[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Pentagon has confirmed that a US soldier at the terror detention camp at Guantanamo Bay kicked a detainee's Koran and that a guard's urine was splashed on the Islamic sacred text.

8:35 PM ET - These instances and several others in contravention of US military rules for treating the Koran [PDF] were disclosed after an investigation [US Southern Command press release, PDF] led by Guantanamo commander Brig. Gen. Jay Hood. Hood said last week that several instances of Koran abuse had been discovered, but did not provide details at that time. Deadly riots broke out in Afghanistan [JURIST report] last month after Newsweek magazine reported that a Guantanamo guard had flushed a Koran down a toilet [Newsweek article]. The magazine later retracted the story [JURIST report] when its source disavowed it, and Hood's investigation turned up no such incident. AP has more. Read the US Southern Command press release on the Hood inquiry [PDF] and the inquiry's description of incidents involving the Koran [PDF]. The materials suggest that a number of "mishandling" incidents were inadvertent; for instance, the urine splashed on the Koran dripped down into a cell from a vent overhead after a guard went outside to urinate, and the Koran in the cell happened to be underneath the vent. The Pentagon has issued this statement:

In 31,000 documents covering 28,000 interrogations and countless thousands interactions with detainees, having issued 1,600 Korans, Southcom found 5 incidents of apparent mishandling by guards or interrogators and 15 incidents of mishandling and outright desecration by detainees. Southcom's policy of Koran handling is obviously serious, respectful, and appropriate. The Hood enquiry confirms that.

[JURIST] In a long-awaited decision [text] handed down Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected the state's proposed $145 million dollar finance plan for public schools. In late March 2005 lawmakers approved [Lawrence Journal-World report] the additional $145 million in state funding to be used primarily for programs aiding special education, low income students, and bilingual learning. The ruling is the latest development [school finance timeline] in a lawsuit originally filed in 1999 on behalf of parents and school administrators in Dodge City and Salina school districts who were angered by what they saw as unfair distribution of education funds. In May 2004, a state judge ordered that Kansas state spending on public schools be stopped [JURIST report] after finding the school finance system unconstitutional because it underfunded the education of all students, especially minorities. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer [official profile] Friday vetoed a part of the new penal code {JURIST report] approved by the Turkish Parliament [government website in Turkish] that would have lowered the penalty for anyone caught teaching the Koran outside of approved religious educational institutions. Under old Turkish law, schools and religious educational organizations wishing to teach the Koran must demonstrate that they do not promote "dangerous, fundamentalist" principles in their teachings and that they do not call for the abolition of the Turkish secular state. Anyone caught violating these provisions faces three to six years imprisonment. The new law would have lowered the penalty to three to twelve months. Sezer said that the law would promote illegal hardline schools calling for the creation of an Islamic Turkish government. Parliament can override Sezer's veto by approving the legislation a second time, but Sezer can still challenge the bill in the Turkish Constitutional Court [judicial website in Turkish]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Turkey. Islam Online has more.

In other international legal news ...

• Reports out of Burundi [government website in French] say that scattered violence has marred the opening of polls in the African nation as it attempts to hold the first of four national polls [JURIST report] that will ultimately lead to a new independent government. State-owned Radio Burundi said that violence had been reported in the Bubuanza and Bujumbura Rural provinces, and listed nearly 14 polling stations in another province that had yet to be opened. The report also put initial turnout estimates in excess of three million, on track to be one of the highest election turnouts in Burundi history. The UN Mission in Burundi [official website] has deployed both peacekeepers and election observers to monitor the voting process. IRIN News has more.
  
  
• Swaziland [government website], the southern African nation known for its beautiful landscapes and scenery, announced on Friday that it has taken steps to ensure that it maintains those traits by recreating the Swaziland Environmental Authority and expanding its power. Swaziland Minister of Environment and Tourism Thandi Shongwe said the that SEA would move from its past history of merely setting enviornmental policy to a more proactive management function. The agency now has the power to bring legal actions against corporations it believes to be violating Swazilands tough environmental protection laws. IRIN has more.
  
  
• In addition to training special forces soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army, visiting US military officials will also be conducting a week-long class in international humanitarian law [International Red Cross backgrounder]. The class, which US officials said is ready to begin as early as Monday and is merely waiting approval from Nepalese military officials, will be conducted by the US Defense Institute of International Legal Studies [official website] and will focus on introducing RNA commanders and officers to the basic provisions of international humanitarian law and will use case studies of situations involving crimes against humanity and war crimes to train the officers in how to respond to these situations. The course is designed to train officers about their obligations and abilities under the international law of armed conflict. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. The Himalayan Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] In the biggest settlement yet in the Catholic clergy child sex abuse scandal [JURIST news archive], the Kentucky Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington [official website] agreed on Friday to set up a $120 million fund to pay victims. A judge must approve the settlement, which would end a class-action lawsuit [Kentucky Post report] brought by more than 100 alleged victims who accuse the diocese of a 50-year cover-up of abuses. Compensation will range from $5,000 to $450,000 per victim, with $40 million coming from church real estate and investments and $80 million from insurance. The Covington Diocese has issued a press statement on the settlement. AP has more.

[JURIST] Following up on a report Thursday in JURIST's Paper Chase, Serbian Minister for Human Rights Rasim Ljajic [profile] said Friday that Serbian TV's broadcast of a disturbing video [ICTY excerpts via JURIST's Monitor] of six Bosnian Muslim youths being slaughtered by Serb paramilitaries may change public opinion and lead to the arrest of the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, General Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; indictment]. Mladic, indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] and long sought-after [JURIST report] by international agencies and Serb authorities, is believed to be hiding in a wartime bunker near Sarajevo or possibly with sympathizers in Montenegro. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Miami federal judge has ruled [opinion, PDF] that Florida violated the terms of a 1991 agreement to reduce phosphorus levels in the Everglades. The US Supreme Court previously remanded [JURIST report] the case after hearing an appeal [JURIST report]. The decision by the 11th Circuit [text] resulted from a lawsuit [advocacy website press release] by the Miccosukee Indian tribe [official website] that claimed their reservation in the Everglades suffered damage from polluted runoff. In his ruling Wednesday US District Court Judge Federico Moreno ordered a special master to hold a hearing within 90 days to recommend the next course of action. The St. Petersburg Times has more.

[JURIST] Jurors in the trial of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive] told US District Court Judge Karon Bowdre in a note Friday that they were deadlocked with regard to all charges [original indictment, PDF]. Scrushy, who has been accused of mail and wire fraud as well as money laundering, is the first CEO to be charged under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act [summary]. The message raises the possibility of a mistrial [JURIST report] but the judge is expected to reiterate to the jurors the importance of reaching a unanimous decision. AP has more.

[JURIST] Eight men appeared in a South African court Friday to face charges of breaking the country's anti-mercenary laws, enforced under the Foreign Military Assistance Act [text]. The South African men were freed in May, along with 53 other suspected mercenaries, from a Zimbabwe jail where they served time [JURIST report] for participating in an alleged coup attempt [BBC backgrounder] against Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema [Wikipedia profile]. According to their defense lawyer, the men knew nothing of the coup and "they genuinely believed that they had been recruited to do security work in [The Democratic Republic of the] Congo." The case has now been postponed and will resume in July. Sir Mark Thatcher [BBC profile], son of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher [official website], was found to be in violation of the anti-mercenary law [JURIST report] earlier this year as part of the same attempted coup. Upon agreeing to help investigators, Thatcher's jail sentence was suspended and he was fined [JURIST report]. BBC News has more. South Africa's Independent Online has local coverage.

[JURIST] A Syrian man wanted in connection with the Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive] appeared in a British court on Friday as Spain requested his extradition to face charges. Moutaz Almallah Dabas was arrested in England last month, accused of running a safe house in Spain [BBC report] and recruiting terrorists. A decision on the extradition proceeding is expected June 14. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, senior military commander of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, voiced frustration Thursday at press and rights group portrayals of abuse at the facility. Hood's comments follow a since-retracted Newsweek article [official website; JURIST report] describing mistreatment of the Koran and an Amnesty International report [official website; JURIST report] calling the prison camp the "gulag of our time." According to Hood, reporters do not visit the facilities themselves, ignoring what he called the military's "openness and willingness" to work with them. Every organization that has stated an interest in the past two years, said Hood, has been alllowed to visit the detention facilities. Reporters who visit the base have, however, expressed frustration with extensive rules and restrictions on photography on and on reporting names of prison employees. They also claim that the details about provided about detainess are insufficient. The Washington Times has more.

[JURIST] Jurors began deliberations Thursday in the retrial [JURIST report] of former Tyco International Ltd. [corporate website] top executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz. The first proceeding ended in a mistrial [JURIST report] last April because of outside pressure on a juror [JURIST report]. The two Tyco executives are charged [PDF indictment] with grand larceny and securities fraud in connection with large bonuses and other compensation they received while running the company. AP has more.

[JURIST] Voters in Switzerland will decide in a referendum set for Sunday June 5 whether gay couples should have the right to register as partners and have legal rights similar to as married couples. A recent poll says 67 percent of Swiss voters want the measure approved. If passed, the new law would bring Switzerland in line with 12 other European countries in allowing same-sex marriage or registration. Same-sex couples in Switzerland would still not be able to adopt children [Swissinfo report] or have the same technical legal status as married couples. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Republican insiders claim that the Bush administration is preparing to send dozens of new judicial nominations [JURIST news archive] to the Senate for confirmation in an effort to test the bipartisan filibuster deal struck last week [JURIST report; NRO text] by moderates on both sides of the aisle. Under the deal Democrats have pledged not to filibuster nominations except in "extraordinary circumstances," a standard strategists think the Bush administration will attempt to push. Though no names have surfaced as potential nominees, the White House has indicated that it does not plan to tamper with the selection process regardless of any deals struck in the Senate. Friday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Maverick Andrei Illarionov [official website], a top economic advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that the recent conviction of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive] for fraud and tax evasion had caused Russia major harm and had dramatically changed the country's political landscape. While the Kremlin denies any political motive in the arrest, trial and 9-year sentence of Khodorkovsky and his partner [JURIST report], critics view the process as an attempt to crush an independent voice. After expressing concerns about the trial, free speech, and Russian policy earlier this year Illarinov was stripped of his G8 duties [JURIST report], and it is unclear what, if any, the consequences of his latest comments might be. Of the Khodorkovsky trial itself Illarinov said, “I think the court showed deep incompetence from the economic and judicial points of view. I was shocked by the low level of people representing the state . . . I felt a deep sense of shame for a state that for some reason had to be represented in such a way.” MosNews has more.

[JURIST] Three US soldiers attached to Fort Carson [base website], Colorado, have been ordered to stand trial for murder in connection with the death of an Iraqi general [JURIST report]. Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, Chief Warrant Officer Jeff L. Williams, and Spc. Jerry Loper are charged with murder, assault, and dereliction of duty during combat actions. On November 26, 2003, Maj. Gen. Abed Mowhoush died during an interrogation at a makeshift prison in western Iraq. Prosecutors say Mowhoush suffocated [AP report] when he was shoved headfirst into a sleeping bag and sat on. No date has been set for the trial. The Colorado Springs Gazette has local coverage.

[JURIST] In a move to end two weeks of protests [BBC report], Bolivian President Carlos Mesa [Wikipedia profile; official website in Spanish] Thursday signed a decree for an October 16 election [Reuters report] to pick members of a constituent assembly to rewrite the Bolivian constitution, acceding to a demand of the country's indigenous majority. A referendum will be held the same day to determine whether more power should be shifted from the central government in La Paz to the provinces. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] US Army Pvt. Brandon Hughey [advocacy website], who fled to Canada after refusing a deployment order to Iraq and deserting his unit at Fort Hood, formally asked the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board [official website] for asylum Thursday. Hughey has claimed that the war in Iraq is illegal and that he had a moral obligation to desert; he told the Board he would go to prison if forced to return to the US and that he refused "to kill people or lose my life under false pretenses." Jeremy Hinzman [advocacy website], a US reservist who served in Afghanistan and accused the US of war crimes in Iraq [JURIST report], also sought asylum in Canada [JURIST report], but his application was denied [JURIST report] by the Board in March after it ruled it was not convinced that Hinzman would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if returned to the United States. Seven other American military personnel have so far applied for Canadian refugee status. KWTX has local coverage.

[JURIST] A same-sex marriage bill [text] introduced in the California Assembly [JURIST report] appears to be dead after coming up four votes short of approval on its third go-round Thursday, making it likely that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not get a bill on the subject this year. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Mark Leno complained afterwards that gay and lesbian couples were being treated as "second-class citizens". The general issue meanwhile heads to the California Supreme Court, after state Attorney General Bill Lockyer earlier this week appealed [JURIST report] a state Superior Court ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of decisive referendum defeats for the proposed EU Constitution this week in France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report], UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw [official profile] is expected to announce in the House of Commons on Monday that the legislation for a British referendum on the constitution will be suspended [London Times report]. The constitution needs to be ratified by all EU member nations to go into effect. A European summit is scheduled for June 16-17 [Christian Science Monitor report] to determine the future of the process. Luxembourg is the next country to vote on the charter in a referendum scheduled for July 10, and Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker [official profile], who currently also holds the rotating presidency of the European Council, has promised to resign [AFP report] if voters there reject the constitution. Even in Luxembourg, however, No support has surged from 24 percent to 41 percent since October. A Danish referendum is still scheduled for September, but recent polls show a swing from an 8-point lead for Yes to a 9-point lead to No. Irish leaders say they will continue to plan for a referendum but will wait until after the summit to make final plans.

[JURIST] Host country Sweden says it intends to push for strict new rules on polluters at the 28th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting [official website] convening in Stockholm June 6-17. A draft proposal that has been under neogotiation for some 20 years would require companies and organizations to take appropriate precautionary measures and would hold them liable for any local environmental disasters they cause, such as oil spills. The 45 nations who have signed the Antarctic Treaty [summary] would be required to enforce the liability rules. Though governments are already required to assess the possible environmental impact of their activities in Antarctica, this would be the first measure to set legal responsibility and appropriate compensation for a disaster. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Thursday ordered the US Army to release 144 photographs and four movies taken by an American soldier relating to prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive]. The photographs, provided by Sgt. Joseph Darby [CBS News profile], set off the prisoner abuse scandal [ABC News report] in 2004 when he described them to his commander. The court order came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU [press release]. The photographs were ordered to be released by June 30, in order to allow faces to be obscured. The court also gave the Army 10 days to estimate how long it would take to do the same with the four videos. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Chelan County Superior Court [official website] Judge John Bridges said Thursday that he will issue an oral decision Monday, June 6, on a GOP challenge [JURIST report] to the validity of votes cast in the 2004 governor's race awarded to by Democrat Christine Gregoire after multiple recounts. Lawyers for Republican candidate Dino Rossi [campaign website] have asked that illegal votes allegedly cast by felons and dead people be thrown out. Regardless of the outcome Monday, the losing side is expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court. TVW, the public affairs television network in Washington state, is providing live daily coverage of the election challenge case; TVW also provides archived video and audio of past proceedings. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more.

[JURIST] As anticipated [JURIST report], Turkey has implemented a revised penal code in satisfaction of one of two pre-conditions for its eventual accession to the European Union. Turkish president Ahmet Necdet Sezer [official website] has yet to formally approve the revision, however, and changes to the text may be in the offing after claims by opposition aprties that last-minute measures added by ministers may be problematic for secularists in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. While the new law increases protection for women and punitive measures against "honour killings" of girls, it also stiffens penalties for "insulting" state institutions. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [official website] has expressed concern that some of the code's language, such as that calling for prison sentences for those who disregard the state's "fundamental national interests," is too vague and open to abuse by zealous state prosecutors. The second pre-condition for Turkey's accession to the EU is the extension of Turkey's existing treaties to cover the 10 countries that became EU member states in May last year [official EU timeline]. Turkey is not expected to be allowed to join the bloc for at least another 9 years. The Financial Times has more.