[JURIST] Residents of Weare, New Hampshire [official website], the town where Justice David Souter [Oyez profile] of the US Supreme Court owns a farmhouse, rejected a proposal [2006 Town Warrant, Article 48, PDF] to evict Souter in a town meeting Saturday, and instead substituted a call for the state legislature to strengthen state law on eminent domain [JURIST news archive]. The proposal asked whether the town should take Souter’s farmhouse for development as an inn; whether to set up a trust fund to accept donations for legal expenses; and whether to set up a second trust fund to accept donations to compensate Souter for taking his land. Residents voted 94-59 by secret ballot to add the word “not” to the proposal put forth by a group of residents who petitioned to take away Souter’s home by eminent domain for the so called Lost Liberty Hotel [backgrounder]. Some residents protested [JURIST report] outside of Souter's home in January, but most residents of Weare primarily viewed the proposal as a vengeance campaign, led by Californian Logan Darrow Clements [campaign website], in response to the Court's 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London [opinion], which allowed a local government to take private property to develop a hotel, convention center, office space and condominiums. AP has more.

[JURIST] Muslim Syrians set fire to both the Norwegian and Danish embassies in Damascus Saturday, protesting the European publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and caricaturing him as a terrorist. Protestors first stormed the Danish embassy chanting "God is great," then moved on to the Norwegian embassy. Police fired tear gas into the crowd at the Norwegian embassy in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the protestors from setting it ablaze. The Danish government has urged all of its nationals in Syria to leave the country immediately and has condemned Syria for failing to protect the embassy, as it's obligated to do under international law. Originally published by the Jylklands-Posten newspaper in Denmark in September and then reprinted in Norway and then again this past week in other European newspapers [JURIST report], the cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage around the world - including diplomatic sanction, boycotts and death threats - because Islamic tradition bans any images of Muhammad. Newspaper editors have defended the publications as legal instances of free expression. Seventeen Arab nations have demanded that the Danish government punish the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [media website, in Danish; controversy news archive, in English] for originally publishing the cartoons, while Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen [official profile] has said he cannot apologize for the actions of newspapers. Jylklands-Posten has itself apologized [JP letter to readers] for causing any offense to Muslims, but maintains that their publication was legal under Danish law. Earlier this week, violence flared [JURIST report] when members of the Front for Defenders of Islam [MIPT backgrounder] stormed the Danish embassy in Jakarta and gunmen surrounded an EU office in Gaza. A South African court Friday became the first court to ban the national publication [AFP report] of the controversial cartoons, responding to a request by the local Council of Muslim Theologians. A top South African newspaper editor has already announced plans to challenge the decision. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Coretta Scott King, widow of the late Martin Luther King, Jr. and herself a respected civil rights leader, was honored Saturday at the Georgia Capitol [backgrounder]. Capitol police estimate that as many as 10,000 people [Atlanta Journal-Constitution report] passed through the Capitol to pay their respects as she lay in state, waiting in line for over two hours. King, 78, passed away [King Center press release; JURIST report] Monday at an alternative medical clinic in Mexico. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue [official website] escorted the casket into the Capitol building with King’s children, marking a sharp contrast to the funeral procession of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, when then Governor Lester Maddox refused to authorize a public tribute. Listen to an excerpt [recorded audio] from a 1967 interview with Martin Luther King speaking about his wife's influence on him. AP has more. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has local coverage.

[JURIST] Canadian Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin [official profile] said Friday in response to suggestions that the Canadian Parliament [official website] should be given a more active role in the high court appointment process that it should remain the same. McLachlin said in an Ottawa speech that allowing Parliament greater influence over senior court appointments could reduce Canadians’ confidence that judicial opinions are not swayed by politics. Currently high court appointments are made by the Canadian prime minister after a legal and political consultation process [Mapleleafweb backgrounder]. Conservative Party prime minister-designate Stephen Harper [party profile] suggested in the recent federal election campaign that his government will be constrained by judges appointed by prime ministers from the outgoing Liberal Party and is hoping that the courts will become more conservative under his tenure. Harper, who takes office on Monday, already has a Supreme Court vacancy to fill with the retirement of Justice John Major [official profile]. Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website] accused Harper late in the election campaign of planning to politicize [JURIST report] the court and pack it with social conservatives. Tory MPs would like to give Parliament the power to question and confirm judicial nominees, similar to the system in the US, but critics fear that public hearings will politicize the high court and discourage qualified candidates who do not want involvement in public confirmation battles. The Toronto Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] United Nations [official website] delegates working to draft the first-ever treaty to protect the rights of disabled individuals worldwide have nearly completed their task [UN press release] and resolved many issues of concern after a three-week drafting session [UN press release], according to drafting committee chairman Don MacKay [official profile] of New Zealand. McKay said the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities [chair's text] will most likely be finished by the time of the committee's next meeting in August, setting it up to take effect in 2008 or 2009. Work began on the document in 2001. The completed treaty will likely mandate that participating nations enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disabilities. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Russian court has convicted [Reuters report] Stanislav M. Dmitriyevsky [advocacy letter], director of the US-supported Russian-Chechen Friendship Society [advocacy website], of inciting religious and ethnic hatred by publishing editorial commentaries by two Chechen separatist leaders in 2004. The court handed down a two year suspended sentence for the crime Thursday rather than sending Dmitriyevsky to prison for four years as prosecutors had requested. Human Rights Watch has denounced the conviction [press release] as politically motivated and a threat to freedom of speech in Russia. The case [SRCF backgrounder] comes as a part of a larger push from the Russian government to limit the activities of advocacy groups in the country; critics of the Kremlin argue that cases such as this represent the beginning of a "legal campaign" against dissenting organizations in Russia. In January Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law [JURIST report] granting tighter governmental control of foreign NGOs in the country. The Russian government has been engaged in an ongoing conflict with the southern republic of Chechnya [BBC profile], and the Russian government has come under fire for the actions it has taken in that conflict. Last month The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned [JURIST report] the human rights situation in Chechnya. Also, last February the European Court of Human Rights ruled [JURIST report] that Russia was guilty of serious abuses against Chechen citizens during its military campaign in the region. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website; JURIST news archive] Board of Governors voted Saturday to report Iran [JURIST news archive] to the UN Security Council [official website], supporting a resolution [PDF text] offered by Britain, France, and Germany and backed by the US addressing concerns over Iran's restarted nuclear program [IAEA backgrounder]. The IAEA overwhelmingly supported the measure with 27 of the 35 members voting yes, three voting no, and five abstaining. The vote occurred just two days after IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei [IAEA profile] sought to delay a vote [JURIST report] by the nuclear watchdog on the draft resolution. In response, Iranian officials said the country would begin pursuing full-scale uranium enrichment and immediately halt UN inspections of its facilities, reiterating its claim [JURIST report] that there is no legal basis for referral to the Security Council. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The British government has said it may restrict a univeral jurisdiction law [backgrounder] authorizing citizens to seek international warrants for the arrest of any individual accused of war crimes who enters the country. The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that UK ministers have cited the unpredictable nature of the current law and the strain it puts on international relations. Consideration of a change in the law stems from an incident in September 2005 in which former Israeli general Doron Almog at the last minute eluded arrest in Britain [JURIST report; PSC backgrounder] for alleged war crimes in connection with the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza in 2002 [Guardian report]. Shortly after that incident, the Israeli government began lobbying Britain for a change in the law [JURIST report]. The Israeli cabinet has since approved legal aid for military officers charged overseas with war crimes [JURIST report]. A Home office spokesperson has said that the law "has been used by people to promote their own agenda, and that's the worry we're expressing." Amnesty International has already voiced [press release] "dismay that the UK government would even contemplate weakening its domestic legislation and thereby undermining global efforts to ensure that those accused of the most egregious crimes under international law, wherever committed, are brought to justice." The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Terrence Boyle [official profile] from the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina [official website] has ruled that David Passaro [Wikipedia profile], the first US civilian charged with prisoner abuse of a terror detainee, can present evidence at trial to show that he was following government orders. Passaro, a former Army special operations soldier and a CIA contract employee who was working in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive], is charged with assaulting Afghan prisoner Abdul Wali [Wikipedia profile] who died in US custody in June 2003. No trial date has been set, but Passaro may face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. Passaro claims the US military used him as a scapegoat following revelations about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] in Iraq. AP has more.

[JURIST] A formerly secret opinion released by the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] reveals that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [JURIST news archive], former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney told prosecutors that the Vice President had informed him directly of the identity of Valerie Plame, at the center of the CIA leak investigation [JURIST news archive]. The opinion, initially a part of the court's February 15, 2005 ruling [text, PDF] that reporters Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper could be held in contempt for failing to testify before a grand jury, supports the indictment against Libby, which accuses him of lying about where he learned of Plame's identity. The order [PDF] for its release came as a result of a petition [JURIST report] by media company Dow Jones & Co. The court did not release the entire opinion, however, keeping portions that relate to the special prosecutor's ongoing investigation [JURIST report] secret. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) [official website], the Republican chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee [official website], Friday expressed his strong support [press statement] for President Bush's controversial domestic surveillance [JURIST news archive] program in a 19-page letter addressed to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website]. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official website; JURIST news archive] is set to testify before the Judiciary Committee Monday regarding the program. Critics of domestic spying undertaken by the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website], most but not all of them [JURIST report] Democrats - have argued that the program exceeds the president's Constitutional powers and violates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [text]. Reuters has more.