[JURIST] Former Qwest Communications [corporate website] vice president of investments, mergers and acquisitions Marc Weisberg pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single wire fraud count after his indictment [US DOJ press release] in February on eight counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. Weisberg agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors trying to convict other Qwest executives, including former CEO Joseph Nacchio [AP profile], who was charged with 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report] earlier this month. The government has conducted a four-year investigation into the officers of Qwest, a Denver based western telephone service provider. Former CFO Robin Szeliga pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading [JURIST report] in July and Qwest agreed to pay a $250 million [JURIST report] last year for SEC fraud charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] Some 80 opposition politicians, reporters and aid workers facing treason and genocide charges in Ethiopia relating to November's street clashes over May elections that killed 46 people have complained that they have been denied access to lawyers by prison administration. They made the claim Wednesday as they appeared in court for a bail hearing. Riots erupted during a protest against ballot fraud orchestrated by the Coalition of Unity and Democracy (CUD) [official website], Ethiopia’s largest opposition party. The government released 2,417 prisoners [JURIST report] held without charge in connection to the confrontation shortly after the rioting occurred. Under Ethiopian law, the sentences for the various charges the defendants face range from three years to the death penalty. In total, 130 people are facing charges for the unrest that followed the May elections. CUD still has not taken up the parliamentary seats it won in the vote. The judge presiding in Wednesday's proceeding has said he will rule on bail on January 4. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Chilean police have taken fingerprints and a mug shot of former dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] as part of his indictment over Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder], in which at least 119 dissidents were allegedly murdered during the early years of Pinochet’s dictatorship. Nine separate indictments relating to Operation Colombo were joined [JURIST report] earlier this month. Pinochet, 90, insists that all of the deaths occurred as a result of clashes between rival opposition groups. The Supreme Court of Chile [official website, in Spanish] Monday ruled that Pinochet is fit to stand trial [JURIST report], affirming a lower appeals court decision [JURIST report] that Pinochet’s mild dementia, diabetes and arthritis do not hinder his ability to stand trial. Previous charges against the former Chilean leader have been thrown out due to his poor health, but doctors testified before the Supreme Court that Pinochet exaggerated his symptoms to avoid trial. Pinochet has also been indicted on tax evasion and corruption charges [JURIST report] relating to his foreign bank accounts and has been under house arrest since his indictment on November 24. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr [CBS profile], the minister in charge of Iraq's prison facilities, is expected to resign in the near future, according to multiple security and political sources. The reports follow accusations that he ran secret prisons [JURIST report] found in November [JURIST report] and December [JURIST report] where detainees were malnourished and apparently tortured. Jabr has downplayed [JURIST report] the severity of the human rights violations alleged to have occured at the facilities, and has denied personal responsibility [JURIST report] for abuses. Earlier this month he fired [JURIST report] Iraq's senior human rights inspector over the scandal. The Washington Times has more.

[JURIST] Algeria [JURIST news archive] Wednesday asked the government of France [JURIST news archive] to apologize for crimes committed during France’s colonization of Algeria, including France’s part in the massacres of 45,000 Algerians who demanded independence at the end of World War II. Since Algerian independence in 1962, France and Algeria have gradually normalized relations and are currently working toward a reconciliation treaty, but France strained ties earlier this year when it approved a law [text in French; Guardian report] requiring French history teachers to stress "the positive role of the French presence overseas, especially in North Africa." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] has agreed to hear arguments regarding the request of US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website; JURIST news archive] to speed up his money-laundering trial by either beginning the case immediately or dismissing the charges. Last week, an intermediate appellate court denied [JURIST report] DeLay's request to shorten the filing period of the government's appeal of his conspiracy acquittal from 20 to five days so that the money laundering trial may begin. Both Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle [official website] and DeLay have one week to submit arguments before the 9 appellate judges, all of whom are Republicans. Because US House Republicans have a rule prohibiting anyone under indictment from actively holding a leadership role, DeLay hopes to be exonerated before leadership elections next month which could name a replacement for him as House Majority Leader, a post from which he has temporarily stepped down pending the result of the litigation. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul [official website] said in a TV interview Wednesday that state slander laws used to prosecute Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk [BBC profile] and implicated as recently as Tuesday in a possible prosecutorial probe of comments by a senior EU lawmaker [JURIST report] could be changed if necessary to protect Turkey's reputation, though no decision would be made until after the Turkish Supreme Court delivers an opinion in the case. Pamuk was charged under Article 301 [Amnesty International backgrounder] of the state Penal Code, revised [JURIST report] this past summer to accommodate Turkey's bid to gain European Union (EU) [official website] membership status, that makes insulting the country a crime. Pamuk was arrested after telling a Swiss newspaper that "30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it." Gul has previously criticized the Pamuk trial [JURIST report] as "a public degeneration of Turkish identity," incompatible with simultaneous attempts by the Turkish government to protect the people's right to freedom of expression and religion. The EU has cautioned [JURIST report; EU report] Turkey that its EU bid will not be accepted unless the country improves its record on torture and other human rights violations, including the restriction of freedom of expression. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for so-called "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] have responded [reply brief, PDF] to the government's contention that Padilla's US Supreme Court appeal [certiorari petition, PDF; JURIST report] is moot and should be denied, insisting that his case "raises questions of profound constitutional importance about the government's military power over citizens in the homeland." US Department of Justice lawyers petitioned the Court [opposition brief PDF] last month to deny review, arguing that because Padilla has now been indicted [PDF indictment; JURIST report], he has been given the "very relief" he sought when he filed his habeas appeal, and that a Court ruling on the case would "have no practical effect" on Padilla. The US Fourth Circuit Court of appeals ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] in September that Padilla, an enemy combatant, could be held indefinitely without charge. Padilla's reply filed Tuesday also includes mention of recent legal developments, including the discovery of the Bush administration's widespread use of warrantless surveillance tactics [JURIST news archive], that raise questions about the executive branch's power to conduct the war on terror with little judicial oversight. The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the case by mid-January; Padilla's first appeal to the Court in 2004 was denied due to lack of jurisdiction. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] After a fifteen year-old girl was killed and six bystanders were injured Monday in a random shooting spree on a busy downtown shopping street, Toronto Mayor David Miller [official website] said Tuesday that weak US gun laws are partly to blame for a recent surge of violence in Canada's largest city. The shooting death was the 52nd gun-related fatality this year in Toronto. That's almost twice as many as last year, although with a municipal population of three million people, that still averages a rate of only 1.73 gun-related deaths per year per 100,000 people, much lower than the US 2002 national average of 10.3 gun-related deaths per year per 100,000 [AAP statistics]. Miller said of the killings, "It's a sign that the lack of gun laws in the U.S. is allowing guns to flood across the border that are literally being used to kill people in the streets of Toronto." Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website], who has already pledged a nationwide handgun ban [JURIST report] if re-elected in January, has said that over half of all gun deaths in Canada are committed using illegally-imported US firearms. On a visit to Canada in October when Martin raised the issue of US guns coming onto Canada illegally, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice parried criticism by insisting that "There are problems on both sides of the border that can cause the smuggling of guns" and saying that US authorities were cooperating with their Canadian counterparts [CNEWS report] to stop the practice. AP has more.

[JURIST] Monitoring group Human Rights Watch [website] Wednesday asked [press release] the G8 [backgrounder], the heads of government of the major industrial democracies, to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin not to sign a controversial bill that would create an oversight group with greatly increased control over the funding and activites of non-governmental orginizations, including the Russian arms of a number of international human rights groups. The legislation, on its way to Putin after approval [JURIST report] Tuesday by the Federation Council [official website], the Russian upper house of parliament, implements strict registration requirements, imposes financial oversight, and provides for dissolution of NGOs if an organization participates in activities deemed to deviate from the groups' explicit mission statement. The legislation has been partially amended to address criticisms since the Russian Duma, the lower house, passed its first version, but HRW and other BGO representatives say that the changes do not go far enough. Putin has said that the legislation would prevent foreign interests from financing political activities within Russia through NGOs. Russia takes over the presidency of the G8 [Russian G8n presidency website] from the UK in January 2006. CBC has more.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers working on several high-profile terrorism cases plan to bring legal challenges to discover whether the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] used illegal wiretaps [JURIST news archive] against several dozen Muslims linked to Al Qaeda and whether the government misled judges and defense lawyers about the selection and monitoring of suspects. Lawyers for Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] say they plan to file a motion in a Florida court as early as next week to determine whether the NSA used wiretaps to gain incriminating information about their client. Other high profile cases being reviewed by attorneys include the Portland Seven [Oregonian coverage] and Lackawanna Six [Wikipedia profile] suspects. White House spokesman Trent Duffy defended [White House transcript] the legality of the NSA program Tuesday, saying "The president believes that he has the authority - and he does - under the Constitution to do this limited program. The Congress has been briefed. It is fully in line with the Constitution and also protecting American civil liberties." Last week, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [constituitive statute] judge resigned in protest [JURIST report] over the NSA domestic surveillance program, and the Bush administration has agreed to brief [JURIST report] the remaining judges on the scope of the program. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The Greek Ministry of Justice [official website] has begun investigating the alleged torture in Greece of 28 Pakistanis suspected of involvement in the July 7 London bombings [JURIST news archive] following a lawsuit filed by the men against Greek intelligence officers. A story in the Greek weekly Proto Thema Sunday revealed the identities of a British MI6 [official website] officer in Athens and 15 Greek officers who supposedly participated in the abuse of the Pakistani terror suspects. The article sparked outrage, both over the naming of the covert officers and the possibility that British intelligence carried out covert operations on Greek soil. The British Foreign Office has denied involvement, saying, "There is no UK involvement in the intelligence and questioning of these people. It is all absolute nonsense." The MI6 officer has been recalled to London [Telegraph report] for his own safety, however, and the UK government has imposed a gag order on British media to prevent them spreading his name. Human rights groups and opposition parties have asked the Greek Justice Ministry and Public Order Ministers to appear before parliament on January 11 to account for the incident. The UK Independent has more. From Athens, Kathimerini has local coverage.

[JURIST] Alexander Torshin, the head of the Russian parliamentary commission investigating last year's Beslan school siege [BBC report; MosNews report] told the upper house of parliament [official website] Wednesday that despite their exoneration by prosecutors [JURIST report] earlier this week, local law enforcement officials were in fact negligent in ignoring instructions to increase school security. Last year, Islamic militants seized Beslan's School No. 1, holding 1,100 students, teachers and parents hostage, killing 330 and wounding 783 more. Torshin said an increase in security could have prevented the attack and that "The counter-terrorist operation was plagued by shortcomings. ... Many law enforcement officers did not know how to act in an emergency situation." He also blamed authorities for infuriating the captors by under-reporting the number of hostages. Prosecutors declined to hold security forces responsible for the rescue effort, which resulted in the deadly end to the siege. AP has more. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] Former Enron [JURIST news archive] Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey [profile] has reached a deal with prosecutors and is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to one or more criminal charges and a reduced prison sentence in exchange for his testimony against former bosses Kenneth Lay [defense website] and Jeffrey Skilling [BBC profile]. Causey, who was responsible for Enron's public accounting statements, faces 35 charges of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading, lying to auditors and money laundering for his role in misleading investors regarding the health of Enron's balance sheet. Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow [BBC profile] has already agreed to testify, pleading guilty [plea agreement, PDF] to wire and securities fraud charges and receiving a ten year prison sentence. Causey is expected to be a stronger prosecution witness than Fastow because he was not personally enriched by Enron's fraudulent balance sheet transactions and has not been demonized in the media to the same extent. Jury selection for Skilling and Lay's trial is scheduled to begin on January 17. AP has more. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

3:20 PM ET - Reuters is reporting that Causey has told the judge presiding in his case that he will plead guilty.

3:35 PM ET - Causey has pleaded guilty to a single count of securities fraud; under the plea agreement prosecutors have committed themselves to asking the judge for a seven-year sentence which could be reduced to five if Causey "provides truthful, complete and accurate information." The court could still impose a maximum ten-year sentence, however.

[JURIST] CIA inspector general John Helgerson [official profile] has launched an investigation into fewer than ten cases of possibly erroneous rendition [JURIST news archive], according to an intelligence official quoted by AP. In several cases it is believed that either the wrong person was captured, or the person later turned out to have no links to terrorism. The disclosed number of erroneous cases being investigated is lower than expected by many observers in light of suggestions that rendition has been a common agency strategy in the "war on terror.". Rights groups [ACLU rendition factsheet; HRW backgrounder] have said that rendition allows the US to avoid judicial safeguards and have expressed concerns that foreign countries will not abide by anti-torture policies or release suspects when exonerated. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the CIA [JURIST report] on behalf of a German man who claimed he was wrongly captured in Macedonia and taken to a secret CIA facility in Afghanistan in 2003. AP has more.