[JURIST] The US Justice Department [official website] Thursday released [letter to Senate Majority Leader, PDF] a 42-page white paper [text, PDF] laying out a legal basis for the domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] run by the National Security Agency [official website]. The paper argues that the NSA activities are supported by the president's position as Commander in Chief and congressional authorization for the war on al Qaeda under the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, and moreover "fall within a well-established exception to the warrant requirement and [satisfy] the Fourth Amendment's fundamental requirement of reasonableness." The white paper comes ahead of Congressional hearings into the legality of the program and follows the release earlier this month of a report [PDF] by the Congressional Research Service [official website] suggesting that the legal justification of the program "does not seem to be as well-grounded" [JURIST report] as the administration had asserted [JURIST document] in a prior analysis. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday there is no immediate plan to release six of eight women detained by US forces in Iraq. His comment and similar ones from US military spokesmen follow statements by Iraq's Justice Ministry [Global Security backgrounder] earlier in the day that the women were being freed [JURIST report]. The ministry said the move was not related to demands by kidnappers of freelance journalist Jill Carroll [CNN profile, CSM updates] to release all female detainees in Iraq within 72 hours. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Nigeria’s government has announced plans [official press release] to ban same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] and any protests urging same-sex unions. Government officials have said the legislation is a preemptive step in light of other nations legalizing same-sex unions around the world. President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile] has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriages in Africa [BBC report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's environmental law news, Maine has became the first state in the US to require manufacturers to pay the cost of recycling computer monitors and televisions [press release] under a program [backgrounder] that began Wednesday pursuant to Maine's amended E-Waste Law [text]. The state has approved 5 consolidation centers that will sort through the materials and bill manufacturers directly for the recycling cost, with payments being split for material produced by currently defunct companies. Maine has also banned the landfilling or incineration of computer and television monitors effective July 20, 2006. AP has more.

In other environmental law news...

• The Chinese city of Shanghai [municipal website] will ban vehicles that do not meet Euro I emissions standards [text] from its inner city during the day. The Shanghai traffic authority will issue certificates for vehicles that meet the standards from January 20 to February 14, 2006, and restict access to the area to vehicles with the certificate beginning February 15, 2006. The Shanghai Daily has more.
  
  
• US District Judge Paul Magnuson of the US District Court of Minnesota [official website] has fined ConAgra Foods Inc. [corporate website] $138,513 and ordered the company to provide $110,000 in community service for violating the Clean Water Act [text]. The company failed to record and report the water temperature of discharges from its flour mill in Hastings Minnesota, in violation of its operating permit. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE) [official website] released its report [text] on the December 15 parliamentary elections [JURIST news archive] Thursday, endorsing the election results despite finding isolated instances of fraud. The IMIE, a 10-nation oversight group led by Elections Canada, agreed to review results [JURIST report] in the wake of widespread Sunni protests [JURIST report] over alleged voting fraud [JURIST report]. The IMIE report stopped short of quantifying the impact of fraudulent behavior on the overall results, but certified the voting procedures as consistent with international standards. Now that the IMIE has finished their investigation, the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) [official website] is expected to release final election results [JURIST report], which will not include tallies from 227 ballot boxes [JURIST report] set aside after their own fraud investigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] announced during a speech [text] at the Georgetown University Law Center Thursday that he intends to vote against the nomination of Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive] to the Supreme Court, citing Alito's expansive views on presidential power. "Based on his record, I'm concerned that Judge Alito will not be willing to stand up to a president who is determined to seize too much power over our personal lives," said Leahy, in an address otherwise focused on the Bush administration's authorization of questionable domestic surveillance tactics [JURIST news archive], such as warrantless wiretaps [JURIST report]. The remaining Democrats on the Judiciary Committee [official website], including Sen. Richard Durbin (R-IL) [official website], who is expected to announce his opposition to Alito's nomination Thursday during a speech to the Northwestern Law School and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) [official website], are expected to vote against Alito, except Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) [official website], who has announced his support [JURIST report] for the nominee. The final committee vote has been pushed back to Jan. 24 [JURIST report], where Alito is widely expected to be confirmed, and a Democratic filibuster is unlikely [JURIST report]. CNN has more.

[JURIST] Carla Del Ponte [BBC profile] Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] said Thursday that former Serbian general and indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] is still being shielded from authorities by the Serbian army he once commanded, and has not fled to Russia as alleged in a Wednesday Moscow Times report [text]. Del Ponte again cautioned Serbia against failing to deliver Mladic to the ICTY at the risk of forfeiting their bid to join the European Union, a consequence suggested last November [JURIST report] by the ICTY president. Del Ponte also said that she hopes to begin the trial against Mladic and eight other Serbian war criminals as early as July. On Wednesday, 500 Serbian police officers descended upon the town of Han Pijesak in an unsuccessful attempt to locate Mladic [JURIST report] or possibly Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder], who has also been indicted on genocide charges by the ICTY. The UK Press Association has more.

[JURIST] The US military said Thursday that the number of detainees participating in hunger strikes at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] had reached its lowest point since October 2005, but offered no reasons for the dropoff. The number of hunger strikes has dropped from as many as 131 to only 22 prisoners with 17 of those receiving nourishment via feeding tubes, although lawyers for the detainees, who won a court order [JURIST report] in October mandating that they be notified by the Defense Department before their clients could be force-fed, insist that the US is undercounting the strikers. The US military has denied allegations that it forced feeding tubes into prisoners' nostrils without using anesthesia or lubricant, and claimed that most of the strikers voluntarily submit to the insertion of feeding tubes. Detainees are participating in the hunger strikes, which began [JURIST report] in August 2005 and spiked in December [JURIST report], to protest their indefinite captivity in the US military prison camp. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi High Criminal Court (IHCC) (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]) confirmed Thursday that Sayeed al-Hamashi, who was selected to preside over the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] on Monday, will retain his position despite allegations that he belonged to the banned Baath party [BBC backgrounder]. Ali Faisal, executive manager of Iraq's Debaathification Commission [official website], said Wednesday that the commission is conducting an inquiry into Hamashi's alleged ties and called for his removal from the position of chief judge. Hamashi was selected to replace Rizgar Amin [Wikipedia profile], who resigned [JURIST report] from the post last week. Judge Raid Jouhi, spokesperson for the IHCC, supported Hamashi and challenged the Commission to back up its claims with evidence. The trial resumes on January 24 with Hamashi scheduled to preside. Hamashi is expected to remain as chief judge if Amin's resignation is officially accepted by the Iraqi government. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• New Saddam chief judge has Baathist ties, official says
• Saddam trial judges disagree over choice of new chief judge
• Saddam trial chief judge replaced
• Iraq government trying to talk chief Saddam judge out of resigning
• Iraq tribunal confirms chief Saddam judge has offered resignation

[JURIST] The Human Rights Watch annual report [PDF text] released Wednesday alleges an increasing amount of human rights abuses in Iraq, including torture of detainees and attacks on civilians, and assigns some of the blame to the US and its military. The report finds a deteriorating situation in Iraq partly due to US leadership in the country:

Counterinsurgency attacks by U.S.-led international and Iraqi forces further aggravated the human rights situation, resulting in the killing of civilians in violation of the laws of armed conflict. There was also continuing concern about the absence of basic precautions by the U.S. military to protect civilians, including at checkpoints ... the army had failed to implement lessons learned during two years of manning checkpoints.

Evidence of the torture and other mistreatment of detainees held in the custody of U.S. forces in 2003 and 2004 has continued to emerge in the wake of the Abu Ghraib revelations in April 2004. Some of the evidence is based on accounts by U.S. military personnel, who have described routine and severe beatings of detainees, including subjecting them to forced stress positions, sleep deprivation, extremes of hot and cold, denial of food and water, and the application of chemical substances to detainees' skin and eyes. The accounts show that abuses have resulted from civilian and military failures of leadership and confusion about interrogation standards and the application of the Geneva Conventions.

[JURIST] The European Parliament [official website] announced on Wednesday that it would investigate claims [press release] that the CIA has been illegally detaining and torturing terrorism suspects in European countries or using European air bases as transit points to send suspects to other countries to be tortured, a process called extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive]. The 46-member temporary committee [EU proposal] will have wide powers to call witnesses to investigate the claims, which may result in friction with the US government, which has denied any wrongdoing and consistently defended their actions as proper [JURIST report]. On Tuesday, Switzerland's foreign affairs committee found insufficient evidence that the US held suspects in secret prisons in Europe and voted against formally condemning the US government [JURIST report]. The Times Online has more.

[JURIST] In the final run-up to next Monday's Canadian federal election that is expected to bring his Conservative Party [party website] to power after 13 years in the political wilderness, leader Stephen Harper [CBC profile] has backpedaled after suggesting that a Conservative government could not have a "true majority" [CP report] because the Canadian courts would still be staffed by judges appointed by the long-governing Liberal Party [party website]. Opponents immediately accused Harper of "showing contempt" for the judiciary [Liberal press release], forcing him to acknowledge Wednesday that "some [judges] are, some [judges] aren't" activists handing down decisions based on their own personal agendas. The Globe and Mail has local coverage.

[JURIST] The European Court of Justice [official website] ruled on Thursday that Germany may not apply restrictions [judgment, PDF; press release, PDF] to workers from outside the European Union sent to Germany by European companies. The German law, passed last year, required such workers to have worked for their company for at least one year before coming to Germany. It was aimed at revising lax visa policies that allowed a wave of migrant workers to come to Germany, but the court found that despite their rationale, the law was "contrary to the freedom to provide services." Reuters has more. Deutsche Welle has local coverage.

[JURIST] The non-partisan Congressional Research Service [official website], the public-policy research arm of the Library of Congress [official website], called the Bush administration's limited briefings on the NSA domestic spying program [JURIST news archive] "inconsistent with the law" in a report released to the House Intelligence Committee [official website] on Wednesday. The report, requested by committee member Jane Harman (D-CA) [committee profile; official website], says that the National Security Act of 1947 [text] would appear to require the administration to brief more people than the so-called "Gang of Eight", comprised of the Republican and Democrat leaders of the House and Senate and of the Intelligence Committees. According to the CRS analysis [PDF text], the 1947 law requires that committees be kept "fully and currently informed" of intelligence activities but allows notification of "covert actions" to be limited to the Gang of Eight. The CRS concluded that the NSA program does not seem to be a covert action, though the report also explores possible defenses to the White House's limited briefings, including an argument that the mere discussion of the NSA program could expose intelligence sources and methods to disclosure. Harman has previously asserted that the administration's limited briefings violated the law [JURIST report]. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing [notice] on the spying program for February 6. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Tariq Aziz [JURIST news archive; BBC profile], the former Iraqi deputy prime minister under the Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] regime, have asked Italy and Croatia to grant him asylum if Aziz is released from US detention. Aziz's lawyers argue the 69-year-old is in very poor health [JURIST report] and have asked several countries to accept him for medical treatment if he is released. Italian officials have said they are evaluating the request but Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [BBC profile] said his nation will "in no way" grant asylum to Aziz. Lawyers for Aziz, who has been held since the overthrow of the former regime in 2003, have previously petitioned for his release [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Electronic Privacy Information Center [advocacy website] has announced plans to file a federal Freedom of Information Act [text] lawsuit Thursday against the US Justice Department [official website] seeking the release of documents about the department's role in the government's domestic spying program [JURIST news archive]. EPIC has filed FOIA requests asking DOJ officials to release audits and legal opinions relating to the NSA program, a checklist to help determine whether a legal basis exists to eavesdrop on communications, and documents covering the use of information obtained through the NSA program to secure warrants for further monitoring of communications. The DOJ has agreed to expedite the process, but said that it will take longer than 30 days to process the requests. In the lawsuit, EPIC will seek a court order compelling the DOJ to release the documents within 20 days. EPIC has said that the documents are a matter of "extraordinary public interest" and should be released in advance of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing [JURIST report] on the program, scheduled for February 6. AP has more.

4:08 PM ET - EPIC filed the lawsuit [press release] Thursday, as expected. Read the complaint [PDF text] and motion for preliminary injunction [PDF text] that would require the DOJ to release the relevant documents within 20 days.

[JURIST] The Nepalese government on Thursday arrested over 52 senior politicians and activists in an apparent attempt to shut down an anti-government rally [Reuters report] planned for Friday in the capital. The government banned demonstrations and imposed a night curfew earlier this week in anticipation of the rally, and in reaction to an anti-government rally last week in southwestern Nepal [JURIST news archive]. A government official said there are plans to detain an additional 200 people, but the only reason given for the detentions is that they are necessary to fight a Maoist insurgency and reduce corruption. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] released a statement Thursday saying the mass arrests raise human rights concerns [Nepal News report] and that there have been apparent violations of protesters' rights to freedom of assembly and freedom from arbitrary arrest. The politicians arrested are members of a coalition of the country's largest political parties, all of whom oppose the rule of King Gyanendra [BBC news profile]. Gyanendra seized power [JURIST report] last year, suspended civil liberties, outlawed governmental criticism, and jailed hundreds of political opponents. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Ministry of Justice [Global Security backgrounder] said Thursday that the US military would release six Iraqi women prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive], but insisted the release is not in response to threats from a militant group that has kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll [CNN profile; CSM updates] on January 7. Carroll's captors have threatened to kill her if all Iraqi female detainees are not released from custody. The US military confirmed Wednesday that it is holding eight female prisoners at Abu Ghraib [JURIST report], but US officials have not confirmed the release of any of the prisoners. Militant groups have demanded the release of female prisoners [JURIST report] before, including in October 2004 when three foreign engineers were beheaded [JURIST report] by al Qaeda militants when demands were not met. AP has more.

[JURIST] Detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] were able to provide valuable information in connection with last year's London bombings [JURIST news archive], Army Maj. Gen. Jay Hood, who is in charge of the prison, said Wednesday. Hood said that a number of Guantanamo detainees, though not British citizens, have lived in London and were able to provide background information on financing, communications, recruitment, training and other details relevant to the coordinated suicide bombings on the London transit system. A "significant number" of mid-level al Qaeda associates are among those held at the US facility, according to Hood, and they have recently been able to provide information on men they knew or trained with who have since become more important in the terrorist group's leadership. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A leaked UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office [official website] memo says that while undertaking or cooperating with extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of terror suspects to countries where they could face a real risk of torture could never be legal under UK law, the British government could not say that it had received no requests for such renditions and would prefer to focus on US assurances that it does not practice torture and respects its international obligations. The December 2005 memo [PDF text], reported in Thursday's edition of the New Statesman magazine, was passed from the Foreign Office to the Prime Minister's office and examines the legality of rendition and extraordinary rendition and discusses strategy for addressing allegations that the CIA operated secret rendition flights across Europe, including the UK. The memo defines extraordinary rendition as "the transfer of a person from one third country to another, in circumstances where there is a real risk (or even intention) that the individual will be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CID)" and goes on to say that the practice "could never be legal, because this is clearly prohibited under the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT)" [text]. According to the memo, if the UK were aware that the US were acting contrary to its international obligations, British cooperation with US rendition would be illegal.

In the absence of clear information on any US requests made to UK authorities (the memo describes the Home Office as "urgently examining their files"), or even on whether individuals captured by British forces in Iraq or Afghanistan might have been handed on to other US interrogation centers, the document directs senior officials' attention to statements made by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice strongly defending US rendition practices [JURIST report; transcript]. Earlier in December, Rice said that the US does not send suspects to countries where they believe the suspect will be tortured and noted that "Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured." The memo advises that the government should not "cast doubt on the principle of such government-to-government assurances" in light of its own deportation agreements with several countries known to use torture, including Lebanon and Libya [JURIST reports].

In a January 2006 statement to the House of Commons [text], British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that a British government records search had so far turned up only three US rendition requests to the UK [JURIST report], all made by the Clinton administration. Reuters has more. The Guardian has local coverage.