[JURIST] Lawyers defending former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], on trial before the Iraqi High Criminal Court, have filed a formal motion [DOC] seeking the disqualification of chief judge Rauf Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile]. Abdel-Rahman began presiding over the trial [JURIST news archive] last month after his predecessor resigned [JURIST report] amid criticism that he had been too lenient during proceedings. Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general and one of Hussein's defense lawyers, said Abdel-Rahman "is not impartial and has a manifested bias against defendant" and has "repeatedly violated standards of fair trial, human rights and basic due process in the courtroom." Hussein's lawyers are currently boycotting proceedings [JURIST report], calling for Abdel-Rahman to be sacked [JURIST report] and urging Hussein's court-appointed lawyer to quit the case [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

In a related development, Clark also said Thursday that Hussein may be allowed to meet with his lawyers, but added that the court has not yet confirmed the meeting. Earlier this month, Hussein's lawyers claimed they were being denied access to their client [JURIST report] and Clark said Thursday that the court had begun to refuse to allow visits in late January. Clark also said that he expects the court will allow Hussein's defense team to attend the trial when it resumes on February 28. AP has more.

[JURIST] Microsoft [corporate website] Thursday made a symbolic response to a new antitrust complaint filed with the European Commission [official website] by IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and six other companies by taking the unusual step of posting online its full 78-page defense [text; press release] against a Commission complaint that it had not complied with a 2004 EC antitrust ruling mandating the production of technical data. In its response, filed February 15 [JURIST report], Microsoft accused the Commission of contributing to the problem by not clearly stating its "requirements and concerns" and by not reviewing previous documents submitted by Microsoft. AP has more.

Meanwhile a Microsoft spokesman dismissed the latest complaint to the European Commission by its rival, saying that it had anticipated the action and that the coalition of complainants under the banner of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems was simply a "front" for its business rivals. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson [official profile] on Thursday unveiled a draft proposal for a new United Nations human rights body that would replace the highly criticized Commission on Human Rights [UN backgrounder]. The blueprint [PDF text] describes a 47-member Human Rights Council whose membership would be open to all UN member states. States would be elected to the Council by a majority of members of the General Assembly [official website], not two-thirds, as some countries had pushed for. Eliasson also spelled out several ways the proposed Council would differ from the current Commission, including:

the new Human Rights Council would be a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and therefore have a higher institutional standing; ...

the universal periodic review would be a mechanism where the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations would be assessed;

the distribution of seats would be in accordance with equitable geographical distribution;

members of the Council would not be eligible for immediate re-election after two consecutive terms;

while membership of the Human Rights Council would be open to all Member States, there would be legitimate expectations on members. Asserting its standing and authority, the General Assembly would have the ability to suspend a Council member which commits gross and systematic violations of human rights;

and lastly, the Human Rights Council would meet regularly throughout the year.

[JURIST] A Human Rights Watch expert Thursday told members of a European Parliament [official website] committee formed to investigate allegations that the US has transferred prisoners through Europe on secret extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] flights that the United States has gone to great lengths to cover up evidence of the flights and urged the EU lawmakers to encourage other witnesses to provide detailed information to establish their existence. Human Rights Watch and other groups have claimed that the CIA flew suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to secret prisons in Poland and Romania, and may have conducted rendition flights through other European countries. The EU has threatened sanctions [JURIST report], including suspension of bloc voting rights [JURIST report], against any of its members found to have housed secret detention facilities or assisted in rendition in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and international aviation agreements. The European Parliament announced in December that it was undertaking an investigation [JURIST report] of the rendition claims.

The EU panel also heard Thursday from Armando Spataro, a Milan prosecutor who has issued international arrest warrants for 22 CIA operatives wanted in Italy in connection with the 2003 rendition kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from Milan for transfer to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured. Spatero told the committee that he expected to complete his investigation of that incident in March and could begin trials of the accused in absentia if necessary [Reuters report; JURIST report], although he was still hoping for what he called "formal legal cooperation" from the US. AP has more.

[JURIST] HealthSouth [corporate website; JURIST news archive] on Thursday finalized a settlement agreement [press release] with plaintiffs in several federal securities class action suits for a total $445 million. HealthSouth itself will pay defrauded investors $215 million, and its insurance carriers will pay $230 million, pending final approval by the court. Additionally, the settlement agreement will remit to defrauded investors 25 percent of any recovery the company makes in pending civil suits from former CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive], the company's former auditor Ernst and Young, and its former investment bank.

HealthSouth has restructured since verging on bankruptcy following fraud allegations that began surfacing in 2003, and welcomes the most recent settlement as "a major milestone in HealthSouth's recovery," according to CEO Jay Grinney. The company in 2005 reached a $100 million settlement with the SEC [JURIST report] and in 2004 reached a $325 million settlement with the DOJ [JURIST report] regarding fraudulent Medicare claims that cost taxpayers an estimated $2.1 billion. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Labour Organization (ILO) [official website], a UN agency, on Thursday officially adopted [press release] the long-debated Maritime Labour Convention [ILO materials], a bill of rights applicable to maritime workers that sets minimum standards for wages, work-to-rest ratios, and lays out comprehensive health and safety standards. The convention will become effective upon ratification by 30 of the 100 ILO member states who account for at least 33 percent of shipping weight worldwide, a process officials expect will take between 3 to 5 years to complete.

The labor standards will apply to the 1.2 million workers who work on ships weighing more than 500 gross tonnes, excluding those who are employed by fishing ships and traditional vessels such as junks. The ILO attributes 90 percent of all shipping accidents to preventable human error, which is considerably worsened by fatigue. Most of the goods that are traded between nations are transported by ships, which predominantly employ workers from developing countries with inadequate labor standards. Reuters has more. The UN News Centre provides additional coverage.

[JURIST] Opposition politicians in Uganda [JURIST news archive] have said that Thursday's election, the first multi-party elections held in the country in more than twenty years, was marred by fraud. Though it appears that incumbent President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile] will win re-election, claims of voting fraud have been leveled at the ruling party by challenger Kizza Besigye [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) [party website]. FDC officials accused the ruling party of posting soldiers close to voting stations to intimidate citizens, using ink to mark ballots that could be washed away, and leaving names off the registers. While the ruling party rejected voting fraud claims [Reuters report] as technical glitches rather than political maneuvers, an FDC spokesperson announced that the party is already contemplating a legal challenge of the awaited results.

Meanwhile, at least seven FDC supporters were arrested for inciting violence at polling places [Xinhua report] and for demanding votes for the FDC ballot. However, the violence was sporadic and less severe than previously anticipated [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Two separate reports issued in Britain Thursday strongly criticized the anti-terror strategy of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, documenting domestic deprivations of human rights, condemning UK policy on torture, and urging the government to press the US to shut down its controversial detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The annual human rights report [text; also in PDF] of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee [official website] said Guantanamo's existence was actually an obstacle to international anti-terror efforts and called on the Blair government "to make loud and public its objections to the existence of such a prison regime"; it also recommended that the government clarify its policy on the use of information obtained by other states through torture, and insure that agreements with foreign governments containing assurances that they would not torture individuals deported to them from Britain were more than a "fig leaf" for abuse. Addressing ongoing concerns about UK assistance to secret CIA rendition flights, the Commons report declared "the government has a duty to enquire into the allegations of extraordinary rendition and black sites under the Convention against Torture, and to make clear to the USA that any extraordinary rendition to states where suspects may be tortured is completely unacceptable."

In a separate report [text; accompanying press release] Amnesty International forcefully condemned the government's derogations from human rights in the UK itself, criticizing the use of control orders [BBC backgrounder] restricting the movements and conduct of suspects who cannot be prosecuted, deploring the "sweeping and vague" language in the new Terrorism Bill now going through Parliament, and generally alleging that Britain was now setting a bad example for other countries in the human rights field.

Speaking at his monthly press conference Thursday, Prime Minister Tony Blair generally rejected the criticisms [press conference transcript], in particular standing by his limited characterization of Guantanamo as an "anomaly" [JURIST report]. Matthew Tempest of the Guardian has more.

[JURIST] An Amnesty International spokesman said Thursday in Berlin that torture was still practiced and legally recognized in Turkey [JURIST news archive] despite the latest reform efforts of the Turkish government. Wolfgang Grenz made the statement at the presentation of a new study of 18 cases carried out by a German investigator in October. Grenz said that Turkish courts still sometimes admitted evidence derived by torture and did not look into claims that it had taken place despite Turkey's adherence to the UN Convention Against Torture [text] and new strictures against torture set down by domestic law June 2005. Grenz recommended that torture be better defined and that Turkish interrogators get better training. DPA has more.

The comments came the same day as EU external relations director Eneko Landaburu publicly suggested in Brussels that the European Union enlargement process ongoing for several years might best be paused in favor of a "deepening" of existing ties. Reflecting on problems within the union that resulted in the rejection of the proposed European Constitution [JURIST news archive] in France and the Netherlands last year, he nonetheless said that planned accession talks with Turkey and Croatia should go forward. The Turkish talks have become increasingly strained in recent months because of the slow progress of legal reforms that the EU says are preconditions to a successful accession application. Press reports in November said that the European Commission was working on a draft document setting some 150 terms for Turkish EU membership that had to be met within two years, including an end to torture [JURIST report]. EUobserver has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] has granted a rehearing [court order, PDF] in a case challenging the native-only admissions policy of a Hawaiian school. In August 2005, the Ninth Circuit ruled [PDF opinion; JURIST report] that the admissions policy of the Kamehameha Schools [education website], which accepts no federal funding, violated 42 USC 1981 [text], a law forbidding racial discrimination in making and enforcing contracts. The rehearing will be held before a 15-member en banc panel of the court, and school board members are hopeful it will result in a reversed verdict [Kamehameha Schools statement].

The admissions challenge was brought by an unnamed Hawaiian student who will likely not be able to attend the Kamehameha Schools before his graduation this year because of the rehearing. After the court's original decision, thousands of Hawaiians protested the decision [JURIST report], claiming the school's policy is necessary to remedy economic and educational disadvantages suffered by natives. The Honolulu Advertiser has more.

[JURIST] EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Thursday that the European Union [official website] will suspend membership negotiations with Serbia if it did not fully cooperate in seeking the arrest of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile]. Mladic faces charges [indictment text] brought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in connection with the execution of over 7,000 Muslim prisoners and civilians. Serbian officials responded Thursday by making assurances [AP report] that every effort was being made to bring Mladic into custody.

Earlier this week, Serbian officials denied reports [JURIST report] that Mladic had already been arrested and ICTY officials said Wednesday that he is still at large [JURIST report]. Despite the denials, an anonymous official has told the Associated Press that the Serbian government has contacted Mladic and is negotiating his surrender. AP has more.

[JURIST] California faces a virtual moratorium on executions in the wake of a court ruling that medical professionals must monitor executions by lethal injection to be sure that the inmate feels no pain. The execution of condemned killer Michael Morales [NCADP profile], was put on hold [JURIST report] late Monday after two anesthesiologists refused to take part [JURIST report]. The American Medical Association [advocacy website] has long opposed such action on ethical grounds, thus making it unlikely that the state would ever be able meet the requirement. Previously, licensed medical workers only pronounced the prisoner dead.

Without specifically ruling on the merits of capital punishment, the courts have in a way made executions in California impossible to carry out. On Sunday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused to grant Morales a stay of execution, but instead ordered that a doctor be present [JURIST report] to guarantee Morales' Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment. A federal district judge had earlier ruled that California must change the drugs it uses [JURIST report] to avoid the possibility of inflicting extreme pain during the process. Thirty-seven of the 38 states using capital punishment have a method similar to California's, making it possible that the Supreme Court will consider for the first time whether the lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US military should take a greater, perhaps sometimes even temporarily a leading role in disaster recovery, and policy steps should to be taken to facilitate this, according to a 228-page White House report [table of contents and full text; fact sheet] released Thursday on lessons learned from the Hurricane Katrina disaster [JURIST news archive]. Noting that the military response to Hurricane Katrina had been slowed by Defense Department policy and federal law, the study authored by White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend [official profile] recommends that the Defense Department develop recommendations for revising the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan [DHS backgrounder] to delineate the circumstances, objectives, and limitations of when DOD might temporarily assume the lead for the Federal response to a catastrophe. It also recommends that DOD revise its internal procedures to allow commanders, in appropriate circumstances, to take initiative without a request from local authorities.

The report also includes a call for the US Justice Department to "examine Federal responsibilities for support to State and local law enforcement and criminal justice systems during emergencies and then build operational plans, procedures, and policies to ensure an effective Federal law enforcement response" and a recommendation that "Legal and liability impediments to the use and coordination of non-governmental and private sector resources during a catastrophic event should be removed." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Fusako Shigenobu [Wikipedia profile], founder of the terrorist group known as the Japanese Red Army (JRA) [FAS backgrounder; BBC timeline], was convicted in a Tokyo court Thursday and sentenced to twenty years in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder during a 1974 attack on the French Embassy in The Hague. She was also convicted of passport violations.

Shigenobu founded the extreme leftist JRA in 1971. The group advocated the end of capitalism and the influence of the US. Its activities against the US military presence in Japan attracted the attention of authorities and forced many members of the group into exile. In 1970, JRA was responsible for the hijacking of a Japan Airlines passenger plane and in 1972, the group staged an attack at Israel's international airport that left twenty-five people dead and eighty injured. In 1974, the JRA carried out the attack on the French embassy at the Hague, and took eleven members of the embassy staff hostage, including the ambassador. The siege lasted five days, ending when the French government agreed to free a jailed member of the JRA in return for the hostages. Shigenobu eluded arrest for a quarter of a century. She was arrested [ICT report] in Osaka in November 2000, following a tip from an informer, and was charged [BBC report] in connection with the attack on the French embassy. AP has more. From Japan, the Asahi Shimbun has local coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Melinda Harmon [official profile] has given preliminary approval to a $6.7 billion settlement in a class-action lawsuit [plaintiffs' website] brought by Enron [JURIST news archive] shareholders, an attorney involved in the case said Wednesday. Shareholders brought suit against several banks, accusing them of helping Enron hide the financial misdeeds that ultimately led to the company's downfall. The agreement, which still must receive final approval, covers settlements with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce [JURIST report; press release, PDF], JP Morgan Chase [JURIST report; press release, PDF] and Citigroup [JURIST report; press release, PDF].

William Lerach [attorney profile], the lead attorney representing Enron shareholders, said the settlement [attorney press releases] was the largest of its kind and more would follow. Lehman Brothers and Bank of America have already settled shareholder claims. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The South Dakota Senate [official website] on Wednesday approved by a 23-12 vote a bill [PDF text] that would ban all abortions, excluding only those necessary to save a woman's life. A similar bill [PDF text] has already passed the state House by a vote of 47-22. After legislators reconcile minor differences in the two versions of the bill, the final version will go to Governor Mike Rounds [official website] for signature. A longtime opponent of abortion, Rounds is expected to sign the bill.

The legislation is an attack on Roe v. Wade [opinion text] and supporters of the South Dakota bill expect the law to be challenged. Anti-abortion groups are hoping for a showdown in the US Supreme Court, which is now viewed as more conservative following the appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts [OYEZ profile] and Justice Samuel Alito [OYEZ profile]. Planned Parenthood [advocacy website] announced Wednesday that it will indeed challenge the bill [press release]. AP has more. From South Dakota, Megan Myers and Terry Woster of the Argus Leader have local coverage.

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's international brief, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile] has been named among possible target for UN Security Council [official website] sanctions being considered against high-ranking officials in the Sudanese government that are thought to be complicit in human rights abuses currently occurring in Darfur [JURIST news archive]. A leaked report named al-Bashir as a possible target and also identified the Sudanese defense and interior ministers as well as the head of national intelligence as confirmed targets should the sanctioning resolution be approved. The UN has faced increasing pressure to take action in Darfur, and referred the situation [JURIST report] to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] last year for investigation. Sudan has repeatedly stated that it will not extradite [JURIST report] any individuals to an international court, instead insisting that its own war crimes tribunal is adequately handling the issue of human rights abuses in Darfur. The Financial Times has more.

In other international legal news ...

• Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] met with the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] to discuss Russia's attitude concerning NGO involvement in human rights issues. Putin declared Russia's eagerness to accept human rights support from NGOs, especially from international organizations like the UN, but warned that he believed the burden of dealing with human rights rests upon the government. Russia has come under increasing attack for its recent crackdown on human rights organizations under the recently enacted NGO bill [JURIST report]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Russia [JURIST news archive]. Itar-Tass has local coverage.
  
  
• The European Union [official website] has announced its intent to impose sanctions against individuals named as official suspects in the Hariri assassination [JURIST news archive] investigation. The sanctions will apply to individuals that were "linked to planning, financing, organizing or carrying out the bomb attack." The EU announced that the names released by the UN will be immediately added to the list of sanctioned individuals. Champress has local coverage.
  
  
• Kenyan Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua has blamed continued problems with human rights respect in Kenya on several outdated provisions in the Kenyan constitution [PDF text]. Karua said that despite the government's desire to promote human rights standards, certain provisions in the constitution hinder the ability of the Justice Ministry [official website] to respond to human rights violations. The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights [official website] and the Kenya Law Reforms Commission have been tasked with identifying those areas and suggesting changes that would promote domestic human rights standards. Karua also lamented the lack of public knowledge of human rights provided for in the constitution. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's East African Standard has local coverage.

[JURIST Europe] Belarus newspaper Zgoda has been criminally charged for reprinting cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] that have sparked violent protests across the Muslim world. The Belarus State Security Committee [official website, in Russian], still known as the KGB, has cited Zgoda for breach of Part 1, Article 130 of the Belarussian Criminal Code, which prohibits the incitement of 'racial, ethnic, and religious hatred'. The newspaper was investigated after complaints from the country's Muslim community. MosNews has more.

In Canada, however, Crown prosecutors in the western province of Alberta Wednesday declined to press hate crimes charges against two papers for reprinting the cartoons there. A spokesman said that the intent of the republications in the Calgary-based Western Standard [media website] and Jewish Free Press [JCN report] was to promote debate, not incite hatred. The head of Canada's Islamic Supreme Council [advocacy website], which has also filed complaints [ISCC press release; JURIST report] with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission [official website], has expressed disappointment with the decision. The Toronto Globe & Mail has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] The Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) [official website] has taken jurisdiction over a case investigating Guatemalan officers accused of genocide and torture during the civil unrest from 1978 to 1986. The allegations were made 1999 by Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu [Nobel Prize profile], who felt she could not get justice for the atrocities committed during Guatemalan civil war in her own country.

The case was previously barred from proceeding by rulings from the Spanish Constitutional Court [official website in Spanish], which had stated that Spanish courts could only try cases of crimes abroad that involved Spanish victims. Recently, however, the Court ruled [JURIST report] that Spanish courts could exercise universal jurisdiction [Amnesty International backgrounder] even when no Spanish citizens were involved. Expatica has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.