[JURIST] German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, the outgoing head of a UN committee investigating the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], said Saturday that he is convinced Syrian authorities are responsible for Hariri's death. This was the first time that Mehlis unequivocally accused Syria of the assassination since the formal UN probe began in June. Mehlis also stated that he believes a link exists between Hariri's murder and last week's assassination of anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni [BBC report] as well as a string of bombings in Lebanon since the assassination. Mehlis released a new report [JURIST report] Monday, citing fresh evidence that strengthened his belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved in Hariri's death. Mehlis will step down from his post as the chief UN investigator in the Hariri probe [UN materials] as soon as the UN names a replacement, rumored to be International Criminal Court [official website] deputy prosecutor Serge Brammertz [official profile; JURIST report]. The UN formally extended the Hariri assassination probe [JURIST report] for six more months Thursday. AP has more.

[JURIST] An anti-bribery panel for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [official website] urged governments on Friday to dig deeper into evidence of kickbacks and corruption reported by an independent UN commission investigating the UN's now-defunct Iraq oil-for-food program [official website; JURIST news archive]. Only 11 of the 40 countries whose citizens have been implicated by the inquiry have requested to see the evidence to conduct their own criminal investigations, with the United States and France leading the way. The OECD's anti-bribery convention [OECD materials] requires corruption by foreign public officials be treated as a criminal offense. The independent inquiry into the oil-for-food program released its final report [JURIST report] in October, identifying kickbacks and other illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion with approximately 4,500 companies involved worldwide. AP has more.

[JURIST] Britain ran a secret prison at Bad Nenndorf in northwest Germany that tortured and starved to death inmates for two years after the end of World War II, according to a Saturday report from the Guardian. Inmates included Nazi party members, former members of the SS, suspected spies, and successful businessmen who had done well under Hitler's regime. UK Foreign Office [official website] files about Bad Nenndorf were recently released after a request was made under the Freedom of Information Act [text]. The Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC), a division of the War Office with interrogation centers around the world including the London Cage interrogation center [Guardian report], operated Bad Nenndorf for 22 months before its closure in July, 1947. Scotland Yard's [official website] Inspector Tom Hayward investigated complaints made by prisoners and found that 372 men and 44 women passed through Bad Nenndorf while it was open, and were subject to several different forms of torture. Hayward's investigation lead to the courts-martial of commanding officer Robin Stephens, medical officer Captain John Smith, and interrogator Lieutenant Richard Langham. A number of sergeants were pardoned for giving evidence against their superiors. Stephens and Langham were acquitted, while Smith was found guilty of neglect of inmates. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi authorities began to ease tight election security measures [JURIST report] Saturday by lifting the ban on traffic and opening all borders except for the border with Syria, which will reopen in a few days. Thursday's election [JURIST report] drew as many as 11 million people to the polls, or 70 percent of Iraq's population. International observers have praised the parliamentary election, with a spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections [official website] stating that it generally met international standards [BBC report]. Election results may take up to ten days to be released, while the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq [official website] counts votes [IECI FAQ, PDF] and reviews the 200 complaints that have been filed, including numerous reports of violations at some of the polling stations set up outside of Iraq. Shiite religious parties are expected to garner the majority of the vote, but a large Sunni turnout will likely increase the number of Sunni seats in the 275-member parliament. Sunnis had a very small number of seats in the interim government, elected last January, because most Sunnis boycotted January's election. Under the new constitution [JURIST news archive], ratified in October, the party with the largest number of seats will first try to form a government and many predict that the Shiite religious parties will have to form a majority coalition. The new parliament will replace the interim government [official website] in January. AP has more.

[JURIST] In his weekly radio address [transcript] Saturday, President Bush acknowledged that he has approved secret eavesdropping in the US [JURIST report] and said that he has no intention of putting an end to National Security Agency [official website] monitoring of possibly thousands of international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of US residents without warrants. Calling the program "crucial to our national security," Bush defended the program as "consistent with US law and the Constitution" and said it is narrowly drawn to only intercept communications of people determined to have a "clear link" to terrorist organizations. He further said:

The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation's top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups.

The NSA's activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA's top legal officials, including NSA's general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] on Friday stayed a trial chamber decision [text; JURIST report] that would have allowed former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile] to return to political life in Kosovo pending his scheduled trial in 2007 [JURIST report]. The stay will be in effect until the appeals chamber issues its final decision on the terms of Haradinaj's provisional release, and until that time Haradinaj "will not be allowed to make any public appearance or in any way get involved in any public political activity." Haradinaj, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, was charged with torture, murder and ethnic cleansing [JURIST report] in March. Read the ICTY decision and press release.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives [official website] late Friday evening narrowly approved [roll call vote] a tough new border security and immigration bill that includes plans to build a security fence across 621 miles of the Mexican border and authorizes the US Department of Homeland Security to study the possibility of placing barriers across the famously "undefended" US border with Canada, the longest undefended border line in the world. HR 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 [bill summary], would also reclassify being in the US illegally as a criminal rather than a civil offense, would require employers to conduct immigration status checks of their employees, and would cease the practice of releasing non-Mexican illegals on bond pending a hearing. Critics of the legislation, including Mexican President Vicente Fox, say the measures would be largely ineffective [AP report] or unenforceable and do not address the root causes of illegal immigration into the US. Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] issued a statement saying that the reforms passed by the House "will not contribute to a better, more integral bilateral management of migration issues." The immigration bill now goes before the Senate, and President Bush has urged the Senate [press release] "to take action on immigration reform so that I can sign a good bill into law." The House did not vote on Bush's proposed guest worker program [White House backgrounder], leaving the issue for next year. Bush has called for undocumented aliens already in the US to be given three-year work visas; when the visas expire, the immigrants would have to return to their home countries to apply for a new permit. AP has more.