[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday considered whether a death row inmate can challenge the constitutionality of a state's method of lethal injection [JURIST news archive] under 42 USC 1983 [text] even when all other appeals have been exhausted. The court agreed to hear [JURIST report] Hill v. McDonough [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs] after granting a last minute stay of execution for Clarence Hill [NCADP profile], who has been sentenced to death in Florida for the 1982 killing of a police officer. Hill has argued that the chemicals used by Florida and several other states in lethal injections cause unnecessary pain and suffering and therefore constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. In similar challenges recently, California ruled that medical professionals must monitor executions [JURIST report] and a federal judge in North Carolina authorized the use of a brain-wave monitor [JURIST report] to ensure that a prisoner was not conscious during execution. The Supreme Court will not rule directly on the constitutionality of lethal injection, and Justice Scalia seemed skeptical of allowing Hill to pursue his claim, noting that he has already been on death row for over 20 years. AP has more.

The Court also heard arguments Wednesday in Mohawk Industries v. Williams [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], where it will decide whether a corporation and its agents constitute an "enterprise" under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [text]; in order for civil RICO liability to attach, the defendant must "conduct" or "participate in" affairs of a larger enterprise beyond its own internal affairs. Mohawk employees sued the company, alleging that the company conspired with third-party recruiters to hire illegal immigrants in order to reduce labor costs. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed [opinion, PDF] the district court's holding that the company's collaborations with the recruiters constitutes an "enterprise" under RICO. Justice Breyer seemed unconvinced that Congress meant RICO to cover "vast amounts of commercial activities" that are unrelated to organized crime. Chief Justice Roberts said the lawsuit should have perhaps relied on a general criminal conspiracy theory, rather than RICO, and Justice Scalia said that the lower courts shouldn't attempt to examine the "minds of corporations" in order to determine whether corporations are participating in a separate enterprise or conducting their own internal affairs. AP has more.

[JURIST] Supporters of ousted Philippines president Joseph Estrada [BBC profile] protested Wednesday outside the Manila courthouse where he is being tried for corruption, a day after the country's Supreme Court [official website] ruled 13-0 that current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's policy of breaking up unauthorized demonstrations by force as they form is unconstitutional [ruling text]. Estrada is charged with stashing some $77 million in gambling payoffs, kickbacks and illegal commissions in secret bank accounts under an alias.

Estrada was ousted in 2001 in a revolt that brought Arroyo, formerly his Vice-President, to power. He has been in detention ever since and his trial is now in its fifth year. A verdict may come later this year. Responding to the Supreme Court ruling Tuesday, new Philippines Solicitor General Eduardo Nachura [Manila Times report] said the government would nonetheless continue to require protesters to secure rally permits from local authorities under Batas Pambansa 880 - a 1985 statute on public assemblies [text] - and a presidential spokesman cautioned against taking the decision as a "carte blanche" for anarchy and destablization: "We must warn those who intend to overthrow the government not to test the mettle of the authorities, who will move forcefully in the case of a clear and present danger to the Republic." Reuters has more. The Manila Standard Today has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Senate Wednesday voted 59-39 to hold back $1.9 billion in funds requested by President Bush to support the Iraq war and instead put them towards increased border security, including the building of a security fence along the Mexican border near San Diego. The proposal to divert the funds was made by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) [official website] chair of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee [official website]. Read Senator Gregg's press release on the passage of his amendment. Listen to Gregg's floor speech [recorded audio] on his amendment, delivered Tuesday.

The overall Senate emergency supplemental spending bill already faces the threat of a White House veto [OMB Statement of Administrative Policy, PDF] unless it is reduced to below $95 billion overall from its current level of $106.5 billion. The measure is likely to be adjusted further in negotiations with the House next month. AP has more.

[JURIST] Recently-released US military tribunal hearing records [US DOD documents] and other documents indicate at that least seven prisoners at the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay were transferred abroad to jurisdictions practicing torture before their arrival at the base, with three detainees claiming they were actually tortured in those jurisdictions, according to Wednesday's Boston Globe. The inmates who said they were actually tortured were interrogated in Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt. One of the seven, Australian national Mamdouh Habib [JURIST report], was later released. Another, Ethiopian Binyam Ahmad Muhammad [charge sheet, PDF], is currently on trial before a military commission, and has said that his confession to conspiring to use a "dirty bomb" against the US was forced from him by interrogators in Morocco; last year he claimed he was tortured [JURIST report] in Pakistan, Morocco, and Afghanistan before arriving in Cuba. The Boston Globe has more.

In December, a report [text] released by New York-based Human Rights Watch said eight detainees at Guantanamo had told their lawyers in separate "consistent accounts" that they were flown to Afghanistan in 2002-2004 following arrests in Asian and Middle Eastern countries and were held at a secret prison where they were chained to walls and deprived of food and water [JURIST report]. Prison guards included Afghans and Americans in civilian clothes, and HRW suggested that the facility "may have been operated" by Central Intelligence Agency personnel.

[JURIST] The trial of six former high-ranking Bosnian Croat officials [ICTY case backgrounder] began Wednesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website]. The defendants, including the former prime minister of the Croat region of Herceg-Bosna Jadranko Prlic, face multiple crimes against humanity charges [indictment, PDF], including murder, rape and deportation for allegedly organizing an ethnic cleansing campaign against Bosnian Muslims in an effort to create a separate state [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The other defendants are the region's then defense and interior ministers, heads of the Bosnian Croat militia, and the former military police commander.

The defendants surrendered to the ICTY in 2004 and pleaded not guilty before being released on bail [JURIST report] pending trial. According to an ICTY spokesperson, the trial chamber has given the prosecution one year to present its case [press briefing transcript], including direct and cross-examination of witnesses and procedural hearings. The trial is the ICTY's largest since six defendants [Kupreskic case backgrounder] were tried together in 1998. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] has used extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] to kidnap terror suspects in Europe and transfer them to countries known to use torture and has operated over 1,000 secret flights in European territory, according to an interim report drafted by Italian MEP Giovanni Claudio Fava [official website] and released Wednesday. Fava, rapporteur for a special committee of the European Parliament [official websites] investigating allegations of illegal CIA activity in Europe, said that "The CIA has, on several occasions, clearly been responsible for kidnapping and illegally detaining alleged terrorists on the territory of [EU] member states, as well as for extraordinary renditions." Fava's report, however, includes no "smoking gun" evidence, but is based on months of testimony from EU officials [JURIST report], rights experts and alleged kidnap victims.

The Council of Europe [official website] has been conducting separate inquiries into allegations that the CIA has operated secret prisons in Europe. A recent report [PDF text; COE materials] from COE Secretary General Terry Davis based on official submissions by the governments of member countries found no evidence [JURIST report] of secret US prisons in Europe. Investigators conducting a separate investigation for the COE's parliamentary assembly, however, have asserted [JURIST report] that secret US prisons exist in Europe, but thusfar have been unable to provide concrete proof. Reuters has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge Donald Molloy [official profile] has issued an injunction [PDF text] striking down three US Forest Service [official website] regulations that would have limited the public's ability to comment on proposed rules. The injunction came in response to plaintiff and defendant motions for summary judgment and follows an order [PDF text] issued last month which declared the regulations invalid under the 1992 Forest Service Decisionmaking & Appeals Reform Act [PDF text]. The March order did not dispose of the case, however, as Molloy ordered the plaintiffs to submit an amended complaint.

Molloy struck down regulations that would have cut off the right to challenge Forest Service projects unless objections were raised while the project was under consideration; allowed the Secretary of Agriculture [official website] or his undersecretary to make certain forest management decisions without public comment; and exempted certain Forest Service programs from environmental analysis restrictions. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] has ordered [PDF text] US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to hold hearings on whether the National Security Agency [official website] used warrantless domestic wiretaps [JURIST news archive] to gather evidence against an Islamic scholar convicted of encouraging Muslims to join the Taliban. Ali al-Timimi [defense website] is serving a life sentence [JURIST report] following his conviction [JURIST report] last year on charges [JURIST report] of encouraging his followers to fight a holy war against the US and join the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks. Al-Timimi's lawyers had asked the appeals court [Washington Post report] to order Brinkema to determine whether NSA warrantless wiretaps were used to monitor al-Timimi's or other key witnesses' conversations and the court granted this request Tuesday.

Following reports last year that the US had been monitoring domestic communications without warrants [JURIST report], defense lawyers in several high profile terrorism cases have made similar efforts [JURIST report] to determine whether the NSA's domestic surveillance program was used to obtain evidence against their clients. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday handed down decisions in two cases, including Jones v. Flowers [Duke Law case backgrounder], 04-1477, where the Court held that before a state can sell property for failure of the property owner to pay taxes, the state must take additional "reasonable" steps to provide notice to the property owner when "practicable" to do so if mailed notice of a tax sale is returned unclaimed. In the 5-3 ruling, the Court reversed an Arkansas Supreme Court decision [text] which upheld the sale of Jones' house, saying that Arkansas' tax sale statute met due process requirements. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that because "additional reasonable steps" were available to Arkansas state authorities, their efforts to only notify Jones by certified mail were insufficient to satisfy due process. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Chief Justice Roberts, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Thomas, who was joined by Justices Scalia and Kennedy. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

In a second decision Wednesday, the Court held in Hartman v. Moore [Duke Law case backgrounder], 04-1495, that "a plaintiff in a retaliatory-prosecution action must plead and show the absence of probable cause for pressing the underlying criminal charges." Moore was tried and acquitted on charges that he and his company improperly influenced the search for a new Postmaster General and he subsequently sued a group of postal inspectors, arguing that they had encouraged his prosecution in retaliation for Moore's earlier lobbying efforts to win USPS contracts. In the 5-2 ruling, the court reversed a US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit decision [PDF text] rejecting the inspectors' motion for summary judgment because the criminal charges against Moore were supported by probable cause. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Justice Souter, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Ginsburg, who was joined by Justice Breyer. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito did not participate in the case. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, members of Thailand's Supreme Court [government backgrounder] have agreed to a request by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [official profile] that they take an active role in resolving the country's ongoing election crisis [JURIST report]. The king is mainly a figurehead for the nation and told judges Tuesday that he lacked the power to appoint a neutral prime minister, as some of the opposition parties have been calling for. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court agreed that the judiciary must take a more active role and has called meetings of the three relevant courts in Thailand: the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the Constitutional Court. Opposition parties have agreed to participate in the currently boycotted election process if the courts void the April 2 elections called by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official profile] in response to public unrest. Reuters has more.

In other international legal news ...

• Tehran has submitted a formal request to the International Atomic Energy Agency asking that the organization detail the benefits Iran supposedly gains by adhering to the UN-sponsored Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text]. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters that Iran receives very little of the NPT's supposed shared technology benefits and is questioning why they should remain party to the international legal document. Ahmadinejad has previously hinted [JURIST report] that Iran [JURIST news archive] might withdraw from the NPT if the UN Security Council were to impose sanctions [JURIST report] over its uranium enrichment policy. Reuters has more.
  
  
• The UN confirmed on Tuesday that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] has been granted permission to visit Sudan for a week-long tour. Arbour will inspect the capital city of Khartoum, the war-torn Darfur region [JURIST news archive], and the newly peaceful southern Sudan city of Juba. Arbour's visit comes just weeks after Sudan [JURIST news archive] denied entry to the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator who was scheduled to conduct a five day inspection of Darfur. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.
  
  
• Indonesian State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra told a special legislative committee that the proposed use of courts based on sharia law [CFR backgrounder] in the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province should apply to both Muslim and non-Muslim residents alike. The highly Islamic province is currently applying to have sharia law adopted as its governing criminal justice code and the Indonesian government has expressed concern that plans to allow non-Muslim residents to apply for trials under non-sharia law would create "legal uncertainty" in the province. The proposed bylaws are part of the Aceh Peace Accords [JURIST report] and are a government recognition of the highly Islamic nature of the Aceh province. The Jakarta Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website] said Wednesday that Australia will not implement a compulsory national identity card [press release] when he rolled out plans for a voluntary and comprehensive health and welfare card that will replace the nearly 20 other cards currently provided. Howard, who opposed a 1987 plan for an Australia Card [academic paper], said last summer that circumstances had changed in the wake of the London bombings [JURIST news archive] and that the proposal should be back on the table [JURIST report].

Britain's controversial Identity Cards Act [PDF text] was approved by parliament [JURIST report] last month, though the legislation stops short of requiring ID cards for all British citizens. The legislation had bounced back and forth between both houses of parliament with the Lords objecting to a Commons provision to effectively make the cards mandatory by requiring ID registration for all British citizens applying for passports. The bill was passed with a compromise that allows passport applicants to opt out of taking an ID card [Home Office backgrounder] until January 2010 so long as they register in a national computer database. Reuters has more. Australia's ABC News has local coverage.

[JURIST] A US military spokesman said in Baghdad Tuesday that following a military investigation and reports from human rights groups indicating that private contractors in Iraq are violating human trafficking laws [Chicago Tribune report; Chicago Tribune background reports] in their recruitment of foreign workers - including withholding their passports - the US military command is taking steps [Casey orders, PDF] to ensure their "rights to freedom of movement and quality living standards." Hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers work menial jobs as cooks, food servers, and janitors for contractors throughout Iraq, the largest of which is KBR [corporate website], a subsidiary of Halliburton [corporate website]. Some have claimed they paid exorbitant fees to recruiters and were misled about where they would be working. Others allege they had their passports confiscated upon arrival and weren't provided suitable living space. The US military has said it will create new "measurable, enforceable standards for living conditions" and has ordered the return of passports to workers by May 1 [memorandum, PDF]. Contractors working in Iraq will also be required to undergo additional training to avoid human trafficking violations [memorandum, PDF]. Halliburton and KBR say they support the initiatives and a spokesperson told AP that all workers hired by them and by their subcontractors should be treated with "dignity and respect."

Reports of efforts by the US military to combat human trafficking come just days after the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [official website] released a report [text; press release] that criticized the efforts of countries around the world as ineffective in blocking the flow of people brought into countries and forced into harsh working conditions. AP has more.

[JURIST] David Keogh, a former British civil servant in the Cabinet Office, and Leo O'Connor, a former legislative assistant to former Labour MP Tony Clarke, have pleaded not guilty to breaching Section 3 of Britain's Official Secrets Act [text] by allegedly disclosing the contents of a memo in which plans to bomb satellite news channel Aljazeera [media website] were said to have been discussed. The two were initially charged [JURIST report] in November 2005 after the information was allegedly passed to a news organization.

The revelation led to a Daily Mirror report [text] that President Bush was persuaded not to bomb Aljazeera's offices by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile] in April 2004, although it was unclear whether President Bush's suggestion was serious. The White House has called the claims "outlandish" while a spokesman for Blair said that the memo did not discuss the bombing of any media outlets. The trial for the two men is scheduled for October 2006. AFP has more.

[JURIST Europe] UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] sparred Tuesday with a former South African chief justice chairing an independent panel of inquiry into UK terrorism laws as Clarke testified on government policies that limit civil liberties. The two disagreed on the use of controversial control orders [Liberty UK backgrounder, PDF] than can include restrictions on travel, the imposition of curfews, and electronic tagging. Justice Arthur Chaskalson [official profile], chairing the Eminent Jurists panel of the International Commission of Jurists [advocacy website], asserted that the threat of terrorist attacks did not warrant the extent to which the orders are used, comparing them to house arrest methods used in South Africa which result in those being affected living under impossible conditions. Clarke resolutely defended the orders, insisting they were only used in exceptional circumstances and saying to Chaskalson at one point "I don`t think you understand. You don`t put yourself in the position of dealing with this threat." The UK Press Association has more. Read a background press release on the ICJ panel hearings in London.

Control orders came into effect in 2005 with the adoption of the UK Prevention of Terrorism Act [text]. Earlier this month, a British court ruled against the use of control orders [JURIST report] in the detention of a suspected terrorist, calling them "an affront to justice" impeding the right to a fair trial as mandated by the UK Human Rights Act. A UK parliamentary panel issued a report [text, PDF] in February stating the use control orders against suspects not facing prosecution [JURIST report] could be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights [text]. The Independent has local coverage.

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] French authorities are charging six former French Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees with terrorism-related crimes, according to officials cited by AFP. The men are Nizar Sassi, Khaled Ben Mustapha, Redouane Khalid, Brahim Yadel, Imad Achab Kanouni, and Mourad Benchellali. Kanouni was previously suspected of visiting a terrorist camp in Afghanistan but was released from French custody [JURIST report] in July 2005 due to lack of evidence. All six are charged with connections to a criminal group engaged in a terrorist enterprise. Sassi and Benchellali will be facing the same charges [JURIST report] as in their previous detention in 2004 [AFP report], including that of falsification of documents.

The trial is scheduled for May in Paris. AFP has more. BBC News has additional coverage and AP has a local report [in French].

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] UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] has insisted he will not resign despite admitting Tuesday to a "shocking administrative blunder" that resulted in the release of 1023 foreign criminals in the past seven years who were to undergo deportation inquiries. The oversight occurred despite warnings by the UK National Audit Office [official website] in July 2005 against conducting deportation inquiries at the end of prison sentences.

The Home Office attributed the failure to an ever-increasing number of cases and the lack of resources to administer them. Critics view the blunder as compromising the Blair government's tough public stance on crime. The list of released criminals includes 204 drug offenders, nine rapists, five child sex offenders, 41 burglars, and five convicted killers. So far only 107 of the missing 1023 have been found; 20 of those have been deported. Read Clarke's official statement on the premature prisoner releases. The Guardian 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.