[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, two recently released polls indicate that popular sentiment is heavily against the proposed EU constitution [official website] in the Netherlands [government website]. Polls by RTL Television and Centerdata both put the likely "no" vote on the EU constitution at 51%-54%, with only 27%-29% likely to vote "yes". The Netherlands referendum on the EU charter is scheduled for 1 June, only three days after France's referendum, and is the nation's first public referendum in over 200 years. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the European Constitution [JURIST news archive]. Deutsche Welle has more.

In other international legal news ...

• Hazil Rahaman-Alan, the Venezuelan man convicted of carrying a high-explosives grenade into London's Gatwick airport in February, 2003, was sentenced to 6 years incarceration Friday. Rahaman-Alan was originally charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 [official text], but after hearing testimony, Judge Gerald Gordon held that Rahaman-Alan was not acting as a terrorist and the charges were changed to possession of a high explosive hand grenade with intent to endanger life under the Explosives Act and the Aviation Act. Rahaman-Alan was also sentenced to deportation back to Venezuela after serving his prison sentence. BBC News has local coverage.
  
  
• The last 1,300 UN peacekeepers in East Timor [government website] of what once was a 9,000 person force left Friday as the United Nations dramatically scaled back its operations in the island nation located off the coast of Indonesia. The UN mission officially ended in a ceremony conducted Thursday, while peacekeepers were flown out Friday with supporting military hardware. UN peacekeepers have been present since 1999, when a national referendum in favor of breaking away from Indonesia sparked massive violence and riots by pro-Jakarta rebel groups. The UN will maintain the UN Office in Timor-Leste, a political mission to the world's newest nation, advising leaders on how to continue the restoration of civil services and stabilizing the economy, until 20 May, 2006. The UN Mission in Support of East Timor [official website] has background and current developments. The UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] A US military spokesman, responding to a New York Times article detailing the deaths of two detainees and other abuses, said Friday that mistreatment of detainees in Afghanistan by US personnel will not be tolerated. A White House spokesman said that President Bush was alarmed by the report and wanted the allegations thoroughly investigated. The Times article cited a 2,000-page confidential military file the newspaper obtained that described repeated abuse at the hands of "young and poorly trained soldiers" and the cruel treatment and death of the two prisoners. In October 2004 the Army publicly acknowledged the two deaths [Army press release], ruled them homicides, and announced that up to 28 soldiers face charges in connection with the those. AP has more.

[JURIST] The French peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast has opened an investigation into allegations that four of its soldiers sexually abused a young girl in the rebel-controlled north. These are the first allegations of sexual abuse to be made against French forces since they were deployed in the country shortly after a civil war began in September 2002 [overview]. The allegations have fuelled growing anti-French sentiments in Ivory Coast, where last November French forces crippled Ivory Coast's small air force [JURIST report] after nine French peacekeepers were killed in a bombing raid. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Friday threatened to veto any legislation that would ease restrictions on federally funded stem cell research [National Institute of Health information]. President Bush remarked that he was "a strong supporter of adult stem cell research" but that he was "very concerned about cloning." Citing the killing of human embryos, Bush banned new federal funding for stem cell research [White House press briefing] in August 2001. This coming Tuesday the US House of Representatives is set to debate a bill that could lift the federal funding ban, according to congressional sources. AP has more.

[JURIST] Government officials along with survivors paid respects Friday to the victims of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" [Wikipedia backgrounder] during the annual "Day of Anger." Last month the United Nations announced its support for genocide tribunals in Cambodia [press release] though a start date has yet to be set. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot [BBC profile] instituted radical resettlement and re-education policies in the late 1970's leading to the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians through starvation, disease, overwork, and execution. None of the movement's leaders have stood trial but at least ten are expected to face the tribunals. The UN has pledged $38 million to the proceedings while Cambodia is adding $13 million to its share of the cost. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The state-run Ethiopia News Agency [website] reported Friday that re-elections will be held Sunday in six polling stations where voting irregularities were found to have occurred. Further charges have been made by both the ruling party and opposition parties prompting the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia [official website] to continue investigating voting fraud. After the May 15 parliamentary elections both Ethiopia's opposition coalition and the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front claimed victory creating a power struggle over governing authority. Preliminary results from the May 15 poll are due Saturday with official results due June 8. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In a version of a report to be released next Tuesday, Kosovo UN Governor Soren Jessen-Petersen [official website] indicates "significant progress" in security and in the area of minority rights under the Kosovo Standards Implementation Plan [PDF]. Under the "standards before status policy," unveiled in 2003, satisfaction of these requirements would be the first step in permitting the West to commence talks with Kosovo regarding its potential independence from Serbia. Official presentation of the report is scheduled for May, 27 2005. Once presented, the Security Council must endorse it in order for Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a special envoy in June or July to make a comprehensive review of Kosovo's progress. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former Rwandan mayor Laurent Semanza saw his appeal before the appeals panel of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [JURIST news archive] dismissed Friday and his prison sentence extended from 25 to 35 years. Semanza, once mayor of Bicumbi in Rwanda's rural province of Kigali, was arrested in March 1996 in Cameroon; he was the president of pro-Hutu political party MRND and a member of the party's Central Committee during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda [BBC backgrounder]. Presiding judge Theodor Meron [ICTR profile] found all of Semanza's contentions in the appeal without merit and ordered Semanza to serve out a ten year period that he had previously been credited with as time already served. Six countries have signed agreements with the tribunal to hold convicts in their countries and it was not immediately known where Semanza would serve his sentence. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US military has strongly condemned a British tabloid's Friday publication of pictures of a semi-clothed Saddam Hussein that it says were taken "in clear violation of [Department of Defense] directives and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals". The cover of The Sun displays a picture of the former president of Iraq wearing only his underwear, while the photos inside the publication reportedly show him washing laundry in his sink. A statement [text] by Multi-National Force-Iraq [official website] went on to say that it was

disappointed at the possibility that someone responsible for the security, welfare, and detention of Saddam would take and provide these photos for public release. We take seriously our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all detainees. This lapse is being aggressively investigated to determine, if possible, who took the photos, and to ensure existing procedures and directives are complied with to prevent this from happening again.

[JURIST] Previously undisclosed US military documents show ongoing Iraqi mistreatment of prisoners, including photos of bruised and beaten detainees, which US officials fear may damage the image of the new security forces in the eyes of the Iraqi public. The revelations come as Iraq's military and police have assumed greater responsibility in countering insurgent forces and while senior US military officers say they have cautioned Iraqi authorities repeatedly against abusing prisoners. Human rights groups have denounced the abuses since a 94-page report from Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] in January found that torture and ill-treatment of prisoners was commonplace in Iraq. US officers say that various senior members of the new Iraqi government have recognized the problem and privately expressed their willingness to work to end it. Thursday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov [BBC profile] told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday that he did not want an immediate probe conducted by UN human rights officials into recent violence in the eastern part of Uzbekistan. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official website] had on Wednesday called for an international inquiry [JURIST report] into reports of civilians killed [JURIST report] by Uzbekistan security forces. Karimov suggested that brief diplomatic and press tours were sufficient to allieviate concerns about violence in the region. The US, which has a military base in Uzbekistan, supports the UN probe. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraq and Iran issued a landmark joint statement Thursday blaming Saddam Hussein [Wikipedia profile] and his loyalists as the military aggressors in both the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war [Wikipedia entry] and the 1990 Iraq-Kuwait conflict [BBC timeline]. The statement came amidst an attempt by the two countries to forge better ties in the wake of Hussein's capture. According to the text, "The two sides confirm the necessity of trying the leaders of the former regime in Iraq in a fair trial because they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity and their military aggression against the Iraqi people, Iran and Kuwait." Hussein will stand trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal [statute] at a date yet to be determined. AP has more.

[JURIST] A North Caucasus District military court has found a group of a special forces soldiers in the Russian military not guilty in the 2002 murder of six Chechen civilians [Amnesty International report]. The troops admitted to killing the civilians but said they were just following orders. When they fired upon a van that missed a checkpoint they only killed one passenger initially, but when they contacted headquarters they were told to execute the survivors and cover up the incident. Human rights groups, including The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) [official website], have denounced the verdict [IHF statement] as not dealing severely with abuses in the Russian military and thousands of people gathered in Chechnya [Mosnews coverage] Friday to protest the verdict. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] According to a court filing by his attorneys, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [Wikipedia profile], a Virginia man accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush and supporting al-Qaida [JURIST report], was tortured while in Saudi custody. Defense attorneys cited the conclusions of two doctors who examined Abu Ali and found that two years of physical and psychological abuse overcame his will and caused him to make false statements to interrogators. The court filings contain no details of the doctors' examinations of Abu Ali and federal prosecutors maintain that he was not tortured while in Saudi hands. AP has more.