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 Legal news from Tuesday, November 13, 2007 |
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 |
CIA admits error in withholding interrogation tapes during Moussaoui trial
Mike Rosen-Molina at 7:55 PM ET
[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] has admitted that it has several recorded interrogations of suspected "enemy combatants," contrary to previous assertions. According to a letter [PDF text] released Tuesday, the agency mistakenly denied in court declarations that it possessed one audio and two video tapes during the trial of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive]. Moussaoui had sought the testimony of several al Qaeda witnesses as part of his defense. Prosecutors said that they learned of the tapes only recently, but insisted that their absence did not affect Moussaoui's trial, as they did not mention either him or the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive].
Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in April 2005 to conspiracy charges [indictment] in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, including conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to destroy aircraft and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He received a life sentence [JURIST report] last year after one juror refused to agree to the death penalty [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.
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Canada government reintroduces Senate reform bills
Melissa C. Bancroft at 7:08 PM ET
[JURIST] Canada's ruling Conservative Party [party website] government Tuesday reintroduced two Senate [official website] reform bills that would abolish government-appointed senators and limit the number of terms a senator could serve. The first bill [C-56 text] would allow each province to vote to fill vacancies in the Senate. The federal prime minister would then rely on the results to appoint the preferred candidates. Only two provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, currently hold elections for senators and the results are purely advisory in nature. The second bill [S-4 text] would limit terms in the country's unelected Senate to eight years. Currently, senators appointed on a regional basis can retain their seats until the age of 75. The bills were first introduced during Parliament's last legislative session, when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged [JURIST report] members of the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Senate Reform [official website] to support the legislation.
Although the Conservative Party has threatened to constitutionally abolish the Senate if the bills do not pass, the bills were first introduced in the House of Commons [official website] with the hope that opposition party support would influence the Senate to approve the reforms. CBC News has more.
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Massachusetts governor signs bill extending protection of abortion clinics
Deirdre Jurand at 6:19 PM ET
[JURIST] Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick [official profile] on Tuesday signed a bill [press release] which mandates that abortion clinic protesters stand no closer than 35 feet from entrances of reproductive health care facilities. The new law [SB 1353 text], now one of the nation's strictest on clinic protesters, amends Massachusetts' 2000 floating buffer-zone law [text], which established specific restrictions in the 18-foot radius around reproductive health care facility entrances. The restrictions within that zone disallowed people from knowingly coming within six feet of other people without their consent. Protesters reportedly violated the law frequently, but the difficulty of proving consent consistently prevented successful prosecution. The state legislature designed the new fixed-zone law, which passed through the House 122-28 and through the Senate unanimously, to protect both the safety of patients and health care providers and the protesters' freedom of expression.
The nation's only tougher fixed-zone bill is the 36-foot buffer zone around a single clinic in Melbourne, Fla. A handful of other clinics and cities, as well as Montana and Colorado, also have buffer-zone laws, but Massachusetts' move to the 35-foot fixed zone still gives the state one of the nation's strongest buffer-zone laws. State lawmakers began campaigning [Globe report] for clinic zone laws in 1994 after a man killed two people and wounded five after opening fire in reproductive health clinics outside Boston. The state passed the floating buffer zone law in 2000, and the law was challenged the next year. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court [official website] ruled that buffer zones did not violate the First Amendment right to free speech and peaceful assembly. Reuters has more.
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UN SG nominating Brammertz as next ICTY prosecutor
Devin Montgomery at 6:05 PM ET
[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the UN Security Council that he is nominating Serge Brammertz to replace Carla Del Ponte [official profiles] as the next chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Brammertz is currently serving as the head of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] and formerly served as the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court before resigning [JURIST report] in June. Ban's letter to the Security Council, made public Tuesday, confirms expectations that Brammertz would take over at the end of Del Ponte's term, though several ICTY lawyers had urged Ban [JURIST reports] to promote current ICTY deputy prosecutor David Tolbert to the position. Reuters has more.
Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, has served two four-year terms as the ICTY chief prosecutor. The United Nations Security Council has extended [press release] her term until December 31. Del Ponte was initially expected to step down in September [JURIST report], but in June she said she would stay until the end of the year while the UN chooses her replacement. Established in 1993 to as an ad hoc court to prosecute war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, the ICTY [JURIST news archive] is currently scheduled to complete its work by 2010.
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Cluster munitions conference ends without agreement on binding ban
Caitlin Price at 4:53 PM ET
[JURIST] A week-long meeting of parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) [PDF text] concluded Tuesday without delegates reaching an agreement on a legally binding ban on cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Representatives from 102 nations did agree to negotiate a new pact regarding "the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions," but failed to agree on a complete ban. Frustrated by the "weak" conclusion, Human Rights Watch official Steve Goose said that support for the so-called "Oslo Process" [conference materials; JURIST report] is the best hope for a ban on cluster munitions in 2008. AP has more.
Cluster munitions have been used by at least 23 countries; at least 34 nations have produced more than 200 different types of cluster munitions. In June, the US said it will not support a cluster munitions ban [JURIST report] but that it is open to negotiations to reduce the humanitarian impact by requiring the increased reliability, accuracy and visibility of unexploded munitions. In February, 46 of 49 countries participating in the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions 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 [PDF text]. 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 [ICRC materials].
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US Army memo reconfirms ban on waterboarding as interrogation technique
Caitlin Price at 3:57 PM ET
[JURIST] The US Army [official website] has issued a statement to top personnel reiterating the Army's ban on waterboarding [JURIST news archive] as an interrogation technique, AP reported Tuesday. The Army officially banned the use of waterboarding in September 2006 with the release of the interrogation guide Field Manual 2-22.3 [PDF text; press release], which deemed it a "prohibited action." The November 6 "strategic communication hot topic" was released to top Army officers "to eliminate any confusion that may have arisen as a result of recent public discourse on the subject" and to ensure that the army's stance against waterboarding was clear. AP has more.
Waterboarding became a key issue in the confirmation of newly appointed US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [WH profile; JURIST news archive] when he refused to say that the practice constitutes torture. Much of the opposition to Mukasey's nomination [JURIST report] centered on this stance. Last week, a former Navy interrogation instructor and counter-terrorism intelligence specialist told a US House of Representatives subcommittee that waterboarding "is torture and should be banned" [JURIST report].
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No plea from US Marine at Haditha killings arraignment
Caitlin Price at 3:10 PM ET
[JURIST] A US Marine declined to enter a plea at his Tuesday arraignment [USMC press release] on charges stemming from the killings of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] in November 2005. Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum [advocacy profile] faces a maximum of 19 years in prison if found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and aggravated assault charges. Lt. Gen. James Mattis decided not to charge Tatum with murder in October following a recommendation [JURIST reports] by investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who said that that Tatum fired on civilians "not to exact revenge and commit murder" but "because of his training and the circumstances he was placed in." Tatum's lawyers said he will plead not guilty at his March 28 trial. Reuters has more.
Tatum served in Haditha under Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani [JURIST news archive], who faces court-martial for dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order based on the allegations that he failed to properly investigate shootings; he will be arraigned [USMC press release] on Friday. Chessani, the former commander of the Third Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment [official website], did not order an immediate investigation into the deaths because he did not suspect any wrongdoing. In a sworn statement made to military investigators, Chessani said that he did not see any cause for alarm and that he believed at the time that killings followed a complex attack by insurgents attempting to lure Marines into shooting into homes where civilians were located. It has been alleged that the civilians were murdered in cold blood [JURIST report], but Chessani said that when he first learned of allegations that the civilians were killed intentionally he thought that the claims were baseless. Related charges [text] against four servicemen have been dropped.
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Former Canada prosecutor tapped to head UN Hariri investigation
Alexis Unkovic at 2:49 PM ET
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Two leading Myanmar dissidents taken into custody: opposition groups
Alexis Unkovic at 2:01 PM ET
[JURIST] Officials in Myanmar [JURIST news archive] arrested prominent labor rights activist Suu Suu Nway [AHRC materials] Tuesday, according to a representative for the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area Myanmar in Thailand. An official speaking on condition of anonymity told AP that Nway was detained Tuesday when she attempted to post a leaflet near the hotel of visiting UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Paulo Sergio Pinheiro [official profile]. Pinheiro began his investigation Monday into the Myanmar military government's crackdown on protesters [JURIST reports].
Also Tuesday, dissidents reported that Myanmar officials have arrested protester U Gambria, the pseudonym for one of the leaders of the All Burma Monks Alliance, who authored an article [text] published in the Washington Post November 4. It is unclear when exactly U Gambria was detained. The military crackdown on protests started in September when Myanmar security officers arrested hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating against rising fuel prices and human rights abuses by the military regime. Protests only subsided when junta troops effectively locked down Myanmar's major cities. According to government reports, at least 10 people were killed when government soldiers shot into protesting crowds [JURIST report]. The government has said that some 3,000 people were arrested for participating in the protests. AP has more.
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Yahoo! settles lawsuit brought by China journalists for abetting torture
Alexis Unkovic at 1:14 PM ET
[JURIST] Yahoo! Inc. [corporate website] agreed Tuesday to settle a lawsuit [case materials; JURIST report] filed in US federal court alleging that the Internet giant aided and abetted human rights violations committed by the Chinese government by providing Chinese officials with information, including e-mail records and user ID numbers, that helped them to identify pro-democracy activists in violation of the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Alien Tort Statute [texts]. The World Organization for Human Rights USA [advocacy website] filed the lawsuit on behalf of imprisoned Internet activists Wang Xiaoning [HRIC profile, PDF], Wang's wife Yu Ling, and journalist Shi Tao [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in April 2007. The parties did not disclose the terms of the settlement, but the advocacy group indicated [press release] Tuesday that some of the key issues in the settlement discussions included "Yahoo's efforts to secure the release of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning from prison, considerations regarding future law enforcement requests for identifying Internet user information, and efforts to meet the humanitarian needs of those who have been unlawfully detained as a result of Yahoo's actions."
Last week, Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan [written testimonies, PDF] defended [JURIST report] Yahoo's behavior in providing information to the Chinese government at a hearing [HCFA materials; JURIST report] before the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs [official website], saying that the company could not ask local employees in China to refuse to comply with lawful government demands even if Yahoo disagreed with the Chinese action. AP has more.
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Supreme Court agrees to hear paralegal fees case
James M Yoch Jr at 12:02 PM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday granted certiorari in Richlin Security Service v. Chertoff (06-1717) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], a case where the Court will consider whether paralegal services can be recovered at the market rate when determining the payment of attorneys' fees. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] that the Equal Access to Justice Act [text] permits only the reimbursement of paralegal services as the cost of the expense to the attorneys rather than as fees at the market rate. A decision in this case would resolve a split among the circuit courts of appeal. SCOTUSblog has more.
Among the cases denied certiorari by the Supreme Court on Tuesday is Belbacha v. Bush (07-173) [docket], in which the petitioner, an Algerian citizen and Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee, requested emergency relief to block his transfer by the US government to Algeria. Ahmed Belbacha [BBC profile] fears torture by Algerian officials and retribution by terrorists if he is returned to his home country. The Court, however, refused to hear his appeal, which would have come directly from the US District Court for the District of Columbia. In August, the Supreme Court also denied [JURIST report] Belbacha's emergency application for a stay [PDF text; SCOTUSblog report] after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted its stay [order, PDF] on Belbacha's transfer. Belbacha's request for an original writ of habeas corpus has also been rejected by the Supreme Court. AP has more.
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Small island states say climate change threatens human rights
James M Yoch Jr at 11:25 AM ET
[JURIST] Representatives of 26 members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) [official website] met Tuesday in Maldives to work on a draft resolution on climate change to be presented at the 2007 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference (UNFCCC) [official website] in December. AOSIS, a coalition of 43 of the world's smallest island nations and states, plans to show that environmental protection, preservation and security are part of an individual's basic human rights and that rising sea levels due to climate change threatens these rights. The rising sea levels pose a danger to the island nations and their tourism-based economies, according to Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom [official profile; BBC profile], who called on the international community to recognize the threat [press release] of rising sea levels on the human rights of millions of inhabitants of AOSIS member states. During the conference, AOSIS is also expected to develop policies for combating climate change with a focus on emissions reduction.
In September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] said that leaders from across the globe had expressed willingness to cooperate fully to confront climate change issues [UN News report] during the UNFCCC in December. Ban emphasized the need to negotiate and adopt a successor to the Kyoto Protocol [PDF text] developed during the 2005 UNFCCC, which will expire in 2012. Last month, a spokesman for the 2007 UNFCCC said that both Australia and the US, two nations that have faced intense criticism [JURIST comment] for their opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, want to participate [JURIST report] in negotiations for a new global climate change agreement. Reuters has more.
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Malaysia drafting law to combat illegal immigration
James M Yoch Jr at 10:47 AM ET
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Japan lower house passes limited anti-terror bill
Michael Sung at 10:07 AM ET
[JURIST] The Japanese House of Representatives [official website] passed a controversial bill Tuesday re-authorizing Japan's support for US anti-terror operations in the Indian Ocean, setting the course for Japanese ships to resume refueling for US vessels involved in anti-terrorism or anti-smuggling operations. The bill [JURIST report], which bars the refueling of US vessels involved in military or humanitarian relief operations in Afghanistan, was a compromise between Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) [party websites]. It now goes to the upper House of Councillors for approval. The DJP is likely to stall the bill in the House of Councillors, but the LDP government has enough votes in the lower house to override the upper house. The DPJ has also introduced new legislation in the upper house to end the mission completely.
The LDP had sought a full renewal [JURIST report] of the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], which included authorization for the refueling mission, but was unable to obtain the necessary DJP support before the law expired on November 1. Japan's involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom [DOS backgrounder] by refueling and supplying water to coalition ships in the Indian Ocean has precipitated a major rift [JURIST report] between Japan's two major parties, contributing to the September resignation [BBC English translation; JURIST report] of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The DJP wishes to entirely scrap Japan's mission, saying it violates the country's pacifist constitution [text] by involving Japan in military operations. AP has more.
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More Pakistan bar leaders jailed under emergency: HRCP
Bernard Hibbitts at 9:57 AM ET
[JURIST] Two more leaders of the Pakistani bar have been arrested in Sindh province, according to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan statement [text] Tuesday. Former Sindh high court bar association presidents Akhter Hussain and Abdul Hafeez Lakho were taken into custody and ordered to be detained for 90 days in Karachi's Central Prison. HRCP says: "These two were managing the lawyers’ movement after the arrest of Mr. Abrar Hassan, the current President of the [Sindh] Bar. The spade [sic] of arrest of lawyers in the cities and interior of Sindh is continuing." HRCP has posted a partial list of persons arrested since the declaration of emergency on November 3, including many top lawyers, rights activists, and opposition figures. Some have been released, but many remain in detention. HRCP has also posted a list of lawyers jailed in Karachi itself compiled by one of the detained lawyers.
HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir claimed in a statement Thursday that some Pakistani lawyers detained by the government under the declaration of emergency rule are being tortured [JURIST report]. Jahangir herself, who is also UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, is currently under house arrest.
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China to relax entry prohibition against HIV-positive aliens
Michael Sung at 9:35 AM ET
[JURIST] The Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China [official website, in Chinese] said Monday that the government is working toward relaxing its strict policy [press release, in Chinese] of denying all HIV-positive aliens entry to the country. A ministry spokesperson said that the policy was initially put in place before the transmission of HIV was fully understood. Under current law, temporary visitors are required to declare if they are HIV-positive, while those seeking Chinese residency must submit to an HIV test.
The Chinese government estimates that there are approximately 650,000 persons in China afflicted with HIV, although this figure is contested. In 2002, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS reported that there are approximately one million cases of HIV in China [report, PDF]. In February 2006, China issued regulations [JURIST report] prohibiting discrimination against persons infected by the virus and providing for free treatment. AP has more.
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Two more Pakistan Supreme Court judges sworn in under PCO
Bernard Hibbitts at 9:16 AM ET
[JURIST] Emergency Pakistani Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar administered oaths of office under Pakistan's Provisional Constitution Order [text] to two more high court judges Tuesday. The addition of Justice Mohammad Akhtar Shabbir [official profile] and Justice Zia Perwez to the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] brings the reconstituted court's total complement to 11, just one shy of the reduced twelve-judge total [JURIST report] set last week by Pakistan Attorney General Malik Qayyum. Shabbir was formerly a member of the Lahore High Court; Perwez was formerly a judge on the Sindh High Court.
The court's original full complement of 19 judges under the leadership of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was effectively dismissed on November 3 after General Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule. Only two judges of that court - Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and new Chief Justice Dogar - took oaths under the new PCO. The last act of the former court, undertaken while its building was under siege by police and troops sent in under the emergency declaration, was to issue an order [text] barring judges and other civic and military officials from taking oaths under the new PCO. The new court ruled [JURIST report] last Tuesday that that order was "void, quroum non judice and passed without lawful authority," saying it "shall be deemed never to have been passed as Proclamation of Emergency and the Provisional Constitution Order were already issued by the President." Pakistani bar groups protesting the emergency have declared that they will not cooperate with judges who have taken PCO oaths.
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Philippines opposition lawmakers file impeachment complaint against Arroyo
Michael Sung at 8:57 AM ET
[JURIST] Opposition lawmakers in the Philippines House of Representatives [official website] filed a petition Monday calling for the impeachment of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [BBC profile] for alleged bribery, graft, corruption, and human rights abuses. The impeachment complaint, which must be approved by the House of Representatives before the Philippines Senate can initiate a trial, is the second attempt by the opposition to impeach Arroyo this year. Opposition members have also accused government security forces of harassing and torturing alleged Communist guerrillas.
Since her election in 2004, Arroyo has overcome multiple impeachment efforts accusing Arroyo of rigging the presidential elections [JURIST reports] and corruption. The New York Times has more.
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NATO forces exposing detainees to torture risk with Afghanistan transfers: Amnesty
Jaime Jansen at 8:38 AM ET
[JURIST] The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) [official website], led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is exposing terrorism detainees to risks of torture by transferring NATO-held detainees into custody of Afghanistan authorities, Amnesty International [advocacy website] said in a report [text; press release] Monday. Amnesty's report focuses on actions by Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, saying that ISAF forces from those countries have been transferring terror detainees to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, despite numerous reports of torture. Amnesty added that NATO forces have an obligation not to turn detainees over to countries likely to torture detainees. Amnesty called for ISAF to temporarily suspend all detainee transfers to Afghan authorities and for ISAF member countries to help reform the Afghan detention system. Amnesty also called for the Afghan government to make public their detention policies, to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Conventional Against Torture [text], to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on torture [official website] to visit Afghanistan, and to grant independent monitors unrestricted access to all Afghan detention centers.
Last month, Amnesty accused [JURIST report] the Canadian government of trying to derail a lawsuit over whether the Canadian Army [official website] in Afghanistan is transferring custody of detainees to Afghan forces to face torture by bogging down the lawsuit with a flurry of technical arguments. Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association [advocacy websites] brought complaints against the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal [official website] in Federal court in February, alleging complicity in torture by Canadian personnel serving in Afghanistan as part of ISAF. In September, the Canadian Army said that independent investigators found no evidence to support allegations [JURIST reports] that the Army "may have aided or abetted the torture of detainees" by transferring them to Afghan custody. Canada's Federal Court ruled earlier this month that the two advocacy groups should be granted public interest standing [JURIST report] to seek judicial review of the Canadian military's actions. Reuters has more. The Canadian Press has additional coverage.
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ECCC charges former Khmer Rouge officials with crimes against humanity
Jaime Jansen at 7:53 AM ET
[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] announced formal charges [press release] Tuesday against former Cambodian Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as minister for social affairs. The two were arrested [PDF press release; JURIST report] Monday and are both charged with crimes against humanity committed during the Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] regime. Sary is also charged with war crimes. Sary and Thirith are two of five former Khmer Rouge leaders under investigation and their arrests were widely anticipated. Sary is suspected of perpetrating and facilitating murders as well as coordinating Khmer Rouge's policies of forcible transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings. Thirith allegedly directed and planned widespread purges and the killings of members within the Ministry of Social Affairs. Sary and Thirith are scheduled to appear before the before the UN-backed genocide tribunal on Wednesday.
The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2004, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. To date, no top Khmer Rouge officials have faced trial. In August, the ECCC brought its first charges against Kaing Khek Iev [TrialWatch profile; JURIST report], better known as "Duch", who was in charge of the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea [GenocideWatch report] is awaiting trial [JURIST report] for charges [statement, PDF] of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Charges were also expected to be brought against former head of state Khieu Samphan, though Khieu suffered a stroke [AP report] Tuesday, putting the prospect of charges in doubt. AP has more.
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Pakistan ex-PM blocked from leading protest march against emergency rule
Jaime Jansen at 7:05 AM ET
[JURIST] Pakistani riot police blocked former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [personal website] from leading a planned 160-mile march from Lahore to Islamabad Tuesday protesting President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule [PDF text; JURIST news archive]. Bhutto was placed under house arrest for seven days early Tuesday when riot police used barbed wire and dump trucks loaded with sand to barricade her home. Police also arrested members of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party [party website] who tried to cross the barricade to reach Bhutto, as well as hundreds of party members throughout Lahore. While under house arrest, Bhutto confirmed with reporters that she is no longer speaking with Musharraf, either directly or indirectly, and that her party may boycott the January parliamentary elections [CBC report] if Pakistan is still under the emergency decree. Bhutto also called for Musharraf to resign as president.
The government of Pakistan said Monday that the planned march violated the proclamation of emergency rule [JURIST report], foreshadowing Tuesday's block. Musharraf said Sunday that parliamentary elections will take place in January, but set no time limit to the emergency [JURIST report]. The New York Times has more. BBC News has additional coverage.
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