[JURIST] Parts of a broader, more human picture of the Guantanamo detainees, their frustrations and the cases against them have begun to emerge from the depths of over 5000 pages of documentation [PDF files] on over 300 specific detainees released by the Pentagon [JURIST report] late Friday under court order. Some of the papers had been previously released with names and nationalities of detainees removed. The files show confrontation, confusion and sometimes pathos as detainees attempted in different ways to cope with captivity in a harsh physical environment and American officers tried to push them through a particular military legal process in Combatant Status Review Tribunals [DOD materials] that gave prisoners no chance to see classified evidence against them and little opportunity to plead their cases effectively. Although such evidence was not included in the released records, most of the detainees appear to be "small fry", a good number - farmers, students, engineers, journalists, clerics, charity workers and so on - not even "combatants" in the generally-accepted sense of the term, who were swept up in US or Pakistani security operations in and around Afghanistan and who have few demonstrated links with higher-ups in al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. More than a few simply seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. AP has more.

A number of transcripts show detainees urging US officers to speed up the process against them or afford them appropriate rights. Arkin Mahmud, a Chinese Muslim Uighur who said he had traveled to Afghanistan to look for his brothers, told a tribunal "If I am guilty they should come up with my punishment. Otherwise, do something faster to finish my case." Another transcript shows British Muslim detainee Feroz Ali Abbasi - eventually freed in January 2005 - trying to insist that he should have prisoner of war status under international law, only to be shut down by a frustrated Air Force colonel:

Mr. Abbasi your conduct is unacceptable and this is your absolute final warning. I do not care about international law. I do not want to hear the words international law again. We are not concerned about international law.

[JURIST] Two separate press-sponsored investigations reported Saturday show a marked increase in secret proceedings in US federal courts in the last few years, mirroring a general trend towards secrecy in the executive branch of government during the Bush presidency. Figures tallied by the Administrative Office of the US Courts [official website] for AP show that some 5,116 defendants whose cases were completed in 2003, 2004 and 2005 still have their case records sealed, and that the number of cases sealed per year rose from less than 1000 in 2003 to almost 2400 in 2005. Most of the sealed cases were drug-related, although what AP describes as a "very small number" involved terrorism. Most also involve co-operating government witnesses. AP has more.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press meanwhile says that the number of hidden federal dockets - cases the existence of which is not even disclosed - has also surged in the District of Columbia, involving 450 criminal cases in US SC District Court in the past five years, some 18 percent of all cases in the jurisdiction. RCFP Executive Director Lucy A. Dalglish said of the findings, "Over the last five years, we had a sense that criminal cases were disappearing. But we were astonished at how many there are. What this means is that we have federal convicts sitting in prison and there is no public track record of how they got there. That's not how democracy is supposed to work." Read the RCFP press release on the study, the RCFP report, and a full statistical breakdown. Secret dockets have been ruled unconstitutional in the Second Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit [2005 ruling in US v. Ochoa-Vasquez, PDF; RCFP press release] as contrary to the Sixth Amendment right to public criminal trial.

[JURIST] The Manila Daily Tribune [media website] reported Saturday that it has been charged with sedition in the wake of the Friday lifting of President Gloria Arroyo's state of emergency [JURIST report; Proclamation 1021 text]. The offices of the paper, known for its sharp criticism of the government, were raided February 25 [JURIST report] while the state of emergency decree [text] was still in force. Specific charges have been filed against the paper's publisher and editor-in-chief and two of its columnists. Xinhuanet has more.

Meanwhile Philippines opposition politicians have accused Arroyo of human rights violations, alleging that executive orders limiting street protests, barring government officials from giving testimony before congressional inquiries without government permission and the recent emergency declaration itself have breached the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text] signed by the Philippines. ABC Australia has more. An Arroyo spokesman said Saturday that the charges "will not prosper because of the situation that led to the declaration of Proclamation 1017 [the emergency decree]."

[JURIST] Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian [official profile] told the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun daily in an interview reported Saturday that he was resolved to drafting a new constitution [current text] for the country better suited to its current circumstances. Earlier in the week, Chen stirred controversy when he put an end to a 15-year detente with mainland China by scrapping a policymaking council set up to study reunification [official transcript], blaming "military intimidation" and the mainland's so-called Anti-secession Law [JURIST report] for his decision. Citing a recent increase in the number of PRC missiles now aimed at Taiwan - up from 200 to 784 in the last six years - Chen told the Yomiuri Shimbun that China now had a visible intent to invade the country and this warranted a series of new measures. He acknowledged that agreeing on a new national charter by the end of his presidential term in 2008 would be difficult, but the outcome would largely depend on the results of parliamentary elections in 2007 that could sustain the process.

Chen's Democratic Progressive Party [political party website] is very much pro-independence, but lost support in recent national and local elections. The Yomiuri Shimbun has more.

[JURIST] Sri Lanka Solicitor General C.R. de Silva [official profile] announced Saturday that two men photographed stealing a gold necklace from a woman while she struggled in the rushing waters of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami [JURIST news archive] will be prosecuted for murder. If convicted, they could face the death penalty under Sri Lanka law. After taking the woman's necklace, the two men allowed her to fall back into the water, and her body was discovered later.

Sri Lanka put a moratorium on the death penalty in 1976, but lifted the ban in 2004 [JURIST report] in response to the killing of a high court judge [JURIST report]. The move has been sharply criticized by human rights groups [ACHR backgrounder]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US mega-retailer Wal-Mart [corporate website; JURIST news archive] announced [press release] Friday that it will stock the emergency contraceptive pill known as Plan B [product website] in all of its pharmacies nationwide beginning March 20. Previously the chain had only stocked the pills in its pharmacies in Illinois, as required by law, and in Massachusetts following an order by the Massachusetts Pharmacy Board [official website] in February. On Thursday Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his state would no longer cover prescriptions at Wal-Mart for its 188,000 employees and retired workers unless Wal-Mart changed its policy.

Wal-Mart says that it will still allow any sales associate uncomfortable dispensing the prescription to "refer consumers to another pharmacist or pharmacy." Some conservatives say the product encourages unsafe sexual behavior, or regard it as an abortifacient. AP has more.

[JURIST] In response to a February injunction [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] imposed by US Distict Judge Jeremy Fogel [official profile], California prosecutors Friday proposed altering the combination of sedatives and life-ending drugs used in executions in order to ensure that prisoners do not become conscious or experience "wanton or unnecessary pain" during the process.

The proposal stems from an appeal by California death row inmate Michael Morales [NCADP profile; JURIST news archive], who challenged California's existing lethal injection procedure under the Eighth Amendment [text]. Morales' execution has been delayed indefinitely [JURIST report] after doctors who were required to be present during the execution to ensure that Morales would not suffer excessive pain refused to participate [JURIST report], citing ethics concerns. A full federal court hearing on the constitutionality of the California method scheduled for May 2 will now proceed on the basis of the proposed change. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department [official website] has launched an investigation into possible price-fixing of music downloads by major label record companies, according to Department sources. The Department has already issued subpoeanas to four major record labels: EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music. Federal officials are attempting to discern whether the labels are conspiring to keep the wholesale price of downloadable music artificially high, which in turn drives up the retail price of the tracks once they are available to consumers through online outlets such as Apple's iTunes store [corporate website].

Although the Justice Department has not released an official announcement of the probe, details provided Thursday suggest that the investigation is similar to an inquiry [Reuters report] launched by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] last year. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] An Ecuadorian judge Friday ordered the release from prison of former president Lucio Gutierrez [Wikipedia profile], ruling that he was not a threat to national security. Ecuador's Attorney General's office has already said it will appeal. Gutierrez was arrested [JURIST report] in October and later jailed after calling his ouster by Congress [JURIST report] in April of last year illegal. After being forced out, he sought asylum in Colombia, but later returned home.

Shortly before his ouster Gutierrez dismissed the entire bench [JURIST report] of the Ecuadorian Supreme Court [official website] for a second time, claiming it was biased. He still faces trial for dissolving the tribunal. He has already declared his intention to run again for Ecuador's presidency, despite the fact that his current popularity rating is in single digits. AP has more.