[JURIST] The Netherlands [official website] should adopt immigration laws similar to those in Australia - widely considered the most stringent in the industrialized world and sometimes harshly criticized [JURIST report] - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende [official profile] said Monday during an official visit to Canberra. Balkenende said immigrants who seek to enter his country, like those who enter Australia, should be required to "respect the law and speak the language."

The Netherlands joins a growing number of European nations that like the United States are rethinking their immigration policies. Although traditionally considered a very tolerant and open society, the Netherlands has recently taken a series of controversial steps under the leadership of its center-right government and under the influence of violence by local Islamists [JURIST report] that may make it less attractive to members of foreign ethnic and religious groups. Last year the Dutch Parliament voted in favor of prohibiting all face coverings in public - including the Muslim niqab - for security reasons; the cabinet is awaiting a report [JURIST report] on the human rights implication of such a policy before endorsing it. Last year the Dutch parliament also approved strict new anti-terror laws [JURIST report]. UPI has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense Monday released 2,600 pages of case review documents [documents list] pertaining to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prisoners, finally making public the names of all 490 prisoners currently held at the facility after disclosing the identities of more then 300 last month. The documents consist of Administrative Review Board (ARB) [DOD briefing] summaries for hearings held after June 2005. The ARB reviews each case annually to determine whether each prisoner's continued detention is necessary. Upon completing its first-round review process [DOD press release] in January the board recommended the release of 14 prisoners and the return of 120 prisoners to their home countries.

In March, the Defense Department under court order [JURIST report] released the names of 317 detainees [JURIST report] appearing in transcripts of Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] proceedings pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act [text; summary] request filed by the Associated Press. The AP has since sued [JURIST report] for the identities of all detainees held at the facility since 2001. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A jury has found Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] eligible for the death penalty for his role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks [JURIST news archive]. Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last year to six conspiracy charges [indictment], admitting involvement with al Qaeda, but said at the time that he had no role in the Sept. 11 plot. During his sentencing trial [case docket], Moussaoui offered conflicting testimony [JURIST report] about whether he had been meant to participate in the attacks. His defense lawyers later suggested that Moussaoui was trying to get the death penalty in order to achieve "martyrdom."

Now that the jury has determined that Moussaoui is eligible for execution, a second phase of the sentencing trial will begin with testimony from Sept. 11 victims and their families so that the jury may determine whether the death penalty should be imposed in this case.

5:47 PM ET - In reaching their verdict, the jury decided unanimously that at least one person died on Sept. 11 as a direct result of Moussaoui's actions, determining that he lied to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2001 while "contemplating the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used." The jury was presented with four questions [verdict form, PDF] on three counts - conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to destroy aircraft, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction - and answered all questions affirmatively. The second phase of the trial will begin Thursday, and Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers have indicated that they will present evidence that Moussaoui suffers from schizophrenia. AP has more.

[JURIST] After waiting twenty-five years to get their day in court, lawyers for the Metis [Metis Nation website; press release] people of Manitoba delivered opening arguments Monday in a case that will determine whether 1.4 million acres of land - including a portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba's capital city - was illegally taken from them by the Canadian government [official website]. At issue in the case is Section 31 and Section 32 of the Manitoba Act of 1870 [text] which allegedly committed the land to the Metis, a people descended from the marriages of Europeans and Native Americans [Metis National Council backgrounder]. Approximately 100,000 Metis live in Manitoba today. The Metis claim the 40 enactments passed in the one-hundred and thirty-six years since the 1870 act - which effectively nullified their exclusive rights to the land - were all unconstitutional.

According to Manitoba Métis Federation [official website] President David Chartrand [official profile], the Metis seek only a declarative judgment that the enactments are invalid and will not seek to evict current residents. Read Chartrand's statement on the court case, which he says will take three to six months. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The World Trade Organization (WTO) [official website; JURIST news archive] has held that the US adhered to international trade rules in setting softwood lumber tariffs against Canada [JURIST news archive]. A WTO panel publicly released a report [PDF text] Monday that was originally disclosed to the parties in February. Canada had claimed that the US had violated the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement [WTO summary], which allows a member country to impose a tariff on another member found to have harmfully "dumped" an imported product in their market, by failing to calculate rates based upon a previous WTO Dispute Settlement Body [official website] opinion. The US argued that the Canadian government, which owns 90% of the country's timberlands and charges an administratively set "stumpage fee" to harvest the trees, unfairly subsidizes the industry. The majority of timber harvested in the US comes from private lands at market-driven prices.

The softwood lumber dispute [CBC backgrounder] between the two countries has festered for decades, with both a NAFTA panel [JURIST report] and the WTO previously ruling in Canada's favor. The US and Canada are the world's largest trading partners, with one-third of the US market for softwood supplied by Canada. The ongoing dispute has raised doubt as to the sustainability of the North American Free Trade Agreement. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that court officials have said that the jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial [JURIST news archive] has reached a verdict. The verdict will be read in court at 4 PM ET. Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] last year relating to the Sept. 11 terror attacks [JURIST news archive] and the current trial is to determine whether Moussaoui should receive the death penalty or life in prison.

The trial began [JURIST report] in early March and the case went to the jury [JURIST report] last week. The jury must decide whether Moussaoui was responsible for any deaths in the terror attacks and therefore eligible for the death penalty. If the jury reaches a unanimous decision that Moussaoui is eligible for execution, the sentencing trial will then move to a second phase to hear testimony from Sept. 11 victims and their families to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed in this case.

4:20 PM ET - The jury has decided that Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges in his first appearance before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] Monday. Taylor initially refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the court but then entered a not guilty plea to all 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity outlined in his amended indictment [PDF text; summary]. Taylor appeared before the tribunal amid heightened security after several court officials received death threats.

Taylor has not yet assembled his defense team and was represented [press release] Monday by Special Court Principal Defender Vincent Nmehielle [official website]. Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva [official website] welcomed Monday's session, saying:

The people of Sierra Leone have been waiting patiently for three years to see the Accused finally face the Trial Chamber here at the Special Court. Today this has happened. Many voices have come together to uphold the Rule of Law and Justice. The voice of the people of Sierra Leone was the loudest and I commend them for their courage, conviction and persistence. With their resolve I have been able to move forward over the last four years and finally see Charles Taylor in the Special Court.

Today also marks an important step in the administration of international criminal justice. Those who commit atrocities and violate international humanitarian law will be held accountable. No matter how rich, powerful or feared people may be – no one is above the law.

[JURIST] Jim McGinty [official profile], attorney general of Western Australia [government website], has announced plans to introduce legislation that would allow for regular television broadcast of court proceedings in the state, which would make the state's courts [official list] the first in the country to broadcast proceedings regularly. The proposal comes weeks before the completion of a high-tech, high security courthouse in Perth, the state capital, constructed to counter security concerns raised after a much-publicized courthouse attack in 2004. McGinty has made it clear that broadcasting would be done in a manner that would not "overthrow traditions but make it modern and efficient" while at the same time not jeopardizing the privacy of jurors, victims or witnesses. The legislation would not affect all of Australia, only state courts. AAP has more.

The proposed measure is similar in spirit to an amendment [PDF] approved [JURIST report] by the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] last week that would allow US Supreme Court proceedings to be televised.

[JURIST] Nearly 3.6 million US households - roughly 3 percent of the total - fell victim to identity theft during a six month period in 2004, according to a US Department of Justice report [PDF text; abstract] released Sunday. The survey, sent to over 40,000 US households, follows a 2003 Federal Trade Commission report [PDF] which determined that over 10 million people were victims of identity theft in 2003. The DOJ report included questions designed to better gauge incidences of credit theft and misuse of personal information to open fraudulent accounts. The report indicates that persons between the ages of 18 to 24, living in suburban areas, with household incomes exceeding $75,000 per year are most likely to become targets [press release]. It is currently a federal offense under the Identity Theft Assumption Deterrence Act [PDF text] to "knowingly use, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity."

Identity theft accounts for nearly $3.2 billion in losses to the US economy each year, and has been the focus of stiffer state and federal criminal penalties [FTC summary] in the past few years. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• FTC imposes record fine on ChoicePoint in data-loss case
• Judge rules Visa, MasterCard need not notify consumers of data theft
• MasterCard says 40 million cards potentially exposed to fraud
• LexisNexis discloses data breach on more than 300,000 people
• Identity theft again tops list of FTC complaints

[JURIST] Nearly 3.6 million US households - roughly 3 percent of the total - fell victim to identity theft during a six month period in 2004, according to a US Department of Justice report [PDF text; abstract] released Sunday. The survey, sent to over 40,000 US households, follows a 2003 Federal Trade Commission report [PDF] which determined that over 10 million people were victims of identity theft in 2003. The DOJ report included questions designed to better gauge incidences of credit theft and misuse of personal information to open fraudulent accounts. The report indicates that persons between the ages of 18 to 24, living in suburban areas, with household incomes exceeding $75,000 per year are most likely to become targets [press release]. It is currently a federal offense under the Identity Theft Assumption Deterrence Act [PDF text] to "knowingly use, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, any unlawful activity."

Identity theft accounts for nearly $3.2 billion in losses to the US economy each year, and has been the focus of stiffer state and federal criminal penalties [FTC summary] in the past few years. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• FTC imposes record fine on ChoicePoint in data-loss case
• Judge rules Visa, MasterCard need not notify consumers of data theft
• MasterCard says 40 million cards potentially exposed to fraud
• LexisNexis discloses data breach on more than 300,000 people
• Identity theft again tops list of FTC complaints

[JURIST] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [party profile] has said he's willing to reopen Canada's perenniel constitutional debate. In an interview with CBC radio [CBC report] Sunday ahead of Monday's opening of the 39th Parliament [historical list] in Ottawa, Harper said, "Ultimately, there will have to be constitutional changes, not just to accommodate Quebec but also to accommodate demands we have from the West and from other parts of the country - and from the population of Canada." Harper also mentioned the possibility of reforming the constitution to allow for direct election of Senators.

Since the second referendum on Quebec sovereignty in 1995, no Canadian prime minister has been willing to take on subject of constitutional reform. Harper and his Conservative minority government [Mapleleafweb backgrounder] were elected on January 23 after promising to clean up corruption and fight crime. The Toronto Star has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] has refused to hear the appeal of Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive], who had challenged whether an enemy combatant can be held indefinitely without charge. Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber, was detained in 2002 and had challenged his continued detention with the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruling [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] last September that he could be held without charge indefinitely. The decision was appealed to the Supreme Court [cert. petition, PDF; JURIST report], but in November, Padilla was charged [PDF indictment; JURIST report] with conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists.

Government lawyers had asked the Court to dismiss the case as moot [JURIST report], and though the Court voted 6-3 not to hear Padilla's appeal, in a separate concurrence [PDF text], Justice Kennedy specified different reasons for rejecting the case:

Whatever the ultimate merits of the parties' mootness arguments, there are strong prudential considerations disfavoring the exercise of the Court's certiorari power. Even if the Court were to rule in Padilla's favor, his present custody status would be unaffected. Padilla is scheduled to be tried on criminal charges. Any consideration of what rights he might be able to assert if he were returned to military custody would be hypothetical, and to no effect, at this stage of the proceedings.

In light of the previous changes in his custody status and the fact that nearly four years have passed since he first was detained, Padilla, it must be acknowledged, has a continuing concern that his status might be altered again. That concern, however, can be addressed if the necessity arises....

That Padilla's claims raise fundamental issues respecting the separation of powers, including consideration of the role and function of the courts, also counsels against addressing those claims when the course of legal proceedings has made them, at least for now, hypothetical. This is especially true given that Padilla's current custody is part of the relief he sought, and that its lawfulness is uncontested.

[JURIST] The defense case for former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [party profile] opened on Monday with testimony from Zuma about his role in the African National Congress (ANC) [party website]. Zuma's motion to dismiss the rape charges [JURIST report] that he faces was refused [JURIST report] by a High Court Judge Willem van der Merwe last week. Zuma testified about his relationship with the father of the 31-year-old AIDS activist whom he is accused of raping, with whom he served time in prison for activism in the ANC.

Van der Merwe questioned the defense's argument that the charges were politically motivated; Zuma was viewed as the successor to President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile], until he became engulfed in a corruption scandal last year. Zuma's financial advisor has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery and fraud, and Zuma's own trial for corruption is set to begin in July. AFP has more. SAPA has local coverage.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers begin their case this week in the trial of former Enron [corporate website, JURIST news archive] executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profiles]. The prosecution's case ended last week with US District Judge Sim Lake dismissing four counts [JURIST report] against the two, leaving 28 remaining counts against Skilling and six against Lay.

The defense case against the fraud and conspiracy charges [indictment, DOJ trial materials] is expected to last four weeks, with Skilling and Lay taking the stand next week. Defense attorneys are expected to argue that the two top executives were innocent of wrongdoing [CSM report], which was due to a "few bad apples." The New York Times has more. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] Two men who are part of a class-action lawsuit against the US government have claimed that they were abused by dogs while being held in a New Jersey jail after the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Ibrahim Turkmen and Akhil Sachdeva were arrested after Sept. 11 under terrorism suspicions and detained at the Passaic County Jail [official website] in New Jersey, but they were eventually cleared and deported from the US for visa violations. Their lawsuit [CCR backgrounder] alleges that they were arbitrarily held in prison because of their religion or national origin and were abused by guards who used aggressive dogs to intimidate them.

The lawsuit was brought in 2002 by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] and has been followed by reports which have criticized the detentions of Sept. 11 detainees, including one broadcast [text] by National Public Radio in 2004 which alleged that dogs were used over a three-year time frame to terrorize, attack, and bite detainees. In 2003, the US Justice Department released a review of the treatment Sept. 11 detainees [text], which includes a chapter on the Passaic County Jail. A supplemental report [text] was also released covering detainees' allegations of abuse at another of the facilities implicated in the lawsuit, the Metropolitan Detention Center. Sachdeva is scheduled to give a deposition related to his case Monday.

Dogs were also used to abuse detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive]. Last month, a military jury convicted [JURIST report] US Army Sgt. Michael J. Smith for using his unmuzzled dogs to intimidate inmates. Smith was sentenced to six months in prison [JURIST report] and a court-martial for Sgt. Santos A. Cardona is scheduled to begin in May on similar charges. Monday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] French union leaders and student groups hinted Monday that they might be willing to re-enter negotiations with the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin a day after the law establishing the so-called First Employment Contract (CPE) [text, JURIST news archive] took effect on its publication in France's official gazette [JURIST report]. President Jacques Chirac [official profile] signed the controversial statute, as he said he would do Friday in a nationally-televised address [JURIST report], but the government immediately contacted employers' organizations asking them to refrain from entering into any CPE contracts until promised amendments to the law are made.

Hundreds of thousands of protestors are nonetheless expected to rally against the law again on Tuesday, following marches across France last week that drew more than a million people [JURIST report]. Reports from Paris suggest that with CPE champion de Villepin now seen as politically damaged, the future of the law may be more or less in the hands of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile], who is known to be less enthusiastic about the legislation [JURIST report] and more willing to compromise with its critics. The law, originally drafted to allow employers to fire workers under the age of 26 without cause during the first two years of employment, is intended to combat France's high youth unemployment rate. AFP has more. Le Figaro has local coverage.

[JURIST] The United Kingdom launched [Home Office press release] its first non-police law enforcement agency Monday - the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) [official website; FAQ] - modeled after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] in the US. SOCA will have 5,000 employees on staff and its main goals are to tackle organized criminal gangs [JURIST report] such as drug traffickers, people-smugglers who exploit illegal immigrants, criminals involved in trafficking women from eastern Europe to serve as prostitutes, and world-wide pedophile rings.

The agency, created under the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act [text; JURIST report], has been granted new powers to facilitate its work including the use of phone tapping evidence, plea bargaining for witnesses, and an enhanced witness protection program. One of Britain's top police officers, Bill Hughes, was named [press release] as SOCA's director general who said that the agency's creation was necessary to "prevent organized criminals from causing harm and misery to our fellow citizens and to the UK in general." Reuters has more. BBC News has local coverage.

[JURIST] A spiritual advisor for former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has said that Nigerian security forces led Taylor to the border of Cameroon to facilitate his escape, but then returned to arrest [JURIST report] him at gunpoint. Nigerian officials have denied such allegations. Taylor has been charged [amended indictment, PDF] with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and is scheduled to appear [JURIST report] Monday before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website]. His family members have accused the court of denying Taylor access to Liberian lawyers who he requested to represent him, giving him court-appointed counsel instead.

Francis Garlawulo, who has represented Taylor in the past, has voiced concern about whether Taylor will receive a fair trial due to the intense publicity of the case, and the Special Court has requested that the trial be moved to The Hague [JURIST report] after Taylor's initial appearance in Sierra Leone. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf [BBC profile] has also expressed worries that Taylor's supporters may protest if the trial is held near her country. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] said Sunday that he wants the full Senate to vote on an immigration bill by the end of the week, detailing three areas that must be addressed [press release]: border control, employer enforcement, and a guest worker program. Frist has criticized provisions in the immigration bill passed [JURIST report] by the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] last week that would enable the 11 million illegal aliens currently in the US to seek citizenship without having to pay fines, learn English, or return to their home country for a period of time. He wants the Senate to instead pass a version of the bill that would not give citizenship status to illegal immigrants who are felons, have committed misdemeanors, or are not currently working in the US.

US Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) [official website], a main sponsor of the version of the immigration bill passed in the House of Representatives, has also urged the Senate to avoid a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats on the controversial bill so that both houses of Congress could reach a consensus on the main issue of determining a status for illegal aliens. The House has already passed [JURIST report] HR 4437 [text, PDF] which would have made it a felony to be in the US illegally, but the Senate Judiciary Committee deleted this language from the bill it approved last week. President Bush has also urged Congress to authorize a temporary guest worker program [transcript; JURIST report] for illegal immigrants as part of immigration reform [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.