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 Legal news from Saturday, July 04, 2009 |
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Saturday, July 04, 2009 |
UK embassy employee in Tehran charged: lawyer
Matt Glenn at 2:04 PM ET
[JURIST] Hossein Rassam, a chief political analyst working for the British Embassy in Iran [official website], has been charged with "acting against the national security," his lawyer said Saturday. Rassam was one of nine Iranian employees of the British Embassy arrested last month for his role in the riots following the Iranian election. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's Guardian Council [official website, in Persian], announced Friday that some members of the embassy staff would be charged [JURIST report]. Eight of the nine prisoners have been released, however, and only Rassam faces charges [Times report]. Jannati cited as evidence [Telegraph report] a March report by a website affiliated with the UK Foreign Office [official website] warning travelers of potential violence in Iran following June's elections. Rassam lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said he has not yet been allowed to see his client, but hopes to arrange a meeting with him soon.
The post-election protests reportedly resulted in at least 17 deaths and hundreds of arrests [JURIST report]. Iranian authorities have said that those arrested would be dealt with by the courts [Reuters report]. Human rights groups have characterized the arrests as political repression [JURIST report], saying that Iranian authorities are using the protests to "engage in what appears to be a major purge of reform-oriented individuals."
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AU leaders agree not to cooperate with Sudan president arrest warrant
Matt Glenn at 1:00 PM ET
[JURIST] The African Union (AU) [official website] will not cooperate with International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] efforts to extradite Sudan President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the AU announced Friday during an AU summit [official website] in Libya. AU members said that by issuing a warrant for al-Bashir's arrest, the ICC jeopardized the peace process [Reuters report] in Sudan. As signatories to the Rome Treaty, 30 of the 53 AU countries are bound by the ICC's warrant to arrest al-Bashir if he enters their country. Sudan says that Friday's resolution allows Bashir to travel [Reuters report] anywhere in Africa.
Prosecutors at the ICC announced Monday that they would pursue genocide charges against Bashir, appealing March's decision by the ICC to charge al-Bashir [JURIST report] with war crimes and crimes against humanity but not genocide. The prosecution sought leave of the court in March to appeal the ICC's decision not to indict al-Bashir on three counts of genocide. Some African leaders criticized the warrant [JURIST report] at the time, fearing it could stall the peace process. The controversial arrest warrant [JURIST news archive] had been sought by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile], who in July filed preliminary charges [text, PDF; JURIST report] against al-Bashir alleging genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed in the Darfur region in violation of Articles 6, 7, and 8 of the Rome Statute [text].
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Honduras high court rejects OAS call to reinstate deposed president
Ximena Marinero at 12:22 PM ET
[JURIST] The Honduras Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] has refused a Friday petition by Organization of American States (OAS) [official website] Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza [personal website] calling for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile] as the country's head of state. Insulza met with Supreme Court President Jorge Alberto Rivera and three justices from the Constitutional Chamber of the court rather than with the appointed interim president Roberto Micheletti because the OAS does not officially recognized Micheletti's government. Rivera says there is an irreversible arrest warrant out for Zelaya should he return to the country. Also on Friday, Vice Minister of Honduran Foreign Affairs [official website] Martha Lorena Alvarado announced [transcript, in Spanish] on radio that Honduras is rescinding its OAS membership because the organization is trying "to impose unilateral unfair resolutions without allowing the legitimately elected constitutional government the chance to be heard, ... disrespectful of the principle of sovereignty." The OAS continues to support Zelaya and has called the withdrawal meaningless as it was effectuated by a government lacking official recognition. The Honduran bar association has expressed support [La Tribuna report, in Spanish] for Micheletti, reasoning that recent events are a "constitutional substitution" grounded in the law, and have called on the international community to give Hondurans the opportunity to present their position. Zelaya has announced that he will return to Honduras on Sunday accompanied by Chilean president Cristina Fernandez, Ecuadorean president Raul Correas and other Latin American leaders.
On Wednesday, the OAS gave Honduras 72 hours to reinstate Zelaya [OAS press release] or be suspended from the organization, which would result in a freeze in technical assistance and Interamerican Development Bank credits. Zelaya was detained and escorted [JURIST news report] from the presidential home by members of the Honduran military and transported to the airport in the early hours of Sunday morning, the scheduled day for a nationwide referendum on constitutional reform. Military leaders acted following a judicial order [Honduras Supreme Court press release] to remove Zelaya for breaking the law in carrying out the referendum despite a Supreme Court ruling against it.
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Iran conservative paper urges Mousavi be tried for treason
Ximena Marinero at 10:09 AM ET
[JURIST] A prominent conservative newspaper in Iran urged in an editorial [text, in Persian] Saturday that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi [IranTracker profile; JURIST news archive] and former reformist president Mohammad Khatami [RealiteEU backgrounder] be tried for crimes against the nation. The piece was written by Kayhnan [media website, in Persian] newspaper's chief editor Hossein Shariatmadari [PBS Frontline materials], and places responsibility for the protests following recent elections on the two men while alleging the existence of documents showing Mousavi and his supporters acted under American orders. The newspaper is supervised by the Office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [official website] and Shariatmadari was appointed by Khamenei himself. Khamenei has publicly expressed his support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after the June elections.
The Iranian government on Wednesday barred publication [press release, in Persian] of the opposition Etemad-e-Melli [media website, in Persian] newspaper, linked to opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi [personal website, in Persian], in an attempt to quash anti-government reporting in the country. International journalists in the country have also been ordered to stay indoors [AP report].The ongoing post-election protests have reprotedly resulted in at least 17 deaths and hundreds of arrests [JURIST report]. Iranian authorities have said that those arrested will be tried by the courts [Reuters report]. Human rights groups have characterized the arrests as political repression [JURIST report], saying that Iranian authorities are using the protests to "engage in what appears to be a major purge of reform-oriented individuals."
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