[JURIST] Former Illinois Governor George Ryan [Wikipedia profile], who made national headlines and won praise in some quarters in January 2003 when just before leaving office he commuted the executions of all Illinois inmates then on death row [CNN file report; Ryan speech], will go on trial [defense website] Monday in Chicago on 22 counts of corruption and fraud [indictment, PDF; US DOJ press release, PDF]. The charges against him stem from a bribes-for-licenses scandal originating in the Illinois Secretary of State's office which Ryan occupied for 8 years before running for Governor in 1998. When the scandal broke during a federal investigation called Operation Safe Road [US DOJ materials] it made it him virtually un-reelectable, prompting him to step aside in 2003. Ryan's former campaign manager and chief of staff is already serving a six-and-a-half year prison term and is expected to the lead-off witness against Ryan, who has vigorously denied any wrongdoing. The trial is already being billed as a battle between legal heavyweights [St. Louis Post-Dispatch report], pitting leading defense attorney Dan Webb against Patrick Collins, a rising star in the Chicago prosecutor's office. AP has more.

[JURIST] The head of a support group for families of Kuwaiti prisoners held by the US at the Guantanamo Bay military prison has said that American authorities have agreed to release five of the remaining eleven Kuwait prisoners held at the facility, but have not yet agreed to a timetable for their transfer. Khalid al-Ouda expressed hope, however, that that would be within a month. Ouda said that meanwhile six of the eleven Kuwait detainees had joined the hunger strike at the prison [JURIST report] now in its second month, and that two had had to be hospitalized after refusing food for five weeks. The other four were "not in good health." The only Kuwaiti detainee released from Guantanamo thusfar is Nasser al-Mutairi, who was transferred to Kuwaiti custody in January [JURIST report] and later cleared by a Kuwait court [JURIST report]. Project Kuwaiti Freedom [advocacy website] offers additional material on the detention and condition of the Kuwaiti detainees. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Afghans voted in their first parliamentary elections [JEMB factbox] in decades Sunday, without the significant violence feared by officials [JURIST report]. Anti-government Taliban fighters had agreed not to attack civilian voters, but warned people to stay away from areas where militants may attack security forces and foreign troops [BBC report]. In the last 6 months, militants have killed seven parliamentary candidates and four election workers, but the nation's 6,000 polling locations were heavily guarded by 40,000 Afghan police and foreign troops. Election results and turnout figures have not been released, but officials estimate that slightly fewer than the 8 million Afghans who voted in last October's presidential election turned out Sunday to elect members of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament) [Wikipedia backgrounder] and provincial councils. Results tallying will begin Tuesday and provisional results will be released when 20% of the votes are counted. Review a Afghanistan's electoral law [PDF] and other election-related regulations [JAMB materials] as translated into English. The Joint Electoral Management Body in Afghanistan [official website] has local election materials and coverage, including a rosy press release issued just before the polls closed. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan [official website] has posted a photo gallery of today's vote. AP has more.

[JURIST] Widespread hunger strikes at the US military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] are troubling senior US commanders and presenting serious challenges in managing the detainees, the New York Times reported Sunday. As many as 200 detainees or more than 1/3 of the camp's population, have refused food recently to protest prison conditions and their extended detention without trial. Military officials acknowledge that 20 inmates have required feeding through nasal tubes and intravenous lines, but Kristine Huskey, a lawyer who visited Gitmo last week, says the hunger strike is "far more widespread than the government is letting on." An anonymous senior military official told the Times that the situation is greatly troublesome for the camp's authorities and said they have tried repeatedly to end the strike without success. The New York Times has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• More Gitmo detainees hospitalized
• Gitmo hunger strike gains momentum
• Hunger strike at Gitmo enters second month
• Gitmo detainees begin new hunger strike
• Gitmo prisoners protest detentions with hunger strike

[JURIST] Iraq's National Assembly Sunday signed off on what a senior lawmaker called the absolute final draft of the country's proposed permanent constitution [JURIST news archive], and said the text had been turned over to the UN for printing. Deputy National Assembly speaker Hussain al-Shahristani told reporters "There is no way there will be any changes now... The draft is being submitted to the United Nations and will be presented to the Iraqi people soon." A UN official confirmed that the draft had been received and said printing and mass distribution would get under way immediately. As was the case when the Assembly received the original draft three weeks ago [JURIST report], however, no formal vote of approval was taken by Iraqi lawmakers; al-Shahristani said that was a matter for the people, not parliament. The changes in the definitive version of the charter over its last revised version [JURIST document] are very minor, and Iraq's Sunnis remain deeply opposed to it, especially deploring its embrace of federalism, which they say will be fatal to the unified future of the country. Senior Sunni lawmakers have already said they will campaign vigorously for rejection of the charter in the national referendum scheduled for October 15 [JURIST report]. The charter will fail if two-thirds of voters in three or more of Iraq's 18 provinces reject it; Sunnis have majorities in at least three provinces. AP has more. Reuters provides additional coverage.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• UN waiting for Iraqi Assembly to sign off on constitution before printing draft
• Iraq constitution not yet finalized, printing delayed
• Iraqi constitution draft ready for final approval, lawmakers say
• New talks on Iraq constitution address Arab identity
• UPDATE ~ US ambassador predicts more changes to Iraqi draft constitution

[JURIST] Iran [JURIST news archive; IAEA issue backgrounder] cautioned the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] Sunday that a referral to the UN Security Council [official website] may encourage Tehran to begin uranium enrichment. Iran broke seals at a uranium conversion plant [JURIST report] in August, prompting international concern [JURIST report]. The IAEA board of governors meets Monday [press release] to vote whether to recommend Iran to the Security Council for sanctions. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, "We haven't started (uranium) enrichment yet but everything depends on the result of tomorrow's meeting." Tehran has argued that under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [text] to which it is a party, it has a right to maintain a nuclear program and that Iran's only goal is to produce electricity, not weapons. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Chilean President Ricardo Lagos [official profile] enacted a new constitution for his country Saturday designed to improve the nation's democratic system. Chile's previous constitution [text, in Spanish] was approved in a controversial referendum in 1980 under the military rule of General Augusto Pinochet [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive]. The new constitution [Chilean government backgrounder], approved by Chile's Congress in July, reduces the presidential term from 6 years to 4 years, gives the president control over the armed forces, abolishes senator-for-life positions and requires all senators be elected through democratic elections. The military-controlled National Security Council, which previously wielded power equal to the president, has been stripped of its decision making abilities and now serves as a presidential advisory group. At the signing ceremony, President Lagos declared [text of speech], "We now have a constitution that represents us all." Xinhuanet has more.