[JURIST] A US Navy document [PDF] obtained by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act and made public Tuesday along with other records details 10 new and "substantiated" incidents of Iraqi prisoner abuse by US Marines, including one where Marines fired a pistol in a mock execution of four young Iraqi looters and repeatedly shocked another Iraqi detainee with an electric device until he "danced". It similarly details 10 other incidents that Navy investigators described as "unsubstantiated." The incidents took place some seven weeks after the first photos of the Abu Ghraib prison abuses were made public. The Navy documents obtained by the ACLU also describe an "exploding" Iraq caseload for Navy criminal investigators and allegations of "peer pressure" within the Corps to "keep one's mouth shut" about witnessed abuses. Marine officials said that as results of the investigations of the various incidents 13 Marines were convicted in court-martials and sentenced to up to fifteen months in prison. In a press briefing this afternoon in Washington before the ACLU documents were posted, a Defense Department spokesman emphasized that "in many cases, we are holding people accountable prior to people even knowing that there was a case, and that's not anybody's fault. That's just the way the military justice system operates. It's quick." The ACLU has posted copies of the Navy documents online here, along with an accompanying press release. Its full collection of FOIA documents on US prisoner abuse is here. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A military judge sitting at Fort Hood, Texas, Tuesday approved a request by attorneys for 1st Lt. Jack M. Saville to exhume the body of an Iraqi civilian, 19-year-old Zaidoun Hassoun, who is alleged to have drowned in January 2004 when US troops forced him into the Tigris River. Saville and Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins of the US 4th Infantry Division are facing court-martial, charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault, making false official statements and obstruction of justice in connection with the death. Defense attorneys for the soldiers say that the man pushed into the river is still alive and the individual buried is someone else. Both Saville and Perkins were arraigned in October; see the 4th Infantry press release here. Perkins' court martial is scheduled to begin December 28; Saville's court-martial starts in January. KWTX-TV in Waco has more.

[JURIST] Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir (official profile on the Sudan's government website) asked the Sudanese National Assembly Tuesday to extend for a year the state of emergency currently in effect in Sudan. The present emergency declaration is set to terminate December 31. A state of emergency limits the democratic rights of the general population and increases the control that the national government exercises; the Sudanese constitution's provisions on emergency law are here. The largely pro-government parliament is likely to approve the measure, though opposition members are decrying the attempt as nothing more than a move to rule the country through emergency laws rather than face the realities of the democratic process. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan. The Sudan Tribune has more.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan National Assembly (official site in Spanish) Tuesday approved the appointment of 5 replacement judges and 12 new judges to the nation's Supreme Court (official site in Spanish). Opposition members who lacked the votes to block the appointments stormed out of the session. The expansion was authorized by a bill approved in April, and raised the total number of judges on the Court to 32, but opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (official site in Spanish) say that he is appointing loyal party men, rather then judicially-qualified individuals. Chavez has been advocating expansion of the Supreme Court ever since rulings in 2002 that hald that an attempt to remove him from power in April of that year was due to a vaccum of authority and was not an attempted coup. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] A Maryland judge has struck down as unconstitutional Maryland's 2002 Commercial Electronic Mail Act [PDF], the first state law to punish senders of junk e-mail, commonly known as spam. Judge Durke G. Thompson of the Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed a case brought against a New York e-mail distribution company by Eric Menhart, a George Washington University Law School student. Thompson ruled on December 9 that the law unconstitutionally sought to limit the business actions of individuals outside of state borders, and thus exceeded the authority of the state. The current law on internet spam is contradictory and confused, but Menhart says he to appeal. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] KGW-TV is reporting that the Washington state Supreme Court has rejected a bid by state Democrats (read the complaint here [PDF]) to include previously rejected absentee and provisional ballots in the hand recount of votes in the WA state governor's race.

1:13 PM ET - In a brief opinion authored by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, the WA Supreme Court said:

This court is mindful that it is the policy of the State of Washington “to encourage every eligible person to register to vote and to participate fully in all elections.” RCW 29A.04.205. “No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined.” Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 17, 84 S.Ct. 526, 11 L. Ed. 2d 481 (1964). Nonetheless, we must reject petitioners’ arguments.

In this context, a “ballot” is a physical or electronic record of the choices of an individual voter, or the physical document on which the voter’s choices are to be recorded. RCW 29A.04.008(1)(c),(d). “‘Recount’ means the process of retabulating ballots and producing amended election returns….” RCW 29A.04.139 (emphasis added). The procedure for recounts is set forth in RCW 29A.64.041, and starts with the county canvassing board opening “the sealed containers containing the ballots to be recounted.” See RCW 29A.60.110. Thus, under Washington’s statutory scheme, ballots are to be “retabulated” only if they have been previously counted or tallied, subject to the provisions of RCW 29A.60.210.

It follows that this court cannot order the Secretary to establish standards for the recanvassing of ballots previously rejected in this election. And petitioners’ call for uniform signature-checking standards (seemingly beyond the statutory requirement that the signature on an absentee ballot be the same as the signature in voter registration files) is beyond the relief that can be afforded in this action.

[JURIST] The US Military Combatant Status Review Tribunal has said that 13 more detainees at Guantanamo Bay are properly being held as "enemy combatants." The US government has taken the position that prisoners classified as enemy combatants are not entitled to the same legal protections as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. The military has held review hearings for most of the over 500 Guantanamo Bay detainees and, out of the decisions handed down thus far, has determined that only one prisoner was improperly named an "enemy combatant." AP has more. The US Defense Department has background on the Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

[JURIST] Tyco International said Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered the company to turn over information on its involvement in the UN Oil-for Food program in Iraq. Tyco said the SEC wants information on its participation, "if any," in the UN program, which is the subject of several corruption investigations. AP has more.

[JURIST] The French Council of State, France's highest civil court, has banned the broadcast of Lebanese satellite channel Al-Manar due to the Hezbollah-linked station's airing of militant and anti-Semitic statements. French broadcast regulator CSA granted Al-Manar a license in November on the condition that the station respect French laws against inciting racial or religious violence. Al-Manar has since broadcast a commentary blaming Jews for the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Council indicated that it would reconsider the ban if Al-Manar complies with French anti-hate laws. Read the Council's decision and press release, both in French. VOA News has more. From France, Le Figaro has local coverage.

[JURIST] Former Bosnian Croat soldier Miroslav Bralo pleaded not guilty Tuesday to war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. Bralo faces nine counts of grave breaches of the Geneva conventions and 12 counts of violating the laws and customs of war for the murder, rape and torture of civilians. ICTY prosecutors say Bralo belonged to a special Bosnian Croat force known as the Jokers that attacked Muslim villages in central Bosnia during the 1993 conflict and subsequently imprisoned and tortured civilians. Bralo's indictment (in French) was made public in October; an ICTY press release in English is here. The ICTY has background on the case and Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department has asked a judge to enter a $2.53 billion judgment against Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son Timothy Rigas, also Adelphia's former CFO, according to a report [subscription required] in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. The DOJ says that if it receives the judgment, equal to the amount obtained by the Rigases through off-balance-sheet loans, it will attempt to seize stock in cable TV systems managed by Adelphia. The move could prove to be an obstacle in Adelphia's efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union will file a federal suit Tuesday against a Pennsylvania school district for requiring that ninth-grade biology students be instructed in "intelligent design" as an alternative to the theory of evolution. "Intelligent design" suggests that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by some higher intelligent power. The ACLU and parents of children in the Dover Area School District contend that the policy of the school district - the first in the nation to mandate intelligent design instruction - infringes their religious liberty "by promoting religious beliefs to their children under the guise of science education." AP has more. The Pennsylvania York County Patriot News provides local coverage. Last month the Dover Area School Board issued this press release on its biology curriculum. From the other side of the political spectrum the school policy has also been criticized for being "incoherent" by the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, a Seattle-based intelligent design think-tank. Read their press release here.

[JURIST] A panel of High Court judges in London Tuesday allowed an appeal by the fanily of an Iraqi man against the UK government's refusal to allow a judicial inquiry into his alleged killing by British troops. Lawyers for Baha Mousa, a 28-year old hotel receptionist in Basra, say that he was beaten to death while in British custofy in September 2003, and that the British governments refusal of an inquiry was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF]. Lawyers for the UK Ministry of Defence argued that Basra was outside of European jurisdiction, and thus the reach of the human rights agreement. In making the ruling, the judges also said that previous UK investigations of other Iraqi civilian deaths were inadequate, opening the way for further appeals. BBC News has more, including this video report. The text of the ruling is not yet available online.

[JURIST] A Chilean appeals court Monday temporarily suspended Judge Juan Guzman's house arrest order for 89-year old General Ausgusto Pinochet just hours after Guzman had made it in connection with his indictment of the former Chilean president on human rights charges. Pinochet is being investigated in connection with the connection with the murder of one person and the kidnapping of nine others during "Operation Condor" in the 1970s, a plan concocted by several South American dictatorships to execute and kidnap hundreds of left-wing activists. A final ruling on the house arrest order is expected in the next day or so. VOA has more. From Santiago, El Mercurio offers local coverage in Spanish. BBC News offers a range of reactions to the Pinochet indictment. JURIST's Paper Chase offers background stories on Pinochet.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that trials of the "symbols of Iraq's regime" will begin next week, according to Iraq interim prime minister Iyad Allawi. Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Monday while on a visit to the Vatican that Saddam Hussein himself would go on trial for crimes against humanity after Iraq's elections at the end of January. Reuters has more on the pending Saddam trial.

9:27 AM ET - Allawi was speaking to the Iraqi National Council, but did not name the individuals who would be tried. Reuters now has more.