[JURIST] The US Defense Department [official website] Tuesday directed that suspended military commission proceedings against Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [Wikipedia profile; advocacy website] be resumed following a July US appeals court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [PDF] that military commission trials did not have to be predicated by a ruling on terror detainees' POW status by another "competent tribunal". Hicks has been accused of fighting with the Taliban against US forces in Afghanistan and is charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy. His trial is set to be held no earlier than October 3 and no later than October 20, 2005. The news is not good for Hicks himself, whose lawyers had been hoping to avoid a trial [JURIST report], citing worries about the lack of time the defense team would have to prepare. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Authors Guild [advocacy website], an advocacy organization for published writers, together with a former Poet Laureate, a Lincoln biographer and a children's book author, Tuesday sued search engine and advertising giant Google [press release; complaint, PDF] alleging "massive copyright infringement at the expense of the rights of individual writers." The class action suit filed in federal court in Manhattan alleges that Google [Google backgrounder] has engaged in unauthorized scanning and copying of books through its Google Print Library Project [Google backgrounder; advocacy copyright analysis, PDF]. The project, which involves the scanning and digitizing of library books, is a "plain and brazen violation of copyright law" according to Nick Taylor, the president of the Authors Guild, who added:

It's not up to Google or anyone other than the authors, the rightful owners of these copyrights, to decide whether and how their works will be copied.

[JURIST] The Saudi National Organization for Human Rights, the only human rights watchdog in Saudi Arabia [JURIST news archive], said Tuesday it has been banned from visiting Saudi prisoners in the US terror detention camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed, head of the group, said the US ambassador in Riyadh [official website] would not allow the group to travel to meet prisoners and inspect the conditions of their detention. The group had hoped to visit the detainees, investigate allegations of rights violations, including physical and psychological torture [Center for Constitutional Rights backgrounder] and ensure that the estimated 121 Saudi prisoners were afforded rights stipulated by treaty. UPI has more.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, Judge Richard Webber [official website] of the US District Court of Eastern Missouri has ruled that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] has failed to review its health standard for lead pollution in the air, and has ordered the agency to do so. The national standard for airborne lead is to be reviewed every five years, but the EPA has not reviewed the lead standard since 1990. The St. Louis Post- Dispatch has more.

In other environmental law news...

• The US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] has ruled [PDF text] Monday that metro Atlanta, Georgia, can use Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River to meet its water needs for the next 10 to 20 years. Alabama, Florida and Georgia share the Chattahoochee River and have been fighting over its water for decades. AP has more.



• After rejecting a motion [JURIST report] to dismiss the pollution charges against Newmont Mining and its local unit director Richard Ness, presiding Indonesia court Justice Ridwan Damanik said that "the first and second defendant, directly or indirectly, did not prevent the occurrence of pollution in Buyat Bay." The five-judge Indonesian court hearing the Newmont case panel will next meet October 7, 2005, when prosecutors will present their first witnesses. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The military judge in the court-martial of Pfc. Lynndie England [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] for her role in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq on Tuesday barred the release of photos in her upcoming trial [JURIST report], many of which were published when the scandal came to light in early 2004. Many of the photos depict England posing while taunting Iraqi prisoners. Some of the photos have still not been publicly released, including several sexually explicit ones, and the unreleased shots will only be shown to officers on the jury. Echoing comments he made in England's initial mistrial earlier this year, Judge Col. James Pohl also expressed some doubt in a final pre-trial hearing about England's central defense that she was complying with orders from superiors and was unable to make her own judgments. Although she originally pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to abuse charges, Pohl subsequently threw out that plea deal [JURIST report] after hearing evidence that England thought she was following orders at the time of the abuse. Jury selection in England's new trial is expected to begin Wednesday. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's states brief, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal [official website] announced today that his state will recognize the civil unions and domestic partnerships of other states, although not same-sex marriages. In a legal opinion [text], Blumenthal stated, "Civil unions performed in other states are entitled to full faith and credit in Connecticut and cannot be repeated here." The state will not recognize same-sex marriage because state law defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Legislation allowing for civil unions in Connecticut [JURIST report] itself takes effect October 1. Gay rights activists said the ruling highlights that civil unions, currently available only in Vermont and Connecticut, need to be replaced with full marriage rights. Mary Bonauto, a lawyer for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) [advocacy website] said that Massachusetts couples who work in neigboring Connecticut would need to get civil unions in order to get the same legal protections afforded to heterosexual couples. Bonauto also pointed out that a Massachusetts resident could be barred from hospital visiting rights if their same-sex partner had an accident in Connecticut, adding that couples might find it degrading to have to pretend that they are not married. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• A Wisconsin court of appeals ruled [text] Tuesday that a man sent to prison on drug charges must be allowed to withdrawal his guilty plea because police lacked "reasonable suspicion" to search him as a suspect in a murder. Police stopped the man because he matched the description of the shooter as a black male wearing a black thigh-length jacket, black stocking cap and dark pants. The appeals court found that description, which did not include height, facial hair or age, too vague and likely "to encompass much of the area's population." The ruling reversed a lower court decision. AP has more.
  
  
• The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled [PDF text] that New Haven's promotion policies for civil service jobs permit too much discretion as to who gets promoted. The suit, originally brought by 5 police officers, claimed New Haven [official website] violated its charter by rounding up test scores, which increased the number of candidates for a promotion, and by using the rule of three which permitted the police chief to skip entire score groups. The court found that the combination of rounding test scores and creating score groups "circumvents the letter and undermines the spirit of the charter's [text] civil service provisions by allowing consideration of large groups of candidates for a single vacancy." City attorneys argued that discretion is essential to pick the best candidates and that the procedures are common practice. The New Haven Register has local coverage.

[JURIST] Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid [official website] said Tuesday that he would vote against the nomination of Judge John Roberts [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] for Chief Justice of the United States because he had too many questions remaining about him. Reid's announcement while speaking on the Senate floor came as a surprise, as many expected him to support the nomination. Some speculated that Reid's declaration was a warning to President Bush to nominate a moderate to fill the second Court vacancy left by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor [Wikipedia profile], a perennial swing vote in the Court's decisions. Reid said Roberts had not been completely forthcoming in his answers during confirmation hearings and did not distance himself sufficiently from his writings as an attorney in the Reagan administration. Reid admitted, however, that his decision was a close one and said he would not favor the use of a filibuster to block Roberts' nomination. That statement, which follows Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter's Monday backing of Roberts [JURIST report] in another Senate floor statement, makes it increasingly likely that Roberts will be confirmed by the Senate. A committee vote is expected on Thursday. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The US government has argued in a court filing that Pope Benedict XVI [official profile] has immunity as the head of the Vatican state [official website] and that a lawsuit against him should be dismissed. The lawsuit pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas charges the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his role as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] with covering up clergy sex abuse [JURIST news archive], including that of a seminarian at a Houston church in the mid-1990s. Similar lawsuits against high-ranking Catholic officials typically are unsuccessful because they are not served, but Pope Benedict XVI was in this case. Motions by the US government that such suits would interfere with the nation's foreign policy interests have typically resulted in their dismissal. US District Judge Lee Rosenthal did not immediately rule on the government motion. Meanwhile a Catholic website reported [CWNews.com report] Monday that Pope Benedict has recently approved an internal church policy barring the ordination of gay men [Newsday report] as priests, even if they are chaste. The instruction, which is to be made public in October, is said to be part of an effort to protect the church from future sex abuse scandals. AP has more.

[JURIST] China [JURIST news archive] has warned the UN against abusing a new international right to intervene to protect those threatened by genocide or war crimes agreed to last week [JURIST report] at a UN summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing [official profile] in a speech [PDF text] before the UN General Assembly [official website] said that the right to intervene remains subject to UN Security Council authorization, warning that "We are against any willful intervention on the ground of rash conclusion that a nation is unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens." As a permanent member of the Security Council, China holds one of the vetoes and has been largely responsible for the slow progress in addressing war crimes in the Darfur [JURIST news archive] region of Sudan. As part of a group of principles agreed to at the summit, member states agreed to a "responsibility to protect" civilians where their government has failed to do so. The provision was approved to address the UN's past failures to intervene in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo to halt ethnic cleansing. Li also said that China opposed revising the definition of self defense to clarify when pre-emptive action may be used against threats such as terrorism or nuclear proliferation. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan advocated such a revision at last week's reform summit [JURIST news archive], but the US blocked the effort. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Labor [official website] has implemented an exemption to requirements that government contractors have a written affirmative action plan if the contractors are working with the government for the first time on reconstruction projects following Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. Although its unclear whether the temporary exemption will have much impact, the Department said it was aimed at minimizing government paperwork and encouraging more contractors to assist in the reconstruction effort. The announcement, released in a Labor Department memo [PDF text] dated Sept. 9, comes as President Bush has been hit with criticisms that the government's response to the disaster was unfair to minorities. Under the typical regulations, contractors with more than 50 employees and $50,000 in federal contracts must have an affirmative action plan aimed at women, minorities, Vietnam veterans and those with disabilities. The exemption will last for three months unless further extended. Earlier this month, President Bush announced a suspension of a prevailing wage law [JURIST report] for federal contractors to facilitate the relief effort. The Labor Department has more on recovery assistance following Hurricane Katrina. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani [Wikipedia profile] said Tuesday that Iran would consider quitting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text; IAEA backgrounder] if the US or EU takes Iran before the UN Security Council over "breaches" of international atomic safeguards. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] is meeting in Vienna this week and one of the items on its agenda [IAEA statement] is Iran's implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement. The EU circulated a draft resolution [Reuters report] Tuesday that would report Iran to the Security Council for violating its obligations, but Iran said Tuesday that if negotiators deal with the county "in the language of humiliation, threat or introduce the so-called trigger mechanism or take it to the United Nations Security Council" this will prompt Tehran to withdraw from the NPT and resume uranium enrichment. AFP has more. IRNA has local coverage. The IAEA has background on Iran's nuclear activities.

[JURIST] Several rights groups and two African-American registered Georgia voters have filed a lawsuit [PDF complaint; ACLU press release] challenging a Georgia law [PDF text; ACLU fact sheet, DOC] that requires voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. The plaintiffs - including Common Cause/Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia, the NAACP, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus - are seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it "imposes an unauthorized, unnecessary and undue burden on the fundamental right to vote" in violation of the Georgia and US constitutions and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. According to plaintiffs' lawyers, the law discriminates against minorities, the elderly, poor and disabled and the $20 fee to obtain state identification is an unconstitutional poll tax. The US Department of Justice in August approved the Georgia law [JURIST report], as is required under the 1965 Voting Rights Act [DOJ backgrounder] for all changes in voting requirements in states with a history of suppressing minority votes. Though DOJ approval is meant to ensure that the changes do not have a discriminatory purpose or effect, it does not prevent a subsequent court challenge. Three other states also require voters to show photo identification, but Georgia is the only state to require that the ID be government-issued. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Opponents of GA voter ID law to file federal lawsuit
• ACLU, Georgia spar over voter ID card fees
• Georgia voter ID law receives DOJ approval
• Georgia governor signs voter photo ID law

[JURIST] Six fellow inmates of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive] are planning on running against him for a seat in Russia's State Duma. Candidates began registering with the elections commission Monday as the race officially began, though neither Khodorkovsky nor any other inmates have yet filed their registrations in Moscow's Universitesky district. Khodorkovsky, who is serving a nine-year jail sentence [JURIST report] following his conviction [JURIST report] on tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement charges, announced his parliamentary bid [JURIST report] last month. Khodorkovsky is currently appealing his conviction and is only eligible to run while his case is under appeal or if his conviction is overturned. On Tuesday, the Moscow court considering his appeal agreed to another delay in proceedings [AP report] while Khodorkovsky's lawyer recovers from illness. Russian political analysts are calling the emergence of additional candidates from Khodorkovsky's prison a Kremlin ploy aimed at discrediting Khodorkovsky's campaign, while still ensuring high voter turnout. The Moscow Times has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that former Hollinger International President and COO and former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler has pleaded guilty to his role in diverting $32 million from Hollinger.

11:34 AM ET - Radler was indicted last month on federal mail and wire fraud charges [PDF indictment] and Tuesday's plea was widely expected [JURIST report]. Radler was charged with five counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud; each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Details of the plea agreement are not yet available, but it is expected that Radler will testify against former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black, who is facing the prospect of criminal charges [JURIST report] for looting the company. Canadian Press has more.

4:17 PM ET - Radler pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and agreed to serve a 29-month jail term and pay a $250,000 fine, but will be sentenced after he cooperates with US prosecution of other cases relating to the alleged Hollinger fraud. Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] Discussions are ongoing between at least five online music file-sharing companies and recording industry executives in an attempt to convert the networks, which allow users to freely swap music over the internet, to paid services. Several companies have initiated settlement discussions following the US Supreme Court's decision in June in MGM v. Grokster [opinion], which that held that owners of file-sharing services can be held liable for contributing to copyright infringement. Record industry executives say they are seeking settlements which require file sharing networks to transition to paid services which prohibit the trading of copyrighted files without the permission of the copyright owner. Grokster [corporate website; Wikipedia profile], which still faces a copyright infringement lawsuit after the Supreme Court's decision, has agreed in principle to be acquired by Sony-funded Mashboxx [website; formation press release], the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The New York Times has more. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has in-depth coverage of the Grokster case.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Australian court rules music file sharing violates copyright laws
• Recording studio to sue college students on Internet2
• UK music industry claims victory in file-sharing settlements
• Norway proposes stiff new copyright law

[JURIST] An Indonesian court Tuesday rejected a request to drop a pollution case against US gold mining company Newmont Mining [US corporate website; Indonesian website] and the company's local subsidiary president director Richard Ness. Ness, from Ada, MN, will stand trial on October 7 and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $68,000 fine if convicted of dumping mercury and arsenic containing pollutants into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi Island. Although the government claims the pollutants depleted fishing stocks and caused villagers to develop skin diseases and other illnesses, the World Health Organization [official website] and an initial Environment Ministry report found the bay to be unpolluted. The trial is of interest to potential foreign investors who have expressed anxiety regarding the nation's legal system [BBC report]. The company is also facing a $133.6 million civil suit on the claim. AP has more. Newmont has a press release on Tuesday's decision.

[JURIST] Carla del Ponte, the United Nations' chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive], said Monday that the Roman Catholic Church [official website] and Vatican officials are concealing the location of the third most wanted war criminal from the Yugoslav conflict, General Ante Gotovina [ICTY case backgrounder; Wikipedia profile]. Gotovina is believed to be hiding in a Franciscan monastery in Croatia, but Vatican officials refuse to pinpoint which of the nation's 80 monasteries it is. Del Ponte said Vatican officials refuse to cooperate because they were not a state and had "no international obligations" to help the UN hunt war criminals. The Vatican has also refused to refute a statement by Bishop Mile Bogovic [profile] calling Gotovina a "symbol of victory" and declaring the tribunal a "political court" determined to distort Croatia's past. Gotovina, who is Croatian, is accused of overseeing the execution of at least 150 Serb civilians and the forced deportation of approximately 200,000 others. The Telegraph has more.

2:21 PM ET - A Vatican spokesman rejected Del Ponte's allegations [press release, in Italian] Tuesday, saying that the Vatican's foreign minister met with Del Ponte over the summer to discuss her claims that the Vatican is protecting Gotovina. The Vatican said it asked Del Ponte in July "to indicate with as much precision as possible the evidence on which she based her belief that General Gotovina had taken refuge in certain religious buildings in Croatia, in order to contact the relevant religious authorities," but Del Ponte did not respond to the request. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer for Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that his defense team still has not been informed by Iraqi authorities of the trial date and charges pressed against the ousted Iraqi leader and reiterated doubts about the impartiality of the proceeding. Khalil Dulaimi said in a statement to AFP, "We have not been duly informed about any certain date for a trial... The defense has not been enabled to review any files of the charges or even any paper of investigation, despite the fact that we have made many and repeated requests to this effect." Dulaimi also said that the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] had denied requests to include Arab and Iraqi lawyers as part of Hussein's defense team [JURIST report] and that he had been "prevented from exchanging legal documents with his lawyer." Dulaimi refused to elaborate on his comment that the defense team "have not and will not recognize any date for the trial if it comes within weeks or months." Hussein is scheduled to face trial on October 19 [JURIST report] for the killing of 143 Shiites in Dujail. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer for 11 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives] says that 90 percent of the 505 prison camp detainees are participating in a hunger strike [JURIST report] in "varying degrees," while US military officials have said that only 91 detainees are participating. The military defines a hunger strike as missing 9 or more consecutive meals, while Kristine Huskey, a Washington lawyer says detainees who miss a meal or two in a day and refuse to take liquids should be considered on strike. Army public affairs office Major Jeffrey Weir said Sunday that despite some of the detainees' desire to commit "a slow form of suicide," "no one is anywhere near death." The detainees are participating in their second hunger strike since July to protest their indefinite imprisonments. Many of the detainees have been held for three and a half years and only 4 have been charged with war crimes. British-born attorney Clive Stafford Smith [BBC profile], who represents about 40 detainees, says "The military wants to downplay this...The truth is, these guys are going to die." USA Today has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Gitmo hunger strike unsettling senior US commanders
• 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] Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [Wikipedia profile], an American student who was detained in Saudi Arabia, claims to be the mastermind behind the plot to kill President Bush [JURIST report], according to court papers released Monday. The US Department of Justice, who charged Abu Ali for his role in the plot and for his link to al-Qaeda [PDF indictment; JURIST report], said Monday that Abu Ali was trained to carry out attacks in the US on behalf of al-Qaeda. Abu Ali's lawyers argue that statements made to Saudi interrogators were only made after he had been tortured. The DOJ maintains that claims of torture have been fabricated. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled Monday that the Justice Department will be allowed to offer testimony from two Saudi officials who were involved in Abu Ali's interrogation. The two will to testify via a live video feed from Saudi Arabia using pseudonyms, because Saudi Arabia will not permit them to travel to the US to participate in the proceedings. Abu Ali is in custody in Virginia and faces life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy to assassinate the president and attack US airliners. Tuesday's New York Times has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Federal judge orders al Qaeda suspect to produce evidence in Saudi torture claim
• Bush assassination plot suspect allegedly tortured by Saudis
• Federal judge says Bush plot suspect can be examined for signs of torture
• Man accused of plotting Bush assassination pleads not guilty
• Attorneys seek release of alleged Bush assassination plotter
• BREAKING NEWS ~ Man charged with plotting to assassinate President Bush

[JURIST] David Safavian [profile], a former Bush administration official who served as the chief of staff of the General Services Administration (GSA) [agency website] and until Friday served as the administration's top procurement official [White House press release, PDF] in the Office of Management and Budget [official website], was charged Monday with making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation. The charges stem from Safavian's concealment of a 2002 golf trip to Scotland, valued at $100,000, that he took with lobbyist Jack Abramoff [Wikipedia profile], who had business before the GSA. Prior to the trip, Safavian told a GSA ethics officer that Abramoff had no business dealings with the GSA, but Abramoff was trying to access 40 acres of land at the Federal Research Center at White Oak [facility backgrounder] in Silver Spring, Maryland to build a private high school. The FBI affidavit also says that Safavian edited a letter that Abramoff was preparing to send to the GSA, and coordinated and attended a meeting involving a GSA official, the lobbyist's wife and others to discuss leasing the Silver Spring property. In an unrelated case, Abramoff was indicted [JURIST report] by federal prosecutors in Miami last month on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. AP has more.

[JURIST] Simon Wiesenthal, an Austrian Holocaust survivor who helped to track down over 1,000 Nazi war criminals after World War II, including Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at age 96 Tuesday. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Los-Angeles based Simon Wiesenthal Center [center website] said Wiesenthal, a survivor of five Nazi death camps "became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice." Wiesenthal lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust and spent over 50 years tracking down 1,100 Nazi war criminals and speaking out against anti-semitism, and has been quoted as saying, "[w]hen history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it." A memorial service for Wiesenthal will be held in Vienna's central cemetery on Wednesday with funeral services in Israel. AP has more. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has a press release on Wiesenthal's death.

[JURIST] Mexican prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo has made a second bid to arrest former Mexican president Luis Echeverria [Wikipedia profile] in connection with killings of student protesters, according to a statement made Monday by Echeverria's lawyer. Dozens of students and other civilians were killed on October 2, 1968 when police and military officials opened fire on them during a protest. Activists put the death toll at up to 350, while officials say the number was 25. Carrillo has already tried to have Echeverria arrested for a 1971 student massacre [JURIST report], but a court rejected his efforts in July, saying there was insufficient evidence. In a separate attempt to prosecute Echeverria, the Mexican Supreme Court dismissed genocide charges against Echeverria [JURIST report] early last year, ruling that international law against genocide does not take precedence over Mexico's national 30-year statute of limitations. At the time of the 1968 killings, Echeverria was the interior secretary for Mexico, but later served as president from 1970-1976. In addition to the investigation into the two student massacres, Carrillo is also investigating guerrillas who went missing during Mexico's dirty war in the 1970s and 1980s. AP has more.

[JURIST] British forces freed two British soldiers from an Iraqi jail Monday, though British and Iraqi officials are offering different accounts of what happened. The two freed British soldiers, thought to be undercover commandos, were arrested by the Iraqis earlier Monday [BBC report] for shooting two Iraqi policeman, one of whom died. Mohammed al-Walli, governor of Basra, said the men were removed through a barbaric raid on the jail that caused its destruction, and called Britain's actions irresponsible as they allowed 150 other Iraqi prisoners to flee. The UK Ministry of Defense [official website] has said the two men were released after negotiations between the UK and Iraq, and a British military official said the men were rescued because they ended up being held by Shia militia [MoD press release]. The arrests have sparked new debate over just how much sovereignty Iraq was granted after the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority [official website] handed over power to Iraq's interim government in 2004. Brigadier John Lorimer said that Iraqi law [CPA order 17, PDF] required that Iraq immediately hand over the detained soldiers to the Multinational Force [official website]. AP has more. BBC News provides additional coverage.

[JURIST] The trial of 15 Uzbek men [JURIST report], accused of organizing the May 2005 Andijan uprising [HRW backgrounder] which led to government troops killing as many as 500 protestors [JURIST report] began Tuesday, but human rights groups are questioning the credibility of the proceedings. The 15 men sat in a metal cage in Uzbekistan's Supreme Court, as the charges, which include terrorism, hostage-taking, murder and attempted coup, were read to them. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] has continuously accused the Uzbek government of a cover-up [JURIST report] and said the government was trying to deny responsibility and silence witnesses. There are more than 100 people facing trial with the risk of a death sentence, according to Amnesty International [advocacy website]. The May rebellion started when armed supporters of imprisoned religious extremists took them out of jail, took police hostages and then seized a government building, killing anti-government protesters. Human Rights Watch said that police and secret services obtained confessions from Andijan residents of belonging to militant organizations while bearing arms during the protest. This prompted the group to suggest that the US and European Union should impose an arms embargo in Uzbekistan as well as a visa ban on senior government officials. There has been resistance by the Uzbek government to a full international inquiry [JURIST report] for an investigation when earlier this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an independent probe [press release; JURIST report] into the killings. Recently, the UN evacuated 11 Uzbek refugees to London [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

11:55 AM ET - The fifteen defendants pleaded guilty Tuesday to all charges against them. BBC News has more.