[JURIST] An Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder; UCMJ text] will begin next Monday for a US Army captain to determine if he should face a court martial on charges that he poorly supervised military police officers guarding suspected terrorists at the US-run Bagram detention center in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive]. Army investigators say that Capt. Christopher Beiring failed to properly train the MPs which resulted in the 2002 beating deaths of two detainees [US Army press release; JURIST report] and the assaults of numerous others. Prosecutors also allege that Beiring lied about giving "sustainment training" to the soldiers after their shifts. Ten soldiers who served under Beiring have faced criminal charges, but charges against two were dropped and three were acquitted [JURIST report]. Three others were convicted [JURIST report] or pleaded guilty [JURIST report] and two are pending trials. The Article 32 hearing is similar to a civilian grand jury and Beiring's is expected to last three days. A hearing will also begin Tuesday for military intelligence interrogator Pfc. Damien Corsetti who faces abuse charges for throwing garbage and cigarette ashes, threatening sexual assault, and sitting on prisoners during interrogating sessions. AP has more.

[JURIST] Thirty-three additional people received jail sentences in Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] Monday for their role in the May 2005 Andijan uprising [HRW backgrounder] after being found guilty of murder, terrorist acts and mass riots. Uzbekistan's Supreme Court [official backgrounder] said two separate trials were held for the 33 individuals resulting in sentences ranging from 12-17 years. The latest jail terms bring the total number of people sentenced to 73. Last week, lower courts in Uzbekistan sentenced 25 men [JURIST report] to at least 20 years in prison over Andijan, and the Uzbek Supreme Court last month sentenced 15 men convicted of masterminding the uprising [JURIST report]. Human rights officials estimate that over 500 civilians may have been murdered [JURIST report] by Uzbek security forces during the Andijan unrest. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] French President Jacques Chirac [official profile] offered apologies [statement, in French] Monday to 13 people who were wrongly convicted of pedophilia and spent 16-39 months in jail. Chirac called the convictions [JURIST report] a "judicial disaster without precedent" and said he would personally see that a thorough investigation is conducted and charges brought against the appropriate people. Six of the convictions were overturned by an appeals court [JURIST report] last week and the other seven individuals were acquitted last year. Justice Minister Pascal Clement [official profile, in French] previously apologized for the way the case was handled and opened an investigation into the matter, and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [BBC profile] has vowed to compensate the 13 falsely accused. The accusations against them were brought by a woman who was later sent to prison along with her husband and another couple on charges of raping the woman's children. Reuters has more; France's Le Monde has local coverage [in French].

[JURIST] Liberia's president-elect [JURIST report] Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf [BBC profile], soon to becomethe first female president of an African state, vowed Monday that all rapists will be appropriately punished during her presidency according to a new law. The country's parliament passed legislation Thursday making individual rapes illegal for the first time in Liberia [JURIST news archive]. Rapists can be sentenced to between seven years in jail and life imprisonment under the new bill and accused rapists will not be entitled to post bail. The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia proposed the legislation after rape and sexual assault cases were increasingly being documented. Last week, a Nigerian UN peacekeeper was arrested on allegations that he raped a nine-year old child; Liberian police officers wanted to prosecute under the new Liberian law, but a senior Nigerian military commander said he would instead face charges under Nigerian Army and civil laws, and UN laws. Earlier this year, a UN investigation revealed 20 reports of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers [JURIST report] in Liberia. IRIN has more.

[JURIST] The Texas judge presiding over the trial of Rep. Tom DeLay [official website; JURIST news archive] has thrown out conspiracy charges [JURIST document] against the former GOP House Majority Leader but has refused to dismiss money laundering charges [JURIST document]. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Tom DeLay's Challenge to Texas Grand Jury Process

[JURIST] The United Nations envoy to Cambodia [JURIST news archive] has reported that human rights violations in the nation are widespread, and called for greater UN involvement to help persuade the government to comply with UN standards [UN human rights webpage] . Yash Ghai was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [UN News report] in November to review the status of human rights violations in Cambodia. Since that time, Ghai has visited the nation and met with several opposition leaders imprisoned by the government and has stated their detentions are unlawful under the nation's constitution [text]. BBC Newws has more.

[JURIST] UN investigators began questioning five Syrian officials in Damascus Monday as part of their ongoing investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive]. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the questioning in late November [JURIST report], with the hope that it would correct numerous alleged errors in the UN probe that led to a October interim report [text] suggesting the assassination could not have occurred without Syrian involvement. In recent weeks, Hosam Taher Hosam, a Syrian eyewitness interviewed by UN investigators, recanted his testimony [JURIST report] and alleged that he was bribed by Hariri's son to provide evidence to implicate Syrian involvement. A spokesman for Hariri called Hosam's claims "baseless", and Hariri's son has accused Syrian officials of attempting to manipulate the investigation [Reuters report]. Officials close to the investigation have not revealed the names of the Syrian officials, but multiple news reports indicate that the group includes Rustom Ghazale, former head of military intelligence in Lebanon, and two of his deputies, Jamee Jamee and Samih Kashami. Questioning is expected to end Thursday. AFP has more.

[JURIST] In an address to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [official website] Monday, Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] chairman Christopher Cox [official profile] called [speech text] for "more streamlined" national accounting rules that are crafted to promote competition rather "than hinder it". Many argue that the accounting rules implementing by the commission following the 2001 Enron collapse and subsequent corporate fraud [JURIST news archive] involving numerous Fortune 500 companies and top accounting firms, are too burdensome and complex. Cox noted that the SEC is looking to the accounting industry for recommendations on how to make the rules and their application much more clear and straightforward. AP has more.

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposed anti-terrorism law [text; BBC backgrounder] is under more pressure for amendment [JURIST report] after the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights Monday reported [text] that currently-proposed provisions - such as the proposal that someone could be found guilty of inciting terrorist behavior regardless of intent – would be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights [text] (ECHR). The joint Commons and Lords committee, which heard extensive testimony [JURIST video] from UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke in October, has proposed inserting an element of intent into the bill, an addition that is expected to be welcomed by opposition parties and civil rights activists who have long urged such modifications. The committee report also found the suggested offense of attending a terror training camp legally problematic and said the proposed extension beyond 14 days of the period of permissible detention without charge unjustified in present circumstancdes. Politics.co.uk has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• UK anti-terror proposals open to amendment
• UK anti-terror proposals face scrutiny in House of Lords
• BREAKING NEWS ~ UK government loses terror bill vote on 90-day detentions
• Blair urges MPs to keep 90-day detention limit despite calls for compromise
• UK government wards off terror law amendment by one vote
• UK terror bill passes first Commons vote
• UK chief justice, PM clash over terror law interpretations
• UK government rethinking provisions of anti-terror proposal
• Blair spars with rights groups over tougher UK anti-terror laws

[JURIST] France's highest administrative body ruled Monday that Sikhs are permitted to wear their turbans in drivers' licence photos, overturning a case involving a Sikh who refused to take off his turban for the photo. The ruling by the Council of State [official website; in French] could open the way for others, including Muslims wearing head scarves [JURIST archive], to obtain drivers' licence photos that show them with their heads covered. Last year Muslim head scarves and Sikh turbans were banned from public schools [JURIST report] in France. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US military on Monday issued a statement acknowledging the death of a detainee, later revealed to be former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi [GlobalSecurity.org profile]. The statement said Zubaidi, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies after the first Gulf War, died in US custody last week. Al-Zubaidi is generally considered responsible for the violent suppression of Shia uprisings in the south of the country after the first Gulf War, and directed the destruction of the southern marshes, home of the so-called Marsh Arbsm, between 1992 and 1998. Earlier Monday a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, revealed that Zubaidi was the detainee who had died during a courtroom complaint at the Saddam trial [JURIST archive] during which he also criticizing the general medical care provided to detainees. The cause of Zubaidi's death is unclear and it is unknown where he was being held prior to receiving medical attention, although it may have been at the Camp Cropper [Wikipedia backgrounder] facility near Baghdad airport housing other high-value Iraqi detainees. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton Monday criticized the expected dismissal of Carina Perelli [JURIST report], chief of the UN's Electoral Assistance Division [official website] in charge of organizing and promoting free elections, just 10 days before December 15 elections in Iraq. Bolton told reporters that a probe into Perelli's department began in December 2004 and findings were made in August 2005. "Clearly there is no urgency to a decision or it wouldn't have taken a year," Bolton said. Perelli has been generally praised for her efforts in organizing elections in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, but her staff claimed [JURIST report] that "sexual innuendo is part of the 'fabric'" in her office and the investigative report cites emotional suffering by staff members as a result of Perelli's behavior. She is expected to appeal her firing first to the UN Joint Disciplinary Committee, and then to the Administrative Tribunal [UN backgrounder], which will make a final, binding decision. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The trial of Vladimir Arutunyan [Wikipedia profile], the Georgian man who attempted to assassinate US President George W. Bush with a grenade when Bush was visiting the former Soviet state earlier this year, began Monday. Arutunyan is accused of throwing a grenade at Bush while the president was addressing a crowd in the main square of the Tbilisi. The grenade malfunctioned, but would have exploded within 50 meters of the president. Arutunyan, who confessed but later recanted, faces life imprisonment for charges of plotting a terrorist attack, illegal purchase and storing of arms, and attempted murder. In September, Arutunyan was indicted by a US federal grand jury [DOJ press release; JURIST report] for attempting to kill Bush and possessing a firearm during a violent crime, but US Justice Department officials have said they will wait until Arutunyan's trial in Georgia is completed before deciding whether to seek his extradition. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Following a brief recess prompted by a defense team walkout [JURIST report] and an emotional outburst from Saddam Hussein, the trial of the former Iraqi dictator and seven co-defendants resumed Monday afternoon with the testimony of Ahmed Hassan Mohammed [BBC report], an eyewitness to the 1982 Dujail torture and murders [JURIST report] for which the defendants are charged. Mohammed took the stand for the prosecution and detailed the killing of 148 people in Dujail in 1982, saying that the Iraqi forces used a mincing machine on live bodies and killed one of his friends by breaking his limbs and shooting his feet and calling the events "doomsday." Following Mohammed's testimony, Hussein interrupted the court, and said that he was not afraid of execution [AP report] and said that he believed there was pressure on the court and witnesses. Hussein and his co-defendants are charged with murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment stemming from the 1982 massacre. If convicted, all could face the death penalty. Mohammed is the first witness to take the stand in open court, but judges and lawyers have already heard testimony from Waddah al-Sheikh [JURIST report; AP transcript], a former intelligence officer who investigated the assassination attempt on Hussein that allegedly led to the Dujail massacre. Al-Sheikh provided testimony from his hospital bed before dying of cancer; a videotape was played during a court session last week [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Saddam defense team questions court legitimacy, security as trial resumes
• UN concerns over Saddam trial mount as Iraqis stymie planned rocket attack on court
• Saddam lawyers demand to know identity, record of trial judges
• Saddam trial adjourned until Dec. 5 after brief session
• Saddam defense joined by former US AG Clark set to seek new adjournment

[JURIST] Former Egyptian presidential candidate Ayman Nour [Wikipedia profile] was detained on Monday, indicating that he may be sentenced soon on forgery charges. Nour's lawyer said that the court presiding over the trial ordered that Nour be detained until December 10, and that Nour's sentence will be handed down that day. Nour finished second to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile] in the country's September elections [JURIST report], receiving 7.5 percent of the vote compared to the Mubarak's 88.6 percent. Two weeks later, Nour was ordered to appear in court [JURIST report] on charges of forging signatures to obtain recognition for his political party, Al-Ghad, last year. Nour had previously been arrested in January on the same charges but released on bail in March. Nour's supporters claim that the charges are part of the government's attempt to discredit his campaign. Nevertheless, Nour intends to run again in the next presidential election in six years' time. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday granted certiorari in two cases, including one involving the insanity defense in criminal trials. In Clark v. Arizona, the Court will consider the constitutionality of an Arizona law that limits admission of evidence of a mental defect and prohibits the defense that the accused did not understand the nature and quality of the crime he has been charged with. The Court's decision to hear the case marks a departure from a decade of justices' denials to consider similar claims involving the insanity defense. AP has more. In the second case, the Court takes up employment discrimination and will decide how much discretion employers have when transferring workers who say they have been discriminated against. The Court will determine what constitutes "materially adverse" changes in employment when an employee who has complained of discrimination is transferred to another job. AP has more. Read the Court's full Order list [PDF].

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that possible amendments [JURIST report] to a bill regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country be drafted within the next five days. The NGO proposal, approved by the Duma in November [JURIST report], would greatly increase state control over NGOs by requiring them to register with a state commission and imposing financial oversight on their operations. Putin has requested that amendments be drafted that incorporate suggestions from Europe, and recommendations from the Russian Public Chamber [MosNews report], a Kremlin-backed organization designed to formalize the Kremlin's links to civil society, and other non-governmental organizations. NGOs Human Rights Watch [press release; briefing paper] and Greenpeace [advocacy website] have said the new regulations may force them to suspend their Russian operations. Despite requesting the amendments, Putin on Monday defended the bill, saying it is necessary to protect the country's political system [press release] from outside intervention. The bill must pass a second reading in parliament before it will become law. Reuters has more. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] France has signaled opposition to a proposal from British Prime Minister and current EU president Tony Blair [official profile] to allow cameras into the EU's main decision-making body, the Council of the European Union [official website], during legislative debates. Blair has said that making the decision-making process more transparent would increase support for EU initiatives. France has opposed the plan, fearing the council would be unable to operate effectively and that sensitive decisions would be made by civil servants outside the chambers. The UK retains the EU presidency [UK EU presidency website] until December 31, when the presidency will be taken over by Austria, a country that may be unlikely to continue pushing for the proposition. Monday's Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] In official remarks [transcript] prior to her departure for Europe Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the US government's efforts to protect its citizens have been "misunderstood." Noting European officials' concerns about the CIA's use of extraordinary rendition [Wikipedia backgrounder], Rice asserted that the US government has used rendition for decades when traditional extradition was not a viable option. The US has always acted in accordance with international law and treaty obligations, Rice stated, because "The United States does not authorize or condone torture of detainees." A UK parliamentary group is calling for investigations [JURIST report] into whether the British government violated international law by assisting alleged CIA rendition flights landing in the UK, and officials in Germany, Spain and Italy [JURIST reports] have conducted investigations. During her European tour, Rice will address officials at the EU headquarters in Brussels and meet with leaders in Germany, Romania and Ukraine. Rice's comments come as Amnesty International [advocacy website] condemned the US refusal to confirm or deny allegations that the CIA has operated covert prisons in Eastern Europe [JURIST report]. Amnesty says the US is mocking international law [Reuters report] and is calling for a transparent probe into the prison allegations, which Rice did not address in her speech. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Former ICTY deputy prosecutor Graham Blewitt said Monday that Australia has become a safe haven for war criminals avoiding prosecution [ABC Radio interview, recorded audio]. Despite confessing to immigration officials about committing acts of torture, murder and rape, more than 30 suspected war criminals have been granted temporary residency in Australia by the Australian Immigration Department [official website]. Included in the list is a former bodyguard and family member of Saddam Hussein, Oday Adnan Al Tekriti [AFP report]. Tekriti, who was originally denied a visa because customs officials believed he was involved with crimes against humanity, was later granted temporary residency and has since married an Australian citizen, strengthening his claims for residency. Over the last ten years, war criminals from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, have been allowed to live in Australia until their lengthy appeal process was complete. The Sydney Morning Herald has local coverage. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Western elections observers and opposition leaders have raised doubts as to the fairness of the reelection [BBC report] of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev [BBC profile], who won 91 percent of the vote Sunday. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [official website; observations] blamed poor ballot counting, intimidation, multiple voting and ballot stuffing for the result, in which 77 percent of registered voters participated. Opposition candidate Zharmakhan Tuyakbai [campaign website, English version; Aljazeera profile], who received just over 6 percent of the vote, promised to challenge the result [press release], saying "we will take all legal measures to protest the official results of the voting and will press for this election to be declared invalid." AP has more.

[JURIST] Roman Catholic Church officials have announced their opposition to a proposal that would let sexual abuse victims file lawsuits decades after the alleged abuse occurred. Pennsylvania has a strict statute of limitations [JURIST report; text] which has prevented most clergy sexual abuse cases [JURIST news archive] from coming to court, but some lawmakers are following the recommendation of the Philadelphia District Attorney's office in a September report [JURIST report] and are calling for a one-year window in which victims can file lawsuits, regardless of when the abuse occurred. Church officials complain that it would be a financial burden as well as unfair to revive allegations from decades ago, especially in light of the fact that some of the priests identified in the DA's report are deceased. Some politicians are seeking a compromise that would leave the statute of limitations untouched but pressure state dioceses to put millions of dollars into a victim-compensation fund. Other dioceses have suffered financially after lawsuits related to sexual abuse within the Church, with dioceses in Portland and Washington having both filed for bankruptcy protection. The Boston Archdiocese settled [JURIST report] with 552 victims for $85 million in 2003 while in California, the Orange County Diocese agreed to pay $100 million to 87 plaintiffs. Pennsylvania's idea for dropping the statute of limitations for a year to allow old abuse allegations was modeled after California's one-year window, which commenced in 2003. Some 800 lawsuits involving the church were filed [JURIST report] in California during that time. The US government has argued that the Pope should be immune from clergy abuse suits [JURIST report] and in October, a Kentucky court ruled that the Vatican has immunity [JURIST report] in a civil lawsuit. AP has more.

[JURIST] The ruling military junta in Myanmar [CIA backgrounder] on Monday reopened its constitutional-drafting convention, which has been held intermittently since 1993, in the first step in a seven-stage road map aimed at unification, democracy and free elections. The session could last as long as two months, though it is seen as unlikely that a final draft will result from the meeting. Critics see the convention as a ploy to enable the junta to stay in power, while the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) [party website] is not participating. Although the NLD won a landslide victory in general elections in 1990, the military refused to hand over power, saying that the country first needed a new constitution. NLD's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [advocacy website; BBC profile], who remains detained under a recently-extended house arrest [JURIST report], has been banned from attending the convention, despite UN's call for "all the different groups of Myanmar's landscape" to be allowed to participate. The NLD said it will boycott the event. Myanmar's military government is currently detaining over 1,100 political prisoners [JURIST report] and the UN recently agreed to a US request to discuss the human rights violations in Myanmar [JURIST report] for the first time. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) [official website], a Vietnam War veteran who survived capture and torture by the North Vietnamese, said Sunday that he will not concede on his demands for a ban on the use of torture [Meet the Press transcript] to extract information from suspected terrorists. The anti-torture measure, the so-called McCain amendment [JURIST document; advocacy website], passed the Senate by a 90-9 vote [JURIST report] in October and later received unanimous support [JURIST report] in the Senate in a separate voice vote. The amendment would restrict techniques used to interrogate detainees by banning cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and require US troops to follow procedures set by the forthcoming edition of the Army Field Manual [JURIST report]. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley has repeatedly asserted that the US does not torture and abides by international conventions on the treatment of prisoners. The White House [official website] claims that the proposal might prevent interrogators from obtaining information vital to the national security, threatening a presidential veto [PDF statement] of any bill that contains the McCain language. McCain has responded that intelligence gained through torture can be unreliable and that the practice hurts the US reputation abroad. The Boston Globe has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Torture | Op-ed: Perjury, Lies and Degrading Treatment: The Case for the McCain Amendment

[JURIST] Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], on Monday allowed former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ex-Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi to address the court on the safety of the defense lawyers involved in the trial, reversing an earlier ruling which led the defense team to walk out [Reuters report] of the session at the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]). The lawyers' departure led to chaotic shouting in the courtroom and an outburst from Hussein. Amin also permitted the defense team to address the legitimacy of the tribunal, and al-Nueimi argued that the court was set up under the US-led occupation and not a legal Iraqi government. Hussein and his co-defendants are charged with murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment stemming from the 1982 massacre in Dujail [JURIST report] and could face the death penalty if found guilty. AP has more. In a related development, it was disclosed that one of the trial judges had stepped down and was being replaced after learning that a defendant might have been involved in his brother's execution. The Telegraph has more.

[JURIST Europe] The British government has introduced several amendments to the proposed Terrorism Bill [PDF text] and will allow possible future amendments to be considered, leader of the UK Lords, Baroness Amos announced Sunday. The changes to the bill include the requirement that 'intention' be proven as an element of crime for the proposed 'glorification of a terrorist act' offence. UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] also announced his intent to carefully consider the concerns of libraries, NGOs, and other charity organizations that are concerned about the possible limitations on freedom of expression the bill may include. Amos did clarify however that Clarke and the UK government are not willing to step back from their plan to expand the list of banned terrorist organizations, despite concerns raised by the Association of Chief Police Officers [advocacy website] that this would only drive terrorists deeper underground and make them harder to root out. The anti-terror proposal is set to begin a final reading in the House of Lords Monday, before beginning its passage for final approval as a law. The Daily Mail has local coverage.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• UK anti-terror proposals face scrutiny in House of Lords
• UK government loses terror bill vote on 90-day detentions
• Blair set to compromise on detention provision in anti-terror bill
• UK Home Secretary under pressure to reveal legal advice on anti-terror laws
• Muslim leader warns UK terror law may curtail cooperation in terror fight
• UK terror bill passes first Commons vote

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Terrorism Law | Op-ed: New Rules of the Game: The UK Terrorism Bill | Video: UK approach to terrorism

[JURIST Europe] Monday is the first day of registration for same-sex couples to apply for a civil partnership ceremony under the UK Civil Partnership Act 2004 [official text]. The civil partnerships allowed by the Act are legally distinct [BBC backgrounder] from marriages in the UK and are not required to be performed in public, as is the case with traditional marriages. The law requires partners to register with local councils, who will then provide an official to perform the ceremony. The actual performance of the ceremonies will be permitted from December 19 in Northern Ireland, December 20 in Scotland, and December 21 in England and Wales. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has local coverage.

D. Wes Rist is Bureau Chief for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. He is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] The trial of fourteen men alleged to belong to a terrorist group operating in Amsterdam begins Monday and is the first test of new Dutch anti-terror legislation [JURIST report] allowing for the prosecution of individuals for "membership [in] a criminal organisation with terrorist intent". The fourteen have been charged for their involvement in the terrorist cell group that contained the recently convicted killer [JURIST report] of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Police allege that the men met regularly to plan the introduction of an Islamic state and the destabilization of the current government. Police arrested the men in October when new information revealed they were planning further attacks on government buildings and public officials. Reuters has more.

D. Wes Rist is Bureau Chief for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. He is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] A UK parliamentary group comprised of members from all three major British political parties meets for the first time Monday to call for a formal inquiry into whether the British government has violated international law by aiding alleged CIA rendition flights. A report from the NYU Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) [institute website] commissioned by the All Party Group on Extraordinary Rendition [Guardian backgrounder] after reports surfaced of CIA 'ghost flights' being used to shuttle terrorist detainees [JURIST report] argues that the British government could be held liable as an accomplice to American wrongdoing under international law if it helped the flights transporting detainees in any fashion. The British Foreign Office has thusfar said it has no evidence that British territory has been used in US rendition operations. Read the CHRGJ report: Torture by Proxy: International law applicable to 'Extraordinary Renditions' [official PDF text; accompanying press release]. The Guardian has local coverage.

D. Wes Rist is Bureau Chief for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. He is based in the UK.