[JURIST] A third US soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday 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 area last March. Pfc. Bryan Howard pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit rape and premeditated murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a case that has implicated five servicemen. Co-defendants Spc. James P. Barker and Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, who each pleaded guilty, both previously testified that Howard had a minimal role in the crimes. Howard testified in his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he remained at a checkpoint during the crime and did not realize what had occurred until after the fact. If convicted, Howard faces up to 15 years in prison.

Last month Cortez was sentenced to 100 years in prison [JURIST report] with the possibility of parole after 10 years. In November, 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. Pfc. Jesse Spielman still faces an April 2 court martial, 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. In January it was revealed that three months before the attack, Green was diagnosed by military mental health workers as a homicidal threat [JURIST report]. Howard initially reported to investigators that "Green was probably crazy enough to do it," but has since confessed that he made these statements to protect Cortez, Barker, and Spielman, with knowledge of their guilt. AP has more.

[JURIST] Banned Egyptian opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood [party website, JURIST news archive] announced Wednesday that it plans to boycott [official statement] next week's referendum on controversial constitutional amendments [JURIST report] proposed last year by President Hosni Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive] and recently approved by lawmakers. The Brotherhood, while illegal in Egypt, currently holds 88 seats in the Egyptian Parliament [official website]; Brotherhood members were responsible for the majority of the dissenting votes in Monday's parliamentary vote [JURIST report] that passed the 34 amendments. Members charge that the amendments are specifically aimed at preventing the Brotherhood from gaining more control in the country's government, calling the referendum a "farce that will lead to more dictatorship, repression and tyranny in Egypt." The vote, scheduled for March 26, requires only a simple majority to pass.

On Tuesday US State Department [official website] Spokesman Sean McCormack expressed concern [press briefing transcript] that the Egyptian government might be deviating from its original intentions behind the amendments "to lift the national state of emergency," but reiterated that the US does not want to influence the process. Earlier this month, an Egyptian court froze assets [JURIST report] of 29 Brotherhood financiers, and Egyptian police have arrested at least 300 members of the Brotherhood since December, including 72 in a February raid [JURIST report]. The Brotherhood says the crackdown is meant to quell opposition to the referendum. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Vice President Al Gore [personal website] testified before US congressional committees Wednesday that global warming [EPA materials] is "a crisis that threatens the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth." In his opening statement [prepared text, PDF; recorded video] to a joint session [hearing materials] of the House committees on Energy and Commerce and Science and Technology [official websites], Gore reviewed new evidence showing human activity is the main cause of global warming, but he said it is not too late to take action. Gore cited recent momentum toward "action to solve the climate crisis:"

More than 420 Mayors have now adopted Kyoto-style commitments in their cities and have urged strong federal action. The evangelical and faith communities have begun to take the lead, calling for measures to protect God’s creation. The State of California, under a Republican Governor and a Democratic legislature, passed strong, economy wide legislation mandating cuts in carbon dioxide. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have passed renewable energy standards for the electricity sector. Much more needs to be done, but change is in the air.

The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, "Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem."

[JURIST] The Sex Professionals of Canada [advocacy website] (SPOC) announced Wednesday they will initiate an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [website] alleging that three Canadian criminal offenses are unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. Prostitution is legal in Canada, but the advocacy group argues that the combined effect of three provisions - s.210, s.212, and s.213 - violate s.7 of the Charter, which states:

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

[JURIST] Two independent UN rights experts voiced concern Wednesday over Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent suspension [JURIST report] of Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official profile] for "misuse of office" and ensuing protests across the country. In a joint statement [press release], UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Leandro Despouy [official website] and the Secretary-General's Special Representative on the situation of human rights defenders Hina Jilani [official website] accused Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf of interfering with the independence of the judiciary, violating protections listed in the Pakistan Constitution [text]. Despouy and Jilani also condemned the "excessive force used against peaceful demonstrators" - many of them lawyers - in recent street protests [JURIST report].

Although Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 12, the specific charges [JURIST report] relating to his suspension were not disclosed until Wednesday. Chaudhry's suspension sparked the resignation of seven Pakistan judges Monday and a deputy attorney general on Tuesday, while lawyers have boycotted the courts [JURIST reports] since the suspension. The UN News Service has more.

[JURIST] Serge Brammertz [official profile], the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who is leading the UN's independent investigation [UN materials] into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] told [video briefing] the UN Security Council Wednesday that he has made progress in finding the motive behind Hariri's assassination, but also requested an additional year to continue the investigation. While briefing the Council [summary] on his seventh progress report, Brammertz said that the commission has determined that Hariri's death was linked to the extension of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term and preparations for the May 2005 parliamentary elections. Brammertz added that the governments of Lebanon and Syria [JURIST news archives] have cooperated with the investigation, but expressed concern that continued violence in Lebanon has increased instability. Prior commission reports have implicated Syrian officials in the assassination [JURIST report] and Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who headed the probe until resigning at the end of 2005, has also said that he is "convinced" that Syrian authorities are responsible for Hariri's death [JURIST report].

Brammertz's commission is scheduled to expire in June, but will likely be extended until June 2008 in anticipation of a new international tribunal [JURIST news archive] to try suspects accused of assassinating Hariri. The UN approved an agreement [JURIST report] to open the new tribunal last month, and now awaits approval [JURIST report] by the Lebanese National Assembly [official website]. Current Prime Minister Fouad Siniora [BBC profile] supports the tribunal, while pro-Syrian President Lahoud [official profile] opposes [JURIST comment] the tribunal. DPA has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] on Wednesday denied a petition for review [opinion text, PDF] of a 2004 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order [FCC press release,PDF] preempting state regulation over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) [FCC backgrounder] technology, such as Vonage and other Internet phone companies. Several state regulatory commissions had challenged the order as arbitrary and capricious. In the order, the FCC determined that it would be "impossible or impractical to separate intrastate components from interstate components" regarding VoIP technology, and thus excluded the technology from state regulation. Reuters has more.

In 2005, the state of Texas sued Vonage [JURIST report], alleging that the company's service did not properly route calls to 911.

[JURIST] The Canadian government opened an official inquiry Wednesday into allegations by three Canadian citizens that Canadian security forces played a role in their arrest and alleged torture in Syria [JURIST news archive] between 2001 and 2004. Kuwaiti-born Ahmed Al Maati, Syrian-born Abdullah Almalki and Iraqi-born Muayyed Nureddin each claim they were detained and tortured [JURIST report] by Syrian military intelligence during trips abroad, with the complicit cooperation [Amnesty backgrounder, PDF] of Canadian officials. Former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci [official profile] plans to conduct most of the inquiry behind closed doors [Globe and Mail report] for national security reasons.

All three men were investigated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) [official website] for links to terrorism but were never arrested or had any restrictions placed on their movements while in Canada; all three were eventually freed and allowed to return to Canada. The men and Amnesty International Canada [advocacy website] say that besides clearing their names, a formal review of their cases is also necessary to restore confidence in the intelligence service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official website]. They say a probe should follow the model of the Arar Commission [official website], the official judicial inquiry into the circumstances under which Canadian Maher Arar [advocacy website; CBC timeline] was detained in the US in 2002 and removed to Syria where Arar says he was tortured. The Arar Commission found [JURIST report] that the US decision to arrest and deport Arar was "very likely" based on faulty, unfair and overstated information passed on by the RCMP. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal [official website] on Wednesday overturned [opinion text, PDF ] a $1.58 billion 2005 jury verdict awarded to billionaire financier and Revlon [corporate website] chairman Ron Perelman [corporate profile], finding that the plaintiffs failed to prove compensatory damages. Coleman Parent Holdings, Inc., of which Perelman held a controlling interest, sued Morgan Stanley [corporate website] after Morgan Stanley advised Coleman on a merger between Coleman and Sunbeam [corporate website], alleging that Morgan Stanley helped Sunbeam inflate its stock price until after the merger. A jury found against Morgan Stanley for conspiracy and aiding and abetting fraud, awarding compensatory damages of $604,334,000 and punitive damages of $850 million [JURIST reports]. On appeal [JURIST report], the Florida appeals court agreed with Morgan Stanley that Coleman wasn't entitled to compensatory damages because he had not established the "fraud-free value of the Sunbeam stock on the date of the merger transaction."

Perelman told the media on Wednesday that he intended to appeal the decision to a full panel of the Florida appeals court, and then to the Florida Supreme Court if necessary. Dow Jones has more.

[JURIST] A Nigerian senate committee indicted President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile] and Vice President Atiku Abubakar [official profile; JURIST news archive] Wednesday on corruption charges for diverting public money to private interests. In February, a senate panel indicted Abubakar on corruption charges [JURIST report] for the alleged diversion of $145 million dollars of public money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to his private businesses, as well as allegations of receiving more than $4.6 million dollars in bribes. The committee also reported that Abubakar had transferred $20 million out of the PTDF account without the president's approval but that Obasanjo had given "illegal" approval of government projects worth more than $27 million. This is the first time that the senate committee has accused Obasanjo of corruption. Senate committee members resigned after being pressured to block the release of the report and its publication before the general elections in April.

Abubakar is currently embroiled in a high-profile feud with Obasanjo. Last year, Obasanjo tried to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third presidential term [JURIST report]. Abubakar opposed the move, indicating that he would be running for president himself. In October 2006, Abubakar was charged with corruption [JURIST report], a charge Abubakar says was retaliatory. Last week, Abubakar filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the Nigerian electoral commission [official website] after it issued a ruling prohibiting him from running in the upcoming presidential elections. The commission cited the Nigerian constitution [text], which bars candidates indicted for crimes before a court or executive panel from running for president, for its decision. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in the case of Roper v. Weaver [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-313, a case in which the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned [PDF opinion] a capital sentence on the grounds that the prosecutor's penalty phase closing argument was "unfairly inflammatory." During the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecutor urged the jury to send a message to other drug dealers by sentencing Weaver to death, and compared the jurors to soldiers in the movie "Patton" who had the courage to kill. The Court must first articulate a standard of review and prejudice for a penalty phase claim, which is a question of first impression for the Court, and then must decide whether the Eighth Circuit properly found that the prosecutor's statements violated Weaver's right to a fair trial under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment [text].

During arguments, the Missouri Attorney General argued that while the prosecutor's statements may have been improper, they did not influence the fairness of the guilt phase of Weaver's trial. Justice Souter seemed to agree with Weaver's counsel, indicating that some of the statements made by the prosecutor had no relationship to the facts and evidence presented during Weaver's trial; Justice Scalia noted that the guilt and sentencing phases of trials are "quite different." AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bush administration on Tuesday indicated it would veto HR 1433 [policy statement, PDF; HR 1433 text, PDF], a bill that would treat the Washington DC as its own Congressional district with voting rights. The policy statement said the bill would be unconstitutional, as the District of Columbia is not a state, and Article 1 [text], Section 2 of the US Constitution states, in part:

The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

[JURIST] The upper house of the Jordanian parliament [official website] on Wednesday approved a bill that imposes stiff fines for journalists who defame any religion protected under the country's constitution [text] - i.e. Islam, Christianity or Judaism - or "offending the prophets" by writing or cartoons. The upper house dropped a controversial provision, approved by the lower house [JURIST report] earlier this month, that would have subjected journalists to jail time for the offenses. Other crimes under the bill include insulting "religious sentiments and beliefs, fueling sectarian strife or racism," and slandering or libeling any person. The Jordanian Press Association [official website] criticized the earlier version of the bill for weakening press freedom. AP has more.

In May 2006 a Jordanian court convicted the editors of two national newspapers [JURIST report] and sentenced them to two months' imprisonment for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] that incited protests and violence across the Muslim world earlier in the year after first appearing in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [media website] in September 2005.

[JURIST] Ecuador swore in 21 replacement legislators on Tuesday night, thus establishing a quorum for future legislative sessions after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal [official website, in Spanish] dismissed 57 of 100 lawmakers [JURIST report] in early March. The controversy began when Ecuador's unicameral Congress [official website, in Spanish] and President Rafael Correa [official website, in Spanish; BBC profile] submitted to the tribunal differing versions of a referendum on amending the constitution [JURIST report]. The tribunal accepted Correa's version, which permitted the constitutional assembly to retroactively fire legislators. In turn, the 57 legislators voted to dismiss four of the tribunal members, prompting the tribunal to fire the 57 legislators [JURIST report] for illegally interfering with their decision. Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal [official website] then rejected the lawmaker's appeal [JURIST report], leading to violence between the fired lawmakers and police as the lawmakers attempted to enter Congress last Tuesday. AP has more.

In January, Correa became the eighth president [JURIST report] of Ecuador [JURIST news archive] in ten years on a platform promising to overhaul the nation's economy to fight poverty. Correa has characterized the Congress as a "sewer of corruption" and has expressed admiration for the policies of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] A Russian judge has ordered imprisoned former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] moved to a detention center in Moscow during an investigation into new embezzlement and money laundering charges [JURIST report], according to one of Khodorkovsky's defense lawyers. The court rejected the demands of prosecutors who wanted to conduct the investigation at the Siberian penal colony in Chita Oblast [Wikipedia backgrounder] where Khodorkovsky is now held. Khodorkovsky's lawyers applauded the decision Tuesday, saying that media coverage would be more favorable to the defense in Russia's largest city. AP has more.

Both the US and Khodorkovsky himself [JURIST reports] have lambasted the most recent embezzlement and money laundering charges as politically motivated, which the Russian government has denied [JURIST report]. Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion [JURIST report] in May 2005, and is now serving an eight year prison term. If convicted on the new charges, Khodorkovsky and his associate Platon Lebedev could serve up to fifteen more years in prison.

[JURIST] A House Judiciary Committee panel on Wednesday authorized the committee chairman to subpoena former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson [official profiles], who resigned two weeks ago [DOJ press release], and two DOJ aides to testify and provide documents to the committee regarding the recent US Attorney firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. In a concurrent investigation, the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday subpoenaed five DOJ aides [JURIST report], including Sampson, to testify. The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law rejected President Bush's offer [PDF text; JURIST report] to allow the committees to question Miers, Rove, and Sampson during a private questioning session, not under oath. AP has more.

Both committees want Miers and Rove to testify on allegations that the firings of several US Attorneys by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] were politically motivated [JURIST report]. The accusations have led Congress to consider restricting the Attorney General's power [JURIST report] to appoint interim US Attorneys. Despite Bush's assertions that Gonzales has "got support with me," reports have surfaced that the White House is considering potential replacements for Gonzales [JURIST report].

Last week, reports emerged that Rove originally suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys in January 2005, according to an e-mail conversation [JURIST report; e-mail text] released by the DOJ. The e-mails appear to contradict the White House's prior assertion that the idea to comprehensively dismiss US Attorneys first came from Miers [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Detainees held in secret prisons operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] throughout the globe were subject to abuse and sleep deprivation, according to a confidential report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website]. In interviews with former detainees, the ICRC reports that it learned that terror suspects were forced into "stress positions" and subjected to sleep deprivation in attempts by the CIA to gain information from them. According to anonymous US officials, the report is based solely upon interviews with detainees, and has yet to verified.

This is the first independent report to be prepared concerning the CIA prisons. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on President George W. Bush 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 CIA prisons. 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. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official profile] is accused of misusing his influence to get his son jobs and promotions, according to details released for the first time Wednesday. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspended [JURIST report] Chaudhry on March 9, but no details of the charges were made public at that time. According to the charge sheet, Chaudhry "unlawfully used his position as a judge and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to influence, harass and intimidate all concerned and compelled them to act in an unlawful manner."

In response to Chaudhry's removal, lawyers throughout Pakistan observed a nationwide strike [AP report] Wednesday, staging rallies in the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore, among others. On Tuesday, one of Pakistan's three deputy attorneys general resigned [JURIST report], telling Reuters that the crisis over the suspension "had made it "very difficult for me to perform my duties." The suspension also sparked the resignation [JURIST report] of seven Pakistan judges on Monday. Pakistani lawyers staged a one-hour symbolic strike Monday and several hundred marched against the suspension in Karachi. Lawyers have boycotted the courts [JURIST report] since Chaudhry's suspension, and street protests [JURIST report] have resulted in injuries and arrests. Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers in business suits clashed [JURIST report] with police Saturday in Lahore, throwing rocks after riot police fired teargas to disrupt a gathering. AFP has more.

[JURIST] US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) [official website] Stuart Bowen told the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that investigators will be employing stricter standards when dealing with companies performing contract work in Iraq that engage in war profiteering. During the committee hearing [materials], Bowen testified [prepared statement] that the "SIGIR will do everything in its power to do more to deter crime and to uncover and prosecute those who have taken advantage of the difficult situation in Iraq to criminally enrich themselves." Bowen stated that stronger punishments need to be used against those who engage in misconduct, including the imposition of larger fines and the removal of security clearances.

Bowen reported that 16 people have been convicted for fraud and kickbacks received in connection with the Iraq reconstruction. Last year, the US named a former Iraqi Minister of Electricity as one of the officials charged with such corruption [JURIST report]. According to a report issued by SIGIR in October, Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. had been misusing federal regulations [JURIST report] to shield data from the public. AP has more.