[JURIST] Turkey's Supreme Court on Friday announced that the corruption trial of former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz [personal website; Wikipedia profile] has been indefinitely suspended, meaning that the charges against Yilmaz will be dropped if he does not face similar accusations within the next five years. Yilmaz and former Economics Minister Gunes Taner were accused of pre-determining the winner [JURIST report] of a process to privatize Turkey's state bank and of using a mafia leader to scare off unwanted bids.

Yilmaz is the first former Turkish leader to face criminal prosecution. Prime minister three times in the 1990s, he finally left public office in 2002, but said after the suspension of his case Friday that he is considering a return to the political arena. AP has more.

[JURIST] Canada authorities confirmed Friday that they had asked Germany to detain Iranian prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi [Wikipedia backgrounder] if he passed through German territory after attending the inaugural meeting of the UN Human Rights Council [official website] in Geneva, Switzerland, as an observer. Mortazavi is widely suspected of being present in July 2003 when Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi [CBC backgrounder] died from a blow to her head while in Iranian custody, and of orchestrating a cover-up of the incident. Iran Thursday received nearly universal condemnation [JURIST report] for sending Mortazavi to the human rights meeting.

Canadian Foreign Minister Peter Mackay reportedly asked German officials to detain Mortazavi if he came though Germany so that he might be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Mortazavi ended up flying directly to Tehran from Geneva, but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official website] said Friday that Canada would continue to press a case against him: "We're appealing to the international community to use all manner of law available to detain this individual, and have him face justice." AFP has more. Canadian Press has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday struck down a US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] rule [PDF text; JURIST report] regulating hedge funds. The rule required hedge fund advisors responsible for at least $30 million in assets to register with the SEC, thus subjecting them to legal scrutiny for potential fraud. In a unanimous decision [PDF text] Friday in Goldstein v. SEC, Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote that hedge funds escape SEC regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940 [PDF text] because "investment vehicles that remain private and available only to highly sophisticated private investors have historically been understood not to present the same dangers to public markets as more widely available public investment companies."

Responding to the decision, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the SEC will work on drafting alternative rules [press release] to oversee hedge fund activity to "protect investors, maintain fair and orderly markets, and promote capital formation." The Managed Funds Association [advocacy website], a trade organization of hedge funds, has previously criticized the SEC rule [MFA comment paper] as overburdensome in cost and unnecessary given other reporting requirements already imposed by other regulatory bodies on hedge funds. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website] on Friday called for new laws to narrow the gap between the public's desire for justice and outcomes that are perceived to unfairly favor defendants, in a a major criminal justice policy speech [transcript] delivered in Bristol. Citing public concern over recent controversial decisions [JURIST report] involving sentences for sex offenders, Blair said:

The public are anxious for a perfectly good reason: they think they play fair and play by the rules and they see too many people who don't, getting away with it. By the public I don't mean the "hang 'em and flog 'em" brigade. I mean ordinary, decent law-abiding folk, who believe in rehabilitation as well as punishment, understand there are deep-rooted causes of crime and know that no Government can eliminate it. But they think the political and legal establishment are out of touch on the issue and they are right.

So when we introduced ASB [anti-social behavior] legislation, it was ridiculed and in part watered down. Each piece of asylum and criminal justice legislation has been diluted, sometimes fundamentally in the Houses of Parliament. Each law on terrorism has been attacked, in one case as posing more threat to the country's safety than the terrorism itself...

I have come to the conclusion that part of the problem in this whole area has been the absence of a proper, considered intellectual and political debate about the nature of liberty in the modern world...The problem with the reform movement was not that it failed. On the contrary it succeeded. And, out of the great achievements of 19th century penal and legal reform, flowed an unintended consequence: the ideal of being a liberal in this field became associated, subtly and insidiously, with ensuring the fair treatment of suspects and criminals, detached from an equivalent concern with victims.

[JURIST] A UK Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed [opinion text] a case arguing that Britain's ban on fox hunting with dogs infringed on human rights. The Countryside Alliance [advocacy website] challenged a Hunting Act 2004 [text], saying it was unnecessary for a democratic society and that it violates human rights that protect the right to private and family life, peaceful assembly and the freedom of association. Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of Rolls, rejected Countryside's argument without considering whether a right had been infringed, calling it a "legitimate and proportionate" exercise of government power.

Countryside has mounted several challenges to the law seeking to overturn it. Last year, Countryside lost [JURIST report] another challenge questioning the legality of the 1949 Parliament Act [BBC backgrounder] that the House of Lords used to push the Hunting Act through the legislature. Reuters has more. The Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) [UN Mission in Liberia news release, PDF] formally began its work Thursday to investigate and document human rights abuses occurring in Liberia from 1979 to 2003. The TRC was inaugurated [JURIST report] in February by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf [BBC profile], who said that the commission is intended to heal the war-torn country and uncover the truth about the 14-year-long Liberian civil war [Globalsecurity.org backgrounder].

The TRC has been criticized by human rights groups [JURIST report] who instead advocate a Liberian human rights court because the TRC cannot prosecute war crimes violations. The TRC was mandated by the 2003 Liberian peace accord [text] that officially ended the civil war. AP has more. The Analyst of Monrovia has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice announced the arrest of seven men [press release] Friday for conspiring to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI headquarters in Miami. A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment [PDF text] Friday charging the seven defendants with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda; conspiring to provide material support, training, and resources to terrorists; conspiring to maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive; and conspiring to levy war against the government of the United States.

The indictment alleges that Narseal Batiste recruited the six other defendants to "organize and train for a mission to wage war against the United States government," and that they pledged an oath to al Qaeda in an attempt to secure financial and logistical backing. To show support for al Qaeda, the defendants took photographs of the FBI building in Miami and other federal buildings in Miami, their hometown. Instead of working with a true al Qaeda representative, however, the men were dealing with an informant with the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force. The last contact the informant had with Batiste was on May 24, when he told the informant that "he was experiencing delays because of various problems within his organization but that he wanted to continue his mission and maintain his relationship with al Qaeda."

In a statement [text] Friday, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] said that the "case clearly demonstrates our commitment to preventing terrorism through energetic law enforcement efforts aimed at detecting and thwarting terrorist acts." According to a DOJ fact sheet [text] released Friday, DOJ anti-terror efforts have resulted in the conviction [DOJ examples] or guilty pleas of 261 defendants since the Sept. 11 terror attacks and charges have been brought against another 180 defendants. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] denounced human rights abuses committed during the war on terror Friday, urging governments to give terror suspects a fair trial and reminding them of the "absolute ban on torture" in remarks to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. In her statement [transcript; recorded video], Arbour said:

International law requires that the prohibition of torture be ensured by active measures: in addition to not engaging in acts of torture themselves, states have a positive obligation to protect individuals from exposure to torture. No cogent argument, whether normative or empirical, has been advanced to support a departure from the torture prohibition in the fight against terrorism. Whatever its asserted effectiveness, torture delegitimizes State action to the point where the State can no longer assert its moral authority.

[JURIST] UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel [official profile] stressed the importance of not sacrificing justice by "granting amnesty in ending conflicts" at a UN Security Council meeting Thursday on strengthening international law [UN summary; recorded video]. Michel said that ending impunity for war criminals is one of the most important developments in international law over the last 15 years and welcomed preparations for a war crimes trial for former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], currently underway at The Hague. Taylor has been indicted [PDF text] 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 UN News Centre has more.

Also at Thursday's Security Council session, Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller criticized the UN's process of imposing sanctions against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Moeller said the process of adding names to the sanctions list [UN backgrounder] and the difficulty of removing or correcting entries threatens to undermine the rule of law. Moeller called on the Security Council to "improve due process guarantees" and "reduce the risk of innocent third parties becoming victims of such measures." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraq released 500 detainees from Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] Friday as part of an ongoing national reconciliation plan [JURIST report] first announced by new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki [BBC profile] earlier this month. Maliki promised that 2,500 prisoners held in US detention facilities and under Iraqi custody would be released if the detainees "are not Saddam Hussein loyalists or terrorists or anyone who has Iraqi blood on their hands." Friday's release follows the release of nearly 300 prisoners two weeks ago, and 600 prisoners [JURIST reports] prior to that. Lieutenant Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry, a spokesman for the US detention facilities in Iraq, said that about 2,300 prisoners have been released since Maliki announced the plan on June 7.

People view Maliki's national reconciliation move as an attempt by the hardline Shiite prime minister to appease the Sunni minority, which is largely responsible for the insurgency against the Iraqi government. Maliki made releasing detainees who were detained mistakenly or without sufficient evidence a priority when he began his term [JURIST report] in May. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Japanese Supreme Court [official website, in Japanese] Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine [shrine website], according to a court spokesperson who did not provide details on the ruling. The suit was brought by 338 plaintiff survivors of South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese soldiers killed during wars involving Japan, who say the Prime Minister visited the shrine in 2001 in an official capacity, impermissibly violating Japan's constitutional barriers between church and state. Article 20 of the Japan Constitution [text] reads:

Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious acts, celebration, rite or practice. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity.

[JURIST] Two Russian officials switched roles Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin appointed former Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov [MosNews profile] to the justice minister post several hours after former Justice Minister Yury Chaika was approved as the new prosecutor general in a 91-1 vote by the Federation Council [official website], the upper house of parliament. Ustinov resigned from the justice minister post [JURIST report] on June 2, and Chaika was nominated by Putin [JURIST report] on Monday.

Though both Putin and Federation Council members stressed Friday that Ustinov's June 2 resignation was a non-political decision, he stepped down after the Council, acting on Putin's recommendation, unanimously called for his removal. Ustinov spent the majority of his time as Prosecutor General embroiled in the criminal case against former Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [MosNews profile; JURIST news archive] who was convicted of tax evasion and is now incarcerated in a Siberian prison [JURIST reports]. RIA Novosti has local coverage of the Ustinov and Chaika installations.

[JURIST] The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court has delayed the verdict in the trial of Zhao Yan [HRIC profile, PDF], a former New York Times researcher, a defense lawyer said Friday. Zhao has been 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 and his trial finished last week. Zhao's lawyer said Friday the verdict has been delayed for one month, with an answer expected by July 25, adding that it is common for a delay in a case "where there is a great discrepancy between prosecutors and defense lawyers."

China first formally indicted Zhao on the state secrets charges in December, but dropped the charges in March while continuing to detain Zhao [JURIST reports]. China has insisted that Zhao's continued detention is legal [JURIST report] under the Chinese Criminal Procedure Law [text]. Zhao's retrial had been postponed in early June, with no indication at the time of when the trial would take place. AP has more.

[JURIST] Republican House leaders Thursday clarified the timing and purpose of proposed nationwide immigration hearings [JURIST report], deflecting criticism that the hearings were intended to delay a House vote on comprehensive immigration reform [JURIST news archive] until after November elections. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert [official website] told a news conference Thursday that hearings will begin the first week in July and will extend through mid-August, and will invite public comment on immigration issues. Hastert suggested that a Senate-House compromise immigration bill could be worked out before the elections, but that the bill should not be rushed through either chamber.

There are few similarities between the Senate bill [S 2611 summary; JURIST report] and the House version [HR 4437 summary; JURIST report], which must be reconciled before a bill can be presented to the President. In a speech earlier this month, President Bush called on lawmakers to find a "rational middle ground" between the Senate version, which includes a pathway to citizenship favored by Bush, and the House bill, which focuses on law enforcement. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews [official website] introduced a bill [text; legislative materials] in the Canadian House of Commons Thursday that would raise the age of sexual consent to 16 in a bid to crack down on Internet predators [CBC report]. If the legislation is passed, it would mark the first time Canada has changed the age of consent since it was set at 14 over 100 years ago [Library of Parliament background paper]. The bill includes a near-age exception, allowing a 14 or 15-year-old to consent to sexual activities if their partner is no more than five years older. Toews said [press release] Thursday that the bill is not meant to "criminalize teenage youth who may be involved in sexual activity with their peers," but rather that it seeks to protect "vulnerable young people from adult sexual predators."

The Canadian Federation for Sexual Health [advocacy website] has criticized the proposed legislation, saying that there is no proof that an older age of consent will protect youths from adult sexual predators, and expressing fear that young adults will be deterred from seeking consultation on safe sexual practices. Debate on the bill will not take place until Parliament resumes in the fall. Reuters has more. CTV has local coverage.

[JURIST] European Union [official website] diplomats on Thursday agreed to revive an agreement with the United States that compels European airlines to disclose information about passengers flying from Europe to the US. The EU and US first reached such an agreement in 2004, but the European Court of Justice [official website] struck down the agreement [opinion; JURIST report] last month as illegal because the passenger name records deal [BBC Q&A] did not have an appropriate legal basis. The EU Presidency and European Commission [official website] will draft a new agreement containing similar language as the 2004 agreement, but relying on a different legal basis and some negotiators say that the new agreement will be based on security and organized crime laws. The new agreement is expected to be completed by October 1.

The passenger name records deal requires European airlines to reveal the name, address, credit card information, and itinerary details of passengers to US officials within 15 minutes of a flight's departure. Information that could reveal the passenger's religion or ethnicity, such as meal preferences, is deleted from the record before handing the information over to US authorities. The agreement was negotiated to resolve concerns that US requirements that airlines operating flights to the US provide US authorities access to passenger data would conflict with EU data protection legislation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] and his seven co-defendants ended a brief hunger strike late Thursday after Hussein missed only one meal. Hussein began the hunger strike [JURIST report] in protest of the murder [JURIST report] of one of his defense lawyers early Wednesday morning and to highlight the need for additional security. At the outset of the hunger strike, leading defense counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi said the defendants would end their strike when additional security is provided to the defense team. Hussein threatened to boycott the trial[JURIST report] last year if additional security demands were not met by his Iraqi and US captors.

Armed gunmen abducted and killed Hussein defense lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi Wednesday, just two days after the prosecution presented their closing arguments in the trial, calling for the death penalty [JURIST report] for Hussein and four of his co-defendants. The defense is currently scheduled to present its closing arguments on July 10. He and his seven co-defendants face crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] for killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents and for committing other inhumane acts in response to an alleged 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein's life. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] counterterrorism agents secretly reviewed financial records of Americans listed in an international database after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive], focusing on people with links to al Qaeda, according to reports by the New York Times late Thursday and the Los Angeles Times Friday. The database, from a Belgian cooperative named Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) [corporate website; Wikipedia backgrounder] central to the global banking industry, primarily contains international wire transfers, and excludes most routine banking transactions. The tracking program is run by the CIA and overseen by the US Treasury Department [official website]. Stuart Levey, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, has defended the program's legality and other officials have said the SWIFT database is exempt from American laws because SWIFT is considered a messaging service, and not actually a bank or financial institution. Other officials involved in the program have expressed skepticism, however, calling the legality of the program a "gray area."

Treasury Secretary John Snow promptly issued a statement [press release] defending the Department's Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Let me be clear what this program is, and what it is not. It is an essential tool in the war on terror, based on appropriate legal authorities with effective oversight and safeguards. It is not "data mining", or trolling through the private financial records of Americans. It is not a "fishing expedition", but rather a sharp harpoon aimed at the heart of terrorist activity. That fact makes today's disclosure so regrettable, because the public dissemination of our sources and methods of fighting terrorists not only harms national security but also degrades the government's efforts to prevent terrorist activity in the future.