and greatly reduce the term for which foreigners can lease land. Nine people were killed and dozens injured in multiple riots and clashes [JURIST report] in the lead-up to the charter vote. Kenyaweb has background. AP has more.
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Canada investigates report of CIA prisoner flights
Tom Henry at 3:03 PM ET
[JURIST] The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs [official website] revealed Monday that it is investigating reports that a plane allegedly used by the CIA to transport terror detainees landed at a Canadian airport last week. Montreal newspaper La Presse [media website; in French] said the plane departed from Iceland heading towards Canada, landed in St. John's in Newfoundland on Friday, then returned to a military base in North Carolina. The US embassy in Ottawa would not comment. Speaking in the Canadian House of Commons Monday, Canadian Public Security Minister Anne McClellan nonetheless told MPs that "We have no absolutely no information nor any reason to believe that such an aircraft was involved in such a matter." In recent weeks Sweden [JURIST report], Spain [JURIST report] and Romania and the UK [JURIST report] have begun their own investigated incidents of alleged CIA plane landings that involved detainee transfers to alleged secret US prisons [JURIST report] in Europe or other facilities. Reuters has more.
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Chechens accused of murdering US journalist to face trial
Tom Henry at 2:39 PM ET
[JURIST] Russian authorities said Monday that two Chechens accused of murdering [JURIST report] the editor of the Russian version of Forbes, American Paul Klebnikov, in July 2004 will soon face trial, in a statement published on the website of the Prosecutor General [official website; in Russian]. "In the course of the criminal investigation it was established that the murder was carried out by members of an organized crime group," the statement read. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev are accused of killing Klebnikov and the prosecutor generals' statement indicated that police are still searching for three other men who played a role in the murder. One of the men still being pursued, Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, has been accused of ordering the shooting [JURIST report] in retaliation for a book Klebnikov wrote in which he sharply criticized Nukhayev, a criminal boss linked to Chechen separatists. Reuters has more.
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UK anti-terror proposals face scrutiny in House of Lords
Tom Henry at 2:15 PM ET
[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposed terrorism law [text; BBC backgrounder] faced stiff opposition when it reached the House of Lords [official website] Monday. Conservative leader Lord Strathclyde has vowed peers will look at the controversial legislation on "a line by line basis" and some lords indicated that they will move to include a 90-day detention period for terror suspects. The provision authorizing the detention of terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days was defeated [JURIST report] in the House of Commons [official website] earlier this month after Liberal Democrats and rebel members of the Labour party dismissed Blair's challenge that they had a "duty" to support the police, and instead backed a compromise detention period of 28 days. Under current law [Criminal Justice Act 2003, amending the Terrorism Act 2000], terror suspects can be held for 14 days before they must be either charged or released. Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said Monday that the government will not back any new attempts to raise the time limit back to 90 days. BBC News has more.
Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...
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Chief judge in Saddam trial downplays security concerns
Brandon Smith at 12:53 PM ET
[JURIST] In an interview with Reuters reported Monday, Chief Justice Rizgar Mohammed Amin of the Iraqi High Criminal Court [official website], also known as the Iraqi Special Tribunal, trying Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] and his co-defendants played down security concerns despite the assassination of two defense lawyers [JURIST report], the flight of another out of the country [JURIST report], and having more than 30 witnesses too scared to appear in court. Traveling with only two bodyguards because he "doesn't like to show off" - and that only at the behest of his friends - Amin said he has avoided the heavily armed convoys that protect senior officials from suicide bombings and shootings in a country where Hussein's supporters still routinely assassinate their opponents. Amin, the only one of five judges involved in the trial who has publicly revealed his identity, said that "a judge should never be afraid because he defends justice and the law" and that it was inappropriate to "show the faces of the defendants and not the panel of judges." The court's next hearing is scheduled for November 28 [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.
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Milosevic trial delayed again
Brandon Smith at 12:31 PM ET
[JURIST] The war crimes trial [JURIST news archive] of Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile] has been further delayed due to Milosevic's poor health, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] Judge Patrick Robinson announced Monday. The trial was set to resume Monday after being delayed since last Wednesday [JURIST report] due to Milosevic's on-going health problems, but the ICTY's own head physician submitted a report to the court that stated Milosevic could not appear in court Monday. Milosevic's health has caused four delays in the defense proceedings totaling, according to the ICTY prosecutor's approximations, more than sixty days lost in court proceedings. Milosevic last week requested a six-week recess [JURIST report] in the trial; a three-judge panel has agreed to consider the request, but has not yet issued a ruling. From Belgrade, Radio B92 has more.
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Romania denies hosting CIA secret detention centers
Lisl Brunner at 11:21 AM ET
[JURIST] Romanian President Traian Basescu on Monday denied that the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] has maintained any covert prisons [JURIST report] in the country and has offered to allow investigations of two military bases used by the US military. In an interview [Le Figaro report, in French] in Paris Monday, Basescu announced, "I am categorical - there are no such prisons in Romania." Basescu's denial follows Sunday's acknowledgement by a former Romanian defense minister [JURIST report] that US planes carrying detainees might have refueled in the country. Human Rights Watch, however, has alleged [HRW press release] further involvement on the part of Romania and Poland. The two airbases that Basescu referred to are Mihail Kogalniceanu in southeast Romania and Timisoara in western Romania. Meanwhile, the EU has launched an informal investigation [JURIST report] into the alleged covert prisons in Europe, and has threatened sanctions [JURIST report] against any member state found to house such facilities. Romania currently is a candidate for EU membership. Reuters has more.
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Ukraine appeals reinstatement of ousted prosecutor general
Kate Heneroty at 10:45 AM ET
[JURIST] Ukraine's Justice Minister Serhiy Holovatiy Monday appealed a Friday court ruling that reinstated [JURIST report] Svyatoslav Piskun as Ukraine's prosecutor general. Piskun was fired by President Viktor Yushchenko [BBC profile], allegedly for investigating the finances of Yushchenko's wife [JURIST report], but was reinstated after a court found his dismissal illegal. Yushchenko claims the termination occurred because of "ineffective work" and Piskun's failure to solve several high profile cases, including the murder of an investigative journalist and Yushchenko's own dioxin poisoning. Ukraine [JURIST news archive] currently has two top prosecutors, as the appointment of Piskun's replacement, Oleksandr Medvedko, was approved by parliament last month. UNIAN [media website, in Ukrainian] is reporting that guards at the General Office of Public Prosecutor have refused to allow Piskun to enter the building [ForUm news report] as he attempted to report for work Monday. AP has more.
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Lawyers for jailed Indonesian cleric to seek case review
Lisl Brunner at 10:37 AM ET
[JURIST] Lawyers for Abu Bakar Bashir [BBC profile], an Indonesian Muslim cleric implicated in the 2002 Bali bombings [BBC backgrounder], said Monday that they will ask that his case be reviewed. Bashir is accused of being the spiritual leader of the Southeast Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) [Wikipedia profile], which has ties to al Qaeda and has been blamed for the bombings in Bali earlier this year and in 2002. In March, Bashir was sentenced to 30 months in prison for approving the 2002 bombings, after terrorism charges in an earlier trial were thrown out [JURIST report]. Bashir has repeatedly denied any ties with JI or connection with the Bali bombings, calling them a "brutal act." His lawyers have declined to reveal what new evidence they intend to present, stating only that the demand for a case review will be filed this week. AFP has more.
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UN torture investigator begins visits to Chinese prisons
Kate Heneroty at 10:07 AM ET
[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [profile] arrived in China [JURIST news archive] Monday for a two week trip, which will include visits to Chinese detention centers [press release] in Beijing, Tibet and the Muslim region of Xinjiang. The trip is a result of nearly 10 years of negotiations between Nowak and Beijing, and China has agreed to allow private access to prisoners and has promised not to take action against those who report mistreatment. China's detention practices have been criticized in the Chinese media and among human rights groups recently, following several false coerced confessions being made public. In one highly publicized case, a man who was tortured into confessing to the murder of his wife [JURIST report] was released after 11 years in prison, after his wife was found alive and living with her new husband. Human rights groups claim those tortured are often Tibetan or Uighur ethnic minorities, who are accused of instigating separatism. Alison Reynolds of the Free Tibet Campaign [organization website], said "Continuing and consistent reports from exiled Tibetans — with experience from both sides of China's judicial system — suggest (torture) is a deeply ingrained problem." The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently called on China to cooperate with international standards for the use of capital punishment [JURIST report]. Reuters has more. The UNHCHR has more on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.
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US urges revisions to Bosnian constitution
Lisl Brunner at 10:03 AM ET
[JURIST] The Bush administration is urging Bosnian leaders to revise its constitution [text] in time for Tuesday's commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Accord [PBS summary] ending the Bosnian war. As the EU starts negotiations to prepare Bosnia for EU membership [AP report] and the US seeks to renew its involvement in the country, leaders have pressed for creation of a unified parliamentary government with a single president in Bosnia. Under the Dayton Accord, Bosnia has three presidents, one representing each sectarian group. Bosnian leaders failed to reach an agreement [JURIST report] on a US-backed draft [JURIST report] during a meeting in Brussels last week and agreed to extend negotiations.
During the talks in Washington, the US also pressed Muslim, Croat and Serbian leaders to commit to arresting Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile], a former Bosnian Serb leader wanted in connection with a July 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the former Yugoslavia. Karadzic's son Aleksandar was arrested by NATO [JURIST report] in July, but he has denied knowledge of his father's whereabouts. Monday's New York Times has more.
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Trial of ETA supporters begins in Madrid
Kate Heneroty at 9:32 AM ET
[JURIST] Fifty-six defendants appeared in a Spanish court Monday to face charges that they were members of organizations which supported the Basque separatist group ETA [BBC backgrounder], or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. Various organizations are believed to have provided financial, political, media, and international support to ETA, which has killed nearly 850 people since 1968 and is considered a terrorist group. The defendants, who include leaders of alleged ETA political wing KAS and its successor Ekin, face prison sentences ranging from 10 to 51 years, on charges ranging from tax, accounting and social security matters to cooperating with ETA. The trial, which is expected to last nearly 8 months, is the largest in Spain's history with 56 defendants and nearly 300 witnesses expected to testify. Reuters has more. From Spain, EiTB24 has local coverage.
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Kyrgyz prosecutor general says anarchy possible without intervention
Kate Heneroty at 9:04 AM ET
[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan [JURIST news archive] Prosecutor General Kambaraly Kongantiyev told the country's Security Council Monday that the nation is on the verge of anarchy which could result in the loss of state control if authorities fail to deal with organized crime and chaotic protests. Since President Askar Akayev's ouster in March [JURIST report], the country has been plagued with prison riots, the murder of parliamentary deputies, and the seizure of the Supreme Court building [JURIST report] by an angry mob. Kongantiyev told the newly elected President [JURIST report], Kurmanbek Bakiyev [Wikipedia profile] that criminals are working with terrorists and religious extremists and that "law enforcers are conniving or not interfering, encouraging law breakers to yet more impudent and aggressive acts." Kongantiyev also accused organized crime groups of putting pressure on government officials and members of parliament. Reuters has more.
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Kenyans vote in constitutional referendum
Sara R. Parsowith at 8:40 AM ET
[JURIST] Kenyans voted Monday in a referendum [Reuters backgrounder] on a new constitution [PDF text]. Voters came out amid fears that violence [JURIST report] might overshadow the voting process, viewed as a dress rehearsal for the 2007 election. The vote is supported by President Mwai Kibaki [official profile], but criticized by others such as 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, [BBC profile, Nobel Prize profile], who has dismissed the vote as a "betrayal to the wishes of the people of Kenya" as it centers on presidential powers. If the referendum is passed, it will mark the first major change to the Kenyan charter since the country became independent from Britain in 1963. Earlier this year, riots broke out [JURIST report] in Nairobi when the proposed constitution was first published as protesters demanded that the proposed presidential powers be limited [JURIST report]. Elections polls close at 5:00 PM local time (14:00 GMT) and the results are expected overnight. Reuters has more. From Nairobi, the Standard has local coverage.
Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...
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Genocide trial begins for Dutchman accused of supplying chemicals to Iraq
Sara R. Parsowith at 8:07 AM ET
[JURIST] Frans van Anraat [BBC profile], a Dutch businessman accused of supplying chemical agents to Iraq with the knowledge that Saddam Hussein would use them for poison gas attacks, went on trial Monday in the Netherlands on charges of complicity in war crimes and genocide [JURIST report]. Van Anraat is alleged to have supplied agents used by Saddam's military in Iraq's 1980-1988 war against Iran and its own Kurdish population, specifically during the 1988 attack on Halabja [JURIST report], which killed around 5,000. Van Anraat who was previously on the FBI's "most wanted" list [JURIST report], continued to supply chemicals even after the Halabja attack according to the prosecution; the defense maintains that van Anraat stopped shipments to Iraq after the Halabja attack and van Anraat has denied the charges. Van Anraat could face life imprisonment if convicted and is the first Dutchman to be tried on genocide-related charges. Relatives of victims of the attack are seeking compensation of up to 10,000 euros. A criminal investigation by US custom authorities in Baltimore found that van Anraat had been involved in four shipments to Iraq of thiodiglycol, an industrial chemical which can be used to make mustard gas, and United Nations weapons inspectors consider him to be an "important middle man" in supplying Iraq with chemical agents. Van Anraat was first detained in Milan in 1989 [Reuters backgrounder] before he fled to Iraq until 2003 when he returned to the Netherlands. Reuters has more.
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CIA interrogation techniques lawful: director
Sara R. Parsowith at 7:45 AM ET
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Filibuster possible over Alito reapportionment views, Biden says
Sara R. Parsowith at 7:02 AM ET
[JURIST] Senior US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] member Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) [official website], said Sunday that views expressed by US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [White House profile] on reapportionment in a 1985 document [PDF] could have repercussions for his nomination and lead to a filibuster. This is in contrast to Biden's remarks of a few weeks ago when he said a filibuster would be unlikely [JURIST report]. Biden now says he's troubled with Alito's apparent disagreement with the electoral principle of one-man one-vote from the 1962 decision in Baker v. Carr [text], which held that arbitrarily drawn legislative districts can be challenged in federal court. The 1985 document is an application for the position of deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan Administration, and is one of a collection of 100 pages on Alito [Reagan library documents; Bush library documents] recently released. Alito states in his application, "[i]n college, I developed a deep interest in constitutional law, motivated in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause and reapportionment." Biden said that if Alito really is against reapportionment then many Senators including himself will be "willing to do whatever they can to keep him off the court." The same document last week led Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [official website] to express concerns [JURIST report] with Alito's views on abortion [JURIST report], despite Alito's contention during meetings with senators that the Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade [text] decision deserves respect [JURIST report]. Alito's confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin on January 9 [JURIST report]. AP has more.
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