February 2007 Archives

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-157 [docket], where the court must decide whether taxpayers have standing under Article III [text] of the Constitution to challenge federal support for "faith-based" religious initiatives. The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFR) [advocacy website] sued US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao [official profile], complaining that government funds should not be used to promote President Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives [official website]. After the district court held that FFR did not have standing to sue and dismissed the case, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled [opinion text, PDF] in January 2006 that taxpayers have standing to challenge a program created by a Presidential executive order, alleged to promote religion, and which is financed by a congressional appropriation. On Wednesday, Justice Breyer questioned a White House lawyer on whether a taxpayer would be able to challenge a law in which Congress sets up a church at Plymouth Rock. Justice Scalia took the opposite stance and asked a lawyer for FFR whether taxpayers would be able to sue over the use of security money for a presidential trip in which religion was discussed.

The outcome of the case may depend on a 1968 Supreme Court decision [opinion] which created an exception to the general prohibition on taxpayer challenges to the government spending of tax revenue. In that case, Board of Education v. Allen, the Court allowed taxpayers to challenge congressional spending for private religious schools. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Department of State Legal Adviser John Bellinger [official profile] said Wednesday the US will not honor any request by Italy to extradite CIA agents [JURIST reports] wanted for their alleged role in the February 17, 2003 abduction [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of alleged terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive]. Bellinger noted that no extradition request has been received from Italy but even if one was, the US would not comply. He further said the threat of criminal charges against the agents could harm cordial relations between the US and Italy.

Italian Judge Caterina Interlandi issued indictments [JURIST report] on February 16 for 31 US and Italian intelligence agents in connection with the kidnapping. Prosecutor Armando Spataro has alleged that 25 Americans working for the Central Intelligence Agency, one United States Air Force colonel, and five Italians from Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official websites] colluded to kidnap Nasr from Milan. Nasr was then allegedly transferred to Egypt and turned over to Egypt's State Security Intelligence (SSI) [Wikipedia backgrounder], where he was allegedly tortured before being released [JURIST report] on February 12. The trial is slated to begin June 8. Spatero has said that if the US agents are not extradited, he will try the US agents in absentia [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [personal website], who won a confidence vote [BBC report] in the Italian Senate Wednesday after losing a key vote on a foreign policy issue last week, has asked senators to strike down an unfavorable election law that was enacted [BBC report] by predecessor Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile] prior to the contested Senate elections [JURIST report] of April 2006. Prodi opposes the Berlusconi election law because it grants Senate seats based on the proportion of the national vote won by each party, giving Prodi's Olive Tree Federation [party website, in Italian] a mere two-seat majority in the Senate.

Prodi is expected to easily survive an upcoming confidence vote in Italy's lower house, scheduled for later this week. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] The Law Lords [official website], the judicial panel of the UK House of Lords which is Britain's highest court, Wednesday dismissed [opinion] an appeal by a suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings [JURIST news archive] contesting his extradition to Spain. Moutaz Almallah Dabas, a Syrian-born Spanish citizen, was arrested in London [BBC News report] in March 2005 for his alleged involvement in the Madrid bombings that killed 191 people in March 2004. Dabas' defense lawyers say he was arrested under an invalid extradition warrant [JURIST report] and may face torture and other abuse if extradited to Spain. The court concluded that the extradition proceedings complied with European law and unanimously voted to dismiss Dabas' appeal, thereby paving the way for his extradition back to Spain. Bloomberg has more.

The trial of 29 people [JURIST report] suspected of involvement in the Madrid bombings began February 15 in the National Court of Spain. The defendants [BBC backgrounder], mostly of Moroccan descent, are charged with 192 counts of murder and upwards of 1,800 counts of attempted murder related to the March 11, 2004 bombings, which prosecutors say were motivated by al-Qaeda's demand that Spain be punished for supporting the Iraq war.

[JURIST] US District Judge George B. Daniels [official profile] on Tuesday approved a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by Holocaust [JURIST news archive] survivors against Italian insurance company Assicurazioni Generali [corporate website]. Under the terms of the settlement, the insurance company will accept new claims until March 31, 2008. The deadline might be extended to August 31, 2008 when the Bad Arolsen Archive [BBC backgrounder] in Germany is opened, if documents are revealed that give rise to additional claims. According to the class action website, the suit against the company alleged that it has refused to honor insurance policies sold to the Holocaust era victims prior to and during the Holocaust. Generali has already paid an estimated $135 million to settle claims related to the class action. AP has more.

US federal courts have presided over several other significant Holocaust settlements in recent years. In April 2005, a district judge approved a $21.9 million award [JURIST report] to heirs of families whose bank holdings were allegedly concealed and stolen by Swiss banks looking to gain favor with invading Nazis, and a district judge in March 2005 approved a $25.5 million settlement [JURIST report] between Hungarian Holocaust survivors and the US government over a train seized by the US Army in 1945 that was filled with gold, art, and other property, valued at the time between $50 million and $200 million.

[JURIST] Two Guantamano Bay detainees petitioned the US Supreme Court [official website] Tuesday to expedite its review of the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA) [PDF text; JURIST news archive], which contains a "court-stripping" provision that prevents federal courts from hearing habeas challenges. The motion to expedite [PDF text] filed by joint appellants Salim Ahmed Hamdan and Omar Khadr [Trial Watch profiles] asks the Court to review the habeas-stripping provision as it was applied in two separate cases: earlier this month, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the dismissal of several habeas cases [JURIST report], and last December, a district judge dismissed Hamdan's habeas appeal [JURIST report], finding the district court lacked jurisdiction due to the court-stripping provision. Lawyers for the detainees argued in their motion Tuesday that the habeas-stripping aspect of the Act raises "issues of extreme public and constitutional significance" warranting expedited review. The actual petition for writ of certiorari will be filed later this week. Tuesday's motion essentially asks the Court to decide quickly whether to grant certiorari to the consolidated appeal. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

President Bush signed the MCA into law [JURIST report] last October and shortly afterwards the US Justice Department sent letters [JURIST report] to the DC district and appeals courts, saying they no longer had jurisdiction over some 200 pending cases filed by Guantanamo detainees.

[JURIST] The former general counsel for computer security company McAfee [corporate website] was indicted Tuesday by the Department of Justice for concealing an illegal stock option backdating scheme. The DOJ charged [PDF indictment] Kent Roberts with six counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and filing false SEC documents. The indictment alleged that as part of the scheme to defraud McAfee (formerly known as Network Associates), its investors, the SEC, and the public, Roberts:

fraudulently granted himself extra compensation by causing the grant date for his stock options grant to be changed in Network Associate's books and records so that the exercise price of the grant would be lower and so that it appeared that the grant was made on the new fabricated grant date.

[JURIST] The FBI [official website] has started investigating 10-12 civil rights era suspicious death cases [press release], according to FBI Director Robert Mueller [remarks] and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] Tuesday. Although officials declined to comment on which cases have been re-opened, they did confirm that the lynching of four sharecroppers in 1946 on Moore's Ford Bridge in Georgia were among the cases. Investigators would not comment on whether the cases also included the shooting death of Maceo Snipes [AP backgrounder] in 1946, right after Snipes voted for the first time in Georgia. Investigators did confirm that most of the civil rights cases [FBI backgrounder] being investigated stem from suspicious deaths in the South. Working in conjunction with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the National Urban League [advocacy websites], the FBI has identified 100 cold cases that may warrant further investigation.

Tuesday's announcement falls in line with a recent trend in settling unfinished civil rights cases. Last month, the US Justice Department charged [press release; JURIST report] James Ford Seale with kidnapping and conspiracy in relation to the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee in Mississippi in 1964. Also on Tuesday, a Mississippi grand jury refused to indict [JURIST report] Carolyn Bryant on manslaughter charges for the 1955 kidnap and murder of Emmett Till [JURIST news archive], citing insufficient evidence. The US Justice Department re-opened the Till case [JURIST report] in 2004, but later turned the case over to the local Mississippi district attorney after deciding not to bring federal civil rights charges [JURIST report]. Gonzales noted that, like the Till case, the federal government may not have jurisdiction over the re-opened cases. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) [advocacy website] filed a complaint Tuesday against the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking the release of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [FJC backgrounder] order that authorized government surveillance of transmissions coming into or going outside of the country where one party was suspected of association with a terrorist organization. The EFF filed their complaint under Section 552(a)(4)(B) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which grants the federal court "jurisdiction to enjoin the agency from withholding agency records and to order the production of any agency records improperly withheld from the complainant." The EFF complaint [PDF text; press release] alleges that the DOJ denied the EFF's January 23, 2007 FOIA request seeking:

copies of all Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court...orders referenced by the Attorney General in his letter to Sens. Leahy and Specter, and all FISC rules and guidelines associated with such orders and/or referenced by Mr. Snow in the January 17 press briefing.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Mexico [official website] released a decision Tuesday overturning a law that banned those with HIV from serving in the military, finding the law an unconstitutional infringement on principles of equality. The military may now only expel soldiers if a doctor certifies that their condition prevents them from performing their duties.

Tuesday's decision immediately reinstates four of the eleven soldiers with HIV who challenged their dismissals. The Supreme Court on Thursday will consider five cases where the soldiers challenging their dismissals have developed AIDS. A lower Mexican court found the law unconstitutional [IPS report] in 2004. Reuters has more. El Universal has local coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Wednesday that its earlier decision in Crawford v. Washington [text; Duke Law case backgrounder], which established that out-of-court statements are inadmissible unless the witness is unavailable and the defendant has an opportunity to cross-examine her, does not apply retroactively. In Whorton v. Bockting [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], Bockting was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to life imprisonment based on the statements of the sole witness to police. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion text, PDF], however, in Bockting's habeas proceeding that Crawford applied retroactively because it is a watershed rule of criminal procedure that provides a fundamental principle affecting the outcomes of cases.

The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit, reasoning that its decision in Crawford "announced a 'new rule' of criminal procedure and that this rule does not fall within the Teague exception for watershed rules." In order for a rule of criminal procedure to be deemed a "watershed" rule, it must "implicat[e] the fundamental fairness and accuracy of the criminal proceeding" - that is "the rule must be necessary to prevent 'an "'impermissibly large risk'"' of an inaccurate conviction. [citations removed] Second, the rule must 'alter our understanding of the bedrock procedural elements essential to the fairness of a proceeding.'" Read the Court's unanimous opinion [text] per Justice Alito.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] held [PDF opinion] Tuesday that the Bush administration is permitted to deny funding to nonprofit AIDS awareness and advocacy groups that fail to publicly advocate against sex trafficking and prostitution. Judge A. Raymond Randolf held that the First Amendment rights of AIDS groups are not diminished by placing such requirements on the receipt of federal monies. In his opinion, he wrote that these requirements do "not compel [groups] to advocate the government's position on prostitution and sex trafficking; it requires only that if [the organization] wishes to receive funds it must communicate the message the government chooses to fund."


DKT International Inc. [advocacy website] brought a lawsuit against the US Agency for International Development [official website] in 2005, stating that any law requiring them to advocate for the government's position infringed on their freedom of speech. The lower court held [PDF opinion] that the government requirements amounted to a violation of First Amendment rights, writing that "by mandating that DKT adopt an organization-wide policy against prostitution, the government exceeds its ability to limit the use of government funds." AP has more.

[JURIST] The White House said Tuesday that President Bush will veto a new anti-terror bill [S.4 summary] if it contains a provision which would allow Transportation Security Administration airport screeners to unionize. While other federal employees already have similar union abilities, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] said that allowing screeners to do so is against the best interest of the country. Likening the screeners to Marines in Iraq, Chertoff told reporters that "we can't negotiate over terms and conditions of work that goes to the heart of our ability to move rapidly in order to deal with the threats that are emerging." The American Federation of Government Employees [union website] called such reasoning "an insult to the hundreds of thousands of dedicated public safety officers with collective bargaining rights - from border patrol agents to firefighters to the Capitol Hill police." Congressional Republicans have already vowed that if Bush vetoes the bill, they will not allow a congressional override, which would require a two-thirds majority vote in both houses.

Beyond tightening anti-terror controls and the labor talks, the bill also includes provisions designed to enhance intelligence sharing between state and federal government agencies, and would provide additional visa waivers for favored countries. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Catholic Diocese of San Diego [official website] filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [petition, PDF] on Tuesday putting a stop to an upcoming sex abuse trial and becoming the largest US diocese to file for bankruptcy thus far. The diocese had been engaged in settlement talks with plaintiffs' attorneys in the lawsuits over clergy abuse [JURIST news archive], however, after those talks failed to come to any resolution, the diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization [SEC backgrounder]. As Bishop Robert Brom explained [statement], the diocese "decided against litigating our cases because of the length of time the process could take and, more importantly, because early trial judgments in favor of some victims could so deplete diocesan and insurance resources that there would be nothing left for other victims." David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [advocacy website], told AP that the filing is not due to concerns for the victims, but rather "its for their own self-preservation."

The diocese told parishioners last week that it was considering declaring bankruptcy [JURIST report; PDF letter] in light of the more than 140 pending lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests. In January 2007, the Catholic Diocese of Spokane [diocesan website] agreed to settle molestation claims [JURIST report] against priests for $48 million as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan [diocesan materials]. The Archdiocese of Portland filed for Chapter 11 [JURIST report] in 2004, and the dioceses of Tuscon, Spokane, and Davenport soon followed suit in the wake of hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits [JURIST news archive] against clergy. Last month, the Portland archdiocese filed a new bankruptcy plan [JURIST report] including a $75 million settlement of the sexual abuse claims. AP has more. The San Diego Union-Tribune has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [PDF order] Tuesday that it has no jurisdiction to block the Iraqi death sentence for former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive]. Ramadan was convicted [JURIST report; BBC verdict summary] by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) [official website] in November and originally sentenced to life in prison. The IHT Appeals Chamber later deemed the sentence too lenient and ordered the death penalty [JURIST reports] for Ramadan.

Following the example of suspected Iraqi terrorist and US citizen Shawqi Omar [JURIST report], Ramadan brought a petition [JURIST comment] for a writ of habeas corpus before the federal court. Basing his claim on the fact that he is presently in US custody, Ramadan claimed that he would be subject to harm if turned over to Iraqi officials. Judge Paul Friedman ruled that regardless of whether Ramadan was in US custody, a US court lacks jurisdiction over an alien who is detained overseas and convicted by a foreign court. Friedman stated from the bench that granting the petition would constitute an improper collateral review of another court's decision. AP has more.

[JURIST] Authorities in the volatile Chechnya [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] region of Russia [JURIST news archive] commonly use electrical shocks, forced confessions, and other forms of torture, said Council of Europe [official website] Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg [official profile] Tuesday after visiting a prison in Chechnya's regional capital, Grozny. Hammarberg accused acting Chechnyan President Ramzan Kadyrov [Wikipedia profile], a former rebel leader who now serves as the region leader at the personal appointment of Russian President Valdmir Putin [official profile], of doing little to stop the problem.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, battles between Chechen independence fighters and the Russia government have decimated the region. According to a November report by Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] the use of torture is widespread [JURIST report] in the region. The UN has urged Russia to investigate [JURIST report] these allegations. Kadyrov denies charges of unlawful arrests and torture, but has promised a full investigation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A senate panel in Nigeria [JURIST news archive] Tuesday indicted Vice President Atiku Abubakar [official profile] on corruption charges [JURIST report] stemming from the alleged diversion of $145 million dollars of public money to private interests, as well as allegations of receiving more than $4.6 million dollars in bribes. Abubakar has left the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) [BBC backgrounder] and is now the presidential candidate for the opposition Action Congress (AC) [Independent National Electoral Commission backgrounder]. If convicted, he will be precluded from running for the Nigerian presidency. Last week, a Nigerian appeals court ruled [JURIST report] Abubakar could not legally be stripped of his office after his break with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile]. AFP has more.

Earlier Tuesday, Nigerian officials announced the creation of an election tribunal [JURIST report] to preside over disputes and complaints arising from the nation's upcoming general elections [BBC report] to be held in April.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] Tuesday called on US President George W. Bush in a public letter [text, PDF] to account for so-called "ghost prisoners" whose whereabouts and identities have been kept secret since September when Bush acknowledged [JURIST report] the existence of secret prisons operated by the the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] outside the US where high-value terror suspects [DNI backgrounder, PDF] were detained. Fourteen high-profile suspects [DNI profiles, PDF], including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] were transferred to the Defense Department's military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], but HRW says the whereabouts of 38 other suspects who are believed to be held in CIA prisons are currently unknown.

HRW also released a supporting report [text; press release] Tuesday in which a former CIA detainee, Marwan Jabour, recounted his experiences in a secret CIA prison. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Canada's House of Commons [official website] Tuesday voted against extending two provisions of the country's Anti-Terrorism Act [text; CBC backgrounder] that are set to expire [JURIST report] March 1. The controversial provisions include a preventive arrest clause that allows police to arrest suspects without warrant for 72 hours and an investigative hearing clause that allows judges to force individuals to testify in terror cases. Canada's opposition Liberal Party [political party website] prevailed in defeating the proposed extension Tuesday by a vote of 159-124, supported by MPs from the New Democratic Party [political party website] and Bloc Quebecois [political party website, in French]. Canada's ruling Conservative Party [political party website] government originally presented the motion to extend, sparking heated debate [statements, text] before its defeat. CTV News has more.

In October, two Canadian court decisions [JURIST report] struck down as unconstitutional portions of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The act was passed in Canada [JURIST news archive] three months after the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive] on the United States.

[JURIST] Charges have been brought against former interim president of Liberia [JURIST news archive] Gyude Bryant [BBC profile] for embezzling $1.3 million during his tenure from October 2003 until January 2006, according to a Liberia government statement Tuesday. The indictment was based on an audit conducted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) [official website], which monitored the interim government after former President Charles Taylor [JURIST news archive] stepped down in August 2003. Taylor is currently awaiting trial [JURIST report] at The Hague before judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] on crimes against humanity charges.

On Monday, current Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf [BBC profile] announced the government's plans to prosecute all present and former government officials involved in corruption. In December, two former finance ministers and a former minister of commerce were charged with corruption; however, the men were subsequently freed. Bryant has denied the charges against him and is expected to face trial in an intermediate court in Monrovia. AFP has more. AllAfrica.com has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Robert G. Doumar of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] Tuesday denied a motion to dismiss filed by the government of Sudan in a lawsuit brought by families of sailors killed in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole [JURIST news archive; US DOD inquiry report]. Doumar said the Death on the High Seas Act [text] is likely to apply as it is an "exclusive remedy," and if so, the maximum damages the families could receive would be limited to $35 million. Sudan [JURIST news archive] filed the motion alleging that the complaint does not directly connect any Sudanese official to al Qaeda, the terrorist network largely held responsible for the attack, and also does not directly connect al Qaeda to the bombing. AP has more.

Earlier this month, Doumar said he was unlikely to grant [JURIST report] the Sudanese government's motion to dismiss, having ruled in 2005 that there was sufficient evidence [JURIST report] for the families to pursue the lawsuit. The families allege that Sudan helped finance the attack and allowed an al Qaeda operative to ship explosives to Yemen. Sudan cannot claim sovereign immunity [Cornell Law School backgrounder] in the suit under the general terms of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [text] because it is subject to an amendment contained in the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 [text] exposing US-defined state sponsors of terrorism [US State Department list] to potential liability.

[JURIST] US District Court for the District of Columbia Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson [official profile] Tuesday sentenced former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] commissioner Dr. Lester M. Crawford [official profile; JURIST news archive] to three years supervised probation and imposed about $90,000 in fines. Crawford had pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to misdemeanor charges [criminal information] of conflict of interest and false writing [US Code text] in October 2006. The sentence handed down by Robinson is harsher than the deal reached by Crawford's lawyer and representatives from the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia [official website] in which Crawford was to receive probation and a fine of $50,000. Robinson decided to delay Crawford's sentencing [JURIST report] in January because the two sides had not explained to the court why they did not follow federal sentencing guidelines in agreeing upon a punishment. While acknowledging that the fine exceeds the parties' agreement, Robinson noted that both crimes carry a combined maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a $200,000 fine, making her fine well below the statutory maximum.

The charges against Crawford stemmed from a grand jury investigation [JURIST report] begun after the New York Times reported [text] in October 2005 that Crawford and/or his wife had failed to disclose their ownership and sale of stock in FDA-regulated companies, such as Embrex, Sysco, Teleflex and PepsiCo [corporate websites]. Crawford resigned [JURIST report] after serving only two months as FDA commissioner in September 2005. AP has more.

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website] ruled Tuesday that authorities violated the freedom of the press [press release, in German] when they raided the offices of the monthly political magazine Cicero [official website]. In September 2005, investigators searched the offices of Cicero in an attempt to find the source of a leak of confidential papers from Germany's Federal Crime Office [official website] in connection to the financing of Islamic extremists. The court held in a 7-1 vote that the raid was an "unjustified intrusion on the press freedom of the plaintiff" and that there might be ways other than an intentional leak that journalists could learn about state secrets.

Last year, a Potsdam court threw out charges against two Cicero journalists put on trial as accessories to divulging secrets, citing lack of sufficient evidence. AP has more. Cicero had additional coverage, in German.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in Winkelman v. Parma City School District [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 05-983 [docket], where the court must decide whether parents of an autistic child can represent their child in federal court in suits arising under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) [text, 20 USC §1400]. The Winkelmans argue that the act permits parents to represent their children without lawyers because of the tightly interwoven rights of the parent and child, and that without pro se representation, those who cannot afford lawyers cannot bring suit against school districts that refuse to accomodate their disabled children.

The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [decision, PDF] against the Winkelmans, holding that while parties are permitted to represent themselves in court, non-lawyers are not permitted to represent other parties pro se. The Sixth Circuit also held that parents are permitted to represent their disabled children in administrative proceedings, but that the IDEA does not extend that right to judicial proceedings. AP has more.

[JURIST] A grand jury in Mississippi Tuesday refused to indict Carolyn Bryant on charges of manslaughter for the 1955 kidnap and murder of Emmett Till [JURIST news archive] due to a lack of sufficient evidence. Carolyn is the wife of Rob Bryant, who, along with his half brother J.W. Milam, was acquitted in 1955 by an all-white jury on all charges related to the murder. Rob Bryant later confessed [Look interview] to the killing. A friend of Till called the grand jury's decision racist, telling AP "we had overwhelming evidence, and they came back with the same decision. Some people haven't changed from 50 years ago."

The Till case leads a series of attempts by federal law enforcement authorities to settle unfinished civil rights cases. Following a probe of investigative errors, the US Justice Department re-opened the case [JURIST report] in 2004. Last year, the FBI reported that no federal civil rights charges would be filed [JURIST report] in the Emmett Till case, and subsequently turned over to the local Mississippi district attorney. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] was accused Tuesday of yielding to far-right groups who want a "white Australia" after the Australian Senate [official website] passed the Australian Citizenship Bill of 2006 [text] on Monday. Seen as the biggest revision of immigration laws in nearly 60 years, the Citizenship Bill will make it harder to become an Australian citizen [government backgrounder] by increasing the number of years immigrants must spend in Australia [JURIST news archive] from two to four before being eligible for citizenship. The bill also requires a test to evaluate an immigrant's knowledge of English and "Australian values" such as democracy, the rule of law and the equality of men and women. Amendments [text] to the bill passed by the Senate will now be referred back to the House of Representatives [official website] for consideration.

Australian Democrats [party website] parliamentary leader Sen. Lyn Allison [official profile] said the new legislation is a way for the prime minister to demonize immigrants and that many potential citizens will be put off by the tests for language and values. While some changes are in response to concerns over "home-grown" terrorism after the London train and bus bombings [JURIST news archive] in July 2005 carried out by British Muslims, Howard has denied that the citizenship tests target Muslims. He has also, however, expressed fears that Muslims who are not integrated into Australian society could launch terror attacks in the country. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Nigerian officials announced Tuesday the creation of an election tribunal to preside over disputes and complaints arising from the nation's general elections to be held in April 2007 [BBC report]. As Idris Kutigi, chief justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court [official website] swore in judges to serve on the tribunal, he warned them against taking bribes from politicians to influence their rulings. Governorship and state assembly elections in Nigeria [JURIST news archive] will be held on April 14; the presidential and national assembly elections will be held a week later on April 21. AFP has more.

In early February, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [official website] of Nigeria released an advisory list [press release] of 135 Nigerian politicians considered to be too corrupt to hold office [JURIST report], including Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar [official website], who has left the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) [BBC backgrounder] to run for the presidential ticket. Abubakar, however, is now being investigated on corruption charges [JURIST report]. If convicted, he would be precluded from running for the Nigerian presidency. A failed attempt [JURIST report] by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile] to amend the constitution to run for a third term could mean a smooth election and a peaceful, democratic handover of power for the first time in Nigeria since independence in 1960.

[JURIST] Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile], chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [official website] asked a panel of ICC judges Tuesday to issue summonses for two top suspects accused of committing war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan. The call was the first action taken against individuals in the ICC's ongoing investigation [JURIST news archive] of the Darfur situation. In his application [PDF text; annexes; summary, PDF], Moreno-Ocampo accused former Sudanese Interior Minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun and militia leader Ali Kushayb of "jointly committed crimes against the civilian population in Darfur." Haroun currently serves as the Sudanese state humanitarian affairs minister, which is not a full ministerial position. According to an ICC press release:

Based on evidence collected during the last 20 months, the Prosecution has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb, (also known as Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman) bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes. The evidence shows they acted together, and with others, with the common purpose of carrying out attacks against the civilian populations.

As an alternative to seeking a warrant of arrest, the Prosecutor may submit an application requesting that the Pre-Trial Chamber issue a summons for the person to appear. If the Pre-Trial Chamber is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person committed the crime alleged and that a summons is sufficient to ensure the person's appearance, it shall issue the summons, with or without conditions restricting liberty (other than detention) if provided for by national law, for the person to appear.

The Government of the Sudan informed the Prosecution that Ali KUSHAYB is under criminal investigation and was arrested on the 28th of November 2006.

Our case is about Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb joining each other to attack the civilian population in Darfur. There is no such investigation in the Sudan.

On this basis, the Prosecution has concluded that the case is admissible. To be clear, the admissibility assessment is not a judgement on the Sudanese justice system as a whole. We are just assessing if the Sudanese authorities are carrying out the same case.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Darfur | Op-ed: Instrument of Justice: The ICC Prosecutor Reflects [Luis Moreno-Ocampo]

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Japan [official website; Japan JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that schools can order teachers to play the country's national anthem [fact sheet]. In 1999, a Japanese music teacher refused to play the anthem at a school ceremony. She filed a lawsuit after the school tried to force her to play the anthem, arguing that protections for freedom of thought and conscience in Japan's constitution [text] prevent the school from doing so. A lower court rejected the lawsuit [JURIST report] in 2004 and that ruling was upheld by the country's high court Tuesday.

Some critics contend the anthem, "Kimigayo" or "His Majesty's Reign," which praises the emperor, applauds Japan's World War II militarism. In December 2006, Japan's upper house of parliament passed a bill [JURIST report] mandating that Japanese classrooms "cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the nation and home country." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Malawi Vice President Cassim Chilumpha [official profile] pleaded not guilty to treason and conspiring to murder the president as his trial on the charges began Monday. In May 2006, Chilumpha was placed under house arrest [JURIST report] three weeks after police arrested [JURIST report] him in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika [official profile; BBC profile]. Chilumpha says he angered the government by refusing to join the Democratic Progressive Party [Wikipedia backgrounder], established by Mutharika in the wake of his renunciation of the United Democratic Front Party [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Mutharika sent a letter [text] to Chilumpha in February 2006 asking for his resignation, but a court intervened [BBC report], saying the president has no constitutional authority to fire the vice president. Mutharika faces impeachment charges [JURIST report] for allegedly misusing funds and violating the constitution. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Nepalese government [official website] has created a panel to assemble a list of assets held by King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile] and seize property he obtained after ascending to the throne, a cabinet spokesman said Monday. Dilendra Prasad Badu said the three-member panel is tasked with detailing the king's assets and recommending a plan to nationalize the property and assets to a charity trust within one month. The king will only be able to retain those assets he acquired prior to taking the throne. King Gyanendra assumed the role as head of the monarchy in 2001 after his brother, King Birendra [CNN profile], Queen Aishwarya [BBC profile], and eight other members of his family were killed. Badu said the assets of King Birendra and his queen will also be nationalized.

Last year, Nepal's High Level Probe Commission [JURIST report] concluded [JURIST report] that King Gyanendra and some 200 members of his administration were responsible for the violent response to democracy protests [JURIST news archive] in April 2006 that left 22 dead and more than 5,000 wounded. The protests effectively ended King Gyanendra's rule of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A California state appeals court ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that the state's stem cell research [JURIST news archive] program "suffers from no constitutional or other legal infirmity," leading the way for approximately $3 billion in grant money to be awarded to researchers. The Court of Appeal of the State of California First District upheld last year's lower court decision [JURIST report] upholding the constitutionality of the program, operated by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) [official website]. The lower court determined that the stem cell program was being administered with sufficient state control and did not violate ballot initiative or conflicts of interest rules.

The research program, known as Proposition 71 [CA AG summary, PDF], was approved [JURIST report] in a 2004 state referendum by a 59 percent margin. In its ruling, the appeals court noted the delay in research that the litigation had caused:

The objective of the proposition is to find, "as speedily as possible," therapies for the treatment and cure of major diseases and injuries, an aim the legitimacy of which no one disputes. The very pendency of this litigation, however, has interfered with implementation for more than two years.

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday refused [PDF text] to apply a 1851 maritime law [text] that would have limited the possible damages for victims of the 2003 Staten Island ferry crash [Wikipedia backgrounder] to $14.4 million. The city of New York argued that the law, which was written to encourage investments in shipbuilding, should be applied to limit the ship owner's liability to the boat's value after subtracting repair costs. US District Judge Edward Korman [official profile] disagreed, however, saying the law should not apply if the city was negligent in the accident. Korman ruled the city was negligent in failing to follow a city rule requiring two captains to be in the ferry's pilot station when the boat is moving.

The assistant captain operating the boat at the time had blacked out, causing the ferry to crash into the Staten Island pier, killing 11 passengers and injuring dozens more. Richard Smith pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to 11 counts of seaman's manslaughter in 2004 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. Patrick Ryan, the city's former ferry operations director, also pleaded guilty to seaman's manslaughter in 2005 and admitted he had not enforced the two-pilot rule. He received a 366-day prison sentence. The ruling opens New York City up to to tens of millions of dollars in potential payouts to victims and their families. Only two-thirds of the 186 claims [JURIST report] have so far been settled at a total of $27.6 million. The city said it will consider appealing the court's ruling. Tuesday's New York Times has more.

NEW ON JURIST  Op-ed: Why Boumediene Was Wrongly Decided

[JURIST] The governors of five western US states signed an agreement Monday to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases [JURIST news archive], a cause of global warming [EPA climate change materials]. During the winter meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA) [official website], the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington [JURIST news archives] signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative [agreement text], which calls for the states to set reduction goals within six months, devise a "market-based program" to reach those goals and track emissions through a regional registry. "In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states ... to address climate change," Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) [official profile] said in a press release [text]. The market-based program could take the form of a cap-and-trade system, in which companies whose emissions exceed mandatory limits could buy credits from companies that produce less pollution. A regional cap and trade program would be a powerful first step toward developing a national program, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) [official profile], the only Republican among the five governors, said in an address to the NGA [press release]. Statements were also issued by Govs. Bill Richardson (D-NM), Ted Kulongoski (D-OR) and Christine Gregoire (D-WA) [press releases]. AP has more. Gannett News Service has additional coverage.

Monday's agreement is only the latest joint effort by the western states. Last year, Arizona and New Mexico formed the Southwest Climate Change Initiative [agreement text], and the governors of California, Oregon and Washington issued a joint statement [text] in 2003 calling for regional action to address global warming. Elsewhere in the country, several Northeastern states have created the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative [group website], to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants through a regional cap-and-trade program, and some Midwestern states signed on to the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium [group website], to establish a voluntary registry for companies to report their emissions-reduction efforts.

Efforts to establish national emissions limits have gained traction in Congress [New York Times report] since the Democrats became the majority party, with at least four major proposals emerging. President Bush opposes mandatory carbon dioxide (CO2) limits but has proposed reducing emissions through the use of alternative fuels [White House energy policy materials]. A coalition of businesses and environmental groups has called for federal legislation [JURIST report], including a cap-and-trade program, to limit emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. In September, California became the first US state to restrict greenhouse gas emissions [JURIST report] when Schwarzenegger signed a bill authorizing a state board to set emissions targets for various industries.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] Two high-ranking Kurdish politicians were each sentenced to a year and a half in prison Monday by a Turkish court for distributing Kurdish-language party materials praising imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan [advocacy website]. Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk, president and vice-president of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) [Wikipedia backgrounder], received one year sentences for distributing materials written in a language other than Turkish and additional six month sentences for "praising crime or criminality" by supporting a jailed rebel. The sentences were temporarily suspended pending appeal. AP has more.

Turkey's limitations on free speech, particularly under Article 301 [Amnesty backgrounder; JURIST news archive], have drawn international criticism and contributed to the nation's delayed accession [JURIST report] to the European Union [official website]. Though Turkish officials have recently appeared open to amending Article 301 [JURIST report], another DTP leader, Hilmi Aydogdu, was charged [JURIST report] last week with inciting hatred after saying any Turkish attack on the Kurdish-dominated city of Kirkuk [Global Security backgrounder; JURIST news archive] would be comparable to an attack on all Kurds. Aydogdu faces up to three years in prison if found guilty.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in Scott v. Harris [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 05-1631 [docket], where the court must decide whether a police officer violated a fleeing suspect's constitutional rights by using deadly force when he bumped his police car into the suspect's car to end a high speed chase. Victor Harris was pursued by Coweta County, Georgia police when he refused to pull over while speeding. Video taken from the dashboard of the police car showed the ensuing collision, which resulted in Harris' paralysis and eventual suit against former sheriff's deputy Timothy Smith for violation of the Fourth Amendment [text]. The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] held [decision, PDF] that Scott's qualified immunity [definition] claim under the Fourth Amendment was an insufficient defense because he acted unreasonably. The accident video was not played in court, but at least half of the bench appeared to have seen the footage; Justices Breyer and Kennedy each implied the video evidenced that contrary to the appeals court holding Harris was driving erratically. The Court is expected to rule by July. AP has more.

The Court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in EC Term of Years Trust v. United States [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs; Medill News Service backgrounder], 05-1541 [docket], where the Court considered if an individual taxpayer is entitled to a $3 million refund of wrongly collected taxes, even though the deadline for appealing to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official website] had expired. EC Term of Years Trust sued the IRS under the wrongful levy statute, 26 USC 7426 [text], but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] upheld [decision] a lower court decision foreclosing the action under the nine-month statute of limitations in tax refund statute 28 USC 1346 [text].

[JURIST] Bosnian BiH presidency member Haris Silajdzic [Wikipedia profile] on Monday called for an amendment to the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) constitution [text] that would end the country's division into ethnic mini-states and create a unified nation. Silajdzic's proposal was a reaction to Monday's International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] ruling in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro [ICJ docket]. The ICJ ruled [JURIST report; text] that the Serbian government was not directly responsible for genocide during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder], but that Serbia failed to meet its obligations to prevent genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention [text]. The war ended with a peace agreement that split BiH into a Muslim-Croat federation and a Bosnian-Serb mini-state called Republika Srpska. Bosnia and Herzegozina have a three-member presidency [official website] that always includes a Croat, a Bosnian, and a Serb. Silajdzic said the ICJ decision suggested that Bosnian Serbs generally committed genocide during the time that led up to the creation of the constitution. Calling the constitution a "product of genocide," Silajdzic indicated he would push for its annulment.

Most Bosnian Croats and Muslims from the Bosnian-Croat Federation support a unified country. Most Bosnian Serbs nonetheless support the current division and Republika Srpska PM Prime Milorad Dodik [official profile, in English] has stressed the need for talks about the ruling and the future of the constitution. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Benson Legg [official profile] Monday suspended a requirement that the Maryland Attorney General [official website] submit proposals for using medical professionals to conduct lethal injections until such time as the controversy over the status of the state's capital punishment [JURIST news archive] is resolved. Maryland death row inmate Vernon Evans, Jr. [advocacy website] had initially challenged the constitutionality of lethal injections, saying that personnel are not qualified to protect against the inmate's pain and suffering during the procedure. Legg had previously ordered both the attorney general and Evans to submit status reports every 90 days, including proposals from the state on the feasibility of using medical professionals to perform the injections. The state claims that lethal injection is not a medical procedure, that executioners are qualified to perform it, and that using medical professionals would be nearly impossible since the American Medical Association [profession website] discourages them from participating in capital punishment. The judge plans to use the information to balance the harm to Evans if he is forced to undergo an injection performed by executioners against the burden to the state of Maryland if it is forced to recruit medical professionals.

In December, the Maryland Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the state's lethal injection procedures are subject to the state's Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and therefore must be developed under the guidance of the Maryland attorney general, a legislative committee and with review and comment by the public unless the legislature acts to explicitly exempt lethal injection protocol from the APA. Two bills currently before Maryland's legislature, HB690 and HB239 [official synopses], seek to exempt it from the APA. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil [advocacy website; HRinfo backgrounder] Monday filed an appeal of his four-year prison sentence on charges of inciting sedition, insulting Islam, harming national unity and insulting the president in remarks he posted on his Internet blog [website, in Arabic] that attacked conservative Muslims. A court in Alexandria handed down the sentence [JURIST report] Thursday for statements that criticized Islamic authorities, including calling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile] a dictator and dubbing Al-Azhar University [university website], which previously expelled him from law school, "the university of terrorism." Although human rights groups have decried the sentence, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit [official profile] and other state officials and agencies support the verdict.

Nabil, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, faced a maximum of nine years in prison [JURIST report]. The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the appeal March 12. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari Monday in four cases [order list, PDF]. The two consolidated cases, Washington State Grange v. Washington Republican Party (06-713) [docket] and State of Washington v. Washington Republican Party (06-730) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] on appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] consider whether the Democratic and Republican parties of Washington state can successfully challenge the legality of the voter-approved "Top 2" primary system on constitutional grounds. The system would allow two candidates from the same political party to advance from a primary to the general election. AP has more.

In Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York v. Tom F. on behalf of Gilbert F. (06-637) [docket], the Court will consider whether the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] correctly decided [opinion text, PDF] that the parents of a learning-disabled student could be reimbursed for the costs of enrolling their child in a private school after deciding the public school's special education program did not sufficiently satisfy their child's needs under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act [text]. AP has more.

The Supreme Court will also determine whether a mandatory five-year sentence must be imposed in conjunction with a drug crime because a gun has be "used" in Watson v. United States (06-571) [docket] on appeal from a decision [opinion text, PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website]. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] Iraq's cabinet approved a draft oil law [JURIST report] Monday outlining the development and distribution of Iraqi oil and giving the national government control over oil revenues, according to a senior Iraqi oil official. The proposed law now moves to the Iraqi National Assembly [official website, in English] for revisions and ratification. Iraqi legislators delivered the draft law [JURIST report] to Iraq's cabinet over the weekend of February 18. The cabinet's approval of the draft law comes just one day after the Iraqi Oil Ministry [official website] indicated its passage was in jeopardy [JURIST report] because the Kurdish administration in the north of the country [official website] had been withholding support for the measure. The Kurdistan Regional Government reportedly endorsed the draft law Monday after debating the wording of some of its terms, which have yet to be disclosed.

Negotiations concerning the proposed oil law have been a source of tension [JURIST report] for months in Iraq [JURIST news archive] as many Kurds and Shiites want to retain control of Iraq's oil resources [Global Policy backgrounder], while Sunni Arabs, who do not dominate the oil-rich regions of the country, have insisted on central oversight. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Reggie B. Walton [official profile] dismissed a juror Monday morning in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive] after questioning the jury over possible exposure to information about the trial over the weekend. Although Walton had ordered jurors to avoid contact with media coverage about the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive], the judge said Monday that the juror had been exposed to information that "obviously disqualifies her." Two alternate jurors are available to serve on the panel, but Walton said that none of the other jurors had been tainted and that deliberations would continue with just 11 jurors. AP has more.

Lawyers made their final arguments [JURIST report] last Tuesday, with the defense arguing that Libby was a scapegoat for presidential aide Karl Rove's disclosures. In its final remarks, the prosecution argued that Libby was merely trying to a cover up a potentially illegal intelligence leak of former undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Libby is not charged with leaking Plame's identity, but instead faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak.

[JURIST] Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann [official profile] expressed support Sunday for restricting the ability of the Israeli Supreme Court [official website, in Hebrew] to overturn laws passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset [official website], and granting the Knesset authority to revise laws overturned by the court. Friedmann made his comments during a meeting of the ministerial committee for legislation, which is currently discussing two bills on the court's authority to invalidate laws promulgated by the Knesset.

Friedmann instructed the Justice Department to draw up a bill based on the Canadian model of judicial authority to strike down laws. Friedmann's bill will go before the ministerial legislative committee for approval next week. Haaretz has more.

[JURIST] Jean-Marie Le Pen [BBC profile], leader of France's far-right National Front [party website], kickstarted his fifth bid to become president Sunday with an announcement of plans to reintroduce the death penalty just days after the French parliament [official website, in French] voted to amend [JURIST report] the French Constitution [text] to include an explicit ban. In a special joint session of both the National Assembly and the Senate [official websites, in French] at the Palace of Versailles, the amendment [text, in French] passed Monday by a vote of 828-26 [voting record]. While the death penalty [JURIST news archive] has been outlawed in France since 1981, the vote officially revised the constitution to reflect this.

Le Pen's platform also includes plans to reduce the age of criminal liability to 10, create a National Guard, end benefit payments to foreigners, create 75,000 more prison places, and pull France out of NATO [official website]. In July 2006, Le Pen faced trial [JURIST report] in Paris for allegedly denying the brutality of the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. Under French anti-racism laws [text, in French; Wikipedia backgrounder on the "Loi Gayssot"], denying the Holocaust is a crime and carries charges for "complicity in contesting crimes against humanity and complicity in justifying war crimes." Le Pen surprised observers with his strong performance in the 2002 French presidential election [BBC backgrounder]. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] rendered its judgment [text; summary] Monday in the long-anticipated case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro [ICJ docket], finding that although the Serbian government was not directly responsible for genocide during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder], the country failed to meet its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention [text] to prevent genocide. The court recognized that the mass killings of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] was nonetheless an act of genocide [Reuters report], and said that Serbia "should have made the best effort within their power to try and prevent the tragic events then taking shape."

According to the court's press release [text], after determining that it had jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute, the ICJ:

Finds that Serbia has not committed genocide, through its organs or persons whose acts engage its responsibility under customary international law, in violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; ...

Finds that Serbia has not conspired to commit genocide, nor incited the commission of genocide, in violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; ...

Finds that Serbia has not been complicit in genocide, in violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; ...

Finds that Serbia has violated the obligation to prevent genocide, under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in respect of the genocide that occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995; ...

Finds that Serbia has violated its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by having failed to transfer Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide and complicity in genocide, for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and thus having failed fully to co-operate with that Tribunal; ...

Finds that Serbia has violated its obligation to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the Court on 8 April and 13 September 1993 in this case, inasmuch as it failed to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995...

immediately take effective steps to ensure full compliance with its obligation under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to punish acts of genocide as defined by Article II of the Convention, or any of the other acts proscribed by Article III of the Convention, and to transfer individuals accused of genocide or any of those other acts for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and to co-operate fully with that Tribunal...

[JURIST] Canada Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day [official profile] said Sunday that Canada may adopt a British special counsel model to preserve the legality of using its security certificates [CBC backgrounder] to indefinitely detain foreigners with suspected ties to terrorism. In the UK, security-cleared special advocates can challenge secret intelligence presented to a court to justify the indefinite detention of non-citizens. Day's comments [recorded video] on CTV's Question Period came in response to Friday's ruling [text] by the Supreme Court of Canada [official website] that the current use of security certificates for indefinite detentions violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text; CDCH materials]. Although the court determined that security certificates are unconstitutional [JURIST report] and without effect, Day suggested that the court's decision should be read as upholding the "general principle" of security certificates, while requiring some reforms. The Court indicated Friday that indefinite detentions were permissible as long as there was a meaningful review process of materials that detainees themselves could not see. The judgment will not take effect for one year in order to allow Parliament time to comply with the Court's ruling.

Three Arab Muslim men - Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei and Mohamed Harkat [case summaries] - argued [JURIST report] before the Canadian high court last year that their indefinite detentions were unconstitutional. Suspected of membership in al Qaeda, the men were arrested on special security certificates authorized by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act [text]. Suspects can spend years fighting deportation while courts hear sensitive intelligence evidence against them, often in closed session without defense lawyers present. The security certificates have existed since 1978 and have been used six times since 2001 [Globe &. Mail backgrounder]. CTV News has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Northern Rights: Canada's Supreme Court Rules on Indefinite Detentions

[JURIST] The UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) [official backgrounder] ruled Monday that a convicted terrorist from Jordan must return to his home country despite his arguments that he risks being tortured upon returning to Jordan. SIAC chairman Justice Ouseley said there was no real threat of persecution for Islamic cleric Abu Qatada [BBC profile], basing the commission's decision on a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) [PDF text; JURIST report] between the UK and Jordan that guarantees deportees will not face abuse upon their return. While many argue that the MOUs are meaningless agreements, UK Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] praised the commission's decision to recognize the pact since it would allow the UK to continue deporting security threats.

Qatada, who has been held in a UK prison for the past five years under anti-terrorism and immigration laws, plans to appeal the SIAC's ruling. He was convicted in Jordan [JURIST news archive] for terrorist attacks and is allegedly linked to al Qaeda, which Qatada denies. Amnesty International UK expressed concern [press release] Monday at the SIAC's ruling, saying the commission "discounted ample evidence showing the risk of torture if Abu Qatada is returned," including Amnesty's documentation of abuse of so-called "security suspects" such as beatings while victims are suspended from the ceiling for hours at a time. The UK has come under criticism [JURIST report] for its reliance on memorandums of understanding countries also including Libya and Libya. In 2005, Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture [official website] said the agreements circumvent the absolute prohibition in the Convention against Torture [text] against the forcible return of detainees to countries where there is a risk of torture or ill-treatment. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Eleven South Koreans filed a lawsuit Monday asking the Tokyo District Court to order the removal of their relatives' names from the Yasukuni Shrine [shrine website; JURIST news archive], a controversial memorial which many argue is a symbol of Japan's past as a military-driven nation. The plaintiffs include a former soldier and 10 other South Koreans whose fathers were forced to serve in the Japanese military during World War II. The Yasukuni Shrine honors 2.5 million people who died in Japanese conflicts since 1869, including war criminals and approximately 21,000 Koreans. The plaintiffs are arguing that their relatives' names were included against their wishes and are asking the Japanese government for a public apology and less than $1 each in compensation.

Last year, a Tokyo judge dismissed [JURIST report] a similar lawsuit filed by South Korean families seeking damages for affronting the dignity of South Korean soldiers by recording their names in the shrine. The plaintiffs had demanded a combined 4.4 billion yen (about $39 million US) in damages, but the judge said including the names on the shrine was a standard administrative procedure that did not harm the plaintiffs or violate their ethnic or religious dignity. Plaintiffs in several other lawsuits have argued [JURIST report] that visits to the war shrine by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [official profile] violated the principle of separation of church and state contained in the Japanese constitution [text], but Japanese courts have largely ruled in the former prime minister's favor. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Oil Ministry [official website] indicated Sunday that a recently proposed law regulating oil revenues may be in jeopardy. Members of the ministry have expressed doubt that the Kurdish administration in the north of the country [official website] will approve the current draft [JURIST report] despite making positive remarks about the law Saturday. Iraqi legislators delivered the law to Iraq's cabinet [JURIST report] last week.

Negotiations over the legislation have been a source of tension [JURIST report] in Iraq for months as Kurds are adamant about retaining control of Iraq's oil resources [Global Policy backgrounder] in the northern regions. Other government leaders pressed to give the central Iraqi government control over oil revenues and approval rights for any contracts with other countries or international companies to pump oil, since oil revenues are the main source of income to Iraq [JURIST news archive]. Once the cabinet approves the law, it will be moved to the parliament for final revisions and approval. Many see the passing of the law as crucial to developing the country as independent from American influence and the Bush administration has been a key proponent of the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] said in a live television interview with Al Jazeera [report] Sunday that he was "savagely tortured by the CIA when kidnapped" [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and taken from Milan to Egypt in 2003. Nasr, who has been at the heart of Italian judicial proceedings [JURIST report] against US and Italian intelligence agents implicated in his alleged kidnapping, did not say in the interview whether he was tortured during his four years of Egyptian imprisonment, although he alleged that previously [JURIST report]. He also personally revealed plans previously disclosed by his lawyer [JURIST report] to sue former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [JURIST news archive] for his participation in the abduction, as well as plans to seek monetary compensation from the US for his suffering.

Nasr was released from prison [JURIST report] earlier this month. The US State Department has refused to comment on his case. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] are filing a claim Monday in the Federal Court of Australia [official website] in an attempt to secure Hicks' release. Hicks' Australian defense team, headed by David McLeod, will charge the government with breaching its duty to protect Hicks, as a citizen, by failing to call for a fair trial. Justice Brian Tamberlin will first rule whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case; McLeod said Sunday that a failure to grant jurisdiction essentially would mean that no court in the world can review US military commissions [JURIST news archive]. McLeod also pointed to the UK's 2005 success in gaining the release [JURIST report] of several of its citizens from Guantanamo as an example of the control the Australian government should demand over its own citizens. If Hicks' team is successful, the court could grant an order for his release.

Hicks is one of three high profile Guantanamo prisoners facing new charges [JURIST report] announced by the US earlier this month. The original charges against Hicks, Canadian Omar Khadr and Yemeni Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profiles] and other detainees had to be dropped after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system was unconstitutional as initially established by presidential order [JURIST report]. Hicks was picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. Last week Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] said that his government will not pardon Hicks [JURIST report] should he be convicted by a US military commission. AAP has more. The Herald Sun has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Virginia General Assembly [official website] passed an unanimous resolution [text] Saturday apologizing for the state's involvement in slavery and the "exploitation of Native Americans". Virginia is the first state to pass such a measure but Missouri legislators are also considering a similar bill.

The Virginia measure was introduced in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the landing point of America's first Africans. The symbolic resolution has no legal effect. AP has more.

[JURIST] Seven more high-profile persons suspected of corruption were arrested in Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] Sunday as government officials announced that trials will begin in March as part of the nation's move to curb the problem. Last week Bangladeshi authorities published a list [JURIST report] of several hundred people suspected of graft; the top 50 suspects, many of whom are prominent public figures, were arrested and given a Sunday deadline to explain why their incomes did not match their current wealth value. Sunday's arrests included several former government ministers, two ex-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) [party website] lawmakers, a regional BNP chief, and a city council commissioner. Thirty-six of the 50 arrested have links to the BNP or the opposition Awami League [party website]. The first round of trials will begin in March as the Anti-Corruption Commission [LCG backgrounder; BBC report] moves forward with investigations. Also on Sunday, former army chief lieutenant general Hasan Mashud Chowdhury stepped in as head of the Commission, following the resignation (Daily Star report) of Supreme Court Justice Sultan Hossain Khan earlier this month.

The anti-corruption crackdown began earlier this month as eight former Bangladeshi ministers were accused of corruption [JURIST report] and 13 other former ministers and senior politicians were arrested in raids on their homes [JURIST report]. Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile] declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country on January 11 and later cancelled a scheduled national election. The interim military-backed government has promised to hold new elections, but no date has yet been set. Ahmed's January 11 replacement as caretaker government chief, Fakhruddin Ahmed [official profile], has vowed to reform the election commission before a new vote is held. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US military lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] said Saturday that Hicks would spend years in court and could not get a fair trial before a US military commission. In remarks at a rally in Adelaide, US Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori [Wikipedia profile] noted that the revised military commissions system [JURIST news archive] could not be used to try American citizens and questioned how such a system could then be fair enough for foreign citizens. Mori said that he believed the military tribunals were designed to deliver guilty verdicts and asserted that even if a decision on Hicks' guilt or innocence comes relatively quickly, it would likely take two or more years before an appeal from Hicks or another detainee made it to the US Supreme Court.

Hicks is one of three high profile Guantanamo prisoners facing new charges [JURIST report] announced by the US earlier this month. The original charges against Hicks, Canadian Omar Khadr and Yemeni Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profiles] and other detainees had to be dropped after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system was unconstitutional as initially established by presidential order [JURIST report]. Hicks was picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. The charges against him must still be formally approved, but US Vice President Dick Cheney has said that Hicks will be among the first to be tried [transcript; ABC Australia report] after the DOD's convening authority makes a determination whether a military commission should be convened to consider the charges. AAP has more.

[JURIST] The US government has refiled charges against US Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada [advocacy website], a US Army officer who failed to deploy to Iraq in June, after the military judge overseeing his court-martial [JURIST report] declared a mistrial two weeks ago. The judge declared a mistrial [JURIST report] after throwing out a pretrial agreement in which Watada admitted that he failed to deploy to Iraq. The jury had already seen the agreement. Under the new charges filed Friday, Watada faces four counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and one count of missing movements. If convicted, Watada could be sentenced to up to six years in prison and receive a dishonorable discharge from the Army.

Watada, a 28-year-old Honolulu native who is the first commissioned officer in the US military to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, refuses to be classified as a conscientious objector because he does not object to war in general, just to the "illegal" war in Iraq. He offered to serve in Afghanistan, but the US Army refused. His vocal protests and participation in rallies by Veterans for Peace [advocacy website] and Courage to Resist [advocacy website] led to the charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and the original charge of contempt toward officials. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Washington State Human Rights Commission [official website] determined Friday that a heterosexual woman could not use the state's gay civil rights law [text, PDF; JURIST report] to secure health care benefits for her male partner because a federal law on the topic trumps the state law. Sandi Scott-Moore filed a claim in August arguing that her employer discriminated against her by not providing health care benefits for her male partner while providing benefits for the partners of gay and lesbian co-workers.

The legislation, which rewrote Washington's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from housing discrimination, lending, and employment, was signed [JURIST report] by Governor Christine Gregoire last January, making Washington the seventeenth state in the nation with an anti-discrimination law that covers sexual orientation. Scott-Moore's case was one of the first to test the new law, but the Human Rights Commission determined that it did not have jurisdiction because the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act [text] governs health care plans and supersedes the state statute. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more.

[JURIST] The Democratic-controlled Montana Senate [official website] voted 27-21 Friday to give second-reading approval to a bill [text, PDF; procedural history] that would eliminate the death penalty [JURIST news archive] in Montana. Third reading is slated for February 24 before the measure goes to the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives [official website].

Eleven US states have recently suspended the death penalty pending review of the manner in which the death penalty is administered. In early-February, Tennessee governor suspended executions [JURIST report] pending procedural review. In January a North Carolina state judge issued an injunction [JURIST report] blocking executions there until Governor Mike Easley issues new procedures to execute capital defendants without the presence of doctors. Capital punishment has also been suspended in Florida, California, and New Jersey [JURIST reports], Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Mark Wolf dismissed [opinion, PDF] a lawsuit [complaint] Friday against a Massachusetts town that allows its public school system to teach children about same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive]. Two families of elementary school students filed the suit last year to stop the school from reading homosexual-themed books to their children without first notifying parents, arguing that the school's actions violated their right to free exercise of religion.

Students in a Lexington elementary school read the book King & King [Wikipedia backgrounder], which tells a story about a prince who rejects many princesses before marrying another prince. In his ruling, Wolf said "diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation." Currently, Massachusetts is the only state to allow full same-sex marriage, which was legalized when the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts [official website] ruled [JURIST report] in 2003 that a ban on such marriages was unconstitutional. An appeal of Wolf's ruling is planned. Reuters has more. The Boston Globe has local coverage.

[JURIST] The United States Friday rejected an international call [JURIST report] to ban the use of cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder] by 2008. State Department [official website] spokesperson Sean McCormack [official profile] told reporters at a daily press briefing [text; video] that the United States "takes the position that [cluster] munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement." McCormack emphasized that the United States has spent "about a billion dollars" in the past decade to clean up "unexploded munitions all around the world." Meanwhile Friday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website; JURIST news archive] encouraged [press release] "all progress to reduce and ultimately eliminate the horrendous humanitarian effects of these weapons." Ban also called on the parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) [UN backgrounder; US delegation backgrounder] to reexamine the "reliability... technical and design characteristics of cluster munitions with a view to minimizing their humanitarian impact."

Earlier Friday, 46 of 49 countries participating in the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions [conference materials] agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty [press release] to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. Romania, Poland and Japan refused to sign the Oslo Declaration [text, PDF]. The United States, Russia, Israel, and China chose not to attend the conference. Cluster munitions are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal [CMC backgrounder] under multiple provisions of Protocol I [text] of the Geneva Conventions (1977). AFP has more. UN News Centre has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Judge William R. Wilson Jr. of the US District Court of Eastern Arkansas [official website] ruled [order, PDF] Friday that the Little Rock School District [official website] was "substantially complying" with its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan ("Revised Plan") and released the school district from court supervision [LRSD press release and timeline]. The Little Rock School District voluntarily entered into the Revised Plan in 1998 "as a way of settling...over forty years of more or less continuous desegregation litigation." The Revised Plan required the school district to "substantially comply with hundreds of desegregation obligations in order to achieve unitary status."

In September 13, 2003, Wilson issued a memorandum opinion finding that Little Rock had substantially complied with all of its obligations in the Revised Plan with the exception of one that requires the school district to annually assess and improve the effectiveness of academic programs in improving African-American achievement. The school district unsuccessfully applied for unitary status in March 12, 2004. The Little Rock School District was the location of infamous 1957 confrontation between Arkansas governor Orval Faubus [Wikipedia profile] and the federal government following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka [opinion, HTML], which outlawed racial segregation in public education. AP has more.

[JURIST] An independent report [text, PDF] by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories John Dugard [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] to be presented to the 4th session of the UN Human Rights Council [official website; JURIST news archive] in Geneva next month criticizes Israel's continued military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and characterizes "elements of the occupation [as] constituting forms of colonialism and... apartheid." The report, which also condemns human rights violations by Palestinian militants, such as the "firing of shells and rockets into civilian areas without any apparent military advantage," nevertheless reserves its strongest condemnation for Israel [JURIST news archive] due to its state status and the systematic violations perpetrated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [official website]. Alleged Israeli violations of human rights include the restriction on Palestinian freedom of movement by the Israeli West Bank barrier [official website; JURIST news archive], and walls in East Jerusalem and South Hebron, as well as the targeted assassinations of Palestinians [JURIST report] which the report describes as the "back door" imposition of the death penalty.

Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an independent expert by the now-defunct UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) to investigate Israeli violations of human rights. Israel and the United States have dismissed his reports as one-sided. AP has more.

[JURIST] International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [advocacy website] President Jakob Kellenberger [official profile] told reporters Friday that all sides of the conflict in the Sudan are violating international humanitarian law [press release]. The statement came after Kellenberger completed a 5-day trip to the country that included time in the Darfur region [JURIST news archive]. While holding the Sudanese government primarily responsible for the violations, he also faulted the armed groups who have fought against the government for the last four years. Kellenberger called for all sides to follow international humanitarian law in protecting civilians and aid workers.

Next week Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile], chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [official website], is expected to introduce evidence and name the first suspects in its Darfur war crimes investigation [JURIST report], which has documented thousands of civilian killings and hundreds of rapes. Last week the UN Human Rights Council [official website] pulled a probe into the Darfur region [JURIST report] after Sudanese officials refused to grant a visa to a team member who had accused the Sudanese government of violating human rights in a 2004 report [UN News report]. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] United Nations human rights experts Friday condemned [press release] a proposed Nigerian law [JURIST report] banning gay marriage and tightening laws criminalizing homosexuality in the country. While engaging in homosexual acts in Nigeria is already punishable by death by stoning, the UN experts said the new law, which authorizes a maximum five-year sentence for any person found to be openly gay,

will make persons engaging in, or perceived to be engaging in, same sex relationships in Nigeria more susceptible to arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill-treatment and expose them even more to violence and attacks on their dignity.

[JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] has announced a plan to release some prisoners convicted of nonviolent crime [press conference video/transcript] to alleviate the burden on California’s overcrowded prison system [JURIST news archive]. The move comes in response to various federal actions, including one as recently as last week by US District Judge Thelton E. Henderson [official profile] of the Northern District of California [official website], that could establish federal oversight of California’s prison system if the overcrowding problem is not solved. The California system has more than 171,000 inmates living in facilities that combined were designed for 100,000. Schwarzenegger’s press office has indicated that felons will not be eligible for early release.

Earlier this week a California state judge ruled that a plan to transfer prisoners out of state violated state law [JURIST report]. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] A South African court Friday dismissed charges against eight South African mercenaries suspected of plotting a coup [BBC backgrounder] against the president of Equatorial Guinea [JURIST news archive]. The Pretoria judge found that the state had not proven its case against the men. Lawyers for the defendants argued that South African officials were behind the failed plot, but the South African government denied any involvement. The eight men were arrested in 2004 in Zimbabwe for allegedly purchasing weapons in preparation for a coup against Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang Nguema [BBC profile], who assumed power himself through a coup in 1979.

In 2004, over 60 other mercenaries involved in the plot were tried and sentenced [JURIST report] in Zimbabwe, most receiving one year jail sentences. The alleged coup leader, British national Simon Mann [BBC profile], received a four-year prison term in Zimbabwe for buying weapons without a license. In 2005, Sir Mark Thatcher [BBC profile], son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, pleaded guilty to charges related to the failed coup and was fined [JURIST reports]. BBC News has more. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] Members of Guinea's National Assembly voted unanimously Friday to reject the request of Guinean President Lansana Conte [BBC profile] for an extension of martial law in the Republic of Guinea [government website, in French; US State Dept. backgrounder]. Conte declared [JURIST report] martial law in the country last week, and the measure is set to expire at midnight Friday. Conte said Thursday that he would seek an extension [Reuters report] from parliament.

Hundreds of civilians have been arrested [JURIST report] for opposing the government since Conte announced martial law February 12 in response to protests and strikes in opposition to Conte's continued rule. In addition to the lifting of martial law, opposition leaders are demanding a new prime minister before unions will end the strike. The emergency declaration instituted a strict curfew and authorized the military to monitor phone calls and to put under house arrest anyone who engages in activities "against the state." Guinea's military has been accused of firing upon unarmed protesters [HRW report] as well as beating and raping civilians. In November of 2006, Guinea was ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations [JURIST report] by the annual Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index [text]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Hilmi Aydogdu, leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder], was charged by Turkish authorities Friday with inciting hatred after stating that any Turkish attack on Kirkuk [Global Security backgrounder], a city in northern Iraq with a large Kurdish population, would be comparable to an attack on all Kurds. Aydogdu could face up to three years in prison if found guilty.

Growing hostility between Kurds, Arabs, and Turks in Kirkuk, as well as suspicions that Iraqi Kurds seek to create an independent state with Kirkuk as its capital, has made Turkey wary. The country has suggested that it might protect its interests in the oil-rich city with military force. The status of Kirkuk [JURIST report] is set to be decided by referendum this year. Kurdish Media has more.

[JURIST] State Farm Insurance [corporate website] filed papers on Thursday to have US District Court Judge L.T. Senter, Jr. [district website; JURIST news archive] recused from certifying a class action lawsuit against the company over Hurricane Katrina damages. The insurer questioned Senter's impartiality as fellow judge John Roper and Terri Brown, a federal court clerk, could be plaintiffs in the class action suit. Senter has already disqualified himself from hearing individual lawsuits involving the two co-workers. Senter, who has not yet ruled on the insurer's recusal motion, is scheduled to hear arguments concerning the State Farm class action bid on Wednesday. AP has more.

In January, a Mississippi jury held State Farm liable for $2.5 million dollars in punitive damages [JURIST report] for rejecting a Katrina claim that State Farm said was due to wind before the storm rather than the hurricane itself. In the same month, State Farm agreed to settle with hundreds of Mississippi homeowners, but Senter rejected the proposed settlement [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Tens of thousands of protesters rallied [Radio Free Europe report] in the Afghan capital of Kabul Friday to support an amnesty bill that would shield alleged war criminals who participated in the anti-Soviet resistance during the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war [Wikipedia backgrounders] from prosecution. The lower house of the Afghan parliament [official website] approved the measure [JURIST report] at the end of January and it passed the upper house [JURIST report] earlier this month, but President Hamid Karzai [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] is known to oppose the legislation. Rights activists insist that Afghanistan's parliament includes a significant number of war criminals. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] has also criticized the resolution [JURIST report].

Under Afghanistan's 2004 constitution [text], the amnesty bill will become law unless the president acts within 15 days of parliamentary passage. If Karzai refuses to sign the bill, the 250-member Wolesi Jirga, or “House of the People," can override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote. BBC has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] has accused the Saudi government of violating international law when it beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers [HRW report] and placed their bodies on public display in the country's capital, Riyadh, on Monday. According to HRW, the four migrants, who were badly beaten [Daily Mirror report], had been imprisoned for years without access to legal representation. One of the men, Ranjith Silva, told HRW that the four men were never advised of their legal rights or warned that they faced execution. Sri Lanka twice petitioned King Abdullah [BBC profile] to repeal the death sentences. The Sri Lankan government is seeking to recover the four bodies [Daily News report]. HRW has criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record [JURIST report] in the past.

International law guarantees insists that defendants found guilty of a capital crime are due basic protections, such as the right to an appeal. HRW on Thursday called for Saudi Arabia to halt all pending executions and retry those currently on death row. AP has more.

[JURIST] Forty-six of 49 countries participating in the the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions [conference materials] on Friday agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty [press release] to ban the use of cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder] by 2008. Hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 46 nations vowed in the Oslo Declaration [PDF text] to conclude a legally binding international instrument prohibiting the use of cluster munitions that "cause unacceptable harm to civilians" and to "establish a framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities." The countries plan to continue negotiations with further meetings in Lima, Vienna and Dublin over the course of the next year. In his opening statement [text] to the conference, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Store [official profile] called for an end to the use of cluster munitions:

We must bring an end to the unacceptable human suffering caused by the use of cluster munitions. This suffering is not an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of modern war. It is the result of the use of a particular group of weapons...The time has come to agree that these weapons that cause such indiscriminate suffering should no longer be used.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] ruled [text] Friday that the government's use of security certificates [CBSA backgrounder; CBC backgrounder] to indefinitely detain and deport foreigners with suspected ties to terrorism violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text; CDCH materials]. Three Arab Muslim men - Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei and Mohamed Harkat [case summaries] - argued [JURIST report] before the high court last year that their indefinite detentions were unconstitutional. Suspected of membership in al Qaeda, the men were arrested on special security certificates authorized by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act [text]. Suspects can spend years fighting deportation while courts hear sensitive intelligence evidence against them, often in closed session without defense attorneys present.

Although the court determined that the security certificates are unconstitutional and without effect, the judgment will not take effect for one year in order to allow Parliament time to comply with the Court's ruling. The security certificates have existed since 1978 and have been used six times since 2001 [Globe and Mail backgrounder]. Sacha Trudeau, the younger son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who was the architect of the 1982 Charter, denounced the certificates [JURIST report] during a court hearing in 2005 for a Syrian held in solitary confinement for four years. CBC News has more. The Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The UK High Court has rejected [judgment text] the legal bid of Algerian-born pilot Lotfi Raissi [BBC report; Wikipedia profile] for compensation for his wrongful detention. Raissi was held under a US extradition warrant after being indicted [text, PDF] by a federal grand jury in Arizona shortly following the September 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. US prosecutors alleged Raissi offered pilot training to the hijackers, but lacking evidence, sought his extradition on the grounds that Raissi had falsified his pilot's license application by failing to disclose a knee operation. The extradition request was rejected [BBC report] by a British judge for lack of evidence linking Raissi to terrorism.

Raissi was arrested naked in his home with his wife and brother on September 21, 2001. He was granted conditional bail [BBC report] on February 12, 2002 after almost five months detention because the US government was unable to submit any materials and documents to support its allegations. He sought compensation [BBC report] from the UK government under a scheme approved by the UK Home Office which, according to the court, allows for payments "to persons whose convictions are quashed on appeal or who, following charge, have not been proceeded against or have been acquitted of crime at trial." In its judgment Thursday, the UK court ruled that Raissi's claim did not fall within the ex gratia scheme because the claim stemmed from extradition proceedings, not from Britain's domestic criminal process. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A federal jury in California awarded [special verdict form, PDF] Alcatel-Lucent [corporate website] $1.52 billion dollars in damages Thursday for violations of two of Alcatel-Lucent's digital music patents committed by Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive]. The patents govern technology that converts audio input into MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly known as MP3, which Microsoft has incorporated into several variants of its Windows Media Player [product website]. Microsoft has said that it properly licenses the MP3 technology [press release] from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft [official website], a German company which Microsoft describes as the "industry recognized licensor." Microsoft plans to appeal the jury's decision, which could have far-reaching implications in the digital media industry, as large numbers of companies in the industry, including Apple, Nokia, and Sony, license its MP3 technology from Fraunhofer.

Related claims against Gateway and Dell [corporate websites] are still pending. Lucent Technologies filed 15 patent claims in 2003 alleging that the PC makers violated patents governing technology developed by its research and development organization, Bell Laboratories [corporate website]. Microsoft joined in the litigation as an intervenor and counter-claimant, due to its wide circulation of Windows Media Player through its Windows operating system [product website]. Lucent Technologies was acquired by Alcatel in December of 2006. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Army Sgt. Paul E. Cortez received a 100-year prison sentence Thursday for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl [JURIST news archive] and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area last March. Cortez pleaded guilty [JURIST report] earlier this week to felony murder, rape and conspiracy to rape. He will be dishonorably discharged from the Army and will be eligible for parole after 10 years. His plea agreement [JURIST report], which requires that he testify against others involved in the incident, allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

In November, Army Spc. James P. Barker pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to the rape and murder charges and was sentenced to 90 years in prison [JURIST report], an effective life sentence, but with the possibility of parole. Barker also agreed to testify against the other soldiers implicated [JURIST report] in the attack. Pfcs. Jesse Spielman and Bryan Howard still face military charges and former US Army Pfc. Steven D. Green [JURIST news archive], discharged from the military because of a personality disorder before the allegations arose, has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in his civilian trial in federal court in Kentucky. Green is said to have been the key player in the rape and murders. It was recently revealed that three months before the attack, Green was diagnosed by military mental health workers as a homicidal threat [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A group that advocates the therapeutic use of marijuana [JURIST news archive] is suing the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services [official websites] for their statements that the drug has no medical value. According to a complaint [PDF text] filed Wednesday in US District Court in San Francisco, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) [advocacy website] alleges that the government's statements "deter sick and dying persons from seeking to obtain medicine that could provide them with needed, and often life-saving, relief." ASA's lawsuit invokes the Data Quality Act (DQA) [text; OMB materials; ASA backgrounder], which President Bush signed in 2001 to ensure "the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information" disseminated by federal agencies. The statute allows citizens to seek correction of flawed information. "The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on sound science," ASA chief counsel Joe Elford said in a press release [text].

ASA asserts that scientific research, including a new study involving AIDS patients [abstract] and a 1999 Institute of Medicine report [text], has shown that marijuana is effective in treating some illnesses. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction barring the agencies from disseminating statements [text] that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use" and ordering them to correct the statements. The New York Times has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

About a dozen US states permit the use of medical marijuana. Rhode Island joined that list last year, when legislators overrode the governor's veto [JURIST report] of a bill allowing patients to use marijuana under a physician's supervision. However, the US Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich [opinion text; Duke Law case backgrounder] validated Congress's power to criminalize the growth and personal use of marijuana for medical purposes.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] A US federal judge Thursday sentenced former South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park [personal website; Washington Post profile] to five years in prison for his conviction on charges [JURIST reports] of money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and acting as an unregistered agent of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Prosecutors accused Park of receiving about $2 million from Hussein in exchange for convincing US and UN officials to remove economic sanctions against Iraq during the operation of the now-defunct UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website; JURIST news archive]. US District Judge Denny Chin [official profile] imposed the maximum jail sentence allowed under New York sentencing guidelines and also ordered Park to pay a fine of $15,000, have assets totaling $1.2 million in value seized, and remain under state supervision for three years upon release. Reuters has more.

In the 1970s, Park was indicted but never convicted of improperly influencing the US Congress in the Koreagate scandal [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Park was charged last month in a separate case with lying to the FBI [JURIST report] about his role in the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 986 [PDF text], which originally established the Oil-for-Food Program in 1995.

[JURIST] Authorities in Colombia [JURIST news archive] Thursday arrested a former intelligence chief on charges of murder and conspiracy for allegedly contracting with illegal paramilitary groups [JURIST news archive] to assassinate political opponents, including human rights activists [JURIST report] and union leaders. Jorge Noguera [CIP backgrounder] ran the Department of Administrative Security [official website, in Spanish] until he resigned [BBC report] in October 2005 after he was tape-recorded while discussing plans to sell intelligence to paramilitary groups. Several of the people on Noguera's hit list were later killed, including university professor Alfredo Correa de Andreis [Amnesty International backgrounder], who was investigating the paramilitary groups at the time of his death in 2004 [protest letter, American Anthropological Association].

Noguera was arrested while testifying to prosecutors. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison. He denies all charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] Indonesia has convicted and jailed at least 18 people for advocating a sovereign government for the province of Papua [Wikipedia profile], according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report [text; press release] released Wednesday. The report states:

Although political space for dissent in Indonesia has increased enormously since the fall of Soeharto, broadly worded laws limiting freedom of expression remain on the books and continue to enable authorities to arbitrarily target individuals. These laws, on their face and in their application, violate the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association, and lead to arbitrary detention.

[JURIST] Alleged terrorist Jose Padilla [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is unfit to stand trial, forensic neuropsychiatrist Dr. Angela Hegarty testified at a court ordered competency hearing Thursday. Hegarty testified that she determined from 22 hours of interviews and tests with him that Padilla is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from his years in detention and is unable to assist in his defense. During cross examination by prosecutor John Shipley, Hegarty admitted that some portions of her tests on Padilla scored zero for post-traumatic stress disorder. Previously, the US Bureau of Prisons [official website] evaluation that concluded Padilla was fit to stand trial [JURIST report].

Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially accused of planning to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" [NRC factsheet] in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged [JURIST report] in November 2005 on unrelated counts. He was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006 and has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. Last week a district court judge ruled [JURIST report] that prison staff and experts must testify in this week's competency hearing. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil [advocacy website; HRinfo backgrounder] was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife in his blog [website, in Arabic]. Nabil, a 22-year-old former law student, had posted on the internet statements critical of Islamic authorities and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile], calling him a dictator. Nabil also allegedly called his university, Al-Azhar University [university website], "the university of terrorism." Charges against him included inciting sedition, insulting Islam, harming national unity and insulting the president. Nabil, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, faced a maximum of nine years in prison [JURIST report].

Nabil’s supporters say that government repression and censorship have become more prevalent recently, as the US has let up political pressure for reforms. Bloggers have been arrested before, but this is the first time that one has been charged with a crime. Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] has named Egypt an “Internet enemy” [report] for repressing bloggers. Gamal Eid, Executive director of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) [advocacy website] condemned Thursday's verdict in a press release [text], stating:

When a young man is punished for having secular views in a country claiming to respect citizens' right to freedom of expression, it is a catastrophe. The democratic countries all over the world have already expelled such charges from their laws.

[JURIST] Jailed Chinese newspaper ex-editor Yu Huafeng [Reporters Without Borders profile] has had his eight-year sentence reduced by one year, according to Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Daily News [media website, in Chinese] on Thursday. Huafeng and his colleague Li Minying [Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) profile] were both convicted in 2004 [Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) press release] for embezzlement, bribery and corruption. Both men claimed the money in question was obtained legally and used for routine business transactions. Minying, who was editor and director of the Chinese Southern Metropolitan Daily newspaper, was released last week [AP report], cutting his six-year prison term to three years. A third Southern Metropolitan Daily editor, Cheng Yizhong [ICPC profile], was released five months after his arrest in 2004 [BBC report], having never faced trial.

CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said the editors' arrests appeared to be part of a campaign to silence the newspaper's criticism of the government. Many suspected that the convictions were used to reprimand Southern Metropolitan Daily for publishing controversial reports [Asia Media report], including exposing a suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) [CDC backgrounder] in the Chinese province Guangdong before the government reported it to the World Health Organization (WHO) [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Speaking publicly for the first time, Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile] said Thursday that he was tortured by Egyptian officials during his four-year detention in Egypt following an alleged 2003 kidnapping [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] from Milan. Nasr, who has been at the heart of Italian judicial proceedings [JURIST report] against US and Italian intelligence agents implicated in his alleged kidnapping, spoke to reporters outside the unrelated trial [JURIST report] of 22-year-old Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil in Alexandria. Released from prison early last week [JURIST report], Nasr says he was tortured after being grabbed off a street in Milan and ultimately sent to Egypt. Late last week Italian Judge Caterina Interlandi issued indictments for 31 US and Italian intelligence agents for their alleged role in the abduction.

Testimony during the Italian proceedings leading up to the indictments disclosed [JURIST report] that the CIA had contacted Italian intelligence about the possibility of performing extraordinary renditions in the days following the September 11 attacks. Also last week, officials in Switzerland announced that they were launching a criminal probe [JURIST report] into the alleged unlawful use of Swiss airspace by US agents to transport Nasr from Milan to Germany. Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro has said he will likely try the US agents in absentia [JURIST report], as the US is not expected to turn them over for trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Enron shareholder derivative lawsuit [class action website] will be tried in April as previously scheduled, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. US District Judge Melinda Harmon [Houston Chronicle profile] denied a motion filed by defendants Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc. and Credit Suisse Group [corporate websites] to delay the trial pending the outcome of an appeal to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website]. Judge Harmon certified the class [opinion and order, PDF] in June 2006, and Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse appealed to the Fifth Circuit, alleging the certification should be thrown out because it allows Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse to be held liable for actions taken by other defendants even though they had no actual knowledge of those actions. Oral arguments [AP report] before the three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit were held on Monday. Reuters has more.

In January, Harmon dismissed seven defendants [JURIST report] from the class action suit, including late ex-Enron CEO Ken Lay.

[JURIST] The Philippines will investigate and eventually prosecute those responsible for extra-judicial killings, President Gloria Arroyo [official website; BBC profile] said Wednesday, one day after a visiting UN official released a report revealing a high number [JURIST report] of such killings. On Tuesday, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions [official website] Philip Alston [NYU Law profile] reported that his ten-day investigation showed that the Philippines military was responsible for many of the killings, which "severely undermine the political discourse central to a resolution of the problems confronting this country." Arroyo has denied that police and military officers were behind the deaths, but has consistently promised to cooperate with the UN investigation [JURIST report]. ABC Australia News has more.

Arroyo appointed an independent commission [press release; JURIST report] in August 2006 to investigate extrajudicial killings of journalists [Reporters without Borders 2006 annual report] and militant activists. Amnesty International [advocacy website] has called on the Philippines to investigate the killings [AI report] and resolve authorities' reluctance to prosecute perpetrators.

[JURIST] Former Sierra Leone Defense Minister Sam Hinga Norman [SCSL materials] died of heart failure Thursday, several weeks before a verdict was due in his war crimes trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website], the Court announced [press release, PDF] Thursday. Norman, who passed away in a military hospital in Dakar, Senegal after being transferred there for medical care, was charged [PDF indictment; case summary] with eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, inhumane acts, acts of terrorism, pillage, and collective punishments, all related to his tenure as leader of the pro-government Civil Defense Forces during the 1991-2002 civil war [AFROL materials]. Reuters has more.

The SCSL has delayed until June [JURIST report] the trial of its most prominent suspect, former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who is charged with war crimes also related to the Sierra Leone civil war.

[JURIST] A spokesperson for the US Army Criminal Investigation Command [official website] said Wednesday that it had found "insufficient evidence" to support allegations by former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] that he was tortured by US personnel following his arrest in 2003 after he reportedly refused to reveal certain information. Ramadan is currently facing a death sentence [JURIST report] imposed by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) [official website; HRW backgrounder] trial chamber after its appeal chamber rejected as too light an initial sentence of life imprisonment issued last November when Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death.

On Monday, Ramadan defense lawyer Giovanni di Stefano [firm website] released a sworn statement [JURIST report; statement, DOC] by Ramadan signed March 22, 2006 in which Ramadan alleged he had been subjected to "methods of torture." The Army spokesperson on Wednesday said the investigation into the torture allegations was closed, without specifying a specific end date. In a statement e-mailed to JURIST Thursday, di Stefano responded:

The US military have conceded, quite correctly, that an investigation was held into allegations of torture by Taha Ramadan. The year was 2003 and we have seen already what the US military did to Iraqi prisoners that year.

There was photographic evidence from Abu Gharib Prison. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no such evidence in the case of Taha Ramadan. What is shocking however, is that the US military, again quite properly, can neither confirm 'or deny' the acts of torture complained of by Taha Ramadan.

This is of some serious concern. Not only must Taha Ramadan now face the inevitable act of being murdered by the State of Iraq after having received life imprisonment but the foundation to the trial were potential acts of torture committed by the US military who are unable to deny that such acts were committed. If ever an accused requires (even if guilty) an act of clemency it is Taha Ramadan. I have referred this matter to Louise Arbour, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, but there is little that she can do. The only body that are lawfully able to intervene are the US military with or without political command. No military are compelled to obey orders from political bodies that may constitute crimes. Handing over Taha Ramadan to the Iraqi Government may well be a criminal act since it is common ground he has not received a fair trial. In her amicus brief Louise Arbour states clearly that Taha Ramadan et al has not received a fair trial. It follows thus that any of the US military who do hand him over for the purpose of execution are capable of indictment for conspiracy. I urge the US military commander in Iraq to wilfully refuse any order from political sources failing which he and any who participate may be indicted. For the sake of justice Taha Ramadan should be spared.

[JURIST] Canada's highest-ranking judges have criticized the Conservative government's changes to the regional panels that screen candidates for federal judgeships [JURIST report] as a threat to judicial independence. The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) [official website], made up of the chief justices and associate chief justices of Canada's superior courts, issued a statement [text] Tuesday saying that "judges can continue to participate in the deliberations of the Advisory Committees, but only if the principle of judicial independence is respected and judicial candidates are recommended strictly on the basis of merit." The provincially-based advisory committees [backgrounder], which work in secret, include seven voting members representing judges, lawyers and the public. Because four of those members - up from 1 in 1988 and 3 in 1994 - are now appointed by Canada's federal Justice Minister, the CJC statement said that:

the advisory committees may neither be, nor seen to be, fully independent of the government. This puts in peril the concept of an independent body that advises the government on who is best qualified to be a judge. Judicial independence is not the private right of judges but the foundation of judicial impartiality and a constitutional right of all Canadians.

[JURIST] The new governor of Maryland [JURIST news archive] testified before legislators Wednesday that the state's death penalty [JURIST news archive] should be abolished because it is "inherently unjust," ineffective as a deterrent and a drain on resources. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) [official profile], who took office last month, appeared before two committees of the General Assembly [official website] that are considering bills [legislative materials, House version; Senate version] to repeal the death penalty and convert death sentences into life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. O'Malley's testimony echoed his op-ed [text] published in Wednesday's Washington Post, in which he wrote:

Notwithstanding the executions of the rightly convicted, can the death penalty ever be justified as public policy when it inherently necessitates the occasional taking of wrongly convicted, innocent life? In Maryland, since 1978, we have executed five people and set one convicted man free when his innocence was discovered.

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] on Wednesday asserted that his government will not issue a pardon to Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] if he is convicted by a US military commission. Howard, appearing on ABC's Lateline program, addressed [press release] remarks by opposition Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd [official profile], who claims that Hicks would not be presumed innocent by a military commission and that hearsay evidence was subject to no restrictions. Howard refutes Rudd, contending that Section 949(l)(c)(1) of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text] expressly provides for the presumption of innocence and contains significant safeguards against the misuse of hearsay evidence. Howard also suggested that any time Hicks has spent in detention at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] will be cut from his prison sentence in Australia.

On Monday, Howard called for a speedy trial [JURIST report] and Hicks' prompt return to Australia. Hicks faces charges [JURIST report] of providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, though the charges have not yet received formal approval. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] Tech giants Cisco Systems and Apple, Inc. [corporate websites] have settled their trademark dispute [press release] over the use of the name "iPhone", the companies announced Wednesday. Cisco filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against Apple in mid-January, and under the settlement agreement both companies will share the "iPhone" name and explore opportunities for greater cooperation, possibly including development of collaborative projects. Other terms of the settlement remain confidential.

Cisco has held the trademark "iPhone" since the year 2000. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled [recorded video; press release] Apple's cellular iPhone [product website] at a San Francisco tradeshow in January, despite not having agreed to the terms proposed by Cisco for use of the name. The two companies had been negotiating terms of a deal for several years, and were close to agreeing on terms as late as a few hours before Jobs made his announcement. The lack of an agreement before Apple's unveiling prompted Cisco's suit. Apple argued that Cisco's iPhone [product website], which does not operate on cellular networks, but instead operates over the Internet, was materially different from their own. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) [party website, in Spanish], Mexico's primary left-wing political party, is planning to file a complaint with federal prosecutors against former Mexican President Vicente Fox [BBC profile] for interfering in the country's 2006 presidential election on behalf of current Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official website; BBC profile], PRD leader Javier Gonzalez said Wednesday. The complaint will allege that Fox acted illegally by backing Calderon and opposing PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [BBC profile] with media advertisements and public remarks in violation of Mexican laws which prohibit the president from supporting or opposing presidential candidates. Last week in Washington, DC, Fox mentioned abuse of power charges against Obrador that were dropped in 2005 and indicated that he shared Calderon's victory, a move that the PRD claims amounts to a confession that he supported Calderon. After receiving the complaint, federal prosecutors will decide whether to open an investigation, file formal charges or dismiss the complaint against Fox.

Last year, Obrador and the PRD vehemently opposed the election results, which declared Calderon the victor by a slim margin, and accused Calderon of fraud. The Federal Electoral Tribunal [official website, in Spanish] rejected [JURIST report] most of Obrador's electoral fraud allegations [JURIST report] in late July after finding no evidence of systematic fraud. The PRD refuses to acknowledge Calderon as the rightful Mexican president, going so far as to hold an alternative inauguration ceremony [JURIST report] for Obrador. AP has more.

[JURIST] A 50-year-old Iraqi woman has accused Iraqi forces of rape, an Iraqi official said Thursday, the second such accusation in a week. The attack on the Sunni woman and her two daughters allegedly occurred less than two weeks ago in the city of Tal Afar by four Iraqi soldiers, including one officer. An Iraqi official told the AP that a fifth soldier, suspecting something was wrong during the search for weapons and insurgents, entered the woman's house and held the other soldiers at gunpoint, forcing them to stop. The official additionally said that the men had been referred to judicial authorities, and would be punished. AP has more.

On Monday, a 20 year old Sunni woman claimed that three Shiite Iraqi police officers raped her [Al Jazeera report; Al Jazeera video interview, in Arabic; partial English translation] during a search of her Baghdad home. Less than a day after the accusations were made, Shiite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] cleared the officers, potentially furthering sectarian turmoil [CSM report] in the country. The US has announced that it will conduct its own investigation. Rape is a sensitive subject in the Middle East, with a vast majority of cases unreported due to the potential of being socially shunned, and, in more tribal regions, the fear of being murdered by a family member as part of an "honor killing" [National Geographic report]. Earlier this week US Army Sgt. Paul E. Cortez became the second US soldier to plead guilty [JURIST report] to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl [JURIST news archive] and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area last March.

[JURIST] A federal judge declared Wednesday that an anti-Castro militant who allegedly was behind the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder; additional materials] will stay in jail pending trial on charges of lying on a naturalization application. Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; additional materials], 78, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion, snuck into the Miami area in 2005 and was subsequently arrested for immigration violations. Carriles filed a habeas corpus petition for his release following a November ruling in immigration proceedings that he be deported by the beginning of February. New charges were brought against him in January when he was indicted for US naturalization fraud [indictment, PDF; JURIST report]. In Wednesday's ruling, US District Judge Philip Martinez [official profile] of the Western District of Texas [official website] struck down the petition for release because he no longer was in the custody of immigration authorities.

Carriles was due to be deported for sneaking into the US, but a US immigration judge delayed [JURIST report] his deportation in 2005, determining that he could not be sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, or to Cuba, the country of his birth, for fears that he would be tortured. Carriles is wanted in both countries on terrorism charges, and Venezuela was particularly incensed [JURIST report] at the denial of their extradition requests. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lawmakers in Texas [JURIST news archive] advanced a bill Wednesday to rescind the governor's executive order requiring that school-age girls receive a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The House of Representatives' Public Health Committee [official websites] voted 6-3 in favor of the bill [legislative materials], which is sponsored by more than 90 of the 150 House members. The bill provides, in part, that "[i]mmunization against the human papilloma virus may not be required for a person's admission to any elementary or secondary school," and it explicitly pre-empts "all contrary executive orders of the governor." The committee voted after hearing hours of public testimony [Dallas Morning News report] late into the night Monday. The House committee also unanimously approved another bill [legislative materials] designed to increase public awareness of HPV and the vaccine. The Houston Chronicle has more.

The executive order [text], signed earlier this month [JURIST report] by Gov. Rick Perry (R) [official profile], is controversial because of the sexually transmitted nature of HPV [US CDC fact sheet], which is the primary cause of cervical cancer. Concerns also have been raised about the vaccine's cost, which approaches $400, and its side effects. Perry's order requires girls entering the sixth grade to receive the vaccine unless their parents opt out. A number of legislators have challenged the legality of the executive order [JURIST report]. Meanwhile, lawmakers in about 20 other states are considering bills dealing with the HPV vaccine [PJEPHL report]. Most recently, a bill to require the vaccine was defeated by the Kansas Legislature [KTKA-TV report]. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. [corporate website] announced Tuesday that it would no longer lobby state legislatures to mandate that girls receive its Gardasil vaccine [product website], the only HPV vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. A senior Merck official was quoted in Wednesday's New York Times [NYT report] as saying that public health authorities and medical organizations view the lobbying effort as a "distraction" to the goal of vaccinating as many girls as possible.

On Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [official website] is expected to release findings about the side effects of the HPV vaccine. According to an advance copy of the CDC report, the hundreds of thousands of doses administered have resulted in about 500 adverse reactions [AP report], most of them minor. The National Vaccine Information Center [advocacy website], a nonprofit organization "dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries," released a report [text] on Wednesday calling on the FDA and CDC to issue a public warning [press release] that Gardasil should not be combined with other vaccines and that girls should be monitored for side effects such as fainting for 24 hours after vaccination.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] The South Dakota Senate State Affairs committee [official website] rejected a bill [House Bill 1293 materials] in an 8-1 vote on Wednesday that would have criminalized most abortions in the state with exceptions for rape, incest and life-threatening conditions to the mother. According to the bill,

the state has a right and duty to protect the life of the unborn child, and to protect the life, health, and well-being of any pregnant woman within its jurisdiction, and it is therefore necessary to reasonably balance these interests to allow abortions only in [these] certain circumstances.

[JURIST] Rhode Island [official website] will recognize same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] of state employees performed in Massachusetts, according to Attorney General Patrick Lynch [official profile] in a letter [text, PDF] sent to the Commissioner of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education [official website]. The letter said same-sex employee partners married in Massachusetts would be granted the same benefits as heterosexual married couples; it was sent in response to a letter earlier this month from the Commissioner to the Office of the Attorney General asking for an official opinion on whether Rhode Island should recognize state employees' same-sex marriages.

Responding to Tuesday's letter, Michele Granda, an attorney for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders [advocacy website], said in a press release [text]: “It’s terrific news for state employees . . . It’s our hope that other Rhode Island employers will follow suit." Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Stuart Rabner [official profile] also announced [JURIST report] that New Jersey would similarly recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 05-1056, where the court must decide whether Microsoft [corporate website] should be held liable for patent infringement in Windows software sold abroad. AT&T [corporate website] claimed that Microsoft allows foreign computer manufacturers to replicate master discs of its Windows software. The discs contain computer codes patented by AT&T, and AT&T argued that the process infringes their patent under a federal law [text] prohibiting US companies from shipping "components" of products to foreign manufacturers that use them to manufacture products that infringe US patents. In July 2005 the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld [text, PDF] a district court decision favoring AT&T, finding that the Windows software could be considered a "component" of a patented invention and that Microsoft "supplied" the component to overseas manufacturers.

Justice Breyer [Oyez profile] expressed skepticism Wednesday about AT&T's argument, stating that it could pave the way for extensive patent infringement allegations whenever US patented products are copied overseas. Conversely, Justice Kennedy [Oyez profile] questioned the difference between the master discs supplied by Microsoft and the subsequently copied discs distributed to foreign manufacturers for installation on their computers, while Justice Alito [Oyez profile] noted that the ease of copying the discs abroad renders Microsoft's distinction "artificial." Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. [Oyez profile] recused himself at the start of oral arguments; according to his financial disclosure form [PDF], Roberts owns between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of Microsoft stock. CNET has more.

[JURIST] Arturo Sarukhan [Wikipedia profile], Mexico's newest ambassador to the US, says his country is launching an intensive lobbying effort to secure an immigration reform agreement between the two nations. The plan includes negotiations between Mexican consulates and US state and federal lawmakers, business chambers and civic organizations concerned with immigration reform [JURIST news archive]. Mexico would like the US to create a guest worker program and to provide a legal foundation to the millions of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US. AP has more.

Mexico's attempts to address the needs of "undocumented workers" often directly conflict with US government efforts to discourage immigrants from entering the US illegally. Mexico's decision in January 2007 to provide illegal immigrants with tools [JURIST report], such as satellite tracking devices [Sunday Telegraph report] meant to ensure their successful flight to America, is the latest development in a strained US-Mexico relationship. In October 2006, US President George W. Bush signed legislation authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence [JURIST news archive] along the Mexican border.

[JURIST] A Spanish judge requested permission from Mexico Wednesday to extradite former Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo [TrialWatch profile] back to Argentina. Cavallo was extradited from Mexico to Spain and has been in Spanish custody since 2003. In January 2006, he was charged with genocide [JURIST report], organized terrorism and crimes against humanity for crimes committed during Argentina's "dirty war" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. If convicted, Cavallo faces a prison term theoretically amounting to 17,000 years. Spain's High Court ruled in December 2006 that it does not have jurisdiction [JURIST report] to try Cavallo and offered to send him back to Argentina. Madrid's government held that Cavallo can only be transferred to Argentina once his appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court is resolved and Mexico gives its authorization. Even though Cavallo has said he would not oppose his extradition to Argentina, his Supreme Court appeal could take several more months. AP has more.

Starting in 1976, Argentina's "dirty war" was a seven-year campaign by the Argentine government against suspected dissidents. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were forcibly kidnapped or "disappeared" following the 1976 Argentine military coup, including approximately 600 Spanish citizens. Just under 9,000 people ar known to have been killed. In April 2005, a Spanish court convicted another former Argentine naval officer [JURIST report], Adolfo Scilingo [TrialWatch profile], of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 640 years in prison after finding him to have been aboard planes from which 30 people were thrown to their deaths during Argentina's military rule.

[JURIST] The UK High Court [official website] on Wednesday denied an application for judicial review stemming from a 12-year old Muslim girl's challenge to a public school policy that prevented her from wearing her full-face veil (niqab) [Wikipedia backgrounder; JURIST news archive] at school. Mr. Justice Silber found the policy appropriate, on the grounds that the veil would dampen teacher interaction with students as the teacher would not be able to read facial expressions. In addition, Silber found that the policy fosters a sense of equality among students and could prevent an unwanted visitor from using a veil as a disguise to enter the school undetected by administrators. Parents of the student had sought a judicial review to grant an injunction against the school dress policy. BBC News has more.

A UK teacher's aide last October planned to appeal a lower UK court's decision [JURIST report] rejecting her discrimination claims against her school for refusing to let her wear a niqab in the classroom. In February, press reports claimed that a panel of senior UK judges had approved new as-yet-unreleased courtroom rules that would ban full Islamic veils in the courts [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A French judge on Wednesday signed a 191-page indictment against 17 former associates of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], charging them with abduction and torture in connection with the disappearance of four French nationals [JURIST report] in Chile during Pinochet's rule from 1973 to 1990. The 17 are thought to be living in Chile and Argentina, and will likely be tried in absentia, facing potential life sentences. AFP has more.

Pinochet died of a heart attack [JURIST report] last December, thwarting numerous attempts to bring the former dictator to justice. Pinochet had enjoyed general immunity from prosecution under the 1980 Chilean Constitution [official translation, PDF], but was incrementally stripped of that immunity [BBC report] in light of charges brought against him. Last November, on the occasion of his 91st birthday, Pinochet publicly assumed full political responsibility [JURIST report] for the actions of his former regime.

[JURIST] A Romanian parliamentary commission announced Wednesday that it had found no evidence that Romania cooperated with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] in operating illegal secret prisons and extraordinary rendition flights [JURIST news archives] in Europe, or that secret facilities ever existed in Romania. Norica Nicolai [official profile, in Romanian], head of Romania's senate commission, said the conclusion came after a year-long investigation. The commission's report will be debated by the Romanian parliament [official website] next week, before it is sent to European legislators.

The European Parliament (EP) [official website] voted [JURIST report] last week to approve [press release] a report [text] condemning the European countries who allowed the CIA to forcibly remove terror suspects [JURIST report] from within their borders, including the UK, Germany and Italy, and criticized those nations and others for not cooperating with the EP investigation into the CIA's activities in Europe. The existence of secret CIA prisons [JURIST report] in Europe was first reported by the New York Times in November 2005, and in December that year the EP launched an investigation [JURIST report] into the alleged secret prisons. President Bush publicly acknowledged that secret prisons existed [JURIST report] in September 2006, and in January 2007 the UK admitted its prior knowledge of a CIA prison network [JURIST report]. Spain conceded in September 2006 that CIA planes transporting detainees to secret prisons in Europe may have stopped over on its soil [JURIST report] and earlier this month, Portugal opened a probe [JURIST report] into allegations that CIA planes landed in Portugal en route to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], among other destinations. Reuters has more.