[JURIST] The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) [group website] released [news release] a report [text, PDF] on Wednesday that criticizes the new federal bankruptcy law [JURIST report] enacted in October 2005, saying the new law does little to stop abuses of the bankruptcy system and has just placed unnecessary hurdles in front of people with legitimate reasons to file for bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 [text, PDF] raises the bar for filing bankruptcy by requiring credit counseling and mandating above-average earners to file under the restrictive Chapter 13 [text]. Congress enacted the law in an attempt to curb abuses by gamblers, compulsive shoppers and multi-millionaires.

According to Brad Botes, executive director of the NACBA, 79 percent of potential filers were victims of job loss, catastrophe, or medical problems. Botes attacked the new law [statement, PDF], saying:

If Congress had gotten bankruptcy reform right, the changes they made would be exposing most would-be filers as deadbeats. Instead, credit card counseling organizations are finding that the vast majority of people were pushed to the brink of financial collapse by circumstances over which they had no control. ... The federal bankruptcy law changes...are doing no measurable good whatsoever. They have done nothing more than put new hurdles in the path of people who are already flat on their back.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Bankruptcy | Op-ed: Rebalancing the Bankruptcy Code

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] has rejected [opinion text, PDF] a 7-year-old ban in New Jersey on the use of local roads by large rigs travelling interstate because it violates the Commerce Clause [Wikipedia backgrounder] of the US Constitution. The emergency regulation, originally adopted in 1999 [NJ DOT press release], prohibited double-trailer trucks and many tractor-trailers from using local roads unless the trucks planned to begin or end their trips in the state. The panel, which affirmed the 2004 decision of a federal judge in Newark, ruled Tuesday that the law discriminated against interstate commerce.

The Third Circuit did not order a stay on its decision, although the lower court had delayed its decision in 2004. The state, which contends the regulation protects the safety of its residents, plans to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments Wednesday in Holmes v. South Carolina [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], a case in which it will decide whether state courts can preclude defendants from presenting evidence that inculpates others for their crimes in capital trials. Holmes, who allegedly beat, robbed, raped, and murdered 86-year-old Mary Stewart, attempted to present evidence that pointed to a different perpetrator, but the Supreme Court of South Carolina [official website] prevented him, ruling that the prosecution’s forensic evidence prevents a reasonable inference of the defendant’s innocence. Chief Justice John Roberts [OYEZ profile] and Justice Antonin Scalia [OYEZ profile] seemed to agree that states should be able to stop defendants from presenting such evidence because it may confuse the jury. Justice Samuel Alito [OYEZ profile] voiced concern about expanding the role of judges into deciding the merits of evidence and witnesses, which is the bailiwick of juries.

The Court also heard arguments Wednesday in a case about the Fourth Amendment rights of parolees. In Samson v. California [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], a police officer searched a parolee without a warrant and uncovered illegal substances. The defendant claims the search violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures since the officer only searched him because of his status as a parolee. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) [official website] announced Wednesday that one of the five NTP patents that a court found was infringed upon by Research In Motion's (RIM) [corporate wesbsite], manufacturer of the BlackBerry [product website] wireless device, has been found invalid on final review [RIM press release]. NTP successfully sued RIM in November of 2002 on claims that the BlackBerry hand-held internet and email device infringed on five of its patents. NTP won a $23 million judgment and an injunction - ultimately stayed upon appeal - prohibiting RIM from selling BlackBerrys in the US. The USPTO's final rejection of NTP's patent is the first major victory for RIM in a legal battle that has waged on for nearly five years. NTP can appeal the ruling. The USPTO had previously issued non-final rulings against NTP on four of its five claimed patents.

RIM had claimed that because its main e-mail switching facility was located in Canada, the company was not subject to US patent laws. A federal appeals court held otherwise and the US Supreme Court denied certiorari [JURIST report]. On Friday a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments [JURIST report] on whether NTP's request for shutdown of the Blackberry service should be granted. CNET has more.

[JURIST] New Jersey is launching legal actions in federal and state court to keep a company from the United Arab Emirates [official website] from taking over US port operations in the state, Gov. Jon Corzine [official website; press release] said Tuesday. Corzine said the New Jersey attorney general will file a complaint in federal district court while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will file a suit in state court. The suit claims that the Bush administration's approval of a $6.8 billion takeover by Dubai Ports World [corporate website] of P&O, the British firm currently holding the operating rights over six major US seaport facilities, including New Jersey's Port Newark, encroaches on the sovereignty of the states in violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. The state court action seeks an injunction to stop the sale until the state's security concerns are satisfied. The governors of New York and Maryland have threatened similar court actions [JURIST report] against DP World takeovers of US port operations in their states.

Despite widespread opposition from both parties, President Bush - who has said he was unaware of the deal [AP report; press briefing transcript] when it was approved - continues to defend the sale and has threatened to veto any legislation that attempts to block it. New York Senator Hillary Clinton, among others, has said she plan introduce such legislation [press release]. The Times of Trenton has more. Several Senate committees have already announced they are investigating the sales: the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing March 1, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing March 2, and the Senate Armed Services Committee will receive a briefing this Thursday on the deal's national security implications. Reuters has more.

8:49 PM ET - AP is reporting that it has obtained documents showing that the Bush administration imposed conditions on its approval of the ports operating rights sale, including cooperation by DP World with any future US investigations and disclosure of internal operations records on demand.

[JURIST] Pennsylvania's Dover Area School District [official website] has agreed to pay $1 million in plaintiff's attorneys' fees after a federal district court found that the school district's inclusion of intelligent design theory in its high school biology curriculum was unconstitutional. In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], US District Judge John E. Jones ruled that teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution was an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause. Jones' ruling entitled the plaintiffs to over $2 million in fees, but the plaintiffs agreed to accept half that amount to recognize the community for ousting most of the original board members [JURIST report] who approved the policy to teach intelligent design theory [Natural History backgrounder; JURIST news archive].

Although the case is not binding precedent outside the Middle District of Pennsylvania, intelligent design opponents hope the ruling will influence the decisions of school districts. Last week, the Ohio Board of Education [official website] voted to remove class discussion of intelligent design [advocacy press release] from its science standards. Currently at least eight state legislatures and several state and local school boards are considering policies which would implement intelligent design into their curriculum. Amy Worden of the Philadelphia Inquirer has more.

[JURIST] The government of South Korea is seriously considering abandoning capital punishment, according to officials at the country's Justice Ministry [official website] on Wednesday. Earlier this week the ministry ordered a study to determine how abolishing the death penalty - which has not been used since 1997 - would effect the crime rate. South Korea has been considered a soft target for anti-death penalty human rights groups, such as Amnesty International [official website; press release], because its leader until 2003, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kim Dae-jung [Nobelprize.org profile] was once sentenced to death for fighting against South Korea's former dictators.

Recent polls, however, show that two-thirds of the South Korean public supports capital punishment, which is performed by hanging. The country has executed 902 people since the nation was formed in 1948. Currently 60 people sit on death row. If South Korea ended capital punishment it would be only the third nation in East and South-East Asia to do so. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] New Haitian president Rene Preval [Wikipedia profile] said Wednesday that ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has a legal right to re-enter the country. In his first news conference since his victory in the February 2 election, President Preval invoked Article 41 of the Haitian Constitution: "No person of Haitian nationality may be deported or forced to leave the national territory for any reason. No one may be deprived for political reasons of his legal capacity and his nationality."

Aristide was ousted from the presidency and forced to flee into exile after a US-supported coup two years ago. The former president, now living in South Africa, said Tuesday that he wants to return to Haiti [AP report], claiming that his exile is a violation of the constitution, but has left the timing of his return up to President Preval and other leaders. No other ousted leader from the country has attempted to return home, and the United States has warned Haiti [JURIST news archive] that the return of Aristide may lead to further violence and discord. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Rhode Island jury Wednesday found three former lead paint manufacturers [JURIST report] responsible for creating a public nuisance that had contaminated thousands of homes and continues to poison children. The jury found Sherwin Williams, NL Industries Inc. [corporate websites], and Millennium Holdings all accountable, but cleared a fourth company, Atlantic Richfield [corporate website]. The jury finding, said to be the first in the country against lead paint manufacturers on grounds of public nuisance, opens the way for companies who once made lead paint and pigment to be held responsible for millions of dollars in cleanup and mitigation costs. The state did not place a dollar amount on the lawsuit, and Judge Mike Silverstein is expected to make a decision on the amount of money owed by the three companies.

The sale of lead paint was banned in 1978 after studies concluded that the paint caused serious health problems with children, but the paint remains in many older homes in Rhode Island and other states. In 1999, Rhode Island became the first state to sue the paint industry [backgrounder], but the trial ended in 2002 with a hung jury. The jury began deliberation in the latest case on February 13 after three months of trial. In a press release after the jury verdict Wednesday Sherwin-Williams insisted that "the facts and the law are on our side. The Court still has to rule on various remaining issues before the next steps in the legal process can be determined." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] EU justice and interior ministers meeting in Brussels Tuesday approved [European Council proceedings, PDF] a controversial data retention directive [DOC] passed by the European Parliament [JURIST report] in December designed to track down terrorists, paedophiles, and criminal gangs and calling for EU member states to store citizens' phone call and internet service data for 6 to 24 months without stipulating a maximum time period. The directive had sparked a year and a half of debate [JURIST news archive] among the member states over privacy issues.

While Britain, France, and Sweden are strong supporters of the measure, Ireland and Slovakia remain opposed, regarding national security as a matter for member states and not the EU. Ireland is considering an appeal to the European Court of Justice [official website]. European telecoms and internet service providers also oppose the measure [PDF]. EUObserver has more.

[JURIST] Trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday in El Paso, TX for Sgt. Alan J. Driver, a reservist accused of abusing prisoners at Bagram Control Point [Global Security profile; JURIST news archive] in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive]. He is the last soldier in a group [JURIST report] of 11 from the Cincinnati-based 377th Military Police Company [backgrounder] to go up for trial in connection with the alleged maltreatment of two prisoners - Habibullah [Wikipedia backgrounder] and Omar al-Farouq - who later died within days of one another; a US Army investigation [Army press release] was initiated shortly afterwards in December 2002.

Of the 11 soldiers subject to prosecution, two pleaded guilty [JURIST report] and served short sentences before being dishonorably discharged, one was convicted [JURIST report] but spared a prison sentence, four were acquitted [JURIST report on acquittals of three], and three - including an officer, Captain Christopher M. Beiring - had the cases against them ultimately dropped [JURIST report]. While none of the soldiers has actually been prosecuted for the prisoners' deaths, the cases have been ruled homicides. Driver has denied the abuse charges and claims he acted in self-defense or out of necessity for his job. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bush administration has indicated that journalists can be prosecuted for receiving or publishing classified information under the United States Espionage Act [18 USC 793 text; Wikipedia backgrounder]. US Department of Justice lawyers made the assertion in a January 30 response [PDF] to a motion by lawyers for two lobbyists accused of receiving and passing on classified information unsealed earlier this week. To date, no member of the press has been prosecuted under the law, and officials say the event would raise serious issues and would not be undertaken lightly.

The DOJ asserts that there is no statutory exemption on culpability for press, let alone lobbyists when classified information is concerned. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, lobbyists for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) [official website] were indicted [JURIST report] last August in connection with receiving classified information during conversations with government officials. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] US Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock [official profile], military commander for US Southern Command [official website], which oversees the detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], has confirmed that military officials have begun employing more aggressive tactics to deter detainees from carrying out long-term hunger strikes [JURIST report] to protest their detention. Reports emerged in early February of the US military employing such aggressive tactics, which reportedly dropped the number of hunger-striking detainees to four [JURIST report].

Craddock on Tuesday confirmed that officers restrained some of the detainees in order to force feed them. A Southern Command spokesperson also told reporters that military officers had used restraints on 35 of the detainees, and that they were still using the equipment on three. Officers also isolated the hunger striking detainees from one another after discovering that some of them were deliberately vomiting or siphoning out the fluid they had been fed. Craddock told the press that he had reviewed the restraint chairs used during the force-feedings, and found that the practice was not inhumane. Eric Schmitt and Tim Golden of the New York Times have more.

[JURIST] Krishna Sitaula, leader of the opposition Nepali Congress [party website], was arrested at his home on Wednesday, just two days after he was released from prison [Rising Nepal report], along with several other opposition politicians, according to an order [JURIST report] from the Supreme Court of Nepal [official website]. The government gave no reason for the arrest and members of Sitaula's family have said that they have been told that he will be held for three months.

Sitaula's arrest comes just days after King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile], who dismissed the elected government and assumed power [JURIST report] last February, called on mainstream political opposition parties to enter into talks to promote democracy. The Nepalese government has arrested hundreds of politicians and activists over the past few weeks in a crackdown on protesters calling for Gyanendra's removal from power [JURIST report]. Human rights activists on Wednesday demanded [Nepal News report] that the government release the detained political leaders. BBC News has more. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense profile; JURIST news archive], Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, have denied that they are trying to derail the prosecution in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive] by requesting access to classified government material. Last month, Libby's defense team requested the use of classified evidence [JURIST report] and in a brief [PDF text; affidavit of support, PDF] filed in federal court Tuesday, rejected the prosecution's arguments that it is asking for the material in order to "graymail" [Wikipedia backgrounder] the government by seeking to expose national security secrets.

Libby, who faces charges [PDF indictment; JURIST report] of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly misleading federal officers investigating the CIA leak case, has said that he will argue that his job required him to read and understand hundreds of pages of information each day, and that he simply made a mistake when he incorrectly told investigators where he learned of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity. Libby's attorneys told the court that they if they were denied access to the requested material, it would effectively penalize Libby for "serving in a position that required him to address urgent national security matters." AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Wednesday handed down decisions in four cases, including Dolan v. U.S. Postal Service [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], where the Court ruled that a Pennsylvania woman could sue the US Postal Service for injuries she sustained after slipping on a pile of mail that was left on her porch rather than in her mail box. Barbara Dolan sued, arguing that the mail had negligently been left on the porch but the lower courts dismissed the case [opinion, PDF], ruling that the claim was barred under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) [text]. The Supreme Court reversed the decision, holding that FTCA's postal exception, which bars claims arising out of "the negligent transmission of letters or postal matter," is limited in scope and does not apply to this case. Read the Court's opinion [text], per Justice Kennedy, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Thomas. AP has more.

In Oregon v. Guzek [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that states may limit the evidence that a convicted defendant may provide at sentencing to evidence that was introduced at the original trial. The Court also held that it has not interpreted "the Eighth Amendment as providing such a defendant the right to introduce at sentencing evidence designed to cast 'residual doubt' on his guilt...." The Court was considering an appeal of an Oregon Supreme Court ruling [text], which held that Randy Lee Guzek should have been allowed to introduce "alibi evidence" during the sentencing phase, even though that evidence was not introduced at trial. Read the Court's opinion [text], per Justice Breyer, along with a concurrence from Justice Scalia, who was joined by Justice Thomas. AP has more.

In Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. [Duke Law backgrounder], the Court ruled that the employee threshold requirement in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act [text; EEOC backgrounder] "does not circumscribe federal-court subject-matter jurisdiction." Jenifer Arbaugh had sued a New Orleans restaurant for sexual discrimination and won a $40,000 judgment. On appeal, the company argued that it did not have 15 employees, the threshold requirement for Title VII to apply, and the district court ruled that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and reversed the jury verdict. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld that decision [opinion, PDF] but the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court, holding that the number of employees "relates to the substantive adequacy of Arbaugh's Title VII claim, and therefore could not be raised defensively late in the lawsuit." Read the Court's unanimous opinion [text], per Justice Ginsburg.

Finally, in Domino's Pizza v. McDonald [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that a Nevada businessman could not sue Domino's Pizza [corporate website] for racial discrimination because he did not have an individual contract with the company. McDonald alleged that Domino's refused to honor its construction contracts with McDonald's company because he is black, but the Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's decision [text] and ruled that McDonald, as an individual, did not have a contractual relationship with Domino's and therefore could not bring a claim under Section 1981 [text]. Read the Court's unanimous opinion [text], per Justice Scalia. AP has more. All four cases were argued before Justice Samuel Alito was confirmed to the Court and he did not participate in any of the cases.

[JURIST] A federal judge in California has issued a preliminary injunction [text, PDF] against search engine company Google [corporate backgrounder], requiring the company to remove images from its image search service [search engine website] that violate the copyrights of adult entertainment media company Perfect 10. The court found that Google violated Perfect 10's copyrights by displaying small "thumbnail" versions of digital images that were stolen from Perfect 10's website and hosted on free websites, which are then catalogued by the Google's web crawler [Google backgrounder].

US District Judge A. Howard Matz distinguished the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's 2003 ruling in Kelly v. Arriba Soft [opinion, PDF] upholding the legality of thumbnail postings by search engines on the grounds that Google indirectly made money from the pilfered images as they ran on sites that ran Google AdSense [product website] ads. The court has ordered Google to remove the offending images. Google plans to appeal the injunction. The Rocky Mountain News has more.

[JURIST] The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma [official website], Wednesday gave critical second-reading approval to an expansive anti-terror bill which would grant a broad range of new counter-terrorism powers to law enforcement and the military. The Duma vote on the draft law was 408-1, with five abstentions. If passed, the law will allow the military to shoot down any hijacked passenger plane if the plane is directed at highly populated areas. It will allow law enforcement to use preemptive force to eliminate suspected international terrorists outside the country so long as that is consistent with Russian treaty obligations. The law will also permit officials to conduct phone wire taps, restrict communication, and perform random identity checks. Proposed restrictions on the media during counter-terrorism operations were, however, removed from the draft.

The Duma will vote on the bill again Sunday at third reading, and from there it will proceed to the upper house, the Federation Council, and then on to President Vladimir Putin [official website] for expected approval and signature. MosNews has local coverage. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge has granted a request by defense attorneys [JURIST report] that sentencing for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [JURIST news archive], convicted [JURIST report] in November of last year for joining al Qaeda and conspiring to assassinate President Bush, be delayed until March 9 so that prosecutors have time to file a sworn declaration revealing whether or not evidence used against Abu Ali was gained through warrantless surveillance, the constitutionality of which has been questioned. The 24-year-old former Virginia high school valedictorian claimed at trial that he was tortured [JURIST report] while held in Saudi Arabia after June 2003. Judge Gerald Bruce Lee made his ruling Friday of last week but it only became public Tuesday.

Prosecutors have thusfar denied any knowledge of illegally-obtained evidence, but admit that they do know how investigators put together their case against Abu Ali. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] A French court has ordered the three acquitted photographers [JURIST report; BBC report] who pursued Princess Diana [official memorial website] and Dodi al Fayed's car the night of their fatal crash in 1997 to pay one euro in damages for invasion of privacy. In a decision made public Wednesday, the court ordered the symbolic fine to be split three ways and paid to Dodi's father, Mohamed al Fayed.

Though a French investigation in 1999 ruled that the crash was caused by the chauffeur of the car being drunk and driving too fast, the circumstances of the crash remain controversial. Mohamed Al Fayed has said he believes his son and Diana were intentionally killed by British secret services because their relationship was embarrassing the royal family. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday again asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] to answer his request for provisional release [JURIST report] to travel to Russia for medical care. Milosevic suffers from high blood pressure and a heart condition and was granted a limited adjournment [JURIST report] in December before the trial again resumed in January [JURIST report].

The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor has opposed the request, fearing that Milosevic will cite health concerns once in Moscow as grounds for not returning to the tribunal. Prosecutors also suspect Milosevic's wife and son now reside in Moscow and have opposed release request despite a guarantee by Russia [JURIST report] of Milosevic's return to the ICTY. The court has said that Milosevic has already used more than four-fifths of his allowed defense time and hopes to wrap the case up this year [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST Europe] Nearly 100 detainees have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, according to findings of the US rights group Human Rights First [advocacy website] initially reported Tuesday evening on BBC television's Newsnight program [video of broadcast available through 5 PM ET Wednesday]. The program claimed that at least 98 prisoners have died as a result of detainment or interrogation with 34 being reported as victims of suspected or confirmed homicide caused by the use of "intentional or reckless behavior." Between eight and 12 of the prisoners were tortured to death while 11 deaths are considered to be suspicious. Charges against low-ranking US soldiers in connection with the deaths have been rare and sentences have generally been light. The HRF survey did not include deaths from fighting, mortar attacks or violence amongst detainees and was based on documents obtained from the government, army investigative reports and via Freedom of Information Act requests. BBC News has more. HRF is scheduled to release the full text of the report at 11 AM ET Wednesday.

12:30 PM ET - Read the full text of Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in US Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan [PDF]. Human Rights First summarizes its key findings as follows:

• Commanders have failed to report deaths of detainees in the custody of their command, reported the deaths only after a period of days and sometimes weeks, or actively interfered in efforts to pursue investigations;


• Investigators have failed to interview key witnesses, collect useable evidence, or maintain evidence that could be used for any subsequent prosecution;


• Record keeping has been inadequate, further undermining chances for effective investigation or appropriate prosecution;


• Overlapping criminal and administrative investigations have compromised chances for accountability;


• Overly broad classification of information and other investigation restrictions have left CIA and Special Forces essentially immune from accountability;


• Agencies have failed to disclose critical information, including the cause or circumstance of death, in close to half the cases examined;


• Effective punishment has often been too little and too late.

[JURIST] Carla del Ponte [official profile], chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], said Wednesday that Serbian government officials had told her that war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] has not been arrested. Serbian media reported Tuesday that the former general had been arrested [JURIST report], but the Serbian government quickly denied the reports [JURIST report], dismissing them as "manipulation." In a statement Wednesday, del Ponte said:

The false rumors spread yesterday from Belgrade about the arrest of Mladic have absolutely no basis whatsoever. There is no indication at all that negotiations about his surrender are currently being conducted. I was in contact with the authorities in Belgrade yesterday and I was assured that these is no truth in all this. Mladic remains at large.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, Israeli attorney Eran Shahar, representing Civil Coalition (CC), a civil rights group, has filed a lawsuit against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [BBC profile] in the German Constitutional Court on charges of incitement and denying the existence of the World War II Holocaust [BBC backgrounder]. Shahar told reporters that Germany was the best place for the suit since it has adopted a new law allowing international litigation even when none of the parties have a significant connection to Germany. Additionally, denying the Holocaust has been a crime in Germany since 1993 and the law has been strictly enforced, meaning that the Germany's chief prosecutor will have to initiate criminal proceedings against Ahmadinejad if he finds sufficient evidence of criminal activity. Shahar said that the main goal of the litigation was to embarrass Ahmadinejad and possibly result in international arrest warrants against the radical leader, prohibiting him from traveling outside of Iran. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• Over 130 Ethiopians will be put back on trial on Thursday for charges of treason and conspiracy against the government [JURIST report] after Ethiopia agreed to allow an EU observer judge to monitor the disputed court proceedings. The presiding Ethiopian judge suspended the trial after learning that police officials were denying the accused access to their lawyers [JURIST report]. The 130 individuals include the majority of the leadership of all opposition political parties in Ethiopia and are accused of intentionally inciting violence [BBC report] in an attempt to overthrow the government during protests held last May and November [JURIST report]. The opposition members claim that the elections held last year were rigged and have refused to enter pleas in the trial, claiming that Ethiopia's judiciary is completely state-run. The Middle East Times has more.
  
  
• At least 73 women were arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe on Tuesday for marching in protest against the upcoming celebration of the birthday of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile], scheduled for Saturday. Mugabe's birthday celebration is a non-state event, but all regional officials in Zimbabwe were told to contribute food and money to the event and the women marching, part of the National Constitutional Assembly [advocacy website], were protesting the requirement that they give up food when the majority of the country is struggling to find enough food to eat. Police are detaining the women pending criminal charges. International aid workers estimate that unless outside food aid is supplied, a measure which Mugabe has rejected multiple times, over 4 million Zimbabweans will starve by the end of the year. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. ZimOnline has local coverage.
  
  
• Nartay Dutbayev, the head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), has offered to resign, following the release of information Tuesday that tied five of his senior operatives to the death of opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly in early February. Sarsenbaiuly was one of two opposition politicians to be found dead in the past four months and opposition groups have accused the Kazakhstan government [official website] of silencing vocal protesters. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev [BBC profile] has yet to announce whether he will accept the resignation. If accepted, the resignation would allow the prosecution of Dutbayev, if he is tied to the killing. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) [official website], the ranking Democrat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence [official website], said Tuesday that a top intelligence official had been prepared to brief the committee in December on the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], but had been stopped by a top Bush administration aide. Harman said that General Michael V. Hayden, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence, had agreed to brief the full committee on the NSA spying program, but that briefing request was denied by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card [official profile].

Harmon says that she and the other members of the committee sought the briefing shortly after the president confirmed the existence of the program [JURIST report] in December 2005. A spokeswoman for General Hayden declined to comment and White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she was not aware of any possible briefing related to the domestic spying program. In a letter [text; JURIST report] to the president last month, Harman argued that limited briefings on the program violated the National Security Act [text]. Though the White House has insisted that the limited briefings were appropriate, Hayden and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales earlier this month agreed to hold closed door briefings [JURIST report] for the full House and Senate intelligence committees. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Chilean judge Orlando Alvarez on Tuesday refused to release former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [personal website; JURIST news archive] from custody while the judge considers an extradition request for Fujimori [JURIST report]. The decision means Fujimori, who is being held at an school for corrections officers, will remain in that secure location rather than walk free or move to house arrest while the Chilean court decides whether to extradite Fujimori to Peru where he faces 12 charges [JURIST report], including authorizing an illegal death squad, abuse of power, and corruption.

Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000 amidst corruption and human rights allegations for activities during his presidency in the 1990s. In November 2005, Fujimori arrived in Chile where he planned to campaign for the presidency of Peru despite having been banned from holding public office [JURIST report] until 2010. He was arrested in Chile and detained at Peru's request [JURIST report]. AP has more. From Santiago, La Nacion has local coverage.