[JURIST] US Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine [official profile] has forwarded a request to investigate President Bush’s authorization [JURIST report] of National Security Agency (NSA) eavesdropping on US residents [JURIST report] to the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, citing a lack of jurisdiction to begin his own inquiry into the controversial program. On Tuesday the Pentagon’s inspector general also declined to open an investigation by forwarding a Democratic party request for an inquiry to his NSA counterpart. Increasing numbers of legal experts from both major political parties have raised questions about the legality of the domestic surveillance program and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) [official website] called for a congressional probe [JURIST report]; the House of Representative and Senate intelligence committees both plan to conduct their own investigations, with the Senate Judiciary Committee having already invited US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify in February [JURIST report]. President Bush said Wednesday that he had no objection [AP report] to the congressional probes so long as they did not disclose information to America's enemies. AP has more.

[JURIST] Abdul Aziz Hakim [Wikipedia profile], leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the country’s most powerful Shiite politician, said Wednesday that a new Iraqi government dominated by religious Shiites elected in the December 15 parliamentary vote [JURIST report] would not “change the essence” of the new Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] despite a compromise with Sunni Arabs [JURIST report] before the constitutional referendum in October [JURIST report] that purported to allow revisions. The deal among Sunni, Shiite and Kurd leaders allowed parliament to review constitutional amendments up to four months after the new government ascended. A spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution confirmed that while "some points or details" of the constitution may be negotiated, the "main principles ... cannot be touched." The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments Wednesday in House v. Bell [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], where it will decide whether appellant Paul Gregory House, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the abduction, attempted rape and murder of Carolyn Muncey in July 1985, presented enough exculpatory evidence to merit another look at his case. The justices focused on the standard of review to be used by lower courts when deciding whether to consider new evidence of innocence, with Justice Scalia affirming that new evidence will be admitted only if no reasonable juror would have voted for conviction if the new evidence were presented. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Wednesday officially named Serge Brammertz [official profile], Deputy Prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] and a former Belgian federal prosecutor, as the new Commissioner of the ongoing UN investigation into the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive; UN materials]. The announcement followed speculation [JURIST report] that he would be appointed as German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis' successor to the post. The announcement comes just a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara agreed to meet [JURIST report] with the commission at the request of Mehlis [JURIST report]. Brammertz will fly to Beirut to assume his new duties as soon as possible. UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] A Yemeni man alleged to have been an al Qaeda propagandist and security officer for Osama bin Laden told a US military commission at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] Wednesday that he was boycotting the just-reconvened proceedings [JURIST report]. At a pre-trial hearing, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul held up a sign that said "boycott" printed in Arabic and then smiled at the presiding judge. Al-Bahlul, charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes [JURIST report; US DOD charge sheet], also insisted that he did not want either a US military-appointed defense lawyer or an American civilian lawyer, and would rather represent himself. The judge nonetheless assigned military counsel. At the hearing, al-Bahlul added through an interpreter that he did not "hate all Americans" but was only an "enemy of all Americans who fight. I regard them as enemies." AP has more.

[JURIST] A man from the Georgian Republic who lobbed a grenade toward US President George W. Bush while he was on a visit there in May last year was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday by a Georgian court. Vladimir Arutunyan [Wikipedia profile], who originally confessed but later recanted, landed the grenade within 50 meters of Bush while the president stood behind a bulletproof barrier addressing a crowd [White House transcript], but the device failed to explode due to a malfunctioning detonator. According to Georgian prosecutors, DNA tests of material on the cloth that was wrapped around the grenade matched that of Arutyunian's. Arutyunian's lawyer, Elizabeta Dzhaparidze, said that she would appeal because "I consider that everything was far from proved." 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. US Justice Department officials have not yet decided whether they will seek Arutunyan's extradition. AP has more.

[JURIST] Argentine judge Jorge Urso has decided to send accused Bosnian Serb war criminal Milan Lukic, arrested in Buenos Aires [JURIST report] in August, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] in The Hague for trial, according to AFP sources. Lukic, one of the 10 most-wanted Bosnian Serbs, had been on the run for more than five years, and has been accused of responsibility for the murder of some 150 Bosnian Muslims in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. He faces 21 crimes against humanity charges and 12 war crimes charges for persecution, murder and inhumane acts. Serbian newspapers have reported that Lukic wants to go to The Hague rather than face a Serbian tribunal on the same charges because he fears for his life. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The families of fifteen Cubans deported when they failed to reach US soil have filed suit in US District Court, claiming that the US government's so-called "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy is inconsistent with US and international law. The fifteen Cubans fled their homeland in a small homemade boat, but only managed to reach an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys. Because the bridge was no longer attached to US soil, the Cubans were sent back to Cuba on Monday [AP report] aboard a Coast Guard cutter. Under the current "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach US soil are allowed to remain in the United States, while those stopped at sea are sent back to Cuba by the US Coast Guard [official website]. Critics of the policy point out that the federal government's jurisdiction extends beyond dry land to waters as far out as 100 miles. On Monday, Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) called [press release] the "wet foot, dry foot" rule "complete and utter failure":

Because they reached an old bridge and not a new bridge there's a judgment they didn't reach American soil? The semantics used to return these men and women -- who have risked so much to reach freedom and are now returned to an uncertain future -- are an embarrassment.

[JURIST] The 23-member Santiago Appeals Court Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling [JURIST report] granting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] bail, but at the same time stripped him of immunity an additional human rights case, opening the way for prosecutors to charge him with crimes associated with the so-called Caravan of Death [BBC backgrounder]. The "Caravan" was a military mission to execute dozens of opponents in cities in northern and southern Chile just after the September 11, 1973 military coup that brought Pinochet to power. The case was thrown out by the Supreme Court in 2002 saying Pinochet was too ill to face charges, but a prosecuting judge now argues that ruling does not apply to two of the victims. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Democratic senators on the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Wednesday pressed apparent inconsistencies in answers to questions by Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] during his third day of his confirmation hearings. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) [official website] contrasted Alito's Tuesday testimony that he would keep an "open mind" [JURIST report] on any future abortion cases before the Supreme Court with other testimony and writings [JURIST report] by Alito that Durbin said suggested "a mind that sadly is closed in some instances." Senate Democrats also pressed the issue of Alito's participation in a 2002 Vanguard [corporate website] case, despite holding six-figure investments with the company, after promising [JURIST report] the Judiciary Committee in 1990 that he would recuse himself from cases that presented such a conflict of interest. Republican senators defended Alito's testimony; Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) [official website] accused the Democrats of "grasping at any straw to tarnish [Alito's] record." AP has more.

[JURIST] Spanish authorities have charged former Argentine naval officer Ricardo Miguel Cavallo [TrialWatch profile] with genocide for his involvement in the disappearance of hundreds of people during a 1976 Argentine military coup. Papers published Wednesday allege that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were forcibly kidnapped or "disappeared" following the takeover, including approximately 600 Spanish citizens. Just under 9,000 poeple were killed. Cavallo faces counts ranging from genocide, organized terrorism and crimes against humanity to murder. If convicted, he faces a prison term theoretically amounting to 17,000 years. The case is expected to go to trial later this year. In April 2005 a Spanish court convicted another former Argentine naval officer [JURIST report], Adolfo Scilingo, of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 640 years in prison after finding him to have been aboard planes from which 30 people were thrown to their deaths during Argentina's military rule from 1976 to 1983. That case was the first in Spain under a new law that allows the country to prosecute for crimes committed in other countries under the principle of universal jurisdiction [Amnesty backgrounder], upheld in September by a ruling of Spain's Constitutional Court [official website]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot [official profile] said Wednesday that the EU constitution [JURIST news archive] is "dead" as far as the Netherlands is concerned, rejecting promised efforts [JURIST report] earlier this week by Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik [official profile] to attempt to revive the charter. Bot spoke after meeting with Plassnik, whose country currently holds the EU presidency [official website], and reiterated that the Netherlands will not make another attempt to ratify the constitution after Dutch citizens overwhelmingly voted "no" [JURIST report] in a referendum last year. Many supporters of the charter are holding out hope that the refusal by The Hague to ratify the constitution is only relevant until changes in political leadership in the Netherlands and France next year, but others remain doubtful that any new politicians will promote the charter's acceptance even after the elections. Bot also rejected French and German ambitions [JURIST report] to resurrect parts of the constitution by saying "cherry-picking" from the text cannot save the charter. EUObserver has more.

[JURIST] The East African country of Djibouti [CIA backgrounder] has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] to settle a dispute [ICJ press release] over whether a French judge has the authority to summon high-level Djibouti witnesses to investigate the possible assassination of a French judge in 1995. Judge Bernard Borrel's death was originally ruled a suicide, but French investigators now claim he may have been murdered, and a French judge ordered Djibouti witnesses to be questioned. Djibouti contends that France has no right to call witnesses who should have diplomatic immunity and has accused France of violating 1977 and 1986 cooperation treaties between the two countries by not handing over information on the case. Before the international court can step in to arbitrate, France must agree to its jurisdiction over the matter. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] A German court on Wednesday announced that the trial of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel [ADL profile; CBC backgrounder] will restart on February 9, with a verdict expected sometime in March. Zundel's trial was postponed in November after Judge Ulrich Meinerzhagen fired one of Zundel's defense lawyers [JURIST report]. Germany has charged Zundel with incitement, libel and disparaging the dead [JURIST report] in connection with denying the Holocaust, which is a crime under Section 130 (3) of the German Federal Criminal Code. In March 2005, Zundel was removed from Canada after being judged a national security threat and was charged shortly after arriving in Germany. The Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] Saidjahan Zainabiddinov, an Uzbek human rights activist who witnessed an violent uprising in Andijan [HRW backgrounder] last May has been put on trial on charges of undermining the constitutional system and assisting terrorism for aiding journalists covering the uprising and telephoning foreign embassies. Zainabiddinov gave eyewitness accounts of the incident which took place when thousands of protesters gathered after rebels stormed a prison [JURIST report] and freed a group of businessmen on trial for alleged Islamic extremism. Government troops opened fire on the protestors, killing as many as 500 according to human rights group reports. The case against Zainabiddinov is one of many in a series of trials [JURIST report] against those participating in the uprising, with 115 reported to have been jailed so far with sentences ranging from 12-20 years in prison. The Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] government has been widely criticized for its handling of the May protests and subsequent prosecutions. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST'S Paper Chase...

• Uzbek court sentences police, soldiers, doctors for negligence in Andijan uprising
• UN rights chief cautions Uzbek government on latest Andijan trials
• Uzbek courts sentence 42 more for Andijan uprising
• UN torture expert urges prosecution of Uzbek minister in Andijan uprising
• Uzbek interior minister faces torture, crimes against humanity charges

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday sent memos to immigration judges [PDF] and the Board of Immigration Appeals [PDF text, both via How Appealing] informing them that he has ordered a review of US immigration courts. Gonzales said the review was necessary because of the poor quality of work and discourteous conduct of an increasing number of the judges employed by the Justice Department. Gonzales' demand for a comprehensive review of immigration courts is in response to mounting criticism from both civil rights organizations and federal judges that review immigration court decisions. In recent years, particularly due to post-Sept. 11 reforms, immigration courts have sped up the pace of their decisions, and have produced unsupported orders that are many times overturned in federal court. The Boston Globe has more; the San Jose Mercury News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The New Jersey Legislature [official website] has passed two bills that, if enacted into law, will increase the legal rights of same-sex couples [JURIST news archive]. In one bill, same-sex couples will have the same rights as married couples regarding inheritance and funeral arrangements; in the second, gay couples will have access to health benefits if one partner works in the public sector. The bills received broad support in the legislature and Governor Richard Codey [official website] is expected to sign the bills into law. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The terror suspect detention facility at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] marked its fourth anniversary [AP report] Wednesday, the same day military tribunals for suspected terrorists resumed [JURIST report] after a year-long hiatus. Separate proceedings were scheduled for Ali Hamza al Bahlul, a Yemeni citizen accused of working as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, and Canadian teenager Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an Army medic in Afghanistan. Both could receive life sentences if convicted by the military commissions [JURIST news archive], authorized to try foreign terror suspects. Reuters has more. Also Wednesday, Amnesty International [advocacy website] reported that new claims of torture [press release] have emerged from detainees being held at the center. At least one detainee has alleged incidents of psychological and physical torture administered by US military personnel. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled 5-4 Wednesday that a death sentence can stand in some circumstances even when the sentencing jury relied in part on a factor later found invalid. In Brown v. Sanders [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court considered the appeal of convicted murderer Ronald Sanders, sentenced to death in by a California jury in 1982. The majority held that an invalid sentencing factor "will render the sentence unconstitutional by reason of its adding an improper element to the aggravation scale in the weighing process unless one of the other sentencing factors enables the sentencer to give aggravating weight to the same facts and circumstances", but it found no constitutional violation in Sanders' own case and reversed the Ninth Circuit ruling [PDF text] that had thrown out his death sentence. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Scalia, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Souter, and a second dissent [text] from Justice Breyer, joined by Justice Ginsburg. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• US high court considers California death penalty case
• High court to review California death penalty case

[JURIST] Burundi's Justice Minister Clotilde Niragira said Tuesday that 673 political prisoners held for alleged crimes related to Burundi's 12-year civil war [Global Security backgrounder] have been released. Niragira said that those released will face a special commission that will determine whether the prisoners committed abuses and crimes during the civil war in the central African country. More than 8,000 prisoners held for reasons related to the conflict are still being detained throughout Burundi [JURIST news archive], including some 5,000 who were accused of taking part in the large scale killings that erupted after paratroopers from the Tutsi ethnic minority assassinated the democratically elected Hutu president. Last June, Burundi agreed to a UN plan to establish a truth and reconciliation commission [JURIST report] with a special war crimes chamber to investigate the civil war. AP has more.

[JURIST] A group of parents filed a lawsuit against Frazier Mountain High School [school website] on Tuesday, arguing that a religion-based class teaching an alternative to evolution should be removed from the curriculum because it violates the US Constitution. The suit claims that the class, taught by a minister's wife, violates separation of church and state and attempts to legitimize intelligent design theory [Natural History backgrounder; JURIST news archive] by introducing it as a philosophy class. The suit was filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State [advocacy website], which obtained a federal court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] in December ordering schools in Dover, PA to stop teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in science classes. A course description sent to parents of students at the California high school in December said the challenged course, which is being offered as an elective, would examine "evolution as a theory and will discuss the scientific, biological and Biblical aspects that suggest why Darwin's philosophy is not rock solid." AP has more.

[JURIST] Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen [BBC profile] on Wednesday defended his use of criminal defamation lawsuits to silence critics of his ruling Cambodian People's Party [party website], claiming the lawsuits were in response to unjust accusations. The US and other countries have voiced opposition to the arrests [JURIST report] for defamation of Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) [advocacy website], CCHR radio director Pa Ngoun Teang, and Yeng Virak, Director of the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) [advocacy website]. Hun Sen claims the he is the victim and that the arrests were carried out "completely in accordance with the rule of law and of the courts" of Cambodia. Defamation is punishable by up to a year in jail and defendants can also serve 6 months in pre-trial detention. Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy [party profile] fled Cambodia in February 2005 after his parliamentary immunity was revoked [JURIST report]. He was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in jail in December 2005 for defamation after accusing the prime minister of backing a 1997 grenade attack on an opposition rally that killed 16 people. Rainsy has said that he will seek a royal pardon [JURIST report] rather than appeal his sentence. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] enters its third day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [official profile] Wednesday morning with more questions scheduled from senators. On Tuesday, Alito parried questions on abortion and wiretaps [JURIST report], facing a stiff interrogation [Washington Post transcript] from Sen. Edward Kennedy on executive power. Saying that Alito's record indicated he had "been overly deferential to executive power, whether exercised by the president, the attorney general or law enforcement officials," Kennedy expressed doubts [Washington Post report] about President Bush's authority to bypass the newly-passed McCain Amendment ban on torture in a signing statement [JURIST document]. Alito said that the president cannot override a constitutional statute, but refused to address specific questions about the Amendment. Queried later on the role of foreign law, Alito said that that did not aid in constitutional interpretation but could be useful in some cases. Asked about his involvement in a Princeton alumni group described by Democratic senators as opposing the admission of women and minorities to the school, Alito replied that he had no specific memory of the organization, which he listed on a 1985 job application for the Reagan administration, and said that he had not been actively involved. The Los Angeles Times has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Samuel Alito | Op-ed: Alito Day 2: Opinions Wanted | Op-ed: Alito Day 2: Strange Adventures in the Twilight Zone

[JURIST] UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw [official profile] said Tuesday that a records search conducted by the British government seeking US rendition requests has found three instances where the Clinton administration sought permission to transport prisoners through its airspace. The report comes after a government statement in December [JURIST report] claimed that the UK had no records of requests made by the current administration for similar rendition flights. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] has been accused of running secret prisons [JURIST report] in Eastern Europe and covertly transporting detainees in a controversial practice referred to as extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive]. Two of the three requests were approved and Straw said that the records search covered "all relevant records back to May 1997" when the current British government took office. AP has more.