[JURIST] Pentagon officials admitted Tuesday that US troops in Iraq used white phosphorus [CDC factsheet; GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants during a 2004 military assault on the insurgent-controlled city of Fallujah, but remained adamant that it was not used against civilians. Reports that US forces fired white phosphorus rounds into the city, causing severe burns, were circulated at the time [SF Chronicle report], and rights organizations expressed repeated concerns over alleged violations of international humanitarian law [JURIST report] during the siege. The US, however, denied the allegations [USINFO report] and said that white phosphorus shells "were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters." Officials now admit they used white phosphorus as a psychological weapon against insurgents in trench lines. An Italian television station aired a documentary earlier this month alleging that chemical weapons were used against civilians [JURIST report], but military officials denied the allegations [JURIST report]. Pentagon officials also say that white phosphorus is not banned by any international weapons convention the US has signed. AP news has more.

[JURIST] Enron [corporate homepage] and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) [official website] agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement Tuesday over allegations [JURIST report] that Enron manipulated electricity supplies during the power crisis in California, Oregon, and Washington in 2000-01. Under the settlement [FERC press release; order, PDF], the three states can pursue $875 million in unsecured claims in Enron's bankruptcy proceeding and are also entitled to collect $600 million in civil penalties. Several power companies on the West Coast are also among the settling parties, and will receive $47.4 million of receivables and cash collateral due Enron. Enron emerged from bankruptcy last year as a private entity, however, with assets amounting to a much less than they already owe in settlements. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A US district judge has denied bail for former KPMG [corporate website] executive David Greenberg, a defendant in the largest criminal tax case in US history. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan [official profile] said Greenberg posed a substantial flight risk because he could face up to 25 years in prison and may have access to nearly $20 million. Greenberg is accused of shifting nearly $15.8 million to accounts in the name of his former wife, his father, a sister, and his three children. He is one of 19 defendants charged [PDF indictment; JURIST report] with attempting to defraud the IRS through fraudulent tax shelters, filing fraudulent individual income tax returns containing the tax shelter losses, and concealing the shelters from the IRS. Prosecutors say the shelters helped KPMG clients avoid paying $2.5 billion in taxes AP has more.

[JURIST] The Jordanian government [official website] said Tuesday that it is drafting tough new antiterrorism legislation that would allow suspected terrorists to be held indefinitely and, in very broad terms, would impose penalties on any individual who "would expose the lives and properties of citizens to danger inside and outside the country." The new anti-terror legislation is being drafted in the wake of last week's deadly bombings at three hotels in Amman that killed 57 people [Reuters report]. Also Tuesday, new security regulations were implemented that require all Jordanians to notify the government of any foreigners renting property, and further demand that citizens provide the names and passport information of those foreigners. Interior Minister Awni Yirfas stated that the new measures are intended to curtail foreign militants' operations within the country. In addition to the new governmental measures, 11 Jordanian officials resigned in the wake of last week's bombing attacks. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraq’s government announced plans on Tuesday to investigate allegations that Iraqi security forces abused more than 170 prisoners held in central Baghdad, who were found malnourished and showing evidence of torture. Prompted by the repeated pleadings of a missing teenager's parents, US troops discovered the detainees [AP report], most of them Sunnis, during a raid of an interior ministry building on Sunday. Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the Iraqi Interior Ministry's undersecretary for security, has said that anyone found abusing detainees will be punished. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] confirmed Tuesday that the prisoners have been moved and provided with medical care and that the investigation into the building, which may have been used as a base for the Shiite-led Badr Brigade [Wikipedia backgrounder] militia, has been launched. Amnesty International [advocacy website] applauded the investigation into the abuse at the building, but suggested that it should expand to other allegations of torture by Iraqi police and interior ministry security forces. The announcement raises more questions about US troops, who trained the Iraqi security forces and already face allegations of abuse [JURIST report] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and other US military prisons. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] France's National Assembly [official website], the lower house of parliament, on Tuesday voted to extend emergency powers [legislative materials] originally granted for 12 days on November 8 [JURIST report] to combat the civil unrest that started in late October. The extension of emergency powers, approved by the French cabinet Monday [JURIST report] will go to the Senate for a vote on Wednesday; if approved, the measures would take effect on midnight November 21. The state of emergency [PDF decree], which would be extended for three months but could be lifted sooner, allows regional officials to impose curfews and permits police searches without warrants and has been opposed by French immigrants and human rights groups [JURIST report]. Although the violence erupted when two immigrant teens were electrocuted while fleeing from police, commentators have suggested that the tension in the ghettos is related to larger racial and religious issues in France, including last year's banning of religious dress in schools [JURIST report]. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage, in French.

[JURIST] Chief Lebanese investigative judge Elias Eid on Tuesday refused to release two former high ranking Lebanese military officials implicated in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The two former officials - former head of Lebanese intelligence Raymond Azar and presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan - were arrested in August under recommendations of the independent UN panel [interim report text] investigating Hariri's murder. Eid's refusal came in response to a motion filed by Naji Boustani, the defense attorney representing both former officials. Boustani's motion argued that the two were being held based on mere "suspicions," and that there was no hard evidence linking the two to Hariri's murder. The Lebanon Daily Star has local coverage; AFP has more.

[JURIST] Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [official website, English version] lost his appeal in a Chilean court Tuesday in his legal effort to be released from custody [JURIST report] as he fights his extradition to Peru on charges of corruption and human rights violations. Chilean officials first arrested Fujimori last week at the request of the current Peruvian government [JURIST report]. Fujimori was President of Peru until he fled the country for Japan in 2000 and subsequently resigned his position. Although the Peruvian constitutional court has banned Fujimori from running for public office until 2010 [JURIST report], he stated that he plans to return to Peru to seek the presidency in next year's elections. AP has more.

[JURIST] Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture [official website], on Tuesday called for unrestricted inspections of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The UN plans to send inspectors to Guantanamo on December 6 for a report that Nowak's team is due to complete by the end of the year, but Nowak says "if the United States does not accept an unconditional inspection, we will not go." Nowak contrasted US refusal to grant unconditional access to detainees with China's grant of free access to the inspectors. So far the UN has made several concessions to the US military, such as limiting the inspection to one day instead of three and reducing the number of inspectors from five to three. Nowak's team will compile the report regardless of visiting Guantanamo and plans to present the report to the UN in March. AFP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Rumsfeld defends prohibiting UN interviews with Guantanamo detainees
• UN investigators decline Gitmo invitation unless detainees can be interviewed
• UN human rights experts invited to Guantanamo

[JURIST] In a meeting Tuesday with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) [official website], Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] distanced himself from a 1985 statement [PDF text; JURIST report] in which he asserted his belief that the constitution does not guarantee a right to an abortion. The statement was made while Alito was applying for a position with the Attorney General's office during the Reagan administration and was first reported after it was discovered in one of the 100 pages of documents on Judge Alito released by the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidential libraries. According to Feinstein, in Tuesday's meeting Judge Alito stated that at the time he made the statement he was "an advocate seeking a job," whereas now he is a judge who has served 15 years on the bench. Further, he stated that he does not give heed to his personal views when interpreting the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate on Tuesday passed a compromise amendment [JURIST report] to the 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill [bill summary] that would curtail, but not totally cut off, Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees' access to the federal court system to challenge their detentions. The new amendment, passed by a vote of 84-14 [roll call vote], was brokered by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) [official website] as a compromise to an earlier more restrictive amendment introduced ny his earlier amendment [JURIST report] proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official website] that passed the Senate last Thursday 49-42 [roll call vote]. If signed into law, Tuesday's amendment would give detainees an opportunity to appeal the rulings of a military tribunal, but would otherwise cut off their access to the federal court system. By contrast, Graham's earlier amendment would have limited detainees' access to the federal court system to a review of whether the determination of a detainee's enemy combatant status was consistent with Combatant Status Review Tribunal procedures and standards. Also Tuesday, senators rejected [roll call vote] an amendment introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (R-NM) [official website] that would have more fully permitted detainees to challenge the legality of their detention through federal habeas corpus. Reuters has more.

8:12 PM ET - The 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill [bill summary], with the compromise Graham-Levin amendment, was approved by the Senate Tuesday afternoon by a vote of 98-0. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The only United Nations [official website] official to lose his job over the oil-for-food scandal [JURIST news archive] has been reinstated, after an internal appellate body found that he had not violated staff rules [JURIST report]. Joseph Stephanides was also issued a letter of apology and awarded $200,000 for emotional suffering and damage to his reputation by the UN's Joint Disciplinary Committee. Stephanides was accused of releasing bidding information regarding an oil-for-food contract to Great Britain, but he maintains that he was following the instructions of a UN Security Council [official website] sanctions committee. According to the Committee's ruling, Stephanides was fired [JURIST report] mostly because of the public scrutiny stemming from the $64 billion oil-for-food scandal. In a letter from the office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile], which was made public Tuesday, Stephanides was reinstated because his punishment was too harsh, though the letter maintained that Stephanides violated staff rules. AP has more.

[JURIST] The German trial of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel [ADL profile; CBC backgrounder] was postponed Tuesday after Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen fired one of Zundel's lawyers. Judge Meinerzhagen fired Sylvia Stolz because he believed Stolz would not defend Zundel properly, but did not set a date for the trial to reopen because a new lawyer would need sufficient time to prepare. Zundel, who was deported to his native Germany from Canada in March, is facing charges of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead [JURIST report] under the German Federal Criminal Code for denying the Holocaust. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail if convicted. Zundel, now 66, left Germany for Canada in 1958, but after a unsuccessful bid to gain Canadian citizenship and a short stay in the United States he was deported from there earlier this year after being judged a national security threat. The Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] A former Serbian soldier admitted in a special high-security court in Belgrade on Tuesday that he participated in the November 1991 execution of about 200 Croatian prisoners of war [BBC backgrounder] at a pig farm. The testimony by Ivan Atansijevic was the first admission by one of the 16 defendants who are being tried [JURIST report] for the execution of POWs captured in a successful Serbian assault on the eastern Croat town of Vukovar during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Three alleged leaders of the massacre are being tried [JURIST report] by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], which tries top civilian and military leaders, while the special court in Belgrade is dealing with the 16 other lower-level suspects. The Belgrade trial is seen as a key test of the ability of Serbia's post-Milosevic judiciary system to deal with war crimes cases committed by Serbs during the Yugoslavian civil war. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has delayed the sentencing trial [PDF order] of September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] by one month and ordered a two-stage process [PDF text] to determine whether or not he will receive the death penalty, according to ruling released Tuesday. The trial, now set to begin with jury selection on February 6, and opening arguments on March 6, will be divided into separate parts to determine whether, first, Moussaoui intentionally lied about his knowledge of the September 11 attacks and, secondly, to determine whether Moussaoui should receive the death penalty or life imprisonment. Brinkema said that the request for a delay was made in a classified filing by Moussaoui's lawyers. Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] in April, has indicated that he intends to testify on his own behalf [JURIST report] and has vowed to fight against the death penalty. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) [association website] on Tuesday announced that it has launched its largest international wave of legal action [IFPI press release] against illegal online file-sharing. This latest push targeted 2,100 alleged uploaders [IFPI factsheet] using peer-to-peer networks in 16 nations including the UK, France, Germany and Italy, and first-time nations Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Singapore and Hong Kong. This brings IFPI's number of cases outside the US since March 2004 to more than 3,800. In the US, civil lawsuits have been brought against more than 15,597 people since September 2003 with 3,590 settlements. The Recording Industry Association of America [association website] in September filed an additional 750 lawsuits [JURIST report] against individual file-sharers and, earlier this month, file-sharing software developer Grokster agreed to shut down its operations [JURIST report] in order to settle an online piracy lawsuit [EFF materials]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Hissene Habre [Wikipedia profile], the former president of Chad [BBC backgrounder] wanted by a Belgian court for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his rule, has been arrested and is being held in Senegal, lawyers said Tuesday. Habre has been indicted in Belgium for his alleged crimes, which, human rights groups contend, consist of some 40,000 executions and the torture of over 200,000 people. Belgium issued an arrest warrant for Habre [JURIST report] in September under its universal jurisdiction laws which allow it to prosecute crimes against humanity regardless of where the crimes were committed or where the defendant resides. Habre, who came to power in 1982, has lived in exile in Senegal since being ousted as head of state by rebels in 1990. A Senegal court will now decide whether to extradite Habre to Belgium BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The military commission trial of Australian David Hicks [advocacy website], who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] for more than 3 1/2 years, was postponed on Monday by a US district judge until the US Supreme Court [official website] rules on the legality of such military tribunals. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly [official profile] granted Hicks' motion to delay the proceedings in light of the Supreme Court's recent decision to grant certiorari [JURIST report] in Hamdan v. Rumsfield, a case which will determine whether President Bush [official website] has the constitutional power to create the military commissions that will be used to try Guantanamo prisoners for war crimes. Human rights groups and military defense lawyers have criticized the rules of the commission, arguing that they abandon settled principles of national and international law by allowing evidence obtained through torture and hearsay and fail to permit an independent appellate review. The Pentagon argues that the rules will provide for full and fair trials. Read Judge Kollar-Kotelly's memorandum opinion [PDF] and order [PDF]. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Military Tribunals | Op-ed: Justice at Guantanamo? The Paradox of David Hicks

[JURIST] Omri Sharon [official profile], the son of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [BBC profile] and member of the Israeli Knesset, pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegal fundraising activities related to his father's reelection campaign [JURIST report]. In exchange for his admission to falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating the party funding law, Sharon avoided more serious charges of fraud and breach of trust. The charges have a maximum penalty of five years in prison and the state is pushing for Sharon to serve time, but many believe the sentence will be much lighter. Omri Sharon is also expected to retire from politics. AP has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso [profile] announced Tuesday that the country would investigate allegations [JURIST report] that US CIA planes carrying terrorism suspects made secret landings on Spanish soil before continuing to Libya, Algeria, Romania, Macedonia and Sweden. Spain's Defense Minister Jose Bono [BBC profile] said that the country had no evidence of the flights and denied that the Spanish secret service had ordered the transfers to stop. Spain's El Pais newspaper [website, in Spanish] reported ten flights allegedly occurred between January 2004 and January 2005, which included Boeing 747s and Gulfstream jets. The investigation comes after the European Union threatened sanctions [JURIST report] against European countries found to house alleged secret US prisons [JURIST report]. In addition to the report of a secret detention facility in Europe, allegations have repeatedly been made recently that the CIA has used European airspace and airports to transport terror suspects to countries where they face torture. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Two of eight former Iraqi detainees who are suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [complaint, PDF] told ABC News Monday they were tortured while in US custody. The torture included beatings, electrocution with tazers, food and water deprivation, being shot with rubber bullets, and threatened with sodomy. One detainee who was housed at the former Republican Palace in Baghdad claims US troops attempted to coerce a statement by threatening to put him in a cage with a live lion. The American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] and Human Rights First [advocacy website] filed the lawsuit on behalf of the men in March [JURIST report], claiming that Rumsfeld and other US military officials were directly responsibility for abuses and that his actions violated the US Constitution, federal statutes and international law. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the Pentagon "basically told that this was a different type of war, and the rules didn't apply anymore." The ACLU has court documents and detainee profiles. ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the US Department of State made statements Monday condemning the non-appealable conviction [UNHCHR press release] of fifteen Uzbek men who were sentenced to 14-20 years in prison [JURIST report] for their involvement in the bloody uprisings in Andijan in May [HRW backgrounder]. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, "These convictions are based on evidence that isn't credible and a trial that isn't fair," and called for an independent investigation [press briefing transcript]. Ereli also called on Uzbekistan to "act consistent with international standards." High Commissioner Louise Arbour [official profile] said, "There are doubts about the adequacy of the defense, and it appears that little evidence was presented during the trial, apart from confessions." Uzbekistan has been accused of using torture to extract guilty pleas from the 15 defendants, but the government has denied those charges [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

Also in Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive], the European Union [official website] has issued an embargo on the export of arms, military equipment and other equipment that might be used for "internal repression." The embargo is in response to the country's failure to allow an independent investigation into the Andijan uprising and follows a decision by the EU to impose sanctions [JURIST report] last month. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY factsheet] requested a recess in his war crimes trial [JURIST news archive] Tuesday, to allow him time to recover from the strain of defending himself. Milosevic submitted a report from his doctors to the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive], recommending "a suspension of physical and mental activities for a minimum of six weeks." The three-judge panel agreed to consider the request, but refused to issue an immediate ruling, angering Milosevic, who is conducting his own defense. Prosecutors strongly oppose delaying the trial [JURIST report], which began nearly 4 years ago and has been postponed multiple times. AP has more.

[JURIST] The South Jakarta District Court Tuesday dropped a case brought by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment [official website] against the Newmont Mining Corporation [corporate website; JURIST news archive], the Indonesian subsidiary of a Denver-based company, saying the case should be settled through international arbitration or conciliation. The Indonesian government, which still may appeal the case, filed the $133.4 million civil suit in July [JURIST report], alleging the company dumped waste materials into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi Island, sickening villagers living nearby. Newmont, which is the world's largest gold producer, maintains the investigation was flawed and no one was harmed. The court's dismissal of the civil case does not impact related criminal charges filed against Newmont's top local executive [JURIST report], American Richard Ness, who faces up to ten years in prison if convicted. The trial is being monitored by potential foreign investors who have expressed anxiety regarding Indonesia's legal system [BBC report] and by environmentalists who question whether the government will actually punish the company. AP has more.

[JURIST] Eight advocacy groups Monday filed a complaint [PDF] in US district court on behalf of the 6.4 million people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid to make sure that no elderly or disabled Americans lose access to prescription drugs when they enroll in the new Medicare drug plan. US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt [official biography] is the named defendant in the suit which seeks to continue existing coverage until beneficiaries are enrolled in a plan that meets all their prescription needs. The groups assert that Leavitt has not met his statutory obligation to ensure continued, uninterrupted drug coverage for those enrolled in both Medicaid and Medicare, and contend that some will no longer be eligible for drugs due to either lack of understanding of the new package or non-enrollment in a drug plan. One of the plaintiff groups, the Medicare Rights Center [advocacy website] has a report [PDF text] assessing the impact of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 [PDF text] on "dual eligibles." AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, three judges from the Kenyan Constitutional Court ruled that a legal challenge to the legitimacy of the upcoming Kenyan national referendum on the proposed draft constitution [JURIST report] was invalid and that neither the legislative nor judicial branches of government could stop the referendum. Activists from the Kenyan Yellow Movement [advocacy website] had challenged the referendum process as unconstitutional, claiming that it stemmed from a flawed process that had ignored the principles of democracy and the sovereignty of the people. The three high court judges ruled that the referendum was an "exercise of the people's constituent power" and was beyond the power of the High Court and Parliament. Debate over the proposed draft Constitution [PDF text] has sparked violence [JURIST report] among the population as protestors tried to derail the vote scheduled for Monday, November 21. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's Daily Nation has local coverage (registration required).

In other international legal news ...

• Zimbabwean police in the capital city of Harare reportedly forced over 250 homeless people to move Monday from the temporary 'tent city' they had set up in the poverty-stricken suburb of Mbare. The forced relocation of citizens already made homeless by Operation Murambatsvina [Wikipedia backgrounder], authorized by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile], violates an October Zimbabwean Provisional High Court ruling that ordered Harare police not to remove people from the 'tent city'. The removal of homeless citizens comes just two weeks ahead of a scheduled visit by UN relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland to re-examine the situation of the over 700,000 homeless people identified by UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka's report [PDF text]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. ZimOnline has local coverage.
  
  
• South Korean officials announced Tuesday that they will once again abstain from voting on a United Nations General Assembly [official website] resolution scheduled for November 18 that proposes to condemn North Korea for its abysmal human rights record. South Korea [government website] has traditionally refrained from taking official steps of expressing its disapproval in the United Nations of the current situation in North Korea and North Korea has repeatedly warned that South Korean sanctions would be met with force. The EU-sponsored resolution calls for North Korea to end public executions, torture and the incarceration of political dissidents. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of South Korea [JURIST news archive]. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.
  
  
• Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] released a statement [official text] Monday terming the Nepalese government's implementation of the "Code of Conduct" for national and international NGOs in Nepal a "legal veneer for repressing civil society". The Code of Conduct, adopted into law in Nepal [government website] last Thursday, limits the ability of "social organizations" to meet and protest government policy and creates legally vague terms that may be used to prosecute opposition leaders and activists. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Kantipur Online has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Libyan Supreme Court Tuesday postponed its verdict until January 31 for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had received death sentences following their convictions for deliberately infecting more than 400 children with the HIV virus [JURIST report] as part of an experiment to find a cure for AIDS. The medics appealed their death sentence [JURIST report] earlier this year, and the court has already postponed its ruling [JURIST report] on the death sentences once. The European Union and the US have criticized the trial for failing to meet international standards of due process. Bulgarian Justice Minister Georgi Petkanov said Monday he hoped the Supreme Court would order a retrial and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said relations with Libya [JURIST news archive] hinge on the fate of the Bulgarian nurses. In last year's trial [JURIST report], French Professor Luc Montagnier who was the co-discover of the HIV virus, testified that the infection had spread in the children's hospital before the Bulgarians nurses began their contracts there. Amnesty International has reported that the five women were forced to confess [JURIST report] by torture through electric shocks and beatings. Two of the nurses said they had been raped, according to Amnesty. Nine police officers and one doctor were acquitted [JURIST report], however, of torturing the medics. Seif el-Islam Gaddafi [Wikipedia profile], son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has said that the Libyan government will not execute the nurses and doctor [JURIST report] and it was reported earlier this month that Libya will abolish capital punishment [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Major US media organization Dow Jones & Co. [corporate website], publisher of the Wall Street Journal and other publications, on Monday challenged efforts by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] to keep documents secret in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive], asking a federal court to deny Fitzgerald's motion to bar public disclosure of documents. The proposed protective order was agreed to by Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [NYT profile], and if granted, would cover documents such as grand jury transcripts and witness statements. The order warns that leaks could result in civil and criminal fines. In the motion, Dow Jones noted that the company "has a substantial interest in ensuring timely access to information of importance to its readers and the general public." Libby, who has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report], was indicted [PDF text; JURIST report] on October 28 for obstructing justice, perjury and lying to the grand jury in the two-year investigation into the leak of the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame [JURIST news archive] and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted. Lawyers involved in the case said other media organizations could join Dow Jones in challenging Fitzgerald's proposed order. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The Devil in the Details: The CIA Leak Case | Op-ed: The Indictment of Scooter Libby: Bad News for Journalism

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] is set to vote Tuesday on a compromise offered by senators in response to last Thursday's 49-42 vote [JURIST report] to deny Guantanamo prisoners habeas corpus access to federal courts [JURIST report] in order to contest the legality of their detentions. The Graham amendment [JURIST document] to the 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill [bill summary], if signed into law, would effectively overturn the US Supreme Court's 2004 decision in Rasul v. Bush [text] which enabled Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prisoners being held without charges the right to challenge detentions in federal court. Following the Court's decision, 300 detainees filed petitions in US district courts to request hearings. In a bipartisan compromise worked out by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official website], and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) [official website] Monday, federal court jurisdiction would be restored over pending cases and provide for court review of whether the standards and procedures of the tribunals are consistent with the US Constitution. Levin called the compromise a "significant improvement" on Graham's original amendment. If the compromise is passed, detainees facing the death sentence or at least 10 years imprisonment will obtain an automatic appeal. Further, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia would also determine if it would hear cases with less than 10-year sentences.

Senators could also vote Tuesday on an amendment offered by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) [official website] who has accused the Bush administration of leaving detainees in a "legal limbo" by holding them indefinitely without charges but at the same time depriving them of protections under the laws of war. Bingaman's amendment would permit inmates to use habeas corpus petitions to challenge the legality of their detention, though senators have said that some measures to prevent frivolous lawsuits being brought under Rasul should be included. The debate comes one week after the US Supreme Court agreed to decide [JURIST report] whether or not the President has the authority to create military tribunals [JURIST news archive] to put Guantanamo prisoners on trial for war crimes. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [PDF certiorari petition] comes on appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which held [PDF opinion] in July that detainees may be tried by military commissions [JURIST report], overturning a lower court decision [JURIST report] that military commissions were not competent to determine whether the detainee was a prisoner of war.
Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Senate may revisit ban on court access for Guantanamo detainees
• Senate passes amendment to block Gitmo prisoners from court challenges
• Graham proposes barring foreign terror suspects from US courts