[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] Saturday criticised [press release] Syria [JURIST news archive] for its "arbitrary detention" of human rights activists "including Kamal Labwani and all the prisoners of conscience from the Damascus Spring" during a conference in Bahrain attended by Arab leaders. The Damascus Spring [Wikipedia backgrounder] followed the June 2000 death of President Hafez al-Assad, and was a period when Syrians began to actively discuss politics and society as never before; Labwani, a doctor and an activist highly critical of Syria's human rights record, was arrested by Syrian officials following a trip to the US where he met with senior officials. On Friday, the first day of her Middle East trip, Rice told reporters that Syria "should stop trying to negotiate and cooperate" with the ongoing investigation of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. On Wednesday, Syria invited [JURIST report] Detlev Mehlis, the head of the UN investigation [UN materials] into the assassination, to Damascus to discuss Syria's cooperation with the UN probe. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [ANC profile] was formally indicted by a Durban magistrate court Saturday on corruption charges stemming from his relationship with his financial advisor Schabir Shaik who was sentenced [JURIST report] in June to 15 years in prison for bribery and fraud. The trial, originally scheduled to begin last October, was delayed [JURIST report] by prosecutors seeking evidence to bring additional charges aganst Zuma and is now scheduled to run from July 31 2006 until November 14. Zuma, who was fired [JURIST report] last June by President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile], remains deputy president of the ANC political party and is still touted as a potential presidential candidate by his supporters. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Attorneys acting on behalf of over a dozen Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] disaster victims have filed a complaint [PDF text] seeking class action status against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [official website] and other government agencies. The lawsuit accuses FEMA of wrongfully denying the plaintiffs temporary housing and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief for the plaintiffs in the form of trailers or other housing for victims living in shelters as well as increased financial relief for families with more children than others. The complaint filed Thursday alleges that once President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana [White House press staement], FEMA was required, not merely authorized, to provide temporary housing assistance to all elligible recipients under the federal Stafford Act [PDF text], and failed to do so. USA Today has more.

[JURIST] Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Stankovic said Friday on Serbian state television that Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive], had threatened Serbia with "excommunicat[ion] from Euro-Atlantic integration" if it failed to turn over indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder] to the Hague-based court before the end of the year. Meron visited Belgrade Friday to express his impatience [JURIST report] with delays in the arrest and transfer process. Meron said that Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica promised him that Serbia will fufill their obligations to the international community as the country struggles to gain membership to the European Union [official website]. Reports surfaced earlier this year that covert members of the Serbia-Montenegro army are protecting Mladic [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] may reconsider Thursday's 49-42 vote [JURIST report] to deny Guantanamo prisoners habeas corpus access to federal courts to contest their detentions as early as next week, according to negotiators on the issue. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) [official website] is expected to introduce an additional amendment on Monday that would remove the habeas corpus provision from the Senate amendment added to the 2006 defense appropriations bill. The original amendment sponsored by GOP Senator Lindsey Graham would overturn the Supreme Court case Rasul v. Bush [opinion text] which in 2004 extended the right to challenge detentions in federal court to the 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba [JURIST news archive] being held without charges. Since then, 300 detainees have filed petitions in US district courts requesting hearings. Lawyers specializing in military law have expressed suprise and concern over the amendment. Lee Casey, a lawyer with experience in the Reagan and the most recent Bush administration, said that though Congress has the power to contradict Supreme Court decisions, "stripping jurisdiction from the court after they have decided is far-reaching and, I think, premature." The Bush administration publicly voiced support for the Graham Amendment on Friday. Knight Ridder has more.

[JURIST] Thousands of Paris police officers are enforcing a new ban on public rallies in the French capital "likely to start or fuel disorder" declared under emergency powers [JURIST report] granted to local authorities in the wake of widespread rioting by immigrant youths. Police said the ban, set to last from Saturday to Sunday morning, was prompted by hints of violence gleaned from numerous intercepted e-mails and text messages. France's National Police Chief Michel Gaudin [official biography in French] said well known locations including the Eiffel Tower were potential targets for further violence. Rioting began [JURIST report] in the country two weeks ago, and has steadily spread from suburban areas to the capital city, prompting the French government to declare a state of emergency. BBC has more.

[JURIST] Colombia's Constitutional Court [official backgrounder] on Friday voted 7-2 to approve the country's new Electoral Guarantees Law, establishing clear rules to prevent incumbent presidents who run for re-election from exploiting their power for political gain. The announcement follows last month's approval of a constitutional amendment [JURIST report] that allows presidents to serve more than one four-year term. The new law will clear the way for popular President Alvaro Uribe [official website in Spanish, profile in English] to run for a second term in Colombia's May election. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Two UN legal experts from the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees [official website] will travel to North Korea [JURIST news archive] later next week to conduct a legal training session designed to improve understanding of UN treaties and their implications. Training leader Palitha Kohona noted that the sessions will mark the first time a legal delegation has gone to North Korea to "purely talk law", and will highlight the requirements to join a treaty, and the rights and obligations of a country once it ratifies a treaty. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Haitian Electoral Council ordered Friday that the names of two Haitian-born US citizens, Dumarsais Simeus [official website] and Samir Mourra, be taken off the ballot of authorized candidates for the country's upcoming presidential election [website]. The decision is in direct violation of a Haitian Supreme Court ruling [JURIST report] that said that Simeus, a Texas-based businessman, should be allowed to run because the Electoral Council could not show that Simeus had given up his Haitian citizenship. The election marks the first since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile] was ousted from power in February 2004 [JURIST report]. The election was originally scheduled for November 20 but will probably be delayed until December. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Federal Court of Canada [official website] has announced that it will hear the asylum appeal of US deserter Jeremy Hinzman [advocacy website]. In January 2004, days before his scheduled deployment to Iraq, Hinzman deserted the US army and fled to Canada where he sought asylum and accused the US of committing war crimes in Iraq. In March, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board [official website] denied [decision text] Hinzman's asylum claim, rejecting his argument that because the war was illegal, any violent acts he would have committed if forced to go to Iraq would have amounted to atrocities. Hinzman lawyer Jeffrey House hopes to prove that the legality of the war, and the likely punishment Hinzman will face upon return to the US should be weighed in deciding the case. Justice Sean Harrington [official profile] is scheduled to hear Hinzman's case on February 7. Canadian Press has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Canada denies asylum to US army Iraq deserter
• US deserter accuses US of war crimes in Iraq war
• US soldier ordered to Iraq seeks asylum in Canada

[JURIST] Delegates from over 120 member states [text] of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) [official website] concluded their tenth annual, five-day Conference of the State Parties [official agenda] at The Hague Friday, and agreed [press release] to improve efforts to fully implement the mandates of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty [text] in their respective countries. The states adopted a resolution urging countries to facilitate the implementation of domestic legislation to promote full adoption of the convention, which calls for the eventual elimination of chemical weapons through international cooperation. Xinhuanet has more.