[JURIST] The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals held [PDF decision] Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency [official website] cannot exempt coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other industrial facilities from a requirement to install new pollution controls to keep up with emissions changes. A rule creating an exemption under the so-called New Source Review [official website] permitting program was adopted by the Bush administration in 2003 at the instance of energy companies seeking to lessen litigation costs and settlements was challenged by a coalition of 15 states and several environmental groups that argued they were contrary to the provisions of the Clean Air Act [EPA backgrounder]. Operation of the rule was stayed by court order in December 2003 pending the resolution of appeals. In its decision Friday the appeals court said that "EPA’s interpretation [of the law] would produce a ‘strange,’ if not an ‘indeterminate,’ result: a law intended to limit increases in air pollution would allow sources operating below applicable emission limits to increase significantly the pollution they emit without government review."

The ruling affects some 800 power plants nationwide and more than 17,000 other facilities, including significant numbers in New York and California, the two most populous US states. In a statement on Friday's ruling, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer called it a "major victory for clean air and public health" that would "encourage industry to build new and cleaner facilities, instead of prolonging the life of old dirty plants." Spitzer noted that "more than 20,000 Americans die prematurely each year from power plant pollution". The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The UK Home Office [official website] Friday presented oral arguments before the UK High Court in its appeal [JURIST report] of the Court’s December decision [JURIST report; JURIST document] to require the British government to register Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] as a British citizen. A decision is expected in early April. Hicks, an Australian detained in US custody at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] since 2002 on charges of conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy for his allegedly fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, sought UK citizenship on the grounds that his mother is British. Hicks’ lawyers hope to take advantage of the British government’s success in keeping UK citizens out of the US military commission process. The UK Foreign Office [official website] has been successful in getting nine British citizens freed from Guantanamo, some of whom were dual citizens of other countries.

The UK Home Office has accepted Hicks’ right to citizenship, but maintains that they can refuse to register a citizen on the grounds that he committed acts “seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom.” Hicks’ lawyers contend that Hicks could not have been disloyal or disaffected to the British crown before he was a citizen of the UK. Home Office barrister Philip Sales acknowledged in court Friday that if Hicks’ argument is found correct, then the Home Office would lose the appeal. Sales argued that the other dual citizens freed from Guantanamo had direct ties to England, and said the Court should take a different view of Hicks. Melbourne Australia’s The Age newspaper has more.

[JURIST] A group of 27 Danish Muslim organizations plan to sue Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [media website] in a Danish court and file a complaint against Denmark with the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] in Jyllands-Posten and other European newspapers. Group lawyer Michael Christiani Havemann told AP Friday the group will bring a defamation suit against Jyllands-Posten in the Danish court. The declaration comes on the heels of an announcement [decision text] by Danish top prosecutor Henning Fode Wednesday that he will not charge [JURIST report] Jyllands-Posten because the cartoons did not violate Denmark's laws against blasphemous and racist speech.

On the UN action, the Imam in Denmark’s second city Aarhus, Ahmad Akkari, said

Our point is that in failing to censure Jyllands-Posten, Denmark has committed a breach of its duties as a signatory of the UN conventions on human and political rights as well as international agreements on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.

[JURIST] The Democratic Republic of Congo Friday sent Thomas Lubanga [Trial Watch backgrounder], leader of the ethnic militia-turned-political party Union of Congolese Patriots [Global Security backgrounder], to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive], making him the first prisoner delivered to new international criminal tribunal in The Hague. Lubanga is accused of widespread human rights abuses in eastern Congo’s Ituri district [HRW backgrounder], and is suspected of ordering the killing of nine UN peacekeepers in 2005. The ICC also says that Lubanga committed a war crime by filling the ranks of his militia with child soldiers [BBC report]. Read the ICC press release.

Established in 2002, the ICC has already launched investigations into Congo and Sudan’s Darfur region, and issued its first warrants for five leaders of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army last year. The ICC completed construction of 12 prison cells [JURIST report] in February, and expects to begin its first trials in mid-2006 [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The number of asylum applications submitted to industrialized countries has decreased for the fourth year in a row and the number of asylum seekers arriving in Western nations has plummeted by half in the last five years [UNHCR press release], according to statistics [report, PDF] released Friday by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [official website]. UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres [official profile] attributed the drop to stricter asylum application measures adopted by Western countries in recent years to deter refugees and warned against withholding asylum from people trying to escape persecution. Guterres also called for countries to take advantage of the low numbers of refugee applications to improve their asylum systems.

A UNHCR spokesperson cited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as an influence in more restrictive asylum procedures in Western nations. Asylum seekers dropped by 16 percent in Europe, 54 percent in the US and Canada, and a staggering 75 percent in Australia and New Zealand. The largest groups of asylum seekers came from Serbia and Montenegro, Russia and Iraq. Aljazeera has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

[JURIST] German engineer Gotthard Lerch [Iran Watch profile] went on trial in Mannheim, Germany, Friday on charges that he aided Libya’s abortive efforts to build a nuclear bomb. Lerch is widely known as a member of a clandestine network led by A.Q. Kahn [Wikipedia backgrounder], which investigators believe supplied Iran and North Korea with nuclear capabilities. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear arms program, has admitted to running a lucrative underground nuclear market. Lerch was extradited to Germany from Switzerland in June and is the first member of Khan’s network to face trial. Several others have been arrested [Washington Post report] in connection to the Khan network.

Prosecutors charged Lerch with breaking arms and exports laws by aiding the Libyan nuclear program between 1999 and 2003, a crime punishable by up to fifteen years in jail. Lerch’s lawyers have stated that the court prohibited them from taking notes on secret files and did not clarify whether the lawyers could use evidence from those files in court. The prosecution claims that Lerch received approximately $34 million for overseeing procurement of gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment and their delivery to Libya. Lerch was arrested in November after the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] mentioned Lerch in their investigations after a German-registered freighter carrying components for the enrichment plant was intercepted on its way to Libya in 2003. AP has more.

[JURIST] Narrowing a controversial Tuesday order [PDF], US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has ruled that the US government will remain precluded from introducing aviation evidence tainted by TSA attorney Carla Martin in its case against would-be hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] but will be allowed to introduce new untainted aviation evidence along the lines of an alternate remedy it suggested. Read the order [PDF].

Brinkema was responding to a government motion to reconsider [PDF text; JURIST report] her order prohibiting the government from presenting the aviation portion of its case, including witnesses, testimony, and exhibits. Brinkema barred the evidence after being informed [JURIST report] that Martin violated the judge's witness sequestration ruling [JURIST report] and coached witnesses from the Federal Aviation Administration by sharing information and partial transcripts from the government's argument in what Brinkema called in court "the most egregious violation of the court's rules on witnesses" she had seen "in all the years I've been on the bench." The government moved to have Brinkema reconsider her order on the grounds that it essentially gutted their case against Moussaoui, which is based on how his disclosure of his al Qaeda links after his arrest in August 2001 might have prevented deaths on 9/11.

[JURIST] The French government on Friday condemned violent protests against the recently passed First Employment Contract (CPE) [FAQ, in French] labor law. A group of student and union demonstrators clashed with French authorities around the Sorbonne University in Paris Thursday, where 187 protesters were detained for setting minor fires, overturning cars in the street, and throwing objects at police, who used tear gas, rubber pellets and water cannons to stymie the crowds. Arrests across the country numbered close to 300 for Thursday's protests [JURIST report], although the violence died down by evening. A spokesperson reaffirmed the government's support [Reuters report] of the CPE Friday.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official website] proposed the controversial CPE, which allows French employers to hire workers under the age of 26 for a conditional two-year period during which they can be fired without cause, to provide jobs for young workers who suffer from staggering unemployment rates. However, critics of the law, including students, union members and left-wing politicos, contend that the law erodes job stability and threatens France's traditionally strong workers' rights. Many believe that increasing voter disapproval of the CPE and Villepin's firm stance [JURIST report] on the law sets a substantial obstacle to Villepin's anticipated candidacy for president. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] on Friday ruled 2-1 in a three-judge panel decision [opinion, PDF] that Tennessee can offer a pro-life specialty license plate even though it does not offer a pro-choice license plate to state drivers. The lawsuit, filed [ACLU press release] by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee [official website] on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee and three individuals, contends that the issuance of only pro-life plates signals government endorsement of that view, especially since a portion of the proceeds from the plates goes to an anti-abortion group, New Life Resources.

Writing for the panel, Circuit Judge John M. Rogers noted:

Although this exercise of government one-sidedness with respect to a very contentious political issue may be ill-advised, we are unable to conclude that the Tennessee statute contravenes the First Amendment. Government can express public policy views by enlisting private volunteers to disseminate its message, and there is no principle under which the First Amendment can be read to prohibit government from doing so because the views are particularly controversial or politically divisive.

[JURIST] The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website] is making slow progress in its efforts to set up a regional human rights watchdog, officials from the organization announced Friday. Representatives from the four member countries suggesting the establishment of the institution, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, met and discussed potential cooperation on issues including migrant worker protection, human trafficking and protecting terrorism for three days. While the representatives expressed hope that the discussion would serve as a foundation for the ultimate establishment of a human rights body within ASEAN, they also acknowledged the slow pace of the organization resulting from heavy bureaucracy and a desire of the ten member countries not to interfere in each other's internal affairs.

Last year Myanmar chose not to pursue the rotating regional chairmanship of ASEAN due to dissatisfaction from western nations with regard its human rights record. In the meantime, the four countries have vowed to encourage those members without a human rights watchdog to establish their own independent oversight organizations. AP has more.

[JURIST] China's practice of "internet management" [Knight Ridder report] continued Friday with a 10-year sentence for Ren Ziyaun, a teacher found guilty of "subversion of state power" after posting "The Road to Democracy" and other essays on the Internet. According to Human Rights in China [advocacy website], the article asserted the right of the people to violently overthrow tyranny [press release]. In related news, charges against New York Times Beijing Bureau researcher Zhao Yan, put on trial in China [JURIST report] for allegedly revealing state secrets and committing fraud, were dropped [Reuters report] Friday. Zhao's detention was expected to tarnish the upcoming US visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

China's crackdown on dissidents has accelerated in recent months with an increase in arrests of intellectuals and writers posting on the Internet. Earlier this week HRIC announced the formal indictment of Li Jianping [press release], a participant in the 1989 Democracy Movement who was detained after officials conducted an "Internet security inspection" on his computer, for "incitement to subvert state power." Jianping had posted articles on overseas websites. Several US Internet companies have also recently come under criticism [JURIST report] for their role in Chinese censorship. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency [official website] has ruled against a petition [PDF text] from the state of North Carolina to force the cleanup of coal-fired power plants in other states that North Carolina argued contribute to its air pollution problems. The petition was based on the "good neighbor" provision (Sec. 126) of the Clean Air Act [text]. The EPA denied the request [PDF text], saying that the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) [PDF text, EPA backgrounder] will "address the emission reductions requested by North Carolina. CAIR will eliminate any significant contribution of air pollutants from states linked to North Carolina's nonattainment thus satisfying North Carolina's petition request." AP has more.

In other environmental law news...

• Hilmar Cheese [corporate website], the world's largest cheese factory, will pay $3 million for violating California water pollution laws. The factory, located outside of Modesto, California, has been operating since 1995 beyond its permits in the volume and salinity of its discharges. In the settlement [PDF text, press release, PDF], Hilmar will pay for a study of salinity management in process water in California's food processing industry, for a study to determine the extent of its pollution, and for soil and groundwater cleanup. The Sacramento Bee has more.
  
  
• The South Korea Supreme Court [official website] refused to hear an appeal Thursday of a ruling [Korea Times report] that will allow the government to complete a 20-mile long seawall project. The Saemangum project will block two river estuaries and turn wetlands into agricultural land. Critics argue that the project will destroy important wetlands for shore birds and waterfowl, erase a rich fishery and aquaculture resource and is not economically required due to available inland farmland that has been vacated by a declining rural population. AFP has more.
  
  
• Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. [official website] signed into law a bill [text] Thursday that will ban smoking in private clubs and restaurants. The ban on smoking in private fraternal organizations, country clubs and restaurants begins Jan 1, 2007, and becomes effective for remaining private clubs and taverns on Jan. 1, 2009. Critics of the bill say Utah should follow the direction of other states in allowing an exemption for smoking in private clubs. Utah is unique among the states, however, in requiring liquor to be sold by itself only in private clubs [backgrounder], resulting in many seemingly public "private clubs." Some Utah legislators, and the governor, support proposed legislation that would end the private establishment rule for liquor sales, which could open up the possibility of a smoking exemption for actual private clubs. Only the Salt Lake City International Airport remains exempt from both the liquor and smoking bans. AP has more.

[JURIST] Liberia has formally asked the Nigerian government to transfer former Liberian President Charles Taylor [PBS profile; JURIST news archive] so that he can face war crimes charges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website]. Liberia's transfer request is similar to an extradition request, but Taylor would be turned over to the court for prosecution not to Liberian officials. Taylor has been living in exile in Nigeria since 2003 as part of an international agreement ending Liberia's civil war. He was indicted [text; SC-SL case materials] by the war crimes court on charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] and other international humanitarian laws for supporting the insurgency of rebels in Sierra Leone. The court has ruled [PDF decision] that Taylor is not immune from prosecution [JURIST report] as a former head of state.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile] said Friday that he would consult with leaders [AP report] from the African Union [official website] and the Economic Community of West African States [official website] on how to respond to Liberia' request, though last fall Obasanjo said that Taylor should remain in exile [JURIST report] to preserve the peace in Liberia. Special Court Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva welcomed the transfer request [VOA report] and noted that the court is ready to prosecute Taylor. BBC News has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: War Crimes and Charles Taylor: Tightening the Noose

[JURIST] Allen Abney was released from US military custody Thursday evening after his arrest last week for deserting the US Marine Corps [official website] in 1968. Abney, now a Canadian citizen, was born in the United States, but grew up in Canada. He joined the Marines in 1968, but fled to Canada after completing basic training in North Carolina before he could be sent to Vietnam.

Abney was arrested late last week [JURIST report] when he and his wife attempted to cross the US border into Idaho. A computer check revealed that a warrant was out for his arrest and he was taken into custody and held at Camp Pendleton [official website], California. Abney was granted an administrative discharge [JURIST report] from the Marine Corps and did not face a court martial or criminal record. It is unclear whether he received a dishonorable discharge. The Marine Corps has denied allegations that Abney's arrest is part of an attempt to crack down on military deserters. CTV has more.

[JURIST] Judge Fausto Pocar, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website], released updated results Friday from the autopsy [JURIST report] on Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] indicating that toxicological tests undertaken by Dutch investigators showed "no indications" of poisoning, contrary to a claim allegedly made by the indicted ex-Yugoslav president before his sudden death Saturday. While stressing that the results were still provisional and that the examination would continue next week, the Hague District Public Prosecutor's Office said [letter] that in particular it had found no traces of rifampicine, a drug used to treat TB that could have counteracted Milosevic's heart medications. The office noted, however, that the drug does not persist long in the body; earlier this week a Dutch toxicologist said that blood tests he performed on Milosevic several weeks ago while he was still alive showed the presence of the drug [JURIST report].

Pocar also announced Friday that in the face of what he called "media speculation with regard to the running of the UN Detention Unit" where Milosevic was housed, he was ordering another audit of the facility, although he expressed "full confidence" in its staff, noting that previous independent inspections had shown that "conditions in the Detention Unit are of the very highest standard."

Reiterating the Tribinal's regret that Milosevic could not be brought to judgment, Pocar insisted that the Tribunal still had significant work to do:

We recognize that this case was an important one. However, it is not the only important case that the Tribunal’s judges have before them. We continue to try the highest-level persons accused of perpetrating the most serious crimes against Serb, Croat, Bosnian Muslim, Albanian and other victims in the former Yugoslavia. In closing, I would like to emphasize that the Tribunal remains absolutely committed to fulfilling its critical mandate to render justice in these cases as fairly and expeditiously as possible.

[JURIST] The US Navy [official website] plans to investigate possible war crimes committed by US troops in a November 2005 Iraq firefight that killed 15 civilians, according to a military official speaking on condition of anonymity Thursday. The incident involved approximately twelve US Marines [official website] firing at insurgents after a roadside bomb detonated near a joint US-Iraqi squad patrolling the city of Haditha. The soldiers are being investigated to determine whether they positively identified the enemy and whether there was hostile intent before firing, as they are instructed to do by the international law of armed conflict [ICRC materials].

A preliminary investigation was conducted by military officials in Iraq and their data has been passed on to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service [official website]. Violators of the international armed conflict law can be court-martialed for war crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice [text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department Thursday invoked its authority under the 1965 Voting Rights Act [DOJ backgrounder] to approve scheduled April 22 municipal elections in New Orleans [JURIST news archive]. African American leaders had pressed the Department to block the vote on the grounds that it effectively disenfranchised many African American residents displaced across the country by Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. State officials have defended the ballot saying that they have taken major steps [LA SOS displaced voter information] to make it easier for people to vote by mail, and that satellite polling stations would be set up in other parts of Louisiana.

NAACP president Brice Gordon said [press release] Thursday that he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision and that the organization was taking legal advice. The NAACP had promised that if the DOJ did not set up satellite voting stations in major centers outside Louisiana it would take steps to bus in former New Orleans residents [JURIST report]; it has already set up opened 15 voter assistance centers in nine states to help with what it called the "complex" absentee ballot process. Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Jesse Jackson leader called the DOJ ruling "more onerous than the poll tax laws of 1965" and has vowed to sue. A major protest rally [press release] is already scheduled for New Orleans on April 1.

Before Katrina, African Americans made up about 70% of the New Orleans population; since Katrina struck at the end of August, only about half of the city's population of approximately 465,000 has returned [official city population estimate; Katrina demographic impact data], and several predominantly black areas, like the city's Ninth Ward, are still largely uninhabitable. AP has more.

[JURIST] No federal civil rights charges will be filed in the 1955 killing of Emmett Till [JURIST news archive], according to an FBI statement [text] issued Thursday citing the expiration of a five year statute of limitations. Till, a 14-year old African American boy, was brutally beaten and shot for allegedly whistling at a white woman. The case was originally tried [PBS trial overview] in 1955 with an all-white jury acquitting the two white suspects. The two men, who have since died, later confessed [Look interview] to the crime. Following a probe of investigative errors, the US Justice Department [official website] re-opened the case in 2005. The Till case leads a series of attempts by federal law enforcement authorities to settle unfinished civil rights cases. The Till file has been turned over to a local district attorney, who may still file state charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court [official website] Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [OYEZ profile] and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor [OYEZ profile] have both said in recent speeches that they have been the target of death threats. In a speech [text] last month at the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Ginsburg said someone called for the two justices' deaths in an internet chat room because they sometimes looked to foreign laws or court rulings when making their decisions. Ginsburg said the threat was apparently prompted by proposals made by Republicans in Congress that would prohibit the high court from looking to foreign law, but she defended the court's use of foreign decisions saying they were used for guidance only.

Since stepping down from the court, Justice O'Connor has complained that the criticism has hindered the court in making decisions in areas such as gay marriage, and echoed Ginsburg's contentions of death threats during a speech [NPR audio commentary] at Georgetown Law School last week. O'Connor made reference to remarks [JURIST report] by former House Majority leader Tom DeLay following the death of Terri Schiavo. DeLay called for the impeachment of all judges involved in the case and later remarked that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior." Many interpreted his remarks as a call for violence against judges. Security for judges is also becoming a national concern according to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] who reported this week that 75 percent of the country's federal judges have requested home security systems [JURIST report] funded by the government. AP has more. Friday's Washington Post has additional coverage.

[JURIST Europe] The European Parliament [official website] Thursday urged Senegal [press release] to provide for a fair trial of former Chad President Hissene Habre [HRW backgrounder; JURIST news archive], either in Senegal or through extradition to Belgium, which has issued an international arrest warrant [JURIST report] through its amended 2003 universal jurisdiction [Wikipedia backgrounder] laws. In a resolution [text], the parliament also asked the African Union [official website] to ensure Senegal adheres to its international obligations under the UN Convention against Torture [text]. The AU is currently reviewing the Habre case following the late 2005 ruling of a Senegalese court [JURIST report] that it had no jurisdiction over extradition.

Hissene Habre is facing charges of crimes against humanity committed by his regime during his 1982-1990 rule of Chad. Human rights group contend that those include the execution of 40,000 people and the torture of over 200,000 [JURIST report]. Habre relocated to Senengal after his ouster by current president Idriss Deby. Reuters 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] Former Bosnia Serb paramilitary leader Gojko Jankovic pleaded not guilty to war crimes Thursday before the new War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [JURIST report; HRW backgrounder]. Jankovic is the second Bosnian war crimes suspect to be transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] to the new Bosnian war crimes court under the terms of ICTY Rule 11 bis of the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Jankovic is charged [ICTY amended indictment] with overseeing and encouraging the beatings and rape of Muslim women while they were detained in the town of Foca and surrounding villages during the 1992 - 1995 war in Bosnia. He surrendered [JURIST report] to the ICTY in March 2005 upon receiving assurances that his family would be provided for if he is convicted. Reuters 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.