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 Friday, May 09, 2008 |
Pakistan leaders fail to agree on resolution restoring ousted judges as new deadline looms
Mike Rosen-Molina at 4:06 PM ET
[JURIST] Talks between the leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party websites] in London Friday failed to produce an agreement on a draft resolution for reinstating judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year, but party members pledged to continue negotiations. A panel convened last week pursuant to an initial deal struck by the leaders in Dubai completed a draft parliamentary resolution [JURIST report] to restore the judges, but disagreements on implementation among panel members meant that the resolution had to go the top leadership of the PPP and the PML-N for approval before being submitted to the Pakistani parliament.
On Monday, retired Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim quit the drafting panel [JURIST report], citing the "non-serious attitude" of fellow panel members and "unconstitutional" efforts by the PPP to retain judges who had endorsed Musharraf's declaration of emergency [JURIST report] last year. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif initially said that the judges would be restored May 12 [JURIST report], but Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek said Friday that the governing coalition will be unlikely to meet that deadline. JURIST's Pakistan correspondent says that if the deadline passes without agreement Sharif is likely to step out of the coaliton cabinet, a move that could bring down the new government. The Pakistan Newspaper has more. UPI has additional coverage.
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EU parliament head slams possible court ban of Turkish ruling party
Mike Rosen-Molina at 2:16 PM ET
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Anthrax reporter challenges contempt of court order for not revealing sources
Mike Rosen-Molina at 1:38 PM ET
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments Friday in the appeal by former USA Today reporter Toni Locy [profile] against sanctions imposed on her for refusing to disclose government sources [RCFP backgrounder] who provided information about former US Army germ-warfare researcher Dr. Steven J. Hatfill [Washington Post profile]. In a March ruling, US District Judge Reggie Walton found Locy in contempt of court [PDF text; JURIST report] and ordered that, beginning March 11, Locy pay a fine of $500 a day; the fine was due to increase to $1000 a day after one week and then up to $5000 a day after two weeks. Walton refused to delay the sanctions until Locy could file an appeal and also ruled that Locy cannot accept reimbursement for the monetary sanctions. The appeals court later granted [PDF text; JURIST report] an emergency stay against the monetary sanctions while Locy pursued her appeal. Locy's lawyers said that she is unable to pay the fines and categorized the sanctions as "destructive," arguing that Walton had abused his discretion. On Friday, the court appeared receptive to the argument.
Locy, currently a journalism professor at West Virginia University, has refused to cooperate in Hatfill's suit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its alleged violation of the US Privacy Act [text], arguing that the information Hatfill is seeking has not been demonstrated to be central to the lawsuit. Hatfill was identified as a "person of interest" in the investigations of the 2001 anthrax attacks [GWU backgrounder]. He contends that FBI and DOJ officials violated federal privacy laws [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] by providing personal information and information about the investigation to journalists. AP has more.
Editor's Note: Toni Locy served as a JURIST student staff member while pursuing her MSL at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2006-07.
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Some Guantanamo detainees could pose threat if released: Gates
Devin Montgomery at 12:07 PM ET
[JURIST] US Defense Secretary Robert Gates [official profile] said Thursday that a number of current Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees would pose a new threat to the US if they were returned to their home countries. Of the 500 inmates who have been released from the detention facility, Gates said Pentagon data shows that between 5-10% of detainees "return to the battlefield" after being released.
Gates, who has been a proponent of closing the base [JURIST report], added:I think we do as careful a vetting job as we possibly can before releasing these people. There are a lot of -- there are a lot of prisoners down there, frankly, that we would be prepared to turn over to their home government, but the home government isn't prepared to receive them, or we don't have any confidence that if they still need to be incarcerated, that the home government will keep them incarcerated. So there are actually a fair number of the prisoners at Guantanamo that we would be prepared to send home if we had -- if their government would accept them and -- or if we had confidence that the government would continue to keep them incarcerated. Gates' comments came in response to earlier reports that one former detainee, Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, was responsible for an April suicide attack [JURIST report] targeted at security forces in Mosul, Iraq. Al-Ajmi had been captured in Afghanistan in 2002, but was released to the custody of his home country, Kuwait, in May 2006. Upon his return, a Kuwaiti court acquitted [JURIST report] and freed al-Ajmi and four other former detainees accused of being al Qaeda members or of raising money for the terrorist group. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.
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Myanmar junta urges citizens to approve constitution in weekend referendum
Mike Rosen-Molina at 12:07 PM ET
[JURIST] Myanmar's ruling junta Friday urged the country's citizens to approve the military-backed draft constitution in an upcoming Saturday national referendum [JURIST news archives] that the government has refused to reschedule despite a devastating cyclone last week that may have left up to 100,000 people dead [AP report]. The United Nations estimates that another 1.5 million people have been "severely affected," but the Myanmar regime has thusfar blocked international aid efforts. Reports have also surfaced that a riot broke out [Telegraph report] after the storm in a notorious Rangoon prison used to hold political dissidents; soldiers and police reportedly opened fire on the rioters, killing 36.
Myanmar opposition groups and international figures have slammed the government's decision to go forward with the vote under the circumstances. On Wednesday, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering condemned the decision, while the National League for Democracy Tuesday derided it [JURIST reports] as "extremely unacceptable." Myanmar state media have reported that Saturday's vote will proceed as scheduled in most of the country [JURIST report], although the regime now says that the vote will be postponed in districts hardest hit by the cyclone. Reuters has more.
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Nuclear powers say Iran threatening nuclear treaty goals
Devin Montgomery at 10:33 AM ET
[JURIST] The world's five major nuclear powers - Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US - cited Iran's uranium enrichment program as a major threat to the goals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text; JURIST news archive] in a joint statement [PDF text] issued Thursday at the end of a two-week meeting [official website] of 106 NPT member nations. The five urged Iran, currently under UN sanctions for its nuclear program, to accept an incentive package [JURIST reports] in exchange for abandoning uranium enrichment. The statement also addressed the nuclear situation in North Korea [JURIST news archive], which opted out of the treaty in 2003 to restart disarmament negotiations. Conspicuously absent from the statement was any mention of a secret reactor [BBC report] that Syria is suspected of building, which some speculate is because of a lack of confidence in the related US intelligence.
Iran maintains that it is pursuing nuclear capabilities solely for use in producing electricity [Iranian backgrounder, PDF], a use allowed under the treaty, and has repeatedly balked [JURIST report] at the UN sanctions targeted at the country. The US and other western powers are particularly concerned that energy-related uranium enrichment processes could be easily altered to produce weapons-grade material. Reuters has more.
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Convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal seeks new trial claiming right to defense violated
Abigail Salisbury at 9:47 AM ET
[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] announced Thursday that Vidoje Blagojevic [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] has requested a new trial. Blagojevic, former commander of the Bratunac Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, claims that he had little access to his defense counsel and was prevented from testifying on his own behalf. AP has more.
The ICTY convicted Blagojevic of complicity in genocide; aiding and abetting the persecutions, killings and forcible transfer of Bosnian Muslims and sentenced Blagojevic to 18 years imprisonment [JURIST report] for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Blagojevic's sentence was reduced to 15 years when the ICTY Appeals Chamber reversed [judgment summary; JURIST report] his conviction of complicity in genocide, holding that Blagojevic should have been acquitted on those charges because he was not aware that the massacre was going to take place.
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US military judge refuses to set Khadr trial date pending Guantanamo records release
Abigail Salisbury at 9:04 AM ET
[JURIST] US military judge Col. Peter Brownback again refused to set a trial date for Canadian-born Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] at a pre-trial hearing Thursday, threatening to suspend military commission proceedings against the Guantanamo detainee until the government submits daily records of Khadr's detention. Khadr's lawyers claim the government is stalling the prosecution under the Military Commissions Act [PDF text] to cover up abusive treatment at Guantanamo. In an affidavit released in March, Khadr claimed that US interrogators in Afghanistan threatened him with rape [JURIST report], physically abused him, and forced him to swear to false statements. The Toronto Star has more.
Khadr, 21, faces life imprisonment for crimes allegedly committed at the age of 15 while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying.
In April, Brownback ruled [PDF text] that Khadr was not a child soldier when he was captured in Afghanistan. Khadr's lawyers had asked for the case to be dismissed [JURIST report] saying that it violated the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [text], which gives special protection to children under 18 involved in armed conflicts.
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Thursday, May 08, 2008 |
Federal judge orders handover of CIA 'torture' memo
Bernard Hibbitts at 8:55 PM ET
[JURIST] A US federal judge Thursday directed the CIA [order, PDF] to produce a 2002 US Department of Justice memo that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claims authorized the agency to use specific torture techniques - including waterboarding [JURIST news archive] - on US detainees held abroad. The memo prepared by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) [official website] has been described by the ACLU as "one of the most important torture documents still being withheld by the Bush administration." Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in his order that he required production of the document before determining whether it could be made public as part of an ongoing lawsuit [background materials] brought by the ACLU and other rights groups under the Freedom of Information Act for records concerning the treatment of prisoners in US custody abroad. Reuters has more.
In a statement on the order, the ACLU said that for almost four years it had been challenging the government's assertion that the OLC memo could not be released because of attorney-client privilege, arguing that the privilege does not apply to a legal memo that the CIA adopted as a matter of policy. Hellerstein ruled for the government in a January hearing, but on the ACLU's motion "reconsidered his decision after senior officials publicly acknowledged that the CIA had waterboarded three prisoners and after Attorney General Michael Mukasey stated to Congress that the CIA's interrogation program had been authorized by the OLC."
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Egypt court fines newspaper editor for reporting on labor dispute
Mike Rosen-Molina at 5:03 PM ET
[JURIST] An Egyptian court Thursday ordered the editor of independent newspaper al-Badeel to pay a $2,000 fine for publishing an article about labor disputes in the state-owned Middle East News Agency [media website, in Arabic]. Mohammed Sayyed was convicted of libel, and also ordered to pay $1,000 in compensation to the chief of the news agency. AP has more.
In recent months, Egypt's independent media have been the target of multiple lawsuits for reporting on sensitive issues. Last month, the former editor of weekly newspaper al-Dustour [media website, in Arabic] was sentenced to six months in prison [JURIST report] after being convicted on charges of spreading "rumors" about the health of Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [official profile] in an August newspaper report. Last year, two journalists were convicted in absentia of libel [JURIST report] for writing a story about an illegal land transaction from the Ministry of Religious Endowments at a secret auction. Under Egyptian law, citizens may file lawsuits against individuals who make statements that harm society, and the accused can face criminal punishment if found guilty. Mubarak has previously pledged to decriminalize press offenses [JURIST report] in Egypt, but has yet to do so.
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Australia military investigating Taliban detainee 'mistreatment' claims
Abigail Salisbury at 4:32 PM ET
[JURIST] The Australian Defence Force [official website] is investigating claims by four Taliban members detained following the death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan that they were mistreated during their time in custody, Australian media reported Thursday. The allegations were reported by a senior Afghan commander who spoke of "mistreatment" of prisoners by Australian troops. ABC Australia has more.
Australia currently has slightly over 1000 troops committed to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force [official website] under its Operation Slipper [official backgrounder]. Earlier this week the Melbourne Age reported other complaints by one-time Australian and Dutch detainees that they were beaten after being handed over to local Afghan security forces. Similar claims have dogged the Canadian military [JURIST news archive], which subsequently renegotiated its prisoner transfer agreement with Afghan authorities. In a May 2 statement, Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, denounced torture and announced the steps Australia is taking to accede to the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture [text], previously rejected by the government of Prime Minister John Howard.
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Vietnam to prosecute anti-Communist activists for 'terrorism'
Mike Rosen-Molina at 3:48 PM ET
[JURIST] Vietnam will prosecute two anti-Communist activists on "terrorism" charges for distributing literature critical of the government, a government spokesperson said Thursday. The men are members of US-based rights group Viet Tan [advocacy website, in Vietnamese], which has denied that it endorses anti-government violence and has said that the men were calling for peaceful democratic change. Reuters has more.
The Communist Party of Vietnam [party website] has continuously rejected calls for to allow opposition parties, but pro-democracy groups in Vietnam have increasingly begun to work together to press democratic reforms and more respect for human rights, although their success has been limited. In May 2007 two Vietnamese human rights lawyers were sentenced for violating Article 88 of the Vietnamese criminal code [JURIST report] by advocating that Vietnam adopt a multi-party system of government. In 2006, the US and Vietnam ended a three-year suspension of talks [JURIST report] regarding human rights and religious freedoms [HRW backgrounder] in the country, which began when the US canceled the annual Human Rights Dialogue with the Government of Vietnam in 2003 due what it said was lack of progress on the issues.
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Latvia, Lithuania approve EU Lisbon Treaty
Abigail Salisbury at 3:22 PM ET
[JURIST] The parliaments of Latvia and Lithuania Thursday adopted the new EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon [PDF text; official website], bringing the total number of ratifying nations to 13. All 27 EU countries must approve the Treaty before it takes effect; most ratifications are expected to be parliamentary, although Ireland plans to hold a referendum. BBC News has more.
Designed to replace the failed EU constitution [JURIST news archive], which fell far short of unanimous approval among all EU states, the Lisbon Treaty [BBC Q/A] incorporates some elements of the earlier charter. It changes several aspects of the current European governance system in an effort to improve effectiveness and decrease response time on critical issues. Two new posts will be created for a European Council President and a foreign affairs representative. The European Court of Justice will receive broadened powers.
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Turkish president signs amendment limiting controversial state slander law
Mike Rosen-Molina at 3:13 PM ET
[JURIST] Turkish President Abdullah Gul Wednesday signed an amendment into law restricting the controversial Article 301 [Amnesty backgrounder; JURIST news archive] of the country's penal code [text, in Turkish], which makes "insulting the Turkish identity" a crime. The amendment recharacterizes the crime of "insulting the Turkish identity" as insulting the "Turkish nation," reduces the maximum possible punishment from three years to two years in prison, and requires the approval of the justice minister for any Article 301 prosecution. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey [official website, in Turkish] approved the amendment [JURIST report] last month.
Many prominent Turkish journalists, authors, and academics have been tried for insulting "Turkishness" [JURIST report] under Article 301. Critics have accused Turkey of using the law to silence government critics, making it a major stumbling block [JURIST report] to Turkey's accession to the European Union. AFP has more.
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EU parliament approves mandatory registry of lobbyists
Steve Czajkowski at 3:03 PM ET
[JURIST] The European Parliament [official website] Thursday approved [press release] a report [PDF text] calling for a mandatory registry of lobbyists seeking access to EU lawmakers [CorpWatch backgrounder]. The measure was passed 547-24, with 59 abstaining. The Parliament also supported a "one-stop-shop" proposal, which would allow lobbyists to register once to gain access to Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Council [official websites], but that vote was only binding for the Parliament.
The three EU institutions intend to establish a common list of lobbyists, which the EU Parliament hopes to be ready in time for European elections in 2009. The Parliament currently maintains a voluntary registry. AP has more.
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Malaysia Islamic court allows reconversion from Islam
Mike Rosen-Molina at 2:59 PM ET
[JURIST] An Islamic court in Malaysia [JURIST news archive] ruled Thursday that a Buddhist woman who converted to Islam should be allowed to return to her original faith. The ruling is unusual in Malaysia, which has both secular and Sharia courts; Sharia courts rarely allow converts to renounce Islam, a fact which has led to tensions with the country's minority religions. Religious rights groups hailed the decision as a landmark ruling for interfaith relations. AP has more.
Last year, Malaysia's Federal Court rejected an appeal [JURIST report] by a woman who sought to change her religious affiliation on her government registration card from Islam to Christianity. Approximately 58 percent of Malaysia's population of 26 million are ethnic Malays, generally Muslims who fall under the jurisdiction of the Sharia courts. The remaining 40 percent of the population are mainly ethnic Chinese, indigenous, or Indian, and are generally Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, or Taoist/Confucian falling under the jurisdiction of civil courts. The Malaysian constitution [text] has been interpreted to regard all ethnic Malays as Muslim, because Islam is considered to be an intrinsic component of the ethnic identity. Malaysia is officially a secular state, but it recognizes Islam as the official religion.
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Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.
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