[JURIST] A federal judge Friday stayed the military commission trial of a Saudi Arabian man who has been held at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] since 2002 for allegedly plotting with members of al Qaeda to build car bomb detonators in Pakistan and send them to Afghanistan. US District Judge Emmett Sullivan [official profile] froze the trial of Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi [Wikipedia profile] to wait for a ruling [JURIST report] by the US Supreme Court [official website] on whether the military commissions [JURIST news archive] authorized by President Bush are constitutional. The Supreme Court will decide the issue based a case brought by a former driver for Osama bin Laden in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report].

Judge Sullivan said waiting for the Supreme Court's decision will not cause any prejudice to the US Justice Department [official website] in prosecuting their case against Sharbi since the high court is expected to hand down its decision in the next month. Sharbi has admitted fighting against the US, but denies that he is guilty of any war crimes [JURIST report], and is the fourth terrorism suspect to win a stay out of ten Guantanamo prisoners facing military commissions. The Miami Herald has more.

[JURIST] A new report by the Irish Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] released [press release] Friday has found that Ireland may be in breach of international human rights laws because the country does not currently recognize same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive]. The Rights of De Facto Couples [PDF] report notes that Ireland gives more rights to married couples than to gay couples or unmarried heterosexual couples, and also said that the current laws may be breaching the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 [text], which requires equal human rights standards in both mostly-Protestant Northern Ireland and the mostly-Catholic south. Civil partnerships are presently recognized [JURIST report] only in Northern Ireland.

Ireland's Minister for Justice [official website], Michael McDowell [official website], said that the government is planning to discuss a Civil Partnership Bill [Stonewall backgrounder], but actual marriages for same-sex couples will not be recognized. McDowell said he does not expect criticism by church leaders after speaking to many of them who realize that fairness is a top priority in the country, despite their moral views on homosexuality. From Ireland, the Evening Echo has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] said Friday that the Virginia home and office of former CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo [Wikipedia profile] were searched as part of an investigation into Foggo's possible involvement in a congressional bribery scheme. Foggo is being investigated by the FBI, the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website], the US Defense Criminal Investigative Service [official website], the Internal Revenue Service [official website], and the US Attorney's Office in San Diego to determine if he had a hand in awarding government contracts to a friend of his, Brent Wilkes, who has been named in a scheme to bribe former California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham [Wikipedia profile]. Cunningham is currently serving time in jail after pleading guilty [JURIST report] in November for taking $2.4 million in bribes from Wilkes and government contractors.

Foggo resigned from his #3 position at the CIA [JURIST report] earlier this week after working with the agency for 25 years and his announcement came just three days after CIA Director Porter Goss [official profile] also submitted his own resignation [JURIST report] for what are said to have been completely unrelated reasons. Foggo has maintained his innocence in the bribery scandal, while admitting to attending card games at hotels that were allegedly provided to Cunningham by Wilkes, but said these were not improper meetings. AP has more.

[JURIST] Telecommunications company Qwest on Friday explained its decision to deny the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] access to its customers' telephone records in contrast to competitors AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth [corporate websites] which allowed that. According to a company lawyer, former Qwest CEO Joseph N. Nacchio concluded that "the requests violated the privacy requirements of the Telecommunications Act [PDF text]" after discovering that no warrant had been presented by the NSA. Qwest was the only company approached that refused to provide the NSA with records, allegedly used to study the calling patterns of millions of Americans [USA Today report; JURIST report] in an effort to detect terrorist activity.

The use of phone data to study calling patterns is one part of a broader warrantless domestic wiretapping program [JURIST news archive] that has been a contentious issue since it was first exposed [JURIST report] in December 2005. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Members of a European Union [official website] delegation currently in the US to investigate [JURIST report] reports of secret CIA prisons in Europe [JURIST report] for the European Parliament [official website] have complained about non-cooperation by US State Department [official website] officials after a meeting to discuss alleged renditions [JURIST news archive]. Claudio Fava [official profile], who will write the final European Parliament report, said US officials gave a great number of "no comment" responses in the hour-long meeting and started the session by making it clear that the group had no jurisdiction over the US government. While the MEPs have no direct legal authority to compel the US, they can suggest political actions against any European countries involved in the secret prison system.

Earlier this week, the delegates also complained that they were not granted any meetings with Republican members of Congress. The Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied that the prisons existed. State Department legal adviser John Bellinger [official profile] nonetheless called Thursday's meeting a "respectful" discussion, reiterating that the US will not discuss intelligence gathering practices. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A UK bill that would let British doctors present the option of assisted suicide [UK advocacy website] to patients with less than six months to live who are experiencing "extreme suffering" stalled Friday in the British House of Lords [official website]. After spending the day debating whether it was ethical to allow the terminally ill to be administered drugs that could be used to end their lives, peers supported an amendment by 48 votes to postpone the bill for six months.

Public opposition to the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill [text], modeled in part on the Oregon Death With Dignity Act [PDF] has increased as civil rights and religious activists, including Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams [excerpt of speech in opposition], have expressed concerns that patients would feel "obligated" to choose euthanasia. Two British physicians' groups came out against the bill [JURIST report] earlier this week, declaring that it was not necessary for good clinical care. Even if the House of Lords had approved it on second reading Friday, necessary majority support in the House of Commons [official website] was still seen as lacking. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US government lawyers urged a federal judge Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by Khalid el-Masri [ACLU case materials] against former CIA director George Tenet and other CIA officials. El-Masri is a German national who alleges he was kidnapped in Macedonia in 2003, held by the CIA in Afghanistan and finally released [JURIST report] in 2004 and dropped off in Albania. The US Attorney defending the government in the lawsuit argued that the lawsuit could jeopardize US national security interests by exposing CIA methods and activities to the general public. El-Masri's ACLU counsel said that the only details that would be exposed in the trial are already well known.

The government supported the motion to dismiss [PDF text] with a classified affidavit [public version, PDF text] filed in the case by former CIA director Porter Goss that assert the executive privilege of the president to protect US state and military secrets. Goss's affidavit emphasizes that "by their very nature, clandestine intelligence activities are not acknowledged by the United States." The US Supreme Court established the state secrets privilege in the 1953 case United States v. Reynolds [opinion text]. The government invoked the privilege [News Media & The Law commentary] in only four cases between 1953 and 1976, but it was invoked 23 times in the four years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and at least five times in the past year, counting the el-Masri case. El-Masri, a father of five, seeks $75,000 in damages, which his lawyer has suggested could be dropped in exchange for a personal apology from Tenet. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Finland's parliament on Friday voted to approve the stalled European Constitution [official website; JURIST news archive], taking an initial step toward ratifying the constitution. Ratification will occur following the approval of the cabinet and a second formal vote in parliament and would make Finland the sixteenth European country to endorse the constitution. Finland will assume the EU presidency [official backgrounder] for six months beginning in July.

Although the document appeared to be dead after France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] voted against it last spring, Estonia ratified the treaty [JURIST report] on Tuesday, and the remaining non-signatories may hold referendums in the near future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel [BBC profile] said again Thursday that when Germany takes over the EU presidency after Finland, she will focus her efforts on persuading holdout nations [JURIST reports to ratify the document. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A lawyer for former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [party profile], who earlier this week was acquitted in a rape case [JURIST report], called for Zuma's upcoming corruption trial to move quickly through the court system in order to avoid disrupting his client's goal of attaining a leadership position in the African National Congress. Zuma, who was indicted on corruption charges [JURIST report] last November, has said the charges are part of a conspiracy to discredit him politically [JURIST report] in order to prevent him from challenging South African President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile] in the 2009 presidential election.

Zuma was fired [JURIST report] from his position in the government last year after one of his advisors, South African businessman Schabir Shaik [Wikipedia profile] was found guilty [JURIST report] on charges of corruption and fraud. The Mail & Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) [group website] and the Connecticut Bar Association [group website] have filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] arguing that the new federal bankruptcy law [JURIST report] enacted in October 2005, unlawfully impedes the attorney-client relationship [press release, DOC] by restricting the advice lawyers may give to their clients, and by failing to differentiate between attorneys and unlicensed document preparers or credit counseling firms. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 [text, PDF] makes it more difficult to file for bankruptcy by requiring credit counseling and mandating above-average earners to file under the restrictive Chapter 13 [text]. Congress enacted the law in an attempt to curb abuses by gamblers, compulsive shoppers and multi-millionaires.

Earlier this year the NACBA released [news release] a report [PDF text] that criticized the new law [JURIST report] for doing little to stop abuses of the bankruptcy system and placing unnecessary hurdles in front of people with legitimate reasons to file for bankruptcy. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Bankruptcy | Op-ed: Rebalancing the Bankruptcy Code

[JURIST] UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron [official website; party profile] on Friday demanded a repeal or revision of the 1998 Human Rights Act [text] following a High Court decision to allow nine Afghani airplane hijackers to remain in the United Kingdom rather than deport the convicts back to Afghanistan for fear they would be tortured in their home country. UK Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] announced yesterday that the government will appeal the asylum decision [JURIST report], which was based on the judge's reading of the Human Rights Act. Prime Minister Tony Blair has also called the ruling into question.

Cameron reiterated a pledge contained in the 2005 Conservative Party Manifesto [text] to repeal the act if a rewrite doesn't cure the government's inability to effectively deal with criminals. Britain has drafted deportation agreements with states such as Lebanon and Jordan [JURIST reports] where the receiving nations promise not to torture the deportees, but UN torture experts have criticized the agreements [JURIST report] as circumventing the Convention Against Torture [text], to which Britain is a signatory. The Telegraph has more.

[JURIST] South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk [BBC profile] was indicted Friday on charges [JURIST report] of fraud, embezzling research funds and breaching bioethics laws. Hwang announced in 2005 that his research team had created patient-specific stem cell lines along with having produced stem cells from a human embryo. A report [summary] by scientists at Seoul National University [official website] later discredited both claims. The charges originate from research funds totaling more that $2 million that Hwang accepted after making the false claims.

Hwang publicly apologized last year for the false claims but said he was deceived by two subordinate researchers. The scandal embarrassed the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun [BBC profile] who had been a supporter of Hwang and resulted in the resignation of science secretary Park Ky-Young. CBC News has more. Chosun Ilbo has local coverage, in English.

[JURIST] As expected [JURIST report], corruption charges against former Indonesian dictator General Suharto [BBC profile] were dropped Friday after a court determined last month that Suharto was unfit to stand trial [JURIST report]. Suharto was ousted from power after 32 years in 1998 amid violent protests against his three-decade dictatorship that used security forces to stifle dissent and allegedly embezzled billions [BBC report] of government dollars.

The 84-year-old Suharto is frail after multiple strokes and recent colon surgery which may have influenced the decision by Indonesia's president to allow the charges to be dropped despite strong public opposition. AP has more.

[JURIST] A recent report [press release] from the UN Mission in DR Congo [official website] finds that despite a decrease in large-scale human rights abuses [JURIST report] at the hands of the military in the Congo [JURIST news archive], individual incidents of rapes, killings and torture by Congo's security forces have increased and could threaten cooperation between thousands of UN peacekeepers and security forces within the Congo. As part of the lead-up to elections held in the Congo this July, the first elections in 40 years, UN peacekeepers have been working with Congolese forces to maintain law and order, though the new revelations threaten to unravel the relationship.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have in the past called for Congolese forces to be held accountable [AI report] for the abuses that have occurred. A spokesman for the Congo's Ministry of Defense, while acknowledging such violations do take place, said that the group has "proper disciplinary and judiciary measures in place" and that "there are problems with every army, and ours is no different." AP has more. The UN News Center has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher [website] of Kentucky has been charged [indictment, PDF] with criminal conspiracy, official misconduct and political discrimination as part of an ongoing investigation into the governor's hiring practices [timeline]. In a press release responding to the indictment from Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo [website], the governor's office called the probe "a politically motivated, media-driven investigation" and added that they would be "filing a motion at this time to disqualify Greg Stumbo and his entire office from further participation in this matter." The motion [PDF text; support memorandum, PDF] was filed Friday.

The indictment alleges that Fletcher and other members of his administration examined the backgrounds of job candidates extensively including delving into past political affiliations and contributions. Possible penalties for Fletcher range from six months to a year in jail and a $500 fine. AP has more. From Louisville, the Courier-Journal has local coverage.

[JURIST] Faced with chronic security problems along the US border with Mexico, the Pentagon is exploring options in which the military can be utilized to alleviate some of the burden on US border patrol agents who are stretched too thin. Giving the military greater authority to intervene in border control could, however, run up against the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 [text], which prohibits federal soldiers and National Guard troops under federal control from conducting law enforcement on US soil. Along with the work being done by the Pentagon, the House voted 252-171 [roll call] Thursday to allow Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] to utilize military personnel at times to assist the Homeland Security Department with border security.

US officials debated whether to use active duty military during Hurricane Katrina [JURIST report] and its aftermath as a way to combat violence and looters in New Orleans. Others suggested putting the National Guard under federal control in that area, though neither option was ultimately used. Learn more about the history of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act [USAF backgrounder; RAND Corporation backgrounder, PDF]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, five individuals who served as the political cabinet for King Gyanendra [official profile] after he dissolved the lawfully elected government [JURIST report] in February 2005 have been arrested on charges of "making statements aimed at disturbing the public peace." The five former ministers were all arrested at their homes by police officials following the procurement of an arrest warrant from the prosecutor's office. The Council of Ministers also suspended the leaders of all four of Nepal's security forces, after the judicial commission [JURIST report] created to investigate government abuses during the recent pro-democracy protests [JURIST news archive] suggested that all four men be removed in connection with alleged violations of protester's rights. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The vote on a bill proposing to normalize travel [Taiwan News report] between China and Taiwan currently pending before the Taiwanese National Assembly [official website] has been postponed after the current ruling party and its allies resorted to chanting protests and waving placards in the legislative building to delay the ability to call for a vote on Friday. The proposed legislation would remove all travel restrictions between China and Taiwan, which have been in place since the two countries severed diplomatic relations in 1949, by amending the Act Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area [text]. The leading opposition political party claims it has gathered enough support to force the bill through, while members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party [party website] claim that the bill is a betrayal of Taiwan's sovereignty. BBC News has more.
  
  
• The head of the UN humanitarian office in Chad told reporters Thursday that the UN was working in cooperation with the government of Chad [presidential website] to develop a strategy for the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the region bordering Darfur [JURIST news archive]. Chad has been combating rebel attacks from groups based in Darfur and has already absorbed thousands of refugees fleeing the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Kingsley Amaning said that Chad and the UN were drawing up plans to create a UN peacekeeping force that would be tasked with combating the rebel attacks and ensuring the safety of fleeing refugees. Chad has already told the international community that Darfur must be pacified, warning that the country's economy cannot absorb many more refugees. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.
  
  
• Public opposition to the "Euthanasia bill" currently being prepared for its second reading next week in the British House of Lords [official website] has increased as civil rights and religious activists have expressed concerns that the patients would feel "obligated" to choose euthanasia. Current tallies show support for the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill [text] well below the level needed for passage, and even if approved in the House of Lords, it would still have to gain a majority approval in the House of Commons [official website], a step viewed as highly unlikely. The bill proposes to allow British doctors to present the option of euthanasia to patients with less than six months to live and "extreme suffering." Opponents argue that the bill would have doctors administering lethal injections to patients. BBC News has local coverage.

[JURIST] Protests continue in Egypt over two judges facing disciplinary hearings [JURIST report] at Egypt's highest court for their criticism of parliamentary elections [JURIST report] last year, which they and eight other judges claimed were marred by fraud. Judges Hisham el-Bastiwisy and Mahmoud Mekki, members of the Judge's Club - a group pushing for greater judicial independence, did not attend their hearing Thursday to protest the treatment of the demonstrators [JURIST report] at the hands of police, pushing the date of the hearing back to May 18. Witnesses claim massive police forces have begun blocking off streets in downtown Cairo and chasing protesters through the streets, assaulting some and then dragging them to be detained in nearby buildings or waiting vehicles.

Among the many secular protestors are members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] rallying in support of the judges and to protest the emergency laws [EOHR backgrounder] that were extended last month [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] officials said on Friday that the US has once again refused to grant the watchdog access to terror detainees [press release] held in covert prisons following discussions between ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger and top White House officials in Washington and Kellenberger on Friday deplored the lack of progress [AP report] on the issue. Kellenberger arranged the meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] among others in an effort to secure access to detainees in secret prisons [JURIST reports] around the world. Although Kellenberger suggested that the alleged secret detentions may be lawful, he stressed the need for access to ensure "clear legal status and procedural safeguards."

As designated under the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials], the ICRC assesses the condition of prisoners of war and remains the only independent body the US permits to visit prisoners it has detained throughout the world. Several investigations into secret CIA prisons and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] have been launched in the past year, although no definite proof of the detention centers has materialized and a recent report [JURIST report] by the Council of Europe found no evidence of such prisons in Europe. Members of the European Parliament are continuing their investigation [JURIST report] into the allegations. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive], the convicted Sept. 11 [JURIST news archive] conspirator, was spared the death penalty [JURIST report] by a single member of the jury who remained anonymous throughout the deliberations, according to an article in Friday's Washington Post. The inside information was provided by the jury foreman, a Virginia math teacher speaking on condition of anonymity, who revealed that she had been one of the jurors who voted for the death penalty. The foreman revealed that deliberations nearly collapsed after three days because repeated votes yielded 11-1 results without discussion about the solitary vote for life imprisonment.

Shortly after the verdict a different juror told the newspaper that he had voted for a life sentence [Washington Post report] after concluding that Moussaoui played only a minor role [JURIST report] in the Sept. 11 conspiracy, but he did not reveal jury voting patterns. Moussaoui, who was sentenced [JURIST report] to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of release last week, later moved to withdraw his guilty plea [JURIST report] and requested a new trial, claiming he lied about his involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks; US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema denied the motion [JURIST report]. Read the jury's completed special verdict form [PDF]. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: What the Moussaoui Verdict Teaches Us