[JURIST] Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], requested political asylum in the US Wednesday after being detained [JURIST report] at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. US Ambassador to Chile Craig Kelly [official profile] informed Chilean Interior Minister Francisco Vidal of the request, which Hiriart made after US authorities denied her entry because the Chilean government had issued a warrant for her arrest for failing to appear [BBC report] to answer to charges of tax evasion [JURIST report]. AP has more. From Chile, La Nacion provides extended local coverage [in Spanish].

[JURIST] 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, was convicted Wednesday on six of seven criminal counts [JURIST report], including acting as an unregistered foreign agent, violating sanctions against Iraq, conspiracy and witness tampering. Sentencing will take place on April 14 and US District Judge John D. Tinder of the Southern District of Indiana [official website] said he plans to discuss a retrial on the remaining count next week. Shaaban, who defended himself pro se with the help of two standby public defenders, will most likely appeal. US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Susan Brooks [official profile] claimed that Shaaban traveled to Iraq in 2002 and agreed to sell the names of US intelligence agents to the Iraqi government for $3 million among other charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush on Wednesday defended his authorization of the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] in a visit to the agency’s headquarters, saying that “the work they do is vital and necessary, and I support them a hundred percent.” Bush responded to criticism that he lacks the legal authority to order the surveillance in his speech [transcript] to agency employees:

This terrorist surveillance program includes multiple safeguards to protect civil liberties, and it is fully consistent with our nation's laws and Constitution. Federal courts have consistently ruled that a President has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies.

My predecessors have used the same constitutional authority on numerous occasions. And the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress gave the President additional authority to use the traditional tools -- or "fundamental incidents" -- of war in the fight against terror when Congress passed the authorization for the use of military force in 2001. These tools include surveillance to detect and prevent further attacks by our enemies. I have the authority, both from the Constitution and the Congress, to undertake this vital program.

[JURIST] Enron [JURIST news archive] founder Kenneth Lay [Houston Chronicle profile] and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile] on Wednesday asked the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] to reverse its rejection of their motion to change the venue of their trial for fraud and conspiracy and to suspend the trial pending the appeal. Without hearing oral arguments, US District Court Judge Sim Lake of the Southern District of Texas [official website] on Monday rejected [JURIST report] their second request [JURIST news report] to move the trial out of Houston, where lawyers for the defendants allege they cannot get a fair trial because of jury pool contamination. Lawyers base the claims on questionnaires from potential jurors that contained negative statements about the defendants and the guilty plea [JURIST document] by former co-defendant Richard Causey [Houston Chronicle profile], which postponed [JURIST report] the trial for two weeks. Jury selection in the trial is set to begin Monday. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, Judge John Suddock of the Alaska Superior Court [official website] has ruled that owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline [corporate website] have been overcharging in-state refineries for crude oil transport. The ruling upholds a 2002 decision by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska [official website] which had been challenged by the pipeline owners, including BP, Conoco Phillips, and Exxon Mobil. The ruling could lead to the pipeline owners refunding more than $125 million to the refineries. The Anchorage Daily News has more.

In other environmental law news...

• A number of environmental advocacy groups have announced they will challenge a proposal [PDF text] by Canada's Ontario government [official website], which includes the construction of new nuclear power plants, unless an environmental assessment is completed first. The advocacy groups, including Greenpeace [advocacy website], the Pembina Institute [advocacy website] and the David Suzuki Foundation [advocacy website], argue that the assessment is required under the Environmental Assessment Act [text]. The Ontario Ministry of Energy [official website] says the province will complete environmental reviews only for individual power plants, not for the government's overall electricity plan. The Globe and Mail has more.
  
  
• India's Delhi state government [official website] has announced it will cease issuing operating permits to mini-trucks within the capital of New Delhi, unless the mini-trucks are converted from diesel to compressed natural gas. The proposal, initially drafted by the Transport Department [official website], is expected to affect about 30,000 vehicles. Express India has more.

[JURIST] The state that was once known as being "For Lovers" has come one step closer to formally banning same-sex marriage. The Virginia Senate [official website] Wednesday overwhemingly approved a bill [text] that would allow voters to endorse a constitutional amendment against it on the upcoming November ballot. Bill sponsor Republican Sen. Stephen D. Newman [official profile] said he was confident the amendment will pass and hoped it would lead to a nationwide debate over the definition of marriage. Democratic Senator Mary Margaret Whipple, [official profile; website] called the bill "overreaching and intolerant" and added that although disagreement is healthly in a democracy, bigotry is not. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Republican majority in the Georgia legislature has pushed through a revised voter ID bill [SB 84 text] which would require all voters to show either a driver's license, military ID or state-issued identification card with a photo prior to voting. Hailed by Democrats as a regurgitation of the disenfranchising poll tax and an attempt to effectively rig the November election for majority Republicans, final amendments to the bill sailed through the House Wednesday 111-60, receiving almost unanimous Republican support. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter has severely criticized the bill for its likely negative impact on the voter turnout of poor, elderly and minority communities which statistics show are less likely to have driver's licenses. The bill now awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue [official profile], who has said he will approve the legislation quickly to allow counties to implement the necessary changes before the upcoming elections. A previous version of the bill was approved by the US Department of Justice [official website] but ultimately struck down by the federal courts [JURIST report] because the state charged a $35 fee for identification cards, which was ruled an unconstitutional poll tax. The new version waives that fee, but has yet to be approved by the DOJ, although it seems likely to approve the measure [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs [official website] hearing on lobbying reform [hearing materials] Wednesday, trade group lobbyists questioned the need for the new ethics reform proposal [JURIST report] that would place stricter regulations on lobbyists and lawmakers. The new regulations were proposed shortly after Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive] pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to charges of mail fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to corrupt public officials in connection with bribing lawmakers to win favors for his clients. The new rules are meant to increase reporting requirements for lobbyists, limit privately financed trips for lawmakers, and set more stringent lobbying restrictions. In testimony before the committee, lobbyists said the new rules are not necessary, and urged Congress instead to focus on enforcing existing ethics rules [House backgrounder]. Public advocacy groups, however, say that a reform of the rules and regulations surrounding lobbying practices is necessary in order to prevent lobbyists from buying influence. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Recent delays in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] have created a "dysfunctional court" that is incapable of conducting a fair hearing, members of Saddam Hussein's legal team, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark [JURIST news archive], asserted Wednesday. Clark added that a trial that is seen by Iraqis as unfair would cause "real misery" throughout the country, while Hussein's chief Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said he "expects the court to collapse very soon." The sentiments of Hussein's lawyers are echoed by many Iraqi citizens, who have condemned the delays [AP report] as either a governmental cover-up or an attempt by Hussein to make a mockery out of the new judicial system. The Iraqi High Criminal Court - formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] - opened proceedings in the trial on October 21, but has so far progressed little due to delays caused by outbursts from Saddam, the assassination of two defense lawyers and the resignation of the chief judge [JURIST report]. The trial had been scheduled to resume Tuesday, but was delayed again [JURIST report] because, according to the court, witnesses were unavailable. Several judges, however, told the media that disagreement over who should replace the chief judge [JURIST report] was the reason for the postponement. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Wednesday agreed to hear [cert. grant, PDF] the appeal of a Florida death row inmate who is challenging the lethal injection method that is to be used in his execution. Justice Kennedy granted a last minute temporary stay of execution [JURIST report] Tuesday night for Clarence Hill [NCADP advocacy letter], and the full Court on Wednesday made the stay permanent and agreed to hear Hill's case. Hill argues that the three chemicals used in Florida lethal injections do not fully anesthetize inmates and therefore constitute cruel and unusual punishment, but in granting certiorari the Court limited its consideration of the case to procedural issues. AP has more.

[JURIST] The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights [official website], the human rights arm of the African Union (AU) [official website], has cited Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for rights violations in a unusually-critical report leaked to the press but not yet formally made public. The report coincides with the AU annual summit [JURIST report] now underway in Khartoum, Sudan. The commission criticized the Zimbabwe government of Robert Mugabe for threatening the independence of the country's judiciary, called on Ethiopia to release political prisoners, and urged Sudan to stop attacks on civilians and aid workers in Darfur and co-operate with a probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Some observers say that the harsh reviews of local governments are a sign of maturity in the regional body. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Wednesday began a heated debate over the confirmation of US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive], but Senate Democrats gave no hint of a potential filibuster to block his nomination. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] opened the floor debate [prepared statement] by saying Alito deserves to become a Supreme Court Justice and accused his opposition of "smearing a decent and honorable man." Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) [official website] said however that Alito could not be trusted [prepared statement] to "blow the whistle when the President is out of bounds," calling the judge a "long-standing advocate for expanding executive power, even at the expense of core individual liberties." On Tuesday, all eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] voted against Alito's confirmation [JURIST report], but it was not enough to carry the vote for the 18-member committee. Despite the bitter floor debate and Democratic opposition to the nomination, it seems likely that Alito's nomination will be approved [JURIST report] since Republican senators currently hold 55 of the 100 seats and would not give Democrats the numbers necessary for a successful filibuster. A confirmation vote is expected to take place late this week or early next week. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A jailed Venezuelan terrorist Wednesday appealed [ECHR press release] to the European Court of Human Rights [official website], arguing that the eight years he spent in solitary confinement in a French prison was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, otherwise known as "Carlos the Jackal" [BBC profile] for his part in deadly bombings, hostage takings, and assassinations in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, is serving a life sentence for the murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer in 1975. Sanchez was held in solitary confinement from 1994 to 2002 because he was deemed to be dangerous and posed a risk for escape. He claims that his detention in the small, "dilapidated" cell with only two-hour breaks from the cell each day for walks, resulted in inhumane and degrading treatment, and that authorities did not follow proper protocol in allowing the confinement. Last year, a lower chamber of the European court ruled that the eight-year solitary confinement did not violate the human rights treaty. AP has more.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union [official website] on Wednesday filed a lawsuit [PDF complaint; press release] against the US government for denying Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan [ACLU profile] entry into the United States under the ideological exclusion provision [ACLU backgrounder; CIS report] of the USA Patriot Act. Ramadan was unable to accept a teaching invitation at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 after his visa was revoked under the Patriot Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive] provision and was also banned from entering the country to accept several invitations to speak at various functions. The ACLU argues that immigration officials are using the provision to manipulate and censor intellectual debate in the United States and is seeking a declaration that the provision is unconstitutional under the First and Fifth Amendments. The plaintiffs also seek a court order barring the government from using the provision to exclude Ramadan or other foreign nationals. AP has more.

[JURIST] Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive] announced [press conference transcript; recorded audio] Wednesday that it will comply with a European Union [official website] antitrust ruling [PDF text] by licensing its Windows source code in order to allow competitors to develop products compatible with Windows. In March 2004, the European Commission [official website] found Microsoft in violation of EU antitrust laws [JURIST report], and ordered the company to offer a version of Windows without its own MediaPlayer software and to give rivals information about its operating system. Microsoft previously refused to license the source code, claiming that the EU demands would lead to competitors cloning the company's main product. The Commission last month, however, threatened to fine Microsoft up to $2.36 million per day if the company did not comply. The software giant's chief counsel Brad Smith said that software developers will have to pay for the licensed code and expressed his confidence in winning a legal challenge [JURIST report] to the EU ruling before the European Court of First Instance [official website], which is currently expected to hear the appeal in April. Microsoft has case materials on its implementation of the Commission's decision. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [official website] on Wednesday adopted a resolution [text] condemning the human rights situation in Chechnya [JURIST news archive], citing numerous cases of murder, disappearances, torture, and other human rights abuses [JURIST report]. A report [text] accompanying the resolution blames the abuses mostly on the Russian government [JURIST report], Chechen rebels, and the "Kadyrovtsy" forces operating under the power of First Deputy Prime Minister Ramazan Kadyrov. Assembly members also said that there is no sign of improvement in Chechnya, and they fear that these abuses are spreading to other regions of North Caucasus. Some speakers, however, argued that the situation in Chechnya has drastically improved in the past few years. They also said that the report fails to mention the recent elections that took place in Chechnya, which were a major milestone for the region. The resolution calls on the Russian government to implement the recommendations of the Council of Europe [official website] and recommends that the monitoring of rights abuses in the region be restarted. RFE/RL has more.

[JURIST] A British appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's order [judgment text] that the Daily Telegraph [media website] pay damages and legal costs to British MP George Galloway [BBC profile] after it found the newspaper had libeled Galloway by alleging that he took money from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein under the now-defunct UN Oil-for-Food program [official website; JURIST news archive]. The appeals court rejected the Telegraph's defense that it was in the public interest to publish information on the documents that incriminated Galloway, saying that the newspaper had not just reported on the documents, but had adopted and embellished their contents. A UN report alleged that Galloway received allocations for 18 billion barrels of Iraq oil [JURIST report] through the program. Galloway has also been accused of accepting kickbacks in a US Senate probe of the oil-for-food scandal [JURIST report], but has continually denied the charges. Britain's Serious Fraud Office [official website] is reviewing the results of a UN investigation [final report; UN materials] into the program, but has not yet decided whether to proceed with a full criminal investigation [BBC report]. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was detained [Reuters report] Wednesday at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC, according to a spokesperson from the Chilean government. Earlier this week, prosecutors in Chile brought tax evasion charges against her and other members of the Pinochet family [JURIST report]. Hiriart allegedly owes more than $850,000 in taxes to the Chilean government, and Chilean authorities issued a warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear [BBC report] to answer to the charges. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Two US agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] and the Transportation Security Administration [official website], have agreed to pay the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] $200,000 in attorneys fees to settle a case brought by the civil rights organization in 2003 challenging the government's no-fly list and requesting the disclosure of records [PDF complaint; ACLU case materials]. More than 300 pages of redacted government documents were released through the ACLU's suit. At first the government balked at attempts by the ACLU to obtain the documents, but then relented after the federal judge overseeing the case chastised defense attorneys for stonewalling the process [JURIST report]. The documents noted that construction of the list was based on "two primary principles," but that there were "no hard and fast" rules governing decisions of who was put on the list. The case also uncovered that the no-fly list grew from 16 names before the attacks to nearly 600 by December, 2001, and is now believed to contain thousands of names. AP has more.

[JURIST] Defense attorneys for admitted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] on Tuesday notified the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia of their plans to call expert witnesses to support their argument that Moussaoui should be spared from the death penalty because he suffers from severe mental illness. In the notice [PDF text], defense attorneys said they planned to call two expert witnesses, one a social worker who will discuss Moussaoui's troubled childhood, another a psychiatrist who will testify that Moussaoui suffers from "a severe thought disorder, most likely schizophrenia." It was widely expected that defense lawyers would introduce evidence of mental illness, but this is the most specific claim and the first mention of schizophrenia. Moussaoui himself has asserted that he is sane, and plans to testify on his own behalf during the sentencing trial [JURIST report]. Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last year to conspiracy charges [indictment] in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, and a jury will now decide whether he should receive the death penalty. The sentencing trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on February 6 [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Efforts to reach an agreement on a long-term renewal of the USA Patriot Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive] appear stalled as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner [official website], the House's chief negotiator, has said his chamber is finished negotiating. Sixteen key provisions [DOJ report, PDF] of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of last year. Members of Congress were unable to reach an agreement [JURIST report] on a long-term extension before Christmas, and instead passed a one-month extension [JURIST report] set to expire February 3. Senate Democrats and four Republican senators are pressing for more civil liberties protections to be incorporated in the renewal legislation, but Sensenbrenner has said that the proposal in December's conference report [PDF text] provides adequate safeguards [committee materials]. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter [official website] said Tuesday that there are likely only two options at this point: the conference report or another short-term extension. Republican Sen. John Sununu [official website], one of the four who have joined Senate Democrats in opposition to the conference report, said however that discussions with the Bush administration on possible changes are continuing. Wednesday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] UK rights group Liberty [advocacy website] will launch a challenge to the UK Terrorism Act 2000 [text] in the House of Lords Wednesday, arguing that the law violates fundamental human rights. According to a new report [PDF text] from the UK Home Office [official website], almost 36,000 people were stopped and searched last year under Section 44 [text] of the Act, which authorizes police to stop vehicles or pedestrians even without suspicion of a crime. Only 455 of people stopped were arrested, and though the government has defended the law as crucial to disrupting terrorist activity, critics say the expanded police powers could be used to suppress legitimate protests and raise the possibility of discrimination. The Independent has more.

[JURIST] An Iraqi Justice Ministry [Global Security backgrounder] official said Wednesday that 424 prisoners, including five women detainees, have "completed their legal procedures" and will be released from US custody. The US has confirmed [JURIST report] that eight women are being held in Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] and Iraqi officials said last week that six female detainees would be released [JURIST report]. The US has said that there are no imminent plans [JURIST report] to release the detainees, though Iraqi Justice Ministry officials have said that they still expect the women to be released [JURIST report]. The militant group that has kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll [CNN profile, CSM updates] threatened to kill her unless all women prisoners in Iraq were freed by last Friday. There has been no word from the kidnappers and the US has insisted that it will not negotiate with the group. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's international brief, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres [official profile] has called on the UN Security Council [official website] to create a UN peacekeeping force for the Darfur region [JURIST news archive] of Sudan [government website]. Guterres said that while the 7,000 troop African Union [official website] peacekeeping mission was helping enforce the peace throughout Sudan, the Darfur region - where some 2 million people have been subjected to a campaign of murder, rape, arson by Janjaweed militia - needed its own specific peacekeeping force, and that since refugees were fleeing over neighboring borders of Chad, the UN was needed to supervise the mission. Earlier this month, UN Envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk called for a presence of at least 20,000 troops in Darfur to maintain the peace. Augustine Mahiga [official website], Tanzania's ambassador to the UN and current president of the Security Council, told journalists that the Security Council agreed with Guterres' remarks and would consider a deployment. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. Read the official UNHCR press release. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The Italian Parliament [government website in Italian] has passed a new self-defense law that will allow individuals to use properly licensed weapons to defend themselves and their property from attack. The law, which has generated a large amount of controversy, allows individuals to use force to protect their homes and workplaces if their lives or belongings are threatened. The act requires that there be "a danger of aggression" and that the "attacker does not desist". Critics of the law expressed concern that the provisions would lead to heightened violence in crime-heavy areas, but proponents of the act, including Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, claim that it will put fear into criminals, ultimately lowering the amount of crime committed. BBC News has more.
  
  
• Several NGO and human rights organizations have issued condemnations of the Nepalese crack-down on protesters which has resulted in over 100 arrests in the last three days [eKantipur.com report]. Amnesty International [advocacy website] issued the strongest statement, urging the Nepal government to release those it had arrested, especially journalists covering the protests, and to revoke the heavy restrictions on political assembly and protest currently in place in Nepal. The arrests came at the same time as several police officers, protesters, and at least four Maoist rebels were killed in a series of planned attacks, believed to be conducted by Maoist elements, on government centers. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. eKantipur.com has local coverage.
  
  
• The Zimbabwe government has charged five more radio journalists with violating the country's harsh Broadcasting Act, which prohibits the use or ownership of broadcasting equipment without a license from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, which has only licensed four radio stations in Zimbabwe, all of them state owned. The journalists work for the independent radio station Voice of the People [media website], which has been trying to work around the Broadcasting Act by employing journalists to gather news in Zimbabwe, and then transporting them to Madagascar to broadcast into Zimbabwe from there. If convicted, the five journalists could face up to two years incarceration each. Zimbabwe was recently ranked in the top three nations of most dangerous places to be a journalist by the World Association of Newspapers. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe. ZimOnline has local coverage.