[JURIST] The New Jersey Legislature [official website] passed a bill [draft text] Monday to suspend executions and create a New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission [statement, PDF] to examine all aspects of the death penalty [JURIST news archive], including its fairness and costs. The 13-member commission will report back to the legislature in November on whether the death penalty is consistent with evolving standards of decency, whether the selection of defendants for capital murder is arbitrary and unfair, and whether alternatives exist that would promote public safety and address the needs of victims' families. The legislation received bipartisan support and Governor Richard J. Codey [official website] has indicated he will approve it. New Jersey reinstated the death penalty in 1982, although the last execution there took place in 1963; there are currently 10 prisoners on death row. Although New Jersey is the first state to suspend executions through formal legislation, other states like Illinois and Maryland have passed similar suspensions by executive order. Twelve other states have ordered similar study commissions. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [official profile, JURIST news archive] used his 11-minute opening statement [AP transcript; AP video] to the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] late Monday afternoon to describe his family background, his education, and his professional career, and to highlight key points of his judicial philosophy. He spoke after 18 senators made their own opening statements [Washington Post transcript] on the first day of his confirmation hearings. Contrasting his prior experience as a federal appeals court judge to his years as a practicing attorney, Alito stressed that a judge "cannot have a preferred outcome in a particular case" and that judges cannot have an agenda. Alito said that his obligation as a judge was to the rule of law and that "no person in this country, no matter how high or powerful is above the law, and no person in this country is beneath the law." Concluding, he declared:

Fifteen years ago, when I was sworn in as a judge of the court of appeals, I took an oath. I put my hand on the Bible and I swore that I would administer justice without respect to persons, that I would do equal rights to the poor and the rich, and that I would carry out my duties under the Constitution and the law of the United States. And that is what I have tried to do to the very best of my ability for the past 15 years. And if I am confirmed, I pledge to you that that is what I would do on the Supreme Court.

[JURIST] NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer [official profile] Monday called on Serbia and Bosnia to step up their efforts to find wanted war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounders], both indicted for genocide and other war crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. After more than 10 years as fugitives, de Hoop Scheffer expressed his hope that both men could be brought to justice before the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] by the end of the year. At stake is the tentative agreement between NATO [official website] and the two nations to sign a Partnership for Peace [NATO backgrounder] agreement, a document that reaffirms defense cooperation between NATO and non-member countries. Previously, UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte [JURIST report] and EU High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina Lord Paddy Ashdown [JURIST report] also pressed for the arrests. NATO will hold several meetings in 2006 to discuss possible extensions of a formal partnership to aspirant countries while the European Commission [official website] agreed [JURIST report] to negotiate with Bosnia to form a cooperation agreement that may result in the country's full membership [EU enlargement background materials] to the EU. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Swiss Supreme Court Monday denied a Russian request for the transfer of bank documents to Russia [JURIST news archive] relevant to an ongoing investigation into crippled Russian oil giant Yukos [corporate website; JURIST news archive]. The Swiss court held that Russia provided insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to warrant the transfer. The Swiss court has already frozen at least $48 million of Swiss funds tied to Yukos but has refused to release the funds to Russian authorities since they failed to meet Swiss standards for judicial assistance. Once Russia's largest oil producer, Yukos is now struggling financially amidst allegations of unpaid back taxes. In October, former Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky [MosNews profile; JURIST news archive] was sentenced [JURIST report] to eight years in prison on charges of fraud and tax evasion. In ordering a stay on the transfer of the documents Monday, the Swiss court said that Russia must provide it with translated copies of the court proceedings concerning Khodorkovsky and business partner Platon Lebedev [JURIST news archive]. AP has more. RIA Novosti has local coverage.

[JURIST] Two Muslim men accused of supporting terror will stand trial after a federal judge in New York state ruled Monday that there was enough evidence to pursue the case despite defendants' arguments that they had been entrapped by FBI agents. US District Judge Thomas McAvoy ruled that the entrapment evidence did not sufficiently outweigh the government's evidence linking them to the crime. He also refused to grant separate trials for the men, who have pleaded not guilty. Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, both of Albany, were arrested in August 2004 and accused of laundering money for an FBI informant posing as an arms dealer. According to prosecutors, Aref, 35, the imam at Albany's Masjid as-Salam mosque [mosque website] and Hossain, 50, the mosque co-founder, allegedly accepted some $50,000 from an informant who told the defendants that the money came from the sale of a missile that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. The men say they never believed the business deal was part of a terrorist plot. Aref remains in jail awaiting trial, but Hossain is free on bail [JURIST report]. Both men face life-sentences and fines as high as $7.25 million, if convicted. Review the criminal complaint against Hossain and Aref. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] was granted bail on Monday after seven weeks of house arrest on the three remaining charges against him relating to the disappearance and presumed death of dissidents during his 17-year rule. Pinochet was granted bail [JURIST report] last week on the six other human rights charges that have so far been leveled against him for his alleged role in the death of 119 members of an opposition group in the mid-1970s, an incident which has became known as Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder; BBC recorded audio]. Bail has been set at $19,000, but Pinochet, who has been found competent to stand trial [JURIST report] despite suffering from mild dementia and heart problems, must remain under house arrest until the bail is ratified by a appeals court expected to rule later this week. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard arguments Monday in Hudson v. Michigan [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs] where it will decide whether police officers were justified in entering a plaintiff's home without knocking when they arrived with a warrant to search for drugs. Justices could use this case to make it easier for officers to execute search warrants. They could also rely on previous rulings which say police armed with warrants generally must knock and announce themselves, or risk violating the Fourth Amendment [GPO backgrounder] ban on unreasonable searches. AP has more.

[JURIST] Swiss intelligence agents have been aware of secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe [JURIST news archive] for nearly two months, according to documents leaked to the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick [media website]. According to SonntagsBlick, Swiss military intelligence [official website in German] agents used satellite listening systems to intercept a fax sent from Cairo to the Egyptian embassy in London, the contents of which confirmed the existence of the detention centers. The November 10 fax allegedly stated that 23 Iraqi and Afghan citizens had been transferred to a military base in Romania for interrogation purposes and added that similar detention centres had been set up in Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Officials in Poland recently ended an official investigation [JURIST report] into the existence of secret CIA prisons in that country, the contents of which have not yet been released. Swiss parliamentarian Dick Marty, heading a Council of Europe probe into the secret prisons allegations [JURIST report], said however that the authenticity of the SonntagsBlick document has not been proved and that the fax simply appears to confirm information already known. Swissinfo has more. Read the SonntagsBlick article here [in German].

[JURIST] Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban, an Indiana truck driver accused of offering to sell names of US covert operatives to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government. Charges against Shaaban [JURIST report] laid last March include acting as a foreign agent, violating sanctions against Iraq, conspiracy and witness tampering. Prosecutors claim that Shaaban traveled to Iraq in 2002 and agreed to sell the names of US intelligence agents to the Iraqi government for $3 million. Shaaban is currently representing himself; if convicted, he faces up to 65 years in prison and more than $1.5 million in fines. AP has more. The Indianapolis Star has local coverage.

[JURIST] The trial of three former police officers for the murder of prominent Ukraine opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze [Wikipedia profile] has begun in Kiev. Valeriy Kostenko, Mykola Protasov and Oleksandr Popovych are accused of carrying out the killing in September 2000, but no one has yet been charged with giving the order for the murder. Gongadze was an outspoken critic of former Ukranian President Leonid Kuchma [BBC profile], later implicated in the murder [JURIST report] through secret recordings. Kuchma denies any involvement. Current Ukranian President Victor Yushenko [BBC profile] says the case is a top priority for him. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The trial of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri [BBC profile], charged under the UK Terrorism Act 2000 [text] for inciting racial hatred, began in London on Monday. Hamza was arrested last May on a US extradition warrant, and was later charged in the UK on 16 counts, including urging his followers to kill non-Muslims and possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings. Hamza's UK trial has put on hold efforts to extradite him to the US, where he faces charges [PDF indictment] relating to his involvement in the 2000 USS Cole bombing. The trial is expected to last three weeks, with the prosecution outlining its case on Wednesday. If convicted, Abu Hamza faces life in prison. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• BREAKING NEWS ~ UK court charges Abu Hamza on 16 counts
• BREAKING NEWS ~ Cleric Abu Hamza to face charges in UK under anti-terror laws
• Radical cleric sought to be extradited by US may be charged in UK
• Abu Hamza arrested in UK under Terrorism Act
• Terror suspect arrested in London; US seeks extradition

[JURIST] Confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive] began Monday with Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] promising a "full, fair and dignified hearing," and Senate Democrats vowing to ask tough questions about Alito's stance on abortion, the right of privacy, constitutional powers, and equal rights. The hearings started with opening statements by the committee's 18 members including remarks [text] by the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website]:

The challenge for Judge Alito in the course of these hearings is to demonstrate that he will protect the rights and liberties of all Americans and serve as an effective check on government overreaching. The president has not helped his cause by withdrawing his earlier nomination of Harriet Miers in the face of criticism from an extreme faction of his own party.

[JURIST] The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] on Monday denied requests [JURIST report] by US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website; JURIST news archive] that the money laundering charges against him either be dismissed or sent back to a lower court for an immediate trial. The state's highest criminal court denied the requests two days after DeLay stepped down [JURIST report] from his post as House Majority Leader [official website]. DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin said they will continue to push for a quick trial because the representative faces opposition in the March republican primary elections. A conspiracy charge against DeLay was dismissed [JURIST report] in December but prosecutors appealed that decision, and the case for the remaining money laundering charges will not proceed until the Texas Third Court of Appeals reviews the prosecution's appeal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The lower house of Jordan's parliament on Sunday approved an agreement with the US which will prohibit the country from handing over Americans accused of violating international criminal law to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. The decision was met with intense opposition by the Islamic Action Front [official website in Arabic], Jordan's largest political party, and human rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch [advocacy websites] say that the measure, which had already been approved by the upper house of parliament, sets a dangerous precedent for other countries, and claim Jordan is in violation of the ICC's Rome Statute [PDF text]. Despite the opposition, Jordan ratified the Article 98 Agreement [US State Dept. backgrounder] largely in order to continue receiving financial aid from the US, which is Jordan's primary financial donor giving a total of $250 million last year. Three independent Jordanian deputies withdrew from the chamber during the vote, calling it "an infringement of their country's sovereignty." IRIN has more. The Jordan Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The lower house of Jordan's parliament on Sunday approved an agreement with the US which will prohibit the country from handing over Americans accused of violating international criminal law to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. The decision was met with intense opposition by the Islamic Action Front [official website in Arabic], Jordan's largest political party, and human rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch [advocacy websites] say that the measure, which had already been approved by the upper house of parliament, sets a dangerous precedent for other countries, and claim Jordan is in violation of the ICC's Rome Statute [PDF text]. Despite the opposition, Jordan ratified the Article 98 Agreement [US State Dept. backgrounder] largely in order to continue receiving financial aid from the US, which is Jordan's primary financial donor giving a total of $250 million last year. Three independent Jordanian deputies withdrew from the chamber during the vote, calling it "an infringement of their country's sovereignty." IRIN has more. The Jordan Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] A top official at the US Department of Justice's Regime Crimes Liaison Office in Baghdad has suggested that the current trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] could end as early as June, with further trial proceedings to commence thereafter. Kevin P. Dooley [DOJ press release] told reporters that if all goes smoothly, further indictments should be served against Hussein in upcoming months for the 1988 ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurds [BBC backgrounder], and suggested that if Hussein and his co-defendants are found guilty for the charges they currently face, the appeals process may be drawn out so that Hussein may be stand trial for all pending charges [JURIST report]. 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 by the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]). Trial proceedings are currently adjourned and will resume on January 24 [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli police said Monday that Palestinians who plan to run in the January 25 parliamentary elections [BBC backgrounder] will be permitted to campaign in Jerusalem, reversing a previous ban against Palestinian campaigning in the capital city. Senior Palestinian politician Hatem Abdel Khader said he viewed the lifted ban as an indication that Israel [JURIST news archive] would also permit residents from East Jerusalem to vote, a key demand by Palestinians. The Israeli government, however, has not yet commented on whether the eastern residents would be allowed to vote, and the decision will likely be the first political issue facing acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile], who took over after the stroke of Ariel Sharon [BBC profile] last week. Israeli police officials and Palestinians are scheduled to meet later Monday to discuss the campaigning procedures. Last week, members of an independent Palestinian election commission resigned [JURIST report] in protest of the government's decision to allow security forces to cast votes in their barracks instead of in their districts. AP has more.

[JURIST] Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik [official profile] has promised new efforts to revive the stalled EU Constitution [JURIST document; JURIST news archive] during the Austrian Presidency of the EU [official website] in the first half of 2006. The draft constitution was rejected by both France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report] last year, halting further national referendums as the proposal must be approved by all 25 member nations before taking effect. Plassnik has said that Austria will hold consultations before deciding how to proceed, but Austrian Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach [official profile] has suggested scrapping the current proposal, which creates the posts of president and foreign minister for the EU Council, enhances the powers of the European Parliament, and streamlines the legislative process. Instead, Gorbach has said a new text should be created that will appease member nations currently holding out. The Independent has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• New German chancellor wants to revive EU constitution
• European Commission chief expects no EU constitution for at least two years
• European parliament to address constitution problems
• Study: Ireland indifferent, undecided on EU constitution

[JURIST] Iran [JURIST news archive] confirmed Monday that it will restart its nuclear fuel research program, a decision which may lead European Union and US officials to refer Iran [JURIST report] to the UN Security Council for sanctions. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran would resume its program when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] was ready to supervise the removal of the seals that the UN watchdog put on the country's nuclear facility two years ago while discussions regarding the research took place. The IAEA said, however, that letters sent by Iran regarding its plan to restart the nuclear research left key questions unanswered and requested further information [IAEA press release]. Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, called Iran's announcement "the wrong step in the wrong direction and is a cause of very serious concern." Iran claims its research efforts are peaceful and that it has the right to conduct such a program on its own territory. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Speaker of the US House of Representatives Dennis Hastert (R-IL) [official website] outlined a plan Sunday to implement more stringent restrictions on the "perks" members of Congress may accept from private parties. Reconsideration of the restrictions was sparked by the recent Congressional ethics scandal involving former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive], and Texas Congressman Tom Delay [JURIST news archive]. Abramoff and Delay have been at the center of a campaign finance scandal that has resulted in Abramoff pleading guilty [JURIST report] to fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud charges and Delay relinquishing his post as House Majority Leader [JURIST report]. A former aide to Hastert told reporters that the legislation will likely tighten existing ethics rules [House backgrounder] imposed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 [PDF], and greatly limit, if not eliminate free travel, meal and entertainment members of Congress receive. The Chicago Tribune has more.

[JURIST] The man who shot Pope John Paul II [official website] in 1981 will be released on parole from prison Thursday after a Turkish court ruled that he has completed his sentences for shooting the pope and other crimes. The Vatican [official website] expressed surprise at the news, saying it only learned of the release of Mehmet Ali Agca [Wikipedia profile] through news agencies, but said it would defer to the decision of the Turkish court. Agca served almost 20 years in an Italian prison for the shooting of Pope John Paul before being sent back to his native Turkey in 2000 to serve additional time [BBC report] for murdering a Turkish journalist in 1979. Pope John Paul had pardoned Agca for his actions five days after the shooting and again when the pontiff met with Agca in prison two and a half years after the attack. AP has more. From Turkey, Aksam has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Army has dropped charges against Capt. Christopher Beiring, the Army officer implicated in the death of two terror detainees [Army press release; JURIST report] at the US-run Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan [Global Security profile], due to insufficient evidence. Beiring was charged [JURIST report] in September with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and it was alleged that Beiring failed to properly train military police under his command. The Army held an Article 32 hearing [JURIST report; JAG backgrounder] in December to determine whether Beiring should face a court martial, but found that there was insufficient evidence to proceed. Instead, Beiring has received a letter of reprimand faulting him for a lack of leadership. 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. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Christian conservatives on Sunday rallied in support of US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] and called for reforms to the federal judiciary, during Justice Sunday III [advocacy website; FRC press release]. The rally, sponsored by the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family [advocacy websites], was organized to protest recent federal court decisions on the separation of church and state, including the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky [opinion] prohibiting the display of the Ten Commandments at a Kentucky courthouse. Rev. Jerry Falwell said that if Alito were confirmed to the Supreme Court it would be the biggest victory for Christian conservatives in thirty years. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told those attending the rally at a Philadelphia church that liberal judges are "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent" and that confirming Alito and other "honorable jurists" is "the only way to restore this republic our founders envisioned." Santorum criticized Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee [AP report], who he said were "poised to drag these hearings into the gutter." The committee's confirmation hearings on the Alito nomination begin Monday at 12:00 PM ET. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• US conservative Christian leaders hold rally, blast 'activist' judges
• Frist urges judicial respect at conservative Christian anti-filibuster event