[JURIST] Iraqis prepared to go the polls Saturday to cast ballots in a critical referendum [IECI factsheet, PDF] on a draft constitution [JURIST news archive] the terms of which were only finalized earlier this week [JURIST report] at the end of a high-pressure, high-stakes negotiating process urged on by the United States, too late to be reflected in millions of print copies distributed around the country by the UN [JURIST report]. Some 15.5 million Iraqis - Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis - are eligible to vote at some 6100 heavily-guarded polling places. A simple majority of voters [IECI voter information pamphlet, PDF] will suffice to approve the federalist charter, but a two-thirds majority against it in three or more of Iraq's 18 provinces will force its defeat. Supporters hope that last-minute changes to key terms [JURIST document] will entice reticent Sunnis to support the text, but despite its late endorsement by a leading Sunni party [JURIST report] key Sunni leaders who have campaigned against it on national unity grounds and who say the wording changes do not assuage their concerns still predict it will fail [JURIST report]. Rejection of the charter would precipitate a major political crisis in Iraq, but even ratification will not guarantee stability, as the document is pointedly open-ended and subject to further change in possible future referenda. The full vote count is expected to take up to five days. Reuters has more; the New York Times provides additional coverage. From Baghdad, the Iraq the Model weblog offers an Iraqi perspective on the imminent vote.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The Iraqi Constitution: What Would Approval Really Mean? | Video: Remaking Iraq: Federalism and Rights

[JURIST] A lawyer for detainees at the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] currently on hunger strike [JURIST report] argued Friday before US District Judge Gladys Kessler [official profile] that prisoner attorneys needed more frequent access to their clients. Julia Tarver, representing four Saudis detainees, said that the present rule allowing monthly visits was too limiting. She also asked the judge to allow defense doctors to visit striking prisoners being force-fed in camp hospitals, the conditions of which she decribed as "quite disturbing". A government lawyer said that hospitalized prisoners were receiving adequate medical care and that defense accounts of their treatment were exaggerated. Kessler is expected to make a ruling on the defense requests next week. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] said Friday that it would not reconsider its decision [PDF text; JURIST report] to end a two-year ban on Canadian cattle imports. Earlier this year a group of US cattle ranchers, R-CALF [advocacy website], challenged a USDA regulation [PDF text] that lifted an import ban put in place after Canada discovered its first domestic case of mad cow disease. The Ninth Circuit ruled in July that the judiciary should not intervene with the USDA's determination that it was safe to reopen the border. R-CALF has said that it will consider appealing the decision to the US Supreme Court. AP has more. R-CALF has made case materials available.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• US court reverses ban on Canadian cattle imports
• Federal appeals court hears challenge to Canadian cattle ban
• USDA to appeal cattle ruling; Senate votes to extend Canadian ban
• Federal judge blocks resumption of Canadian cattle imports

[JURIST] The chief counsel for Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has said that the US Attorney for the District of Columbia [official website] is now investigating conservative radio commentator Armstrong Williams [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive]. Williams was hired by the US Department of Education [official website] to promote the No Child Left Behind Act [text] without disclosing his connection to the administration. Lautenberg has been pressing from a criminal fraud investigation of the promotion [JURIST report] for some time. A recent ruling by the Government Accountability Office found the payments to Armstrong illegal [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] predicted on Friday that current efforts to dramatically expand the number of seats on the UN Security Council [official website] will fail. The 15-member council currently has five permanent members with veto power and ten non-permanent members. The US has stated that it will support limited expansion of the body, but recently rejected the so-called G-4 plan [JURIST report] promoted by Japan, German, Brazil and India calling for six additional permanent seats and four non-permanent seats. Speaking to the Chatham House [RIIA website] think tank in London, Bolton reiterated US support for Japan’s membership [JURIST report], but did not give any hints as to any other country nominations that the US would support. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Expanding the UN Security Council: Much Ado | Video: UN Security Council expansion debate | Topic: UN Reform

[JURIST] Palestinian Chief Justice Zuhair al-Sourani resigned Thursday in protest of legislation that gives government ministers the power to appoint judges. In a letter to President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile], al-Sourani wrote that he could not continue in his post unless the law, which al-Sourani says "has torn the independence of the judicial system to pieces," is rescinded. The new law, ratified on Tuesday, modifies a system where judges were nominated by a panel of senior judges and appointed to the bench by the president. In August, al-Sourani resigned [JURIST report] in protest over "lawlessness in the courts" but later withdrew his resignation [JURIST report] after Abbas promised to increase protection of courts and judges. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Canada must make "significant improvements" in its efforts to meet international human rights obligations, according to a new Amnesty International Canada report [text] critical of the Canadian government for reserving the right to deport people to countries where they may be tortured. The report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Committee [official website] in Geneva next week, where Canada is scheduled for a periodic review of its human rights policies. Amnesty says that Canada's human rights record has become seriously tarnished [press release] by the erosion of rights in the face of security concerns and is calling for Canada to comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text]. The Canadian government says it should be allowed to make deportations to countries where there is a possibility of torture if the case involves a serious crime or national security risk. A 2002 Canadian Supreme Court ruling [text] allows such deportations in "exceptional circumstances" but does not further outline their permissibility. The Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] Josip Jovic will surrender to the UN tribunal in The Hague Friday to face contempt charges in connection with publishing the name and testimony of a protected witness in 2000. Jovic and colleague Marijan Krizic were each charged with one count of contempt [JURIST report] under International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website, JURIST news archive] rules for revealing the identity of a protected witness. Krizic pleaded not guilty in September [JURIST report]; Jovic was detained a week ago after he refused to surrender. Jovic argues that his disclosures from the Tihomir Blaskic case [ICTY case backgrounder] were in the public interest and that the tribunal doesn't have authority over his writing. A number of organizations, including media watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders [press release] and rights groups such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [official website], have called for their release. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal [official website] ruled against the deportation of a Zimbabwean man on Thursday and sharply criticized the Home Office [official website] for an "alarming" lack of interest in the conditions deportees would face back home. The tribunal ruled [PDF text] that although the man had been "fraudulent" and "deliberately dishonest" with British authorities, he would face a "real risk of serious harm" if he was deported. The Zimbabwean government often treats those returned from the UK as spies or traitors. The British government sent researchers to Zimbabwe to report on conditions there, but the court said this expedition "reveal[ed] nothing of the actual process which returned asylum seekers go through". UK officials are saying that the tribunal's decision has created a large hole [BBC report] in Britain's asylum policy for Zimbabwe [IND backgrounder] because anyone arriving from the country can file a false asylum claim without being deported while Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is in power. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Anthony Scrivener [profile], a former chairman of the UK's Bar Council [group website], has been asked by Saddam Hussein's family to represent the former Iraqi dictator at his upcoming trial [JURIST news archive]. Perhaps Scrivener's most famous case was his work on the legal team representing the Guildford Four [BBC backgrounder]. Four innocent men were convicted of a 1975 pub bombing, but their convictions were overturned 15 years later when a court ruled that police misconduct, including torture and fabrications, had tainted their confessions. Lawyers already attached to Saddam's defense plan to argue [Guardian report] that the Iraqi Special Tribunal [offical website] itself is illegal since it was set up by an occupying power, and that Hussein should have sovereign immunity. Scrivener wrote in 2004 [Independent commentary] that the trial had "already degenerated into the realms of a promising theatrical farce," and has not yet decided whether to lead the defense team. BBC News has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Trying Saddam Hussein: Go International or Not? | Video: Iraq: Sovereignty, Security and Justice

[JURIST] The Environmental Protection Agency [official website] proposed new regulations [EPA press release] on Thursday that could allow more pollution while power plants modernize. The proposal is aimed at the nation's 600 coal-burning power plants, which make up 55 percent of the energy generating capacity of the US. In June, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by 13 states [JURIST report] that this policy would violate the Clean Air Act [text], saying it was unclear if the proposal would actually lead to more pollution as environmentalists have asserted [JURIST report]. Those opposed to the new rules say the longer permitted operation hours and relaxation of requirements for installing pollution control devices will lead to an increase in pollutant output. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• EPA inspector general says rules change will harm pollution reduction efforts
• EPA will reconsider its rules for plant upgrades
• States seek court order to block new EPA pollution regulations
• EPA to proceed with lawsuits against power plants

[JURIST] Chinese activist Peng Ming has been sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorist activities [Xinhua report] by Wuhan's Intermediate People's Court. The court found that Peng tried to overthrow the Communist Party by operating a terrorist training base in Myanmar, orchestrating kidnappings and murder, and publishing numerous books and articles encouraging terrorism and violence. A former Communist Party member, Peng fled China after spending 18 months in a Chinese labor camp and founded the little-known China Federation Party. Peng has been shunned by China's exiled pro-democracy movement [Wikipedia profile], which advocates peaceful means of bringing about change. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Sudan has agreed to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] in its pursuit of rebel leaders from neighboring Uganda, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday. The ICC has issued arrest warrants [JURIST report] for five leaders of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [BBC profile], and earlier this week unsealed the warrants [ICC press release]. Although Sudan has supported the LRA in the past, it has agreed to assist the ICC in arresting leader Joseph Kony [ICC arrest warrant, PDF]. The Sudanese government has also said that will allow Ugandan troops to enter Sudan [JURIST report] to chase down wanted LRA leaders. According to human rights groups, the LRA has abducted over 30,000 Ugandan children, forcing them to become fighters and concubines in a conflict that has displaced an estimated 1.9 million people. In June, the ICC launched an investigation [JURIST report; ICC materials] into Sudan's efforts to prosecute war crimes in its own Darfur region [JURIST news archive], but Sudan has thus far rejected the ICC's efforts. AP has more. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Text: Uganda LRA arrest warrants | Op-ed: Why the International Criminal Court Needs Darfur (More Than Darfur Needs the ICC)

[JURIST] Sunni Industry Minister Usama Abdul Aziz Al-Najafi said Friday that he expects a 'no' vote in the upcoming referendum [IECI Fact Sheet, PDF] on the proposed Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive], scheduled for Saturday. The prediction comes despite a last-minute deal [JURIST report] between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni negotiators intended to win Sunni support. Under the agreement, a commission will be established to consider future amendments to the charter, which would then be voted on by the National Assembly and thereafter submitted to the public in another referendum. Al-Najafi said that the draft constitution still "doesn't represent the aspirations of all Iraqis" and that "the changes...were not enough to ratify the constitution." Roughly three quarters of the country's 15 million voters are Shiite and Kurds, who largely support the constitution, but the draft could be defeated if a two-thirds majority in three of the country's 18 provinces vote 'no.' In final preparation for Saturday's vote, Iraq has imposed a curfew [Reuters report], closed its borders and banned vehicles. Barricades have also been placed around polling centers in major cities as part of an effort to prevent violence from disrupting the referendum. Sunni Arab militants have recently renewed their campaign of violence in hopes of defeating the constitution that they fear will curtail their rights as a minority group. Reuters has more.