[JURIST] Following up on an earlier report on JURIST's Paper Chase, four Sunni Iraqi Cabinet members and one Deputy Prime Minister on Saturday announced their reservations with the proposed draft constitution [English translation; JURIST news archive]. The statement, filed by Culture Minister Nouri Farhan al-Rawi, Minister of State for Women's Affairs Azhar Abdel-Karim, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Saad al-Hardan, Industry Minister Osama al-Najafi and Deputy Prime Minister Abed Mutlaq al-Jbouri, contained a list of thirteen demands [AP report] that should be made to the draft before it will meet their approval. The demands include giving the drafting committee enough time to reach consensus on unresolved issues, postponing the question of a federal state, referring the issue of de-Baathification to the Justice Ministry rather than dealing with it in the constitution, and giving the next National Assembly the power to introduce constitutional amendments. Sunni agreement on the constitution is legally significant because of the Sunni majority in four provinces; a two-thirds rejection of the constitution in three provinces during the November referendum will defeat the draft, according to the Transitional Administrative Law [text]. The dissent of major Sunnis is also a major blow to the long-term US strategy in Iraq; President Bush's Saturday radio address [Real Audio, text transcript] expressed hope that as the Sunnis and other groups worked towards a constitutional compromise, Sunnis would leave the insurgency and US forces could be called home. AP has more.

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[JURIST] Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit Saturday responded to a renewed call for it to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty [text] in advance of a meeting of treaty members in New York in September by saying it would not do so until Israel joins the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [text]. Egypt, one of only eight states not to ratify the CTBT after signing it, expressed concern over Middle East stability given that Israel is the only Middle Eastern state not to sign the NPT. Although Israel has refused to confirm or deny the presence of a nuclear weapons program, it has long been suspected that Israel possesses hundreds of nuclear warheads. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Army's Criminal Investigation Command [official website] announced Friday that it is investigating a civilian lab worker who admitted to falsifying DNA test results in at least one instance, examining over 475 criminal cases dating back almost a decade. The test results, performed at the Army's Criminal Investigation Laboratory [official website] at Fort Gillem, GA, could cast doubt on a number of convictions over that period. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] granted approval Friday to a Georgia law [bill summary; JURIST report] that would require photo identification to vote in elections. This approval, which is required of Georgia and other states with a history of voter discrimination by the 1965 Voting Rights Act [DOJ backgrounder], allows the law to be enacted but does not prevent it from being challenged in court. Many groups have promised to bring such a challenge, alleging that the requirement of photo identification will disenfranchise the poor, the elderly, and minorities. AP has more. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has local coverage.

[JURIST] Responding to US-proposed changes [JURIST report] to the draft agreement to be signed at next month's summit on UN reform [UN materials], General Assembly President Jean Ping [official profile] has named a core group of countries, including the US, to negotiate a new text prior to the mid-September meeting. The group of about 30 countries will focus on questions of defining terrorism, tackling disarmament and financing development. Last week's US draft agreement strengthened sections on spreading democracy but deleted most mentions of treaties and institutions opposed by the US, such as the International Criminal Court [official website] and the Kyoto Protocol [UN backgrounder]. The Los Angeles Times has more. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has welcomed the intergovernmental negotiating process and said that he is looking forward to the group's first meeting Monday. KUNA has more.

[JURIST] Over the past three days, some 1,000 detainees have been released from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] in the largest release to date, the US military announced [press release] Saturday. According to Central Command, the release "marks a significant event in Iraq’s progress toward democratic governance and the rule of law." Those chosen for release are not guilty of violent crimes and have all renounced violence and pledged to be good citizens of a democratic Iraq. The prisoner release may be connected to a Sunni demand that Sunni prisoners be freed to participate in a referendum on the text of the Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive], although a US military spokesman would not verify this. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Supporters of Frances Newton [TX AG press release], slated to become the first black woman executed in Texas since the state took over executions from county authorities in 1923, held protests Saturday while her attorneys fight a last-minute battle to stop her death. They have filed a request for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles [official website] and have asked a Texas court to stay the execution, scheduled for September 14. Newton was convicted of killing her husband and two children on April 7, 1987, to collect $100,000 in insurance. In December 2004, Texas Governor Rick Perry [official website] stopped Newton’s execution two hours before it was scheduled in order to probe deeper into questionable forensics evidence. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [advocacy website] and Amnesty International [advocacy website] are both working to stop Newton’s execution. Amnesty International claims that she was convicted on circumstantial evidence [AI press release] and did not have access to adequate legal representation. They also suggest potential flaws in the DNA evidence. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US government has said that it will appeal a 22-year sentence [JURIST report] given to Ahmed Ressam [Wikipedia profile], an Algerian convicted of planning to kill travelers at Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s eve in 1999. In delivering Ressam’s sentence, Judge John C. Coughenour of the Western District of Washington used the opportunity to point out that US can deal with terrorist suspects without abandoning the US constitution. "We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, to deny him the right to counsel or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution," said Coughenour, contrasting this with the treatment of terrorist suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Ressam and his lawyers, in contrast, say that he has suffered a mental breakdown after government interrogations and years in solitary confinement. US Attorney John McKay [official profile] said Friday that he will seek a term of 35 years for Ressam, pointing out that he could have faced a 65-year sentence. With credit for time served, Ressam could be eligible for release after 14 years. Saturday's Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] Sunni Arab negotiators met with Iraqi parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani Saturday and presented him with a counter-proposal to the Iraqi draft constitution [English translation; JURIST news archive]. A meeting with the US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was also planned for Saturday, Sunni negotiator Fakhri al-Qaisi said. According to Al-Qaisi, if the amendments in the counter-proposal are not incorporated into a compromise, Sunnis would not accept the draft which Shiites and Kurds presented on Friday as their final offer [JURIST report]. Sunnis have rejected the Shiite position on the status of the Baath party [Wikipedia profile] and are pushing for decentralized provinces, with an exception for Kurdish areas. If Sunni demands are not met, Sunni leaders say they will push for a rejection of the constitution [AP report] in October's national referendum. Under the Transitional Administrative Law [text], if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's provinces reject the draft, the constitution will be defeated. AP has more.

1:20 PM ET - AP is reporting that four Sunni Cabinet ministers and one Sunni deputy prime minister have expressed reservations about the proposed constitutional draft.