[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday approved Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 [PDF text; notice], which permits attorneys to cite unpublished opinions in the federal circuit courts. The new rule does not dictate the precedential value that circuits can assign to unpublished opinions, but attorneys will always be allowed to cite them to the courts. Currently, citing unpublished opinions is prohibited by the Second, Seventh, Ninth and Federal circuits and six other circuits discourage their use. The rule only allows unpublished opinions filed on or after January 1, 2007 to be cited; unpublished opinions filed before then may be handled within the discretion of the circuit.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito [OYEZ profile] and Chief Justice John Roberts [OYEZ profile], who respectively served as chairperson and as a member on the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that drafted the rule, both supported the new rule before moving to the Supreme Court. Rule 32.1 will take effect in January 2007 unless Congress overrules it before December 1, 2006. The Legal Times has more.

[JURIST] The Forum for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia has increased lobbying efforts to convince national leaders that Liberia needs to set up its own war crimes court in response to the controversy surrounding the trial of former president Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who faces trial in the UN-supported Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website]. The group, which is also asking for support from the UN and other foreign governments, submitted a petition [Reuters report] with over 10,000 signatures from Liberians who support establishing a court last week, and is planning a demonstration in Monrovia next week. The group complains that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) [JURIST report], which was established by the peace accord that ended the 14-year civil war in Liberia and is set to begin work in June, lacks the power to effectively punish war crimes since the TRC only has the authority to document the war and investigate human rights violations.

On Tuesday, in reference to a request [press release, PDF] from the SCSL to transfer Taylor's trial to The Hague for security reasons, members of the UN Security Council indicated they are having difficulty finding a country willing to take in Taylor [JURIST report] after a verdict is reached. The UN Security Council must adopt a resolution [JURIST report] permitting Taylor's transfer to The Hague, and UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry said Tuesday that he was hopeful a resolution would be approved by the end of the week. VOA has more.

[JURIST] A British court on Wednesday held that procedures undertaken to restrain a suspected terrorist under the UK's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) [text; Wikipedia backgrounder] breached the suspect's human rights. Although the court did not say that it was illegal for UK Home Office Secretary Charles Clarke to authorize control orders [JURIST report] for terror suspects, the High Court judge declared that the orders, as imposed on the suspect, violated his right to a fair trial under the Human Rights Act [text] and were an "affront to justice." Control orders can range from electronic tagging to house arrest and in this case the suspect had been restricted from traveling to Iraq, where he allegedly planned to fight US troops, without any type of hearing or trial. Justice Sullivan ruled [decision text] that it was "conspicuously unfair" that there was no judicial review of control orders and that the review process provided for in the Prevention of Terrorism Act was the equivalent of "executive decision-making, untrammelled by any prospective of effective judicial supervision."

Amnesty International UK [advocacy website] commended [press release] the ruling and said that all suspects under the PTA are entitled to a fair trial. The case represents the first court review of 12 control orders authorized by Clarke and the Home Office has said it will appeal the decision. Reuters has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli [official profile] said Wednesday that the Italian government would not validate Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro's request to extradite from the United States 22 CIA agents allegedly responsible for the 2003 kidnapping and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile]. Castelli, who denounced the pressure from Spataro [JURIST report] to forward the extradition requests last month, did not explain the reason for denying the requests, which were originally made in November 2005. Spataro, who Castelli accused of leftist political motivation [JURIST report], is expected to resubmit the request to the incoming center-left government that will take office in May. If that fails, Spataro asserted that he would attempt to prosecute the CIA agents in absentia [JURIST report].

Nasr, a terrorist suspect also known as Abu Omar, was kidnapped from a Milan street and then allegedly flown to Egypt where he was tortured. Italian prosecutors were in the middle of an investigation into the cleric's connection to al Qaeda when he was allegedly abducted. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [official profile] has said the alleged kidnapping was a violation of Italian sovereignty [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Jurors in the sentencing trial [case docket] of Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] on Wednesday heard the cockpit audio recording [transcript, PDF] of the moments before United Airlines Flight 93 [National Park Service website] slammed into a Pennsylvania field on September 11, as federal prosecutors rested their case that Moussaoui should receive the death penalty for his role in the attacks. At the close of the prosecution's case-in-chief, jurors heard the tape portray what was presumably an onboard struggle between the hijackers and the passengers. The defense will begin to present their case Thursday and is expected to argue that Moussaoui has schizophrenia and suffered through an impoverished childhood in an attempt to avoid his execution in favor of life in prison.

Prosecutors also sought to show the jury an audio-visual display featuring the names and photographs of all 3,000 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema allowed only a poster picturing the victims of Flight 93, three victim impact statements and the cockpit recording to be presented to the jury. Although Judge Brinkema held that only the jury and other individuals present in the courtroom could hear the cockpit tape [JURIST report], a transcript [PDF] was made available to the media. AP has more.

[JURIST] Chinese dissident Li Jianping went on trial Wednesday in China's Shandong province, facing charges [indictment, in Chinese] of "incitement to subvert state power" for allegedly posting pro-democracy articles on the Internet. According to Human Rights in China [advocacy website], he was arrested [press release] in May 2005 for posting essays on the Internet promoting a greater democracy in China. Prosecutors also claim that Li attempted to recruit members to establish an organization called the Mainland Democratic Frontline. Several Chinese and international human rights groups have spoken out against the arrest and called for his release [RSF press release]. If convicted, Li could serve a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

This arrest comes as part of the Chinese government's continued practice of "Internet management" [Knight Ridder report] to crackdown on the Internet and press as a result of increasing social unrest throughout the nation. Last month, secondary school teacher Ren Zhiyuan was found guilty [JURIST report] of subversion and received a 10-year prison sentence for posting political essays on the Internet. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors have decided to drop its appeal in a case where the government sought to maintain a gag order to conceal the identity of a library that was subject to FBI demands for library patron records under the USA PATRIOT Act [JURIST news archive]. The American Civil Liberties Union last year filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] on behalf of the Connecticut library, and US District Judge Janet Hall lifted the gag order [JURIST report] last year, ruling that it unfairly prevented librarians from participating in debate about the proper revision of the Patriot Act. The prosecution appealed, and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] granted a stay [JURIST report] of the district court decision while it considered the case [JURIST report].

Prosecutors said Wednesday they had decided to drop the case due to civil liberties safeguards that were built into the recently signed Patriot Act renewal [JURIST report]. The renewal legislation contains added language to clarify that libraries functioning in their traditional roles are not subject to National Security Letters (NSL) [sample text, PDF; ACLU backgrounder] and their accompanying gag orders. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepalese riot police shot and killed a pro-democracy protester and arrested twenty-nine journalists and five human rights activists on Wednesday in the seventh straight day of pro-democracy demonstrations [JURIST news archive] aimed at ending the direct rule government of King Gyanendra [official website]. The shooting in Nawalparasi, a town 200 km west of Kathmandu, was only the fourth death during the protests, but nearly 1,500 people have been arrested [JURIST report] throughout the country.

The protests turned deadly Wednesday despite relaxed curfews [AFP report] in Kathmandu, a move the government had hoped would ease tensions. Gyanendra, who says his government takeover [JURIST report] was justified due to an impending Maoist revolt, was scheduled to meet with his ministers again Wednesday to discuss the crisis. All seven of Nepal's political parties and a wide cross-section of the nation's economic classes reportedly support the continued resistance to Gyanendra's 14 month-old government. AP has more. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice [official website] celebrated its 60th anniversary [ICJ anniversary website] Wednesday, holding a solemn sitting at the Hague. The ICJ is the highest legal body in the United Nations and has served as a judicial intermediary between member states since the end of World War II. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson [official profile] addressed [speech transcripts] those in attendance at the ceremony, speaking highly of member states' increasing use of the ICJ to settle disputes. Annan also urged member states "to consider recognizing the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court" and encouraged "states that are not yet prepared to recognize the compulsory jurisdiction to consider submitting their disputes to the Court by Special Agreements."

ICJ President Judge Rosalyn Higgins [official profile] also spoke [transcript], recognizing the contributions of international criminal tribunals, but emphasizing the court's unique value as the only international judicial body with general jurisdiction. Higgins also noted:

The Court lives in the real world. Changes in the world around us have their impact here, too. We must continue to provide that core predictability that distinguishes law from politics, but we have to do so in a way that is responsive to the legitimate needs and aspirations of the international community. There is a continuing leadership role for the International Court that will be achieved by our continuing commitment to quality and efficiency. In carefully balancing continuity and change, the Court will remain the lighthouse beacon in our ever expanding system of international law. This is the challenge for the period ahead.

[JURIST] The new Canadian Conservative Party [party profile] government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official website; JURIST news archive] tabled its Federal Accountability Act [C-2 bill summary; full bill text] in the House of Commons [official website] on Tuesday. The sweeping legislation [CBC report] and the accompanying action plan [text], promised by the Conservatives during the winter federal election campaign, aims for more government transparency, targets corruption, and seeks to end "undue influence" by big business, unions and industry lobbyists. It includes a provision banning ministers and public aides from becoming registered lobbyists for at least five years from the date they leave their positions, a limitation of individual party donations to $1,000 per person and the abolition of large corporate and union donations, and a condition permitting the federal auditor general to "follow the money to the end recipients" as he or she undertakes a review of federal grants, contributions and contracts.

The Accountability Act is most immediately a response to the federal sponsorship scandal [CBC news backgrounder; JURIST news archive] which first erupted in 2004, embroiling the Liberal Party [party website] and now-former Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin [CBC backgrounder] in accusations of misuse and misdirection of public funds intended for government advertising in Quebec. Review additional government materials and read Harper's message to Canadians [text] on the introduction of the Act. Harper says he will go across Canada next week to introduce the legislation to voters; his party hopes to pass the Act by the summer recess of Parliament in June. Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney [official profile] signed a ground-breaking healthcare bill [text as passed; JURIST report] into law Wednesday, under which almost all residents, including the state's 550,000 uninsured, are required to obtain healthcare coverage. Romney also used his line-item veto power [press release], however, to override eight portions of the bill, most notably a controversial provision which would levy a $295 per worker fee on businesses refusing to provide their employees healthcare insurance. Romney deemed this portion to be "unnecessary" and a "counter-productive element of the bill," asserting that employers would pay the fee rather than insure workers. Officials in the heavily-Democratic legislature, the Massachusetts General Court [official website], said they plan to override the governor's changes, arguing that each portion of the bill is crucial to carrying out the government's intentions and goals.

The law is considered revolutionary amid the current national controversy surrounding steadily rising healthcare costs, and Massachusetts is the first state to put such health insurance reforms [IssueSource backgrounder] into place. Maine's health care plan was considerably expanded under a 2003 law [PDF text; overview], but the Maine scheme is based on voluntary compliance. Read Romney's remarks upon signing the bill [DOC]. AP has more. The Boston Globe has local coverage.

[JURIST] The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) [official website] in a 2002 memorandum of understanding [PDF text] with three federal agencies agreed to reclassify approximately 10,000 public intelligence documents, taking them out of the public view. NARA made the agreement available [press statement] Monday, naming two of the three agencies that were party to the agreement - the Central Intelligence Agency [official website] and the US Air Force [official website] - but the third agency was left unnamed. Some of the 55,000 pages of documents were written as many as 50 years ago. In addition to allowing the sealing of documents, NARA also agreed to keep the process secret, including an assurance not to disclose the reason that intelligence officials were in the archives while the reclassification took place. The secret agreement among the agencies drew some concern among Washington officials. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein [official profile] described the release of the agreement as an "important first step in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and protecting the right to know by the American public."

Intelligence agencies began the process of reclassifying public documents in 1999, but the process sped up dramatically since President Bush took office and the September 11 attacks occurred. The National Security Archive has background on the memorandum of understanding. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision [text; JURIST report] holding that Australian terror suspect David Hicks [JURIST news archive] should be granted British citizenship, dismissing an appeal [JURIST report] from Britain's Home Office [official website]. Hicks has been held at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] since 2002 for allegedly supporting Taliban troops in Afghanistan. Hicks, who was born in Adelaide, is himself an Australian citizen; however, his mother has British citizenship. Hicks' attorneys petitioned the courts to grant him British citizenship as a part of an effort to free him from the detention facility. If he is granted citizenship, his attorneys hope that the British government will request his release from Guantanamo.

UK government officials have until April 25 to file another appeal to the House of Lords. If that appeal fails, the Home Office has a further opportunity to petition the House of Lords directly to rehear the case. AAP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

7:35 PM ET - The Court of Appeal decision [text] is now available.

[JURIST] Iraqi High Criminal Court chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile], who is presiding over the trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], said Wednesday that Hussein and one of his co-defendants, Hussein's half-brother and former Baath official Barzan Ibrahim [Trial Watch profile], have refused to submit handwriting samples to the court so they could be analyzed by experts. The court had ordered the two men to submit samples so that analysts could compare them to documents [trial exhibits] relating to a crackdown in Dujail after a failed 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein, including an execution order [text] allegedly signed by Hussein approving the death sentences of 148 Shiites convicted of participating in the plot. The documents to be authenticated are key to the prosecution's case against Hussein. Experts have not completed their analysis and failed to show up for trial Wednesday, prompting Abdel-Rahman to adjourn the session [AFP report] after five minutes. The trial is scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

Hussein and his co-defendants are being tried on crimes against humanity charges for the killing of the 148 Dujail villagers. Hundreds of other Shiites assert they were imprisoned during that time, and some of them allege that they were tortured by Hussein's security forces. If convicted of the charges, the defendants could face the death penalty. Separate genocide charges [JURIST report] have also been filed against Hussein, but that case has not yet gone to trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's international brief, the UK Court of Appeal has overturned a lower tribunal's decision [JURIST report] to block the removal of failed asylum applicants to Zimbabwe where human rights agencies and NGOs allege that they face torture and inhumane treatment at the hands of Zimbabwe's security forces. The appellate decision held that UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal [government website] must hear arguments on the danger of returning failed applicants to Zimbabwe on a case-by-case basis. UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] praised the decision as an important step in the UK asylum process, noting that the ability to return failed asylum applicants to their country of origin was a key link in Britain's asylum policy. The United Kingdom is prevented from removing individuals to countries where they face a serious risk of inhumane or degrading treatment under the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights [text]. BBC News has local coverage.

In other international legal news...

• The UN Security Council issued a strongly-worded statement [text] on Tuesday calling on all parties in the Darfur region [JURIST news archive] of Sudan to ensure a peaceful transition between the current African Union [official website] peacekeeping force and the UN peacekeeping forces, currently scheduled to take over by April 30. The Council also reiterated its position that only the UN was capable of dealing with the massive scale of conflict in Darfur and that the transition could not be delayed past April 30. UN peacekeeping missions require the approval of the combatants involved and the Sudanese government [official website] has repeatedly expressed distrust [JURIST report] of Western military forces being deployed inside its borders. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.
  
  
• Journalist and political activist Sondhi Limthongkul has returned to Thailand to face questioning by police on charges of lese majeste [definition] against Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [official profile]. Sondhi is well known for his outspoken criticism of government corruption and the ruling party in Thailand [JURIST news archive]. Sondhi allegedly insulted the King during a political rally against current Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official profile] and several Thai newspapers have already published official apologies for carrying the remarks. Sondhi denies the remarks were insulting. Sondhi faces up to 15 years incarceration if tried and convicted. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.
  
  
• 51 protesters from Zimbabwe's National Constitutional Assembly [party website] who were arrested last Friday during protests calling for a new constitution were released from police custody on Monday, but defense lawyers confirmed on Tuesday that they were released only after pleading guilty and paying a fine. Lawyers for the 51 individuals who were held without being arraigned before a court told police on the day of the arrests that sufficient evidence did not exist to arrest the protesters. Zimbabwe's attorney general agreed and ordered their release, but police officials required payment of a fine and a guilty plea before they agreed to follow the order. Defense lawyers said that the poor condition of Zimbabwe's jails required that they seek release for their clients immediately, otherwise they expressed certainty that a court would have found the protesters not guilty. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. ZimOnline has local coverage.

[JURIST] In a joint statement issued late Tuesday, US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) [official website] said they would reexamine two provisions of a contentious immigration bill passed by the House of Representatives [JURIST report] last year "to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony." Besides the provision that would turn millions of illegal immigrants into felons, aid groups and religious organizations have expressed concern about a provision that could punish them for providing humanitarian relief to immigrants. Republicans have said they are prepared to amend language to eliminate concerns about blocking humanitarian assistance and that the language was inserted to stop human traffickers. The House passed the border security bill [HR 4437 summary] late last year, but the Senate version of the legislation, S 2454 [summary], which dropped [JURIST report] the felony provisions, stalled [JURIST report] last week after a compromise agreement [PDF summary] fell through.

The decision to reexamine the provisions comes after large numbers of immigrants and supporters assembled in cities across the US [JURIST report] Monday for a National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice [advocacy website], urging lawmakers to make it easier for the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to live in the country legally. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of a request [press release, PDF] from the UN-supported Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] that the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] be transferred for security reasons, members of the UN Security Council said Tuesday that they were having difficulty finding a country willing to take in Taylor after a verdict is reached. Both Austria and Sweden have rejected requests to take Taylor [JURIST report] and the Netherlands has said it will host the trial only if he is taken to another country following the trial. Funding for the trial has also proved problematic. Though there is a projected trial cost of $25 million, only $9 million in pledges and $6 million in funding has been received by the Special Court thus far. The UN Security Council must adopt a resolution [JURIST report] permitting Taylor's transfer to The Hague, and UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry said Tuesday that he was hopeful a resolution would be approved by the end of the week.

Taylor, who was arrested [JURIST report] in Nigeria in March while trying to flee to Cameroon, faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity under an amended indictment [PDF text; PDF case timeline] for his role in Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war and for masterminding several West African regional conflicts that claimed up to 300,000 lives. He is currently being held in the court penitentiary in Freetown, Sierra Leone. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the US government on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court panel to remove District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth [official profile] from a case involving the alleged mismanagement of American Indian money [DOI Indian Trust Fund website] by the US Department of the Interior [official website] to "restore the appearance of fairness." Peter Keisler, an assistant attorney general from the Justice Department, argued that Lamberth is no longer able to be objective in the case and referred to a scathing 34-page opinion [PDF text] in which Lamberth wrote:

Alas, our "modern" Interior Department has time and again demonstrated that it is a dinosaur - the morally and culturally oblivious hand-me-down of a disgracefully racist and imperialist government that should have been buried a century ago, the last pathetic outpost of the indifference and Anglocentrism we thought we had left behind.

[JURIST] The French National Assembly [official website], the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday approved compromise labor legislation [legislative materials] to replace the controversial First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) [JURIST news archive], the youth jobs plan that prompted weeks of protests [JURIST report] across France. The new proposal calls for increased training and internships for youths, and would change only Article 8 [JURIST document] of a larger law on equality of opportunity [PDF text]. The French Senate [official website] must now vote on the proposal, but the vote is not expected to come before parliament adjourns for spring recess Friday.

The CPE created an age-based exception to traditional French labor regulations by allowing workers who were under 26 years of age at the time of hiring to be fired without cause at any time during the first two years of their employment. It was thought that such an "employment-at-will" provision would encourage hiring and lower France's youth unemployment rate, running at about 22 percent and over 50 percent among immigrant youth in some areas. The measure was signed into law [JURIST report] by President Jacques Chirac earlier this month before its replacement [JURIST report] was dramatically announced Monday in separate statements by Chirac and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage.