[JURIST] The jury in the Moussaoui sentencing trial [JURIST news archive; case docket] has recommended that Zacarias Moussaoui be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last year to six conspiracy charges [indictment] in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks [JURIST news archive]. The jury's recommendation is binding on Judge Leonie Brinkema; Moussaoui will be formally sentenced at 10 AM ET Thursday. In the first phase of the sentencing trial, the jury determined that Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report], and the final verdict [special verdict form, PDF] follows several weeks of testimony on whether Moussaoui should be executed.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani testified [JURIST report] on behalf of the prosecution, and the government also played the United Airlines Flight 93 cockpit audio recording [transcript, PDF; JURIST report] as part of its case. Moussaoui's defense attorneys presented evidence that Moussaoui is mentally ill [JURIST report] and argued that executing him would only allow Moussaoui to serve his ultimate purpose - to join the Sept. 11 hijackers in a glorified afterlife as Islamic martyrs. Jurors deliberated for about 40 hours over seven days. Deliberations were interrupted for the illness of one of the jury members and an admonishment [JURIST report] from Brinkema against doing "outside research," prompted by one of the jurors looking up the potentially-key word "aggravating" in his son's dictionary.

6:03 PM ET - Reacting to the jury's failure to reach a unanimous decision to sentence him to death, Moussaoui clapped and said "America, you lost. ... I won." Meanwhile in a White House statement [text] on the Moussaoui sentence, President Bush vowed to continue the fight against terror, saying "Justice will be served. Evil will not have the final say. This great Nation will prevail." AP has more.

6:34 PM ET - The jury's completed special verdict form [PDF] is now available. On all three counts - conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to destroy aircraft and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction - the jury found that Moussaoui "knowingly created a grave risk of death to one or more persons in addition to the victims of the offense" and "committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person or to commit an act of terrorism," but that Moussaoui did not "commit[] the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim or victims."

[JURIST] The US Federal Communications Commission [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday voted to require [PDF news release] broadband and Internet phone companies to cover the costs of providing mandatory wiretap [JURIST news archive] access to law enforcement authorities. The order will likely result in a wiretapping tax on service providers to cover the costs of the updates. The FCC commissioners said wiretap access was needed for homeland security purposes, while they downplayed cost estimates by saying such a tax would encourage providers to keep costs down.

The FCC made wiretap access mandatory [CNET News report] in an order in September 2005, but debate continued as to who should cover the cost. The American Council on Education, which represents universities in the US, said costs could run up to $7 billion for network upgrades. A group has challenged the requirement [JURIST report] in federal court, with arguments scheduled for Friday. CNET News has more.

[JURIST] The US government Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF) [official website] on Wednesday called for increased action to combat decreasing religious freedom in former Soviet republics Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] and Turkmenistan and for more monitoring of Belarus and Russia [JURIST news archive]. In its annual report [PDF text], CIRF reported that rights violations like the deadly confrontation in Andijan [JURIST report] last year and other harsh treatment of Islamic religious groups have hurt freedom of religion in Uzbekistan in particular. CIRF was also critical of Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov [official profile], who it claimed had limited independent religious practice in the country.

CIRF recommended [news release] that the US place both countries on its list of "countries of particular concerns" (CPC) [CIRF backgrounder], while it also recommended cutting off state visits to the countries and limiting non-humanitarian aid to Turkmenistan. Also listed for CPC status were Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam. CIRF was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 [text]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] sentencing trial [case docket] has reached a verdict after deliberating for seven days. Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] last year. The jury has already determined that Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] and Wednesday's verdict will decide whether he will be executed or will get life in prison instead. Review the special verdict form [PDF] that the jury foreman will fill out to reflect the jury's deliberations.

The verdict will be read at 4:30 PM ET.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of the Philippines [official website] on Wednesday ruled that the state of emergency decree [Proclamation 1017 text] issued by Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo [official website] in February was constitutional, but struck down portions of the proclamation and its implementing order [GO 5 text] authorizing the military to "enforce laws not related to lawless violence." In an 11-3 decision [text], the high court upheld Arroyo's right to declare a state of emergency, but said that Arroyo exceeded her authority by allowing the military to make warrantless arrests and raid media outlets. Arroyo declared the state of emergency [JURIST report] after discovering a coup [JURIST report] attempt in February; the proclamation was lifted [JURIST report] a week later.

The Philippines Supreme Court has issued several decisions in recent weeks concerning the scope of Arroyo's powers. Last month, the court struck down [JURIST report] an executive order [text] preventing government officials from being questioned in investigations against Arroyo regarding alleged vote-rigging and election fraud [JURIST report] in 2004. A week later, the court voided [JURIST report] Arroyo's policy of breaking up unauthorized demonstrations by force. Reuters has more. The Manila Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [OYEZ profile] has blasted recent suggestions that a watchdog post be created to oversee conduct of federal judges. Ginsburg said the judiciary was "under assault" and called for lawyers to defend judges against such changes in an appearance Tuesday before the American Bar Association [official website]. Ginsburg also said that the bipartisan approach to judicial nominations that had been present when she and Justice Stephen Breyer [OYEZ profile] were confirmed in the early 1990s had disappeared.

Ginsburg was responding to recent legislation introduced [news release] by Sen. Charles Grassley [official website] that would create an inspector general post to police the judiciary and report any improper conduct to Chief Justice John Roberts and the US Department of Justice. Rep. James Sensenbrenner [official website] also introduced a similar bill in the House, although it would only apply to lower federal courts. A representative from the Administrative Office of the US Courts [official website] has said no watchdog is necessary [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Moscow City Court has denied the appeal [press release] of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive], saying it could find no grounds to reconsider Khodorkovsky's eight-year prison sentence [JURIST news archive]. Khodorkovsky's lawyers have said they will continue the appeals process [MBK backgrounder], petitioning the Russian Supreme Court [official website, in Russian]. A separate appeal of Khodorkovsky's conviction on fraud and tax evasion charges [JURIST report] is pending before the European Court of Human Rights [JURIST report]. MosNews has more.

Also Wednesday, Khodorkovsky was transferred to hospital facilities in the Siberian prison where he is serving his sentence after suffering problems in connection with a hunger strike. Earlier this week, Khodorkovsky went on hunger strike for two days to protest his solitary confinement. He has been separated from other prisoners since mid-April when he was assaulted by his cellmate [JURIST report]. RFE/RL has more.

[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] Wednesday released [press release] a report [text] it has submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture [official website] detailing widespread torture and inhumane treatment [JURIST news archives] of prisoners at US detention sites around the world and at facilities in the United States, saying that the US is "creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish -- including by trying to narrow the definition of torture." The report also says that measures taken by the US government in response to torture allegations at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere have been inadequate, insisting that

While the government continues to assert that abuses resulted for the most part from the actions of a few "aberrant" soldiers and lack of oversight, there is clear evidence that much of the ill-treatment has stemmed directly from officially sanctioned procedures and policies, including interrogation techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for use in Guantánamo and later exported to Iraq.

[JURIST] Government officials in Yemen have said that three newspapers shut down after they republished caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] may resume operations. The three papers, including the English-language Yemen Observer [media website] were closed and their licenses suspended [Article 19 protest letter, PDF] earlier this year over their decision to reprint the cartoons originally published in Denmark. Three journalists were arrested and charged with offending Islam [JURIST report], and those journalists will still face trial. Prosecutors in the case initially called for the death penalty [JURIST report], but the latest reports indicate that the government will now seek one-year jail sentences or a 10,000 rial fine ($55).

The initial publication of the cartoons in Danish newspapers and their subsequent reprint in media around the globe in February set off worldwide protests among Muslims leading to multiple deaths [JURIST report], the burning of Danish embassy buildings [JURIST report], and efforts to make blasphemy an internationally-recognized criminal offense [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Tolerance on Trial: Why We Reprinted the Danish Cartoons [Yemen Observer publisher]

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's international brief, Uganda's second key witness in the treason case against opposition leader Kizza Besigye [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] has admitted to perjury under cross-examination by Besigye's lawyers. Migadde Ssemakula, who claims he is a lieutenant with Uganda's intelligence gathering Internal Security Organization (ISO), admitted that facts he testified to concerning alleged meetings between Besigye and revolutionaries were fabricated. After being confronted with the copy of a report he filed, which was later lost by the prosecution [JURIST report], Migadde admitted that he had lied about the number of meetings he attended between key participants and said that reports fail to mention the many meetings he claims to have had with resistance fighters on Besigye's behalf. Migadde also failed to provide the court with any documentation proving he was still employed by the ISO and admitted that he had no paperwork that he could produce to prove his alleged rank or position. Besigye's lawyers have decimated much of the prosecution's case by exposing perjured witnesses [JURIST report], lost documents, and sloppy government filing [JURIST report]. Uganda's Daily Monitor has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• Bagir Manan, Indonesia's top jurist, was re-elected as the head of the Indonesian Supreme Court [official website, in Indonesian] on Tuesday, garnering 93 percent of the votes from Indonesian judges. Bagir was scheduled for mandatory retirement this year at the age of 65, as all judges in Indonesia are, but he moved the retirement age back to 67 last year. Members of the judiciary in Indonesia [JURIST news archive] claim the election shows trust in Bagir as a chief justice capable of controlling the supreme court, but civil rights groups argue that Bagir's popularity in an overwhelmingly corrupt judicial system merely demonstrates that corrupt judges are comfortable with Bagir's lack of enthusiasm for judicial reform. Bagir told reporters that a new election would be held in 2008, instead of 2010, as he intended to retire in two years when he reaches the new maximum age limit. The Jakarta Post has local coverage.
  
  
• The French National Assembly [official website] is considering whether to approve a draft immigration law [JURIST document] that would tighten restrictions on those seeking entry to France for employment opportunities. The bill proposes to raise the minimum qualifications for individuals seeking residency permits, require language skills in French, require cultural education classes, and limit the number of dependents successful immigrants may bring with them. Civic groups have protested the bill [JURIST report] and claim that French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile in French], the presenter of the bill, is riding a wave of racism and paranoia in the country as he seeks election as the French prime minister. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The release of a revised US Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation [current text] has been delayed while Defense Department [official website] officials continue to debate whether a portion of the manual should remain secret. Discussions have been underway for over a year on updates to the field manual, but officials have not been able to agree on whether specific guidelines on interrogation techniques [JURIST report] should be classified. This portion of the manual would describe specifically what constitutes acceptable interrogation practices, and concerns have been raised that making this information public would enable terrorists to prepare for interrogation while knowing the limits that US forces are authorized to reach. On the other hand, rights activists and some members of Congress have said that if part of the manual remains classified, there is no way to ensure that the guidelines fall within the bounds of US and international law. Last year, Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document], which prohibits "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of detainees "under the physical control of the United States Government."

The field manual is being revised after the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal [JURIST news archives] and in light of concerns that Abu Ghraib interrogators did not have clear instruction on what they were allowed to do. Military lawyers have also raised concern that interrogation methods employed at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] are inconsistent with the field manual [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) [official website] said Tuesday that a filibuster [Senate backgrounder] is possible for two of President Bush's nominees to federal appeals courts, White House aide Brett Kavanaugh [White House backgrounder] and federal judge Terrence Boyle [US DOJ backgrounder]. Kavanaugh has been nominated to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and Boyle has been nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Kavanaugh was nominated in 2003 and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] have called for additional hearings to determine the extent to which Kavanaugh was involved in setting administration policies on interrogation of detainees and the NSA's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Democrats also want to determine whether Kavanaugh played a role in Bush's relationship with former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive], who has been convicted on corruption charges.

Reid says Kavanaugh's negatives "pale in comparison" to Boyle's, who has been accused of allegedly making personal gains from his role on the bench. Boyle allegedly presided over cases during which he should have recused himself, including a case where he is reported to have bought stock in General Electric midway through presiding over a pension lawsuit against the company. A White House spokeswoman said Tuesday that Boyle "never intentionally participated in any matter in which he should have recused himself." AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] on Wednesday called off its talks with Serbia [JURIST news archive] over the country's possible accession [EU materials] into the EU over Serbia's failure to arrest and turn over war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn [official website] had set a Sunday deadline for Mladic's arrest, but that deadline passed [JURIST report] without the former general being taken into custody. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said that Mladic's support network has been broken and called for Mladic's surrender to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website]. After consulting with ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, Rehn said Wednesday that the European Commission has called off negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement and will resume talks when "Serbia accedes full co-operation."

Mladic has been indicted [text] by the ICTY on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes stemming from the execution of over 7,000 Muslim prisoners and the shelling and sniping of innocent civilians during the siege of Sarajevo. Serbian officials have been accused of protecting Mladic [JURIST report] and Serbia told the ICTY and EU that Mladic would be delivered to the ICTY by the end of April [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

3:18 PM ET - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, also the country's chief negotiatior with the EU, resigned [press release] Wednesday over the government's failure to arrest Mladic as promised. In his resignation letter, Labus wrote that "The European Union suspended stabilisation talks because your government, contrary to your promise, did not secure the political conditions for the continuation of talks.... As deputy prime minister and head of the negotiating team for EU accession I want no part in such politics." In a statement [text] Wednesday, the prime minister said:

Citizens of Serbia should know that the government has done absolutely everything in its power to finally bring Ratko Mladic before the Hague Tribunal. It has been established who participated in the wider group and in the central core of accomplices hiding Ratko Mladic. The court has decided that several of the closest accomplices be taken into custody for a period of few months. Judging by this, since the entire network of accomplices has been discovered, Ratko Mladic is now hiding completely on his own. Therefore it is a question of technical nature to discover the place where Ratko Mladic is hiding now.

It would be best for everyone if Mladic followed the example of other officers and voluntarily went to The Hague. It has never occurred in our history that the entire country and nation suffers because of one officer. To the contrary, it has always been the case that all our officers, regardless to which ideology or time they belonged, put the interests of their nation and country above all. Ratko Mladic is doing great harm to our state and national interests by hiding.

[JURIST] Members of the US House and Senate on Tuesday introduced bipartisan legislation [press release] to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [text, US DOJ backgrounder], which prohibits voter discrimination based on race or color. Although most of the act is permanent, three sections, including a requirement that states or counties with a history of discrimination secure Justice Department or court approval before changing voting procedures, are set to expire in 2007. A group of congressmen, led by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) [official website], introduced the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, HR 9, which will extend the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. The House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the proposed legislation later this week. An identical version of the bill was also introduced in the Senate on Tuesday.

The Justice Department has previously announced its support for the renewal of the Voting Rights Act [JURIST report] and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [advocacy website] strongly endorsed the proposal [press release] Tuesday. Representatives from the NAACP and ACLU testified before the House Judiciary Committee [official website] last year on the existence of voting barriers to minorities [JURIST report] and a recent study completed by the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act [official website] found that minorities still faced disenfranchisement at the polls. The commission urged Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST Europe] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented [speech text] his recommendations [UN press release] for a global counter-terrorism strategy to the UN General Assembly Tuesday, emphasizing the need to respect human rights in all aspects of anti-terrorism policy and practice. The defense of human rights constituted the fifth part of what he called the fundamental components of a global strategy, which also included:

• dissuading people from resorting to terrorism or supporting it;
• denying terrorists the means to carry out an attack;
• deterring States from supporting terrorism; and
• developing State capacity to defeat terrorism

[JURIST] A spokesman for President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish] said Tuesday that the Mexican leader will sign a controversial new law legalizing the possession of small portions of such traditionally-illegal drugs as heroin, cocaine and marijuana. The legislation is viewed as a progressive move in the country's war against drugs that will free the legal system to concentrate on larger drug traffickers while standardizing for local police and judges the amounts of narcotics that will and will not be treated as criminal. The bill was approved by the Mexican Senate [official website] last Friday.

The legalization initiative has been opposed by the US government and US lawmakers who regard it as the antithesis of helping the war against drugs. The fear is that the new law will indirectly increase the already high occurrence of personal drug use in the United States. The date for the signing of the law has yet to be determined. Reuters has more. The Independent has additional coverage.

[JURIST Europe] European and US envoys meeting in Paris Tuesday discussed a new UN Security Council resolution that would invoke Chapter 7 [text] of the UN Charter [text] in another effort to get Iran to stop uranium enrichment. The Council directed Iran to stop enrichment in a resolution in late March, but the measure was technically non-binding. A Chapter 7 resolution would theoretically force Iran to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website], which last week issued a report [JURIST report] stating that Iran had continued to produce nuclear materials despite UN warnings.

The resolution under discussion reportedly stops short of imposing sanctions and instead is aimed at encouraging Iran to agree to negotiations and to stop its production of nuclear materials. Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council having veto power, have re-affirmed their refusal to support a sanctions resolution, although the United States has already advocated sanctions against Iran and the countries that trade with her in technology and weapons. Russia is one of such countries. The Security Council is slated to discuss Iran [press release] on Wednesday. AP news 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.