[JURIST] A New Hampshire judge on Thursday dismissed 5 of 8 counts in a lawsuit brought by Democrats against Republicans after the jamming of Democratic phone lines in the 2002 Senate race [Wikipedia backgrounder] between Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) [official website] and Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu won the race by less than five percentage points. Republicans applauded the ruling as discrediting most of the Democrats' complaints while Democrats expressed pleasure that the counts dealing with phone system interference and involving compensation were proceeding.

Last month James Tobin [SourceWatch profile], President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, was sentenced to 10 months in prison [US DOJ press release] after being convicted [US DOJ press release] in December for his involvement in jamming the phone lines to block Democratic voting drives [JURIST report]. AP has more. The Manchester Union Leader has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Kentucky Supreme Court [official website] ruled Thursday that, despite a 2005 US Supreme Court ruling [JURIST report; opinion PDF] barring the death penalty for juveniles, the mental age of a death row inmate could not be invoked to stop the state from carrying out his execution. Though the Kentucky court acknowledged the top court's decision, it said that that plainly established chronological age rather than mental age as the benchmark to determine who can be subjected to capital punishment.

Attorneys for defendant Thomas Clyde Bowling [IJP profile] had claimed that the 53-year-old Bowling, whose IQ scores are well below average, had a mental age of 11 when he murdered two people in Lexington more than 15 years ago. Bowling's attorneys said they will seek a rehearing within the court's 20-day time limit. AP has more.

[JURIST] One week after the US House of Representatives voted [JURIST report] 379-35 [roll call] to pass the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act [S 193 summary], President Bush signed into law [remarks] the legislation that will increase by tenfold the maximum fine for indecency, from $32,500 to $325,000 per station for each violation. The Senate passed the bill [JURIST report] in May. The effort to increase penalties against broadcasters has been a recurrent theme in Congress since Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" [Wikipedia backgrounder].

The House passed a different version of the bill [JURIST report; PDF text] last year which would have increased the maximum fine to $500,000 per violation, per station. After the approval of that bill, the National Association of Broadcasters [trade website] came out against increased indecency penalties, saying in a brief statement [text] that "voluntary industry initiatives are far preferable to government regulation when dealing with programming issues." NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton repeated the basic point [NAB statement] after the Bush signing Wednesday: "In issues related to programming content, NAB believes responsible self-regulation is preferable to government regulation. If there is regulation, it should be applied equally to cable and satellite TV, and satellite radio." AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Thursday voted 11-7 to send to the full Senate a proposed constitutional amendment [SJ Res 12 text, PDF] that would give Congress the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the US flag. The amendment has 59 co-sponsors [bill summary], but would require a 2/3 majority, or 67 votes if all Senators are present, to pass the full Senate, which is expected to vote on the resolution on the week of June 26. Observers feel the Senate vote will be extremely close, as 66 Senators are thought to support the amendment. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced similar constitutional amendments in 1995 and 2000 that were defeated by votes of 63-36 and 63-37, respectively [roll calls].

The House of Representatives approved an identical amendment [JURIST report] last summer. Three-fourths of the states must ratify an amendment for it to take effect, and the legislatures of every state save Vermont have at some point passed resolutions encouraging Congress to pass the amendment. A 2005 First Amendment Center survey [PDF text] found that 63% of those polled opposed amending the constitution to prohibit flag burning. In 1989, the US Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson [opinion text] that flag burning is free speech protected by the First Amendment. AP has more.

[JURIST] A European Union lawmaker calling for the US to close its detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] suggested Thursday that it should be replaced with an international criminal tribunal to hear the cases of the approximately 450 alleged terror suspects now detained. European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Elmar Brok [official profile] told German TV news program Tagesschau in an interview [text, in German] that he spoke for the majority of European Parliament members in calling for a court similar to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] (ICTY) to bring detainees to trial. The idea had been previously floated by policy experts; read Ken Gude's paper After Guantanamo: A Special Tribunal for International Terror Suspects [PDF], prepared for the Center for American Progress in April 2006.

President Bush reiterated Wednesday that he would like to close Guantanamo Bay [transcript], but some detainees are too dangerous to release. Three detainees committed suicide [JURIST report] last Saturday, prompting renewed calls by the UN [JURIST report] and international rights groups to shut down the facility. Deutsche Welle has more.

[JURIST] Israel's High Court of Justice [Judicial Authority website], the Supreme Court of Israel sitting as a court of first instance in cases regarding state actions, on Thursday ordered the state to take down a five-kilometer section of the West Bank security barrier [official website; JURIST news archive] that separates Israelis from Palestinians. The Court found that the barrier section which surrounds the illegal Israeli settlement of Tzofit was motivated by political rather than security concerns because its primary purpose is to enlarge the area claimed by the settlers.

The High Court petition was brought on appeal by Palestinian village leaders who live near the wall. To offset security risks, the Court gave the state time to build a new wall that does not intrude on Palestinian territory before tearing down the offending section. The security fence, derided by Palestinians as an "apartheid wall" has been an object of much contention. In 2004 the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion [ICJ materials] at the behest of the UN General Assembly [PDF request; JURIST report] recommending that it not be built after the UN General Assembly requested an ICJ hearing on the issue. Aljazeera has more. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US government has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] against New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber [official profile] and other New Jersey officials, seeking to stop them seeking information from telecommunications companies on whether they cooperated with the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] in its domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] by giving customer call records to the government. Farber and other state officials had subpoenaed five telephone carriers, including giants AT&T, Verizon Communications and BellSouth [corporate websites], asking for documents confirming their cooperation with the NSA. The New Jersey subpoenas came shortly after USA Today reported [text; JURIST report] in May that phone companies allegedly cooperated with the NSA program. Farber sought the company information because she feared that state consumer protection laws requiring that phone companies notify customers before turning over customer data were violated.

In May the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed nationally coordinated complaints [JURIST report] against the three major phone companies and the attorneys general of 20 states, requesting investigations into the legality of information allegedly provided to the NSA by the phone companies. The US Department of Justice [official website] has since announced plans to move to dismiss all 20 lawsuits [JURIST report] after they have been consolidated into one lawsuit. Several other class action lawsuits have also been filed against the phone companies, unrelated to the ACLU campaign. Advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation [advocacy website] filed a class action against AT&T in California, and the Department of Justice has argued [JURIST report] that the case should be dismissed on the same grounds - that the lawsuit may reveal military and state secrets. Both Verizon and BellSouth have denied all allegations [JURIST report] that they illegally provided customer information to the NSA, while AT&T has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council on Thursday voted to extend the mandate [press release] of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission [UN materials] probing the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] for an additional year until mid-June 2007. The Council's vote follows the recommendation of Serge Brammertz, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and head of the Hariri investigation. Brammertz presented the commission's fourth interim report [PDF] to the Security Council on Wednesday and said that the investigation has led to evidence that Hariri was a victim of a targeted assassination [press release]. Brammertz also noted a definite connection [AFP report] "in the modus operandi and their possible intent" between the Beirut bomb that killed Hariri and 22 others and 14 other attacks on anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders. Previous probe reports have implicated Syrian officials in the assassination [JURIST report].

In response to Brammertz's contention that Syria has "responded to all the commission's requests in a timely manner and in some instances comprehensive responses were provided," US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official website] told reporters Wednesday that Syria is not fully cooperating with the UN probe [statement; Reuters report]. According to Bolton, Brammertz's comments suggest that Syria gave many responses that were not comprehensive, though the report itself also said that cooperation with Syria has "developed further," and that their participation has been "generally satisfactory." BBC News has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A Chinese court Thursday sentenced Yang Xiaoging, a reporter for the state-run China Industrial Economy News [media website; People's Daily backgrounder], to one year in prison after finding him guilty of extortion. Xiaoging wrote articles about official corruption, accusing local Communist Party official Yang Jianxin of stealing state assets. Xiaoging's wife, Gong Jie, plans to appeal the ruling immediately, accusing Jianxin of framing Xiaoging, an allegation Jianxin denies. AP has more.

Chinese reporters for state and international media have run into a range of legal problems recently which has brought them before the courts on various counts. Last week, the Chinese government postponed the trial [JURIST report] of former New York Times researcher Zhao Yan [HRIC profile, PDF], who was indicted for "providing state secrets to foreigners" following a 2004 New York Times report [text] that revealed the resignation of Jiang Zemin as head of the military before it was formally announced. In May, a Chinese court sentenced Internet journalist Yang Tianshui, a member of China's chapter of International PEN [advocacy website], to 12 years in prison [JURIST report] on charges that he attempted to "subvert state power" by posting essays on the Internet in favor of a movement entitled the "Velvet Action of China."

[JURIST] A federal grand jury has handed up another indictment against South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park [Washington Post profile], charging him Wednesday with lying to the FBI about his role in the adoption of the 1995 UN Security Council Resolution 986 [PDF text], which established the now-defunct Iraqi Oil-for-Food Program [UN materials; JURIST news archive]. The one-sentence indictment accuses Park of making false statements to investigators in 2004 denying his participation in the adoption of the program, and also of falsely telling investigators that he had never exchanged money with an unidentified UN official.

In March 2005, Park was charged in a criminal complaint [text, PDF; JURIST report] with conspiracy to act as an unregistered government agent for Saddam Hussein. Park was indicted [JURIST report] last January on charges of money laundering and accepting money from the Iraqi government to influence the oil-for-food program. Park has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial is scheduled to begin at the end of the month, and he could face 12 years in prison if convicted. In the 1970s, Park was indicted but never convicted for improperly influencing Congress in the Koreagate scandal [Wikipedia backgrounder]. During pre-trial hearings earlier this month, the prosecution moved to admit into evidence [AP report] portions of Park's testimony from the Koreagate investigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Yemeni officials on Thursday called for a second investigation into last week's detainee suicides [JURIST report] by one Yemeni and two Saudi Arabians held at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], saying the deaths exemplify the "inhumane conditions of detainees" at Guantanamo. The three men reportedly hung themselves in their cells with bedsheets and cloths, though their families have expressed skepticism at the reports, saying the three strict Muslims would not have violated Islam by committing suicide.

The US Department of Defense [official website] on Tuesday rejected [JURIST report] a demand by Amnesty International [advocacy website] for an independent inquiry into the deaths, maintaining that the military's investigation will be sufficient. Saudi Arabia has already renewed efforts [JURIST report] to have all remaining Saudis detained at Guantanamo to be returned to Saudi custody, while human rights groups and some governments have again urged the US to close Guantanamo [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed al-Mardi insisted Thursday that the International Criminal Court [official website] does not have jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in the volatile Darfur region [JURIST news archive] and said that Sudanese officials would not submit to questioning by ICC prosecutors in their investigation into crimes against humanity in Darfur [ICC materials]. Mardi said that Sudanese courts are capable of investigating and prosecuting alleged war crimes and said that officials are willing to discuss only "the progress of trials or the role of national justice" with ICC investigators. Under the ICC's Rome Statute [PDF text], the ICC can only prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity when a state is unwilling or unable to genuinely prosecute.

In a report [PDF text] the UN Security Council Wednesday, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo [official profile] said that the ICC's investigation has documented thousands of killings of civilians [JURIST report], large scale massacres, and hundreds of rapes that he anticipates will result in multiple cases rather than a single proceeding [UN News report]. Ocampo also criticized Sudan's lack of progress in its own investigations into the Darfur situation, saying that so far the government seems to be investigating and prosecuting only minor cases. Last week, Human Rights Watch condemned Sudan for failing to adequately prosecute war crimes [JURIST report] in their national courts. Mardi said Thursday that logistical problems have slowed down the national courts, but defended Sudan's investigations into the alleged war crimes. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Responding to public outrage in the UK over the possibility of parole within six years for a sex offender convicted earlier this week, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer [official profile] said on Wednesday's BBC TV program Question Time [recorded video] that judges are not to be blamed over the sentencing issue. Lord Falconer said "the problem is with the sentencing framework," and suggested that UK Home Secretary John Reid [official profile] should refrain making the sentencing debate a political issue by pushing Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to appeal [JURIST report] to the Court of Appeal the life sentence received by Craig Sweeney [Sky News report]. Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier said it was proper for Reid to publicly demand that Goldsmith appeal the sentence because it offended the public's sense of right and wrong.

Sweeney was convicted of molesting a three-year-old child, and in the sentencing remarks, the judge said that "real care must be taken in the future to ensure that he will not be released while there is any risk of him re-offending." However, a second judge noted the same day that under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 [text], which established the Sentencing Guidelines Council [materials] to ensure uniform sentences for those prosecuted under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 [text], Sweeney is potentially eligible for parole as early as 2012. The parole option [BBC backgrounder; BBC video] was included to encourage accused perpetrators to confess, thus saving the financial and emotional cost of a trial, but a recent report [Guardian report] that 53 convicted sex offenders initially sentenced to life have been released on parole since 2000 under the 2003 Act has fueled public outcry. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down four decisions Thursday, including Hudson v. Michigan [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] where the Court held 5-4 that evidence collected under a search warrant is admissible even when police officers failed to knock before entering a home. The Court upheld a Michigan court ruling [PDF text] which determined that evidence seized during a search of Booker Hudson's home should have been admitted at trial. Police officers with a search warrant entered Hudson's home without first knocking and only after waiting three to five seconds after announcing their presence. The Michigan appeals court ruled that the evidence collected should have been admitted under an exception to the normal "knock and announce" rule because the evidence would have inevitably been discovered. The Court first heard arguments [JURIST report] in the case in January, but reheard the case in May to break a tie when Justice Samuel Alito replaced retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Court. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Justice Scalia along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Kennedy and a dissent [text] from Justice Breyer, who was joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. AP has more.

In Kircher v. Putnam Funds Trust [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that a federal court of appeals does not have jurisdiction to review a lower court order remanding to state court a lawsuit removed to federal court under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1988 because the federal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Souter along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Scalia.

In Howard Delivery Service v. Zurich American Insurance [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that insurance carriers' claims for unpaid workers' compensation premiums owed by an employer are not entitled to priority status under Section 507(a) [text] of the US Bankruptcy Code. In the case, Zurich filed an unsecured creditor's claim after Howard filed for bankruptcy and sought to establish priority status as a creditor, reasoning that the unpaid premiums could be characterized as a "contribution to an employee benefit plan." The Court ruled, however, that the premiums should be treated the same as other liability insurance premiums. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Justice Ginsburg, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Kennedy, who was joined by Justices Souter and Alito.

In the final decision handed down Thursday, the Court ruled 5-4 in Empire Health Assurance v. McVeigh [Duke Law case backgrounder] that federal question jurisdiction does not exist over a suit by a federal government contractor to enforce a provision in a health benefits plan for federal employees that is part of a government contract established pursuant to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act. The Second Circuit found no federal question jurisdiction [opinion, PDF] in the case, where Empire sued for reimbursement of insurance benefits paid under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program [OPM materials], ruling instead that the issue was a matter of state law which ordinarily governs insurance issues. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Justice Ginsburg, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Breyer, who was joined by Justices Kennedy, Souter and Alito.

[JURIST] Mexican lawmakers began working this week to revive a bill that will decriminalize personal drug possession – or possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Lawmakers hope to override a potential veto by Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish], who announced plans to sign the bill, but then reversed his position [JURIST reports] after the US State Department and mayors from several US border cities argued that decriminalization will promote "drug tourism" by prompting masses of young Americans to travel to Mexico to buy illegal drugs. The Mexican Congress approved the bill in April [AP report], but Fox sent it back for changes "to make it absolutely clear in our country, the possession of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, a criminal offense."

Under current Mexican law, the federal government handles drug-dealing crimes. The bill would enable local police to investigate drug dealers, along with federal officers. The legislation would increase penalties for large amounts of drugs while decriminalizing possession of less than 25 milligrams of heroin, 5 grams of marijuana or 0.5 grams of cocaine. According to Victor Guisa, head of the government's drug rehabilitation clinics, crack is the biggest problem in the cities, leading to gang violence and more than 1,500 drug-related murders last year. Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca [official profile] said most drug-related crimes involve street dealing, as opposed to large trafficking operations. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Russian Duma [official website], the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday voted 359-53 to pass a bill that will shorten the military conscription requirement from two years to one, beginning in January 2008. The bill is expected to gain approval from the Federation Council [official website], Russia's upper house, within the month and be signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website; BBC profile] shortly thereafter. Other provisions in the bill would eliminate military exemptions for rural doctors and teachers, fathers of children younger than 3, and those with handicapped or retired parents. Also on Wednesday, the Duma passed a companion bill that requires university students to complete the one-year service requirement after finishing their studies. Currently, students are exempt from service if they take military classes along with regular coursework.

Russia has received international criticism in recent months for fostering a culture of military abuse [JURIST report], exemplified by cases in which officers have been convicted of abuse of rank and degradation in an incident that cost a conscript his legs, and of contracting out conscripts for personal gain [JURIST reports]. Russia's chief military prosecutor told the Federation Council [JURIST report] in February that 6,000 people were abused by Russian military personnel last year and 2,600 soldiers were convicted of abusing other soldiers [JURIST report]. Some conscripts must be forcibly detained [HRW backgrounder] into service, and many avoid the military through bribes or fake doctor's certificates. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 16 soldiers died of abuse in 2005 and 256 committed suicide to avoid conscription [MosNews report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A court in Japan [JURIST news archive] has ruled that journalists have a right not to disclose the identities of their sources. The Tokyo High Court [official backgrounder] on Wednesday reversed a district court order that a newspaper reporter testify in an American company's lawsuit against the US government. Presiding Judge Nobuo Akatsuka wrote in the High Court's ruling that allowing reporters to keep sources secret ensures that the government does not interfere with the freedom of the press, which is guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution [text]. The High Court rejected the lower court's stance [Japan Times report] that journalists cannot refuse to disclose the name of a public servant who violates a duty to keep job secrets. The decision departs from previous Japanese court rulings, which balanced the freedom of the press against the need for fair trials.

The case dates to a 1997 article in Tokyo's Yomiuri Shimbun reporting that the Japanese subsidiary of a US health food company had been penalized by the Tokyo Regional Tax Bureau for underreporting profits. The company sued the US government, alleging its reputation had been damaged by erroneous information that US officials gave to their Japanese counterparts. The Tokyo District Court deposed the reporter on behalf of the US District Court of Arizona [official website]. Yomiuri Shimbun has more. The Japan Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] UK Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett [official profile] said Thursday that Britain will take custody of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] if he is convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website], as long as authorizing legislation is passed by parliament. In a statement [text], Beckett said that as long as parliament passes new legislation to permit the UK to recognize the convictions of the SCSL, the UK would accept Taylor to "demonstrat[e] the UK's absolute determination to see the alleged perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes held to account." Beckett's statement further said that "[w]ere the Court to acquit former President Taylor, we would not be required to allow him to come to the UK. Were he to be convicted, and subsequently released after serving a sentence, the expectation at this stage is that former President Taylor would leave or face removal from the UK." UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the UK decision [UN News report] saying it "marks another step forward in our battle against impunity for the most heinous crimes."

Earlier this month, the Swedish parliament passed a law permitting Taylor's incarceration [JURIST report] but the Swedish government has not yet indicated whether it would be willing to take custody of Taylor. The former Liberian president has been indicted [PDF text] by the SCSL for crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law, including murder, rape and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during the war in Sierra Leone. The SCSL wants to move Taylor's trial to The Hague [JURIST report] for security reasons, but the Netherlands has said that it will only agree to host the trial if the SCSL finds a country willing to imprison Taylor if he is found guilty [JURIST report] and a country that will grant him asylum if he is acquitted. Reuters has more.

1:57 PM ET - A Dutch Foreign Ministry [official website] spokeswoman said Thursday that with Beckett's announcement all conditions that the Netherlands had set for hosting the trial had been satisfied. The UN Security Council must now pass a resolution authorizing the transfer and the spokeswoman said that the resolution is expected to be drawn up in within the next several days. AFP has more.

5:56 PM ET - The Special Court for Sierra Leone has welcomed the UK's offer to take custody of Taylor if he is found guilty, calling the move "a significant step." Rights activists in Sierra Leone, however, said that the trial should remain in Africa so that those affected by the war have the opportunity to witness the trial. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US government can detain non-citizens indefinitely on the basis of religion, race or national origin, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying that "the executive is free to single out 'nationals of a particular country' and focus enforcement efforts on them" under his interpretation of immigration law [JURIST news archive]. Judge John Gleeson of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] added that the same enforcement measures applied to citizens would be "highly suspicious." Gleeson's decision in Turkmen v. Ashcroft [opinion, PDF; CCR backgrounder] dismissed several claims brought against the government by a class of Arab and Muslim men who were detained and deported shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive], but allowed the suit to go forward on other claims relating to abuse while in detention. Gleeson, however, rejected the government's argument that Sept. 11 justified extreme measures and allowed the government to detain non-citizens who are simply suspicious. The government can detain non-citizens indefinitely only if their deportation is "highly foreseeable," he wrote.

Gleeson's ruling marks the first time a federal judge addressed allegations of discrimination against Muslims detained after Sept. 11. Lawyers representing the Arab and Muslim detainees said they would appeal the ruling, calling the decision a "green light to racial profiling" [press release]. Government lawyers have not yet decided whether they will appeal Gleeson's decision to allow the suit to go forward on some claims. Earlier, a US magistrate judge ruled that US Department of Justice [official website] employees must disclose whether they were aware of the government's monitoring of conversations [JURIST report] between Sept. 11 detainees and their attorneys, paving the way for Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website] lawyers to call FBI Director Robert Mueller and former US Attorney General John Ashcroft to testify. Nina Bernstein of the New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The US military has canceled regular visits between detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and their lawyers this week after three prisoners committed suicide [JURIST report] last weekend, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website], which represents many of the 460 detainees. Government officials told the CCR that no guards are available to supervise attorney-client visits because so many are aiding a military investigation of the suicides [JURIST report], according to CCR lawyer Barbara Olshansky. She plans to go to federal court in Washington, DC, Thursday to file a motion for immediate access to the detainees. On Wednesday, the CCR criticized the military [press release] for suspending a visit to Guantanamo by US journalists. A spokesman for the US Department of Defense [official website] said the reporters were expelled [LA Times report] partly because the military trials they planned to cover had been canceled. Olshansky said government lawyers told her that the attorney visits would resume Monday and that journalists also may be allowed to return next week.

Last weekend's suicides have renewed international calls to close the Guantanamo detention center [JURIST report], which opened at the US naval base in Cuba about four years ago. At a White House press conference Wednesday, President Bush said he would like to close the center [transcript], but only after detainees are tried for terrorism or transferred to their home countries. Bush said:

No question, Guantanamo sends a signal to some of our friends – provides an excuse, for example, to say the United States is not upholding the values that they're trying to encourage other countries to adhere to. And my answer to them is, is that we are a nation of laws and rule of law. These people have been picked up off the battlefield and they're very dangerous. And so we have that balance between customary justice, the typical system, and one that will be done in the military courts.

[JURIST] Italian prosecutors finished an investigation on Wednesday into the 2005 killing of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari by a US soldier, but have not yet decided if they will charge US Army Specialist Mario Lozano [Wikipedia backgrounder] with murder. Calipari was shot to death while driving to the Baghdad airport after securing the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena from Iraqi kidnappers. A second Italian agent, Andrea Carpani, was also wounded in the shooting by US soldiers that perceived the car as insurgents speeding through a security checkpoint. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema [official website, in Italian; Wikipedia profile] will talk about the shooting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] in a Washington meeting on Friday.

Italian news agencies reported in January that prosecutors intended to charge [JURIST report] Lozano with murder after the investigation. US and Italian officials have failed to agree [JURIST report] on details surrounding Calipari's death. A US investigation [JURIST report] into the incident cleared US soldiers of any wrongdoing but an Italian probe [JURIST report], while also concluding that the killing was accidental, found that there were serious miscommunications among US officials in Iraq, and confusion about the rules of engagement for checkpoints. AP has more. From Italy, AGI has local coverage.

[JURIST] A military lawyer representing Yemeni Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, one of ten Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees awaiting trial before a military commission [JURIST news archive], filed a motion Wednesday to move al-Bahlul's trial to a Navy base in the United States, claiming that the Guantanamo restrictions make it impossible to hold a fair trial. Army Major Tom Fleener [Wikipedia profile] complained that the severe restrictions on visitor access to the base - requiring visitors to arrive on military planes or government-approved charter planes - requires a four-day trip to meet with a client for one hour. Media access appears even more difficult because journalists often have their access permission revoked, particularly in the wake of three detainee suicides last weekend [JURIST report]. Fleener added that defense lawyers for some of the other nine detainees awaiting trial plan to file similar change of venue motions with the Office of Military Commissions [official website].

Al-Bahlul, who is alleged [charge sheet, PDF] to have been a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, refuses to cooperate with Fleener, and boycotted pre-trial proceedings [JURIST report] earlier this year. All ten military trials are currently on hold pending a forthcoming US Supreme Court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], which will determine the legality of military trials for detainees, though some pre-trial hearings have been conducted while officials wait for the Supreme Court decision. In April, Fleener challenged a Department of Defense procedure allowing only military lawyers with security clearances to view classified documents relating to detainee cases, saying the Pentagon rules are unfair as they effectively prohibit the terror detainees from representing themselves [JURIST report]. AP has more.