[JURIST] The UN General Assembly Tuesday elected 47 member states to founding seats on the new UN Human Rights Council [official website; JURIST news archive]. The successful candidates included Russia and China, which recently have come under US criticism [JURIST report on Cheney Russia speech; JURIST report on US House criticism of China rights record] for restrictive human rights practices. Seats also went to Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, similarly characterized by the US and international rights groups as human rights violators, although controversial bids for seats by Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela were rejected. The United States decided not to run for a Human Rights Council seat [JURIST report] in April, giving rise to speculation that in the current context of prisoner abuses by US personnel in the "war against terror" it might not have been able to muster the 96 UN General Assembly votes necessary for a successful membership drive. The UK, France, and Canada were the most prominent Western states winning seats; places also went to Japan, India, South Africa and Nigeria. Review the full list of candidates and elected states. Reuters has more. The UN News Center has additional coverage.

In March the US led a tiny minority of 4 countries opposing [JURIST report] the resolution [JURIST document] creating the Council, insisting that it wanted more to be done to prevent abusive countries from gaining membership [JURIST report]. The new body, which replaces the troubled UN Commission on Human Rights [official website], meets for the first time in Geneva on June 19.

[JURIST] After Iranian lawmakers on Sunday sent a letter [JURIST report] to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan threatening to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text] if Annan and other members of the UN Security Council [official website] failed "in their crucial responsibility to resolve differences peacefully" with regard to Iran's nuclear program, Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday that Iran's government would adhere to the treaty and added that cooperation would be more forthcoming if the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] was given the power to oversee Iran's nuclear program instead of the UN Security Council. This is not the first time that Iranian authorities have apparently seesawed on their treaty intentions; in February an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the country's ongoing commitment {JURIST report] to the NPT after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly suggested he might walk away from the treaty [JURIST report].

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [official website; BBC profile] has repeatedly insisted that Iran has a legal right to pursue its nuclear program [JURIST report] and has condemned efforts by the US, France and Britain to pass a draft Security Council resolution [JURIST report] that could lead to the use of military force or sanctions. Russia and China, both permanent members of the Council with veto power, have already dismissed the draft, citing lack of evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. AP has more.

[JURIST] A 13-member delegation of European Union [official website; JURIST news archive] officials arrived in Washington on Tuesday and began meeting with Bush administration officials, members of the US House and Senate and other officials in Washington as part of a European Parliament inquiry [official website] into whether European countries were involved in clandestine CIA prisons [JURIST report] or flights moving suspected terrorists. According to German MEP Cem Ozdemir, the purpose of the inquiry is not to question Central Intelligence Agency [official website] tactics, but to assess the extent of European involvement.

In March 2006 a Council of Europe [official website] investigation into allegations that the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe revealed no "smoking gun" evidence [JURIST report] that proved the existence of the prisons. The report also concluded that it was "virtually impossible" to determine whether the CIA used European airspace for extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Italian MEP Giovanni Claudio Fava, however, issued an interim report [PDF text; JURIST report] for the European Parliament committee last week concluding that the CIA has been involved in renditions and the kidnapping of suspected terrorists within EU territory who were then transported to countries for torture. AP has more.

[JURIST] As debate continues in Kuwait [government website; JURIST news archive] over whether to amend the country's constitution [text] to make changes to election law, Kuwaiti information minister Anas al-Rasheed [Ministry of Information website] has submitted his resignation as a protest against any proposed amendments. A Kuwaiti official said that an amendment now on the table would increase the number of members of Kuwait's parliament [Wikipedia backgrounder] from 50 to 60.

Cabinet members in Kuwait have been holding meetings to discuss such amendments in response to accusations that the current system of 25 small electorates has resulted in corruption at the polls. Al-Rasheed's resignation takes effect only after emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah [BBC profile] accepts it. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Nepal's government on Tuesday annulled a media ordinance promulgated by King Gyanendra [official profile] during his 15-month absolute rule to muzzle press that criticized his seizure of power [JURIST report] in February 2005. The ordinance was criticized both in Nepal and internationally as it increased punishment of journalists and banned broadcast of informative programs from independent radios. The law also discouraged cross-ownership in the media sector. National and international media rights groups had termed the ordinance as a "black law" and had asked King Gyanendra to repeal it. Nepal's press freedom situation deteriorated after the enforcement of the ordinance and the international community sent two high-level diplomatic missions to Nepal to protect independent media.

The Nepalese government also invalidated another ordinance that curbed the activities of NGOs working in the field of human rights, as well as four other ordinances promulgated by the King that were deemed "regressive." King Gyanendra’s government, which was dismissed amidst a nationwide uprising [JURIST news archive] in April, had promulgated the ordinances allegedly to control media and human rights organizations as they criticized the monarch's 2005 power seizure and subsequent rule. As there was no parliament to enact laws after the power seizure, King Gyanendra ruled the Himalayan Kingdom by promulgating ordinances and royal decrees after he assumed absolute power. He issued a total of 39 ordinances to rule the country.

Kiran Chapagain is a special correspondent for JURIST writing from Nepal. He is an Assistant Senior Reporter for the Kathmandu Post.

[JURIST] The War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [HRW backgrounder] began hearing its first genocide case Tuesday with the opening of the trial of 11 Bosnian Serbs [case backgrounder] charged [indictment, PDF] for their role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The men charged with violating Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina [DOC text] include former army officers and special policemen accused of using machine guns and grenades to murder more than 1,000 Muslim men attempting to flee a United Nations safe zone in July 1995. The War Crimes Chamber opened in 2005 to ease the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive].

Including the 11 defendants in the current case, 36 people in total have been charged in connection with the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst mass killing since WWII. Two men believed to have masterminded the massacre, Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder], remain at large. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Less than two months after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website] launched a $250 million lawsuit [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] against H&R Block [corporate website] for fraudulently coaxing its customers into a retirement account plan that lost them money, Spitzer has amended the complaint [PDF text; press release] claiming managers at the company ignored complaints from tax preparers about the misleading marketing of the Express IRA retirement plans [product backgrounder]. According to Spitzer internal paperwork also revealed that tax preparers were told to "sell more IRAs" or "there's the door."

H&R Block, which defended the retirement funds [press release] when the suit was launched in March, responded to the latest announcement by Spitzer by claiming he has "chosen to ignore the facts, rely on information taken out of context, and continue to attack our company" for reasons that seem "tailored to objectives other than the merits of this case." AP has more.

[JURIST] An increasing number of small businesses are going private in order to avoid disproportionately higher costs of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [PDF text], according to a new report [PDF text] from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) [official website]. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) [official website] and Mike Enzi (R-WY) [official website] requested the report and said it showed that regulators must find ways to make it less onerous for smaller companies to file reports on the strength of their internal financial controls and fix any problems. In releasing the report, Enzi called [press release] on the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] to "adopt clear, unambiguous, and practical small business rules."

Congress enacted Sarbanes-Oxley in response to the collapse of Enron [JURIST news archive] and the other corporate fraud scandals [JURIST news archive] that made headlines in 2002. The Free Enterprise Fund [official website], a conservative business organization, recently announced that it was challenging [JURIST report] Sarbanes-Oxley provisions setting up the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) [official website], claiming it violates the separation of powers doctrine. Other legal challenges to the act are ongoing. AP has more.

[JURIST] Estonia on Tuesday became the fifteenth nation to ratify the European Constitution [text; JURIST news archive]. The ratification is expected to have little effect on the charter after rejections of the document by France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report] last year brought debate about the charter to a standstill, despite its approval by 12 other European countries [BBC report]. A spokesman for the European Commission welcomed the ratification and noted that it was "important to listen to the views of the countries that said 'no', but it is equally important to listen to the voices of the countries that said 'yes'."

The next European country scheduled to debate the EU constitution is Finland, which will also assume the rotating six-month presidency [official backgrounder] of the EU Council on July 1, 2006. Debate on the EU constitution is scheduled to begin in the Finnish parliament this week with a decision to follow by the end of May on whether to propose ratification. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] An FBI investigation into the activities of former CIA Executive Director and number-three agency official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo [Wikipedia profile] has intensified after Foggo's resignation Monday. The FBI probe is looking into whether Foggo took steps to improperly aid his high school friend Brent R. Wilkes' company ADCS [company website] in obtaining large CIA contracts. Former California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham [Wikipedia profile] pleaded guilty [JURIST report; plea agreement, PDF] last year to taking $2.4 million in bribes from Wilkes and others in return for federal contracts, though Wilkes himself has not been charged. Cunningham helped ADCS receive more than $80 million in defense contracts involving data transfer.

Foggo, who has acknowledged attending informal poker parties with Wilkes, insists he has breached no laws but the FBI is trying to determine if Foggo, like Cunningham, played a role in helping ADCS procure some of those contracts through improper acts. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] A spokesman for Thailand's Supreme Court said Tuesday that when new parliamentary elections are held, the country's highest courts will take a leading role in guaranteeing free and open elections. The announcement comes one day after the Constitutional Court of Thailand [official website] invalidated the results [JURIST report] of the country's April 2 parliamentary elections [BBC report]. The court ruled that the "organization of the election by the Election Commission [official website] was unconstitutional," because the poll was held too soon after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official profile] dismissed parliament, preventing candidates from having sufficient time to prepare for elections.

Further information about when the election would be held and specifics of the court's oversight role are not yet available. Thaksin called elections three years earlier than expected in an effort to win support for his troubled leadership. Instead, opposition parties boycotted the April elections and not all seats were filled, forcing Thaksin to announce he would be stepping down [BBC report], though his deputy prime minister said last week that if the court annulled the election results, Thaksin would not have to adhere to this pledge. Thaksin's aides said Tuesday that he would probably run for a seat in parliament [AP report] but would not seek to serve as prime minister. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, US President George W. Bush [official profile] has announced [press briefing transcript] that the United States will be asking the UN Security Council [official website] to accelerate Sudan's acceptance of UN troops to supplement the struggling African Union peacekeeping mission currently attempting to enforce a cease fire in the Darfur region [JURIST news archive]. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] will be requesting approval of a US draft resolution from the Council on Tuesday when it meets to hear a report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile] on the current status of the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Sudan [government website] has continually rejected attempts [JURIST report] to allow Western soldiers onto Sudanese territory, claiming it fears imperialistic motives would overrule humanitarian protection as the main impetus behind the UN mission. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) [official website] has said that it has completed gathering data on domestic actions taken by all UN member states to comply with UN Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions and will now focus on taking steps to help nations "enhance" their implementation of the relevant international treaties. Part of the process will include training domestic legal professionals on how to implement international treaties into regular domestic legal practice, as well as encouraging political elements of government to take the necessary steps to move from being a signatory of a convention to ratifying and implementing the conventions into domestic law. The CTC was created by UN Security Council Resolution 1373 [PDF text] and mandates all UN members to enforce international counter-terrorism conventions and legislation. The UN News Centre has more.
  
  
• The trial of four men accused of assisting Indonesia's most wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammad Top in the October 1, 2005 suicide bombings of two cities on the island of Bali began Tuesday, with each of the four men facing charges [JURIST report] that could result in the death penalty under Indonesian anti-terrorism laws. All four are allegedly members of Jemaah Islamiya [MIPT backgrounder], a radical Islamist group allegedly responsible for numerous bombings on the Bali island. Government officials admitted that none of the four men were actually involved in the bombing of the two different tourist centers in Bali and would likely face life imprisonment rather than death if found guilty. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Indonesia [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of the US government's decision to transfer [DOD press release] five Chinese Uighur men from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to Albania, the Chinese government on Tuesday denounced the move as a violation of international law and demanded the return of the men to China. A Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] last year concluded that the five detainees were not a terrorist threat to the US [CCR materials; JURIST report], but the government did not send the men back to China because they could face persecution due to their Muslim faith [HRW backgrounder].

Albania agreed to accept the detainees [JURIST report] last week and was in the process of reviewing their asylum applications when the Albanian government received a "verbal request for extradition" of the five men from Chinese officials, who claim they were part of a violent separatist movement in China. Albania has said it will examine evidence of earlier activities by the men. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a reversal of judgment, the American Bar Association [group website] on Monday lowered its rating of White House aide and nominee to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Brett Kavanaugh [White House backgrounder] from "well qualified" to "qualified" [ratings, PDF]. A majority of committee members recommended Kavanaugh as "well qualified" when his nomination was previously sent to the Senate in both 2003 and 2005. Committee leader Stephen Tober said the change resulted from more recent interviews with judges and lawyers who questioned Kavanaugh's experience and inadequacies in his courtroom performance. In response to the ABA vote, the White House said Monday that Kavanaugh is "superbly qualified for the D.C. Circuit" [fact sheet] and argued [position paper] that even an ABA rating of "qualified" is "a very high standard."

Kavanaugh's earlier nomination in 2003 stalled over Democrats' concerns about his role in setting White House policy. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) [official website] said that he was considering a filibuster of Kavanaugh's nomination [JURIST report]. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing [JURIST report] for Tuesday to question Kavanaugh on the extent of his involvement in setting administration policies on interrogation of detainees and the NSA's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] has said he wants a full Senate vote on the nomination before Memorial Day. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] JURIST [FAQ] has won the Webby People's Voice Award [poll website; Webby Awards website] as the best Law website of 2006. Called the "online Oscars" by TIME magazine and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences [profession website], the "Webbys" are the leading international awards honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality. Winners were announced in New York Tuesday morning.

To win the Webby People's Voice Award for Law, JURIST drew more votes from web users than fellow-finalists Court TV (the US legal television network), FindLaw, the Nolo legal self-help service, and Justice Learning, a New York Times-National Public Radio collaboration funded by the Annenberg Foundation. Justice Learning won the Webby judges competition. Webby People's Voice winners in other categories this year include BBC News (News), washingtonpost.com (Newspapers), the Library of Congress (Cultural Institutions), and the National Science Foundation website (Government).

Over 300,000 votes were cast for the 2006 Webby People's Voice Awards, up 50% from last year. An initially-unlikely contender due to its comparatively low public profile, JURIST took an early lead in the voting, overcame a challenge from FindLaw and then came back from a two percentage-point deficit against Court TV in the final days of polling to win.

This is the first time a law school website has won a Webby award. Headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law [law school website], JURIST is powered by a team of over 30 law student reporters, editors and web developers [staff list] led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts [profile] who devote their time and talent to the project, working with leading legal experts from around the world to provide up-to-the minute legal news, primary source research, and expert analysis as an educational service to the public and the legal community.

JURIST thanks its readers for their support!

[JURIST Europe] Lawyers acting for former Kenyan transport minister Chris Murungaru [Wikipedia profile] will appear in the High Court [UK Court Service website] in London on Tuesday to challenge a travel ban [JURIST report] imposed last summer to prevent him entering the country. The ban appears to have been prompted by corruption accusations [JURIST report] made against Murungaru in Kenya that forced him out of the country's cabinet, but only his "character, conduct and associations" have been formally cited. The ban, also imposed by the US, was signed on July 21, 2005, the same day as four bombs went off in the London transit system in a second (failed) round of bombings [JURIST report] after deadly explosions on July 7 [JURIST report]. Murungaru's lawyers claim that the timing has prompted speculations about security reasons behind the ban that have been damaging to his reputation.

Murungaru was dismissed from his government post late last year, but denies having been involved in corruption, suggesting that Britain’s actions are a personal attack for his opening up Kenya [JURIST news archive] to wide foreign investment, creating competition for British firms. Reuters has more.

Tatyana Margolin is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Monday sentenced [ICTY press release] former Bosnia Croat militia commander Ivica Rajic to twelve years in prison [ICTY judgment, text] for leading an October 1993 attack against civilians living in Stupni Do, a Bosnian Muslim village. Originally pleading not guilty to the 10 charges levied against him, Rajic subsequently submitted to a plea bargain agreement that allowed for the imposition of one sentencing period ranging from twelve to fifteen years. On October 2005, he pleaded guilty to four of the 10 counts, namely the "wilful killing, inhuman treatment, extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly", all in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions [text]. The tribunal examined both aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Calling Rajic's crimes against 'particularly vulnerable victims' especially egregious, the tribunal referred to the burning of seven members of one Muslim family, including two children, and that of two elderly women, one of which was an invalid. The tribunal accepted Rajic's remorse, which was viewed as sincere along with his guilty plea, and cooperation with the prosecution as mitigating factors.

At least 31 people were reported to have been killed during the attack led by Rajic with women sexually assaulted, villagers robbed and removed from their homes, the village destroyed, and an additional 250 Muslim men detained and abused in the neighboring town of Vares. Rajic, who has legally changed his name to Viktor Andric, will begin serving his sentence once he has been moved to a State where he can do so. Until then, he will remain in the custody of the war crimes tribunal. The UN News Centre has more.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] New UK Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] admitted on Monday that the number of serious offenders among convicted foreign criminals released from custody in the UK by administrative error [JURIST report] before deportation reviews may be double of what was first suspected. The new figure given by Reid was 150, up from the 90 announced by former Home Secretary Charles Clarke [JURIST news archive] last week before he was replaced in a cabinet shuffle. In addition, 93 of the released prisoners are armed robbers and not included in the count of most serious offenders. Reid also announced that 75 of the 90 were either arrested, detained, or under surveillance. “We now have another 60 we want to detect and detain as urgently as possible because that additional number has resulted from the additional work done over the past week," said Reid. He added that about 75% of those released would face deportation. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [JURIST news archive] announced meanwhile that in order to deport those released, new legislation must be created “to override the human rights” of the deportees and made a commitment to pushing through such a bill.

The problem emerged in late April, when Clarke admitted to an administrative mistake [JURIST report] that resulted in the release over the past seven years of 1023 foreign criminals who were to undergo deportation inquiries. The Guardian has more.

Tatyana Margolin is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.