[JURIST] Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [official website] accused Israel Monday of using incendiary phosphorous bombs [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] against Lebanese civilians in violation of international standards, and urged the United Nations [official website] to call for an immediate ceasefire. Lahoud, considered to be pro-Syrian, said Israel's use of the bombs is in violation of the Geneva Conventions [text], but a military spokesperson in Israel said all materials used by the Israel Defense Forces [official website] are legitimate. The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned by Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons [text] since 1980. Although not an original signatory, Israel ratified the Convention with a reservation in 1995. Article 35 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1977) additionally outlaws any weapon or use of weapon that causes "superfluous or unnecessary suffering." Israel is not a signatory to Protocol I. Surgeons at Lebanese hospitals have reported treating burns to civilians [Euronews report] caused by phosphorous weapons.

Accusations that Israel was using phosphorous weapons [JURIST report] were first made public last week by Lebanon Information Minister Ghazi Aridi after an emergency cabinet meeting was called to discuss the continuing conflict [JURIST news archive] between Hezbollah [US State Dept. backgrounder] and Israel. Reuters has more.

10:35 PM ET - In a related development Monday, New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch accused Israel [HRW press release] of using cluster grenades in an attack on a Hezbollah village in south Lebanon last week. Cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder; Cluster Munition Coalition advocacy website] are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal [backgrounder] under multiple provisions of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (1977). The US has supplied Israel with cluster munitions in the past, but HRW said Monday that the weapons used in the attack on the Hezbollah village could have been Israeli-made. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, Word document] Monday against the Bush administration, alleging that the US government failed to fulfill its obligations to protect US citizens [ADC press release] in Lebanon when the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah [JURIST news archive] began earlier this month. The suit was filed on behalf of over 30 Lebanese-Americans who have either escaped Lebanon or are still trapped there. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would require US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] to call for a ceasefire and an order that would send more military transports to remove Americans still in Lebanon [State Department evacuation status report; latest US Embassy Beirut departure instructions; US Fifth Fleet evacuation operations information].

In the lawsuit, the ADC also petitioned the court to mandate that the US stop sending weapons to Israel for as long as US citizens are attempting to leave Lebanon. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Rice are both named as defendants in the suit. Many of the named plaintiffs are from the Detroit, Michigan area, which holds the largest number of Lebanese citizens outside Lebanon. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A report [PDF text] released Monday by UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [official profile] recommends longer sentences and increased use of plea bargaining in fraud cases. Estimates have placed the cost of fraud to the British economy at over £14 billion a year. The report, the result of a Fraud Review [official backgrounder] begun last year, also suggests consolidating civil, criminal and regulatory fraud proceedings in a single court specializing in white-collar crime. In a foreword to the report, Goldsmith wrote:

Fraud is not a victimless crime. Work by the Home Office suggests that fraud may be second only to Class A drug trafficking as a source of harm from crime; and there is evidence that fraud funds terrorism, drugs and people trafficking. This government is pursuing a co-ordinated approach to tackling fraud. We have introduced the Fraud Bill which is currently being considered by Parliament and which will for the first time introduce an offence of fraud. We have pledged to introduce a standalone Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows to allow for nonjury trials in a limited range of serious and complex fraud cases. And we also commissioned this review of fraud which has been reporting to me and the Chief Secretary.

[JURIST] The first prisoner at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to be turned over to a foreign government for prosecution was released Monday by the Spanish Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish], which found that the evidence against him was insufficient to support a conviction. Hamed Abderrahaman Ahmad, known as the "Spanish Taliban," was captured by Pakistani soldiers while leaving Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and handed over to the US, which extradited him to Spain in February 2004.

In its ruling [text, DOC] the Supreme Court found that a lower court had failed to consider Ahmad innocent until proven guilty and had incorrectly considered evidence gathered at Guantanamo. The court also said that Guantanamo prisoners' indefinite detentions without charge could not be justified legally or politically. Reuters has more. From Madrid, El Pais has local coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] Italy [JURIST news archive] refused a CIA request to participate in the alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of an Egyptian cleric [JURIST news archive] suspected of terrorism, a lawyer for an Italian spy agency official told Reuters in an interview published Monday. Luigi Panella, the lawyer representing Marco Mancini - then a division director of Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] - said SISMI denied the request in 2003 because officials believed the abduction was illegal. Mancini and his superior at the time, Gen. Gustavo Pignero, were arrested [JURIST report] earlier this month on suspicion of collaborating with the CIA and were under house arrest until prosecutors released them. Panella said Mancini has an audiotape in which he and Pignero discuss their opposition to the abduction, as well as that of Nicolo Pollari, chief of the Italian Intelligence and Security Services [official website].

Mancini's account contradicts that of an Italian defense official who testified before a legislative committee [JURIST report] earlier this month that Italy did not have advance knowledge of the alleged abduction. Pollari, along with other senior intelligence members and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, also have denied any involvement [JURIST report]. Arrest warrants have been issued for 26 Americans, most of whom are believed to be CIA agents, in connection with the case. The cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile], also known as Abu Omar, was allegedly taken from a Milan street and then flown to Egypt, where he was tortured. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The UK Court of Appeal [official website] heard arguments Monday in a case where the families of three Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees who were UK residents prior to their detention are seeking an order requiring the British government to lobby the US for the release of their relatives. The High Court ruled [JURIST report] in May that the three detainees - Jordanian Jamil el-Banna, Libyan Omar Deghayes and Iraqi Bisher al-Rawi - could not demand that the UK Foreign Office [official website] act on their behalf because the three detainees are not British citizens. A lawyer for the three families told the appeals court Monday that Britain should lobby for their release because the three detainees are long-term British residents and that the High Court decision conflicts with actions taken by the Foreign Office in March 2004 and January 2005 to secure the release of other British nationals.

Al-Rawi and el-Banna were arrested in 2002 in Gambia during a business trip because of alleged links to terrorism. Deghayes was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan on suspicion of committing terrorist acts against the United States. In March, the Foreign Office announced plans to lobby on behalf of al-Rawi [JURIST report]. Al-Rawi and el-Banna insist that British authorities assisted the US [JURIST report] in their alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] from Gambia to Guantanamo. AFP has more. BBC News has local coverage.

[JURIST] The EU Council of Ministers [official website] agreed Monday to continue funding for embryonic stem cell research [JURIST news archive], but that aid may not be used to procure stem cell embryos. The competitiveness council ministers [official backgrounder] approved an EU research budget [official press release] that includes funding for the research but forbids the money from being used for procurement, which results in the embryos' destruction - a practice some consider tantamount to murder. The procurement language was inserted in a compromise to gain the votes of Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Austria, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovakia voted against the compromise plan.

In the US, President Bush last week vetoed a bill to increase federal funding for embryonic stem cell research [JURIST report]. The veto was the first of Bush's presidency. BBC News has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) [official website] must tighten its anti-terrorism laws to conform with those of other states and territories, Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] said Monday. If the ACT - the federal district that includes Canberra - does not revise the laws, the federal government may invalidate them, Howard said. Nevertheless, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope [official profile] is refusing to change the laws [ABC report] to apply them to 16- and 17-year-olds and to allow police to more easily take suspects into preventive detention.

The federal government has been at odds with Stanhope on terrorism legislation since last year, when Stanhope rejected proposed federal anti-terrorism legislation and excluded himself from negotiations [JURIST reports] because of concerns that it did not meet international standards [JURIST report] for political and civil rights. The leaders of other states and territories expressed approval of the legislation [JURIST report], and Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock [official profile] found that it complied with rights obligations [JURIST report]. Ruddock, like Howard, has recently threatened to override the ACT laws [ABC report]. Speaking to reporters Monday, Howard said [official transcript]:

Well obviously if you are to have effective laws, they should be the same throughout the whole country. It's no good having one section of the country with a gaping hole and we should have the same laws all over the country. But these laws were supported by [regional leaders] Mr Bracks, Mr Iemma, Mr Beattie, Mr Carpenter, Mr Rann and Mr Lennon, as well as me. He's the bloke who's out of step in the regiment, not the rest of us.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Australia | Op-ed: Rights at Risk: My Dissent from the Australian Anti-terror Bill [Jon Stanhope]

[JURIST] Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile] has sued anti-government activist Sondhi Limthongkul [Wikipedia backgrounder] and 11 others for defamation and $26 million in damages, according to Thaksin's lawyer Monday. Thaksin sued Sondhi and the state-run Communications Authority of Thailand for allegedly saying on television that Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party [party website, in Thai] tried to undermine Thailand's monarchy. Sondhi leads the People's Alliance for Democracy [Wikipedia backgrounder], which led street protests earlier this year that forced Thaksin to temporarily step aside.

The lawsuit joins several defamation lawsuits [JURIST report] filed by Thaksin against organizers of the street protests. Thaksin sued Thailand's main opposition Democrat Party [party website, in Thai] in June for accusing Thaksin of tax evasion. Thaksin has consistently denied allegations that he and several political parties acted "against democratic rule" during April's annulled parliamentary elections [JURIST reports]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Indian authorities on Sunday arrested a fourth suspect in the July 11 Mumbai train bombings [BBC report] that killed over 180 people [Mumbai Police casualty list]. Authorities arrested Dr. Tanyir Ansari late Sunday after several days of questioning in connection to the bombings. The Press Trust of India [media website] reports that Ansari is an alleged operative of the Lashkar-e-Taiba [FAS backgrounder], a Kashmiri militant [BBC backgrounder] group fighting Indian control in Kashmir. Ansari's arrest follows the arrest of three men Thursday in what Mumbai police called a "big conspiracy," saying the Mumbai investigators have definitive proof that the three arrestees have connections to terrorist groups in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy said Monday that the three men arrested last week were not directly responsible for the attacks, and that authorities have not yet caught the men responsible for manufacturing and planting the bombs. Police have detained hundreds for questioning in relation to the bombs, and have named three other suspects [JURIST reports] in addition to the four already arrested. AFP has more. The Times of India has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Israeli Foreign Ministry [official website] said Monday that weekend statements by visiting United Nations relief coordinator Jan Egeland [official profile; JURIST news archive] that damage caused by Israeli airstrikes [JURIST news archive] in Beirut was excessive and in violation of international humanitarian law [JURIST report] conflicted with those of other UN bodies. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor rejected what he called Egeland's "very harsh terms" and said that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council had been more lenient on Israel [JURIST report] than Egeland, adding that the Group of Eight (G8) countries, EU foreign ministers and the Arab League had also been less severe. Elsewhere around the world, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official website] also jumped to Israel's defense, suggesting Egeland's comments were biased because he had not toured areas of Israel under attack.

On Sunday, Egeland expressed dismay that "block after block of houses" were destroyed in south Beirut, adding that Israel had made "an excessive use of force in an area with so many civilians." That, he said, "makes it a violation of humanitarian law." Egeland and the UN are attempting to coordinate the creation of three humanitarian corridors [Reuters report] over sea to allow aid to come in to the war-torn area. On Monday, Egeland also launched a humanitarian relief appeal [recorded video] from Beirut. ABC Australia has more.

8:10 PM ET - Speaking to reporters in Cyprus Monday on his way to Israel on the second leg of his Middle East humanitarian relief mission, Egeland did not respond directly to Israeli criticism but said his original message was equally meant for Hezbollah: "Some believe I spoke only about excessive use of force by Israel there... However, consistently from Hezbollah heartlands my message was: 'Hezbollah – stop this cowardly blending in among women and children'." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Jordan [JURIST news archive] is a "central hub in a global complex of secret detention centers" allegedly operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] and foreign intelligence agencies, according to an Amnesty International [advocacy website] report [text; press release] written by Malcolm Smart, the director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa unit. The report identifies at least 10 suspected cases of alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] where detainees were removed from US custody and sent to interrogation centers in Jordan, and also alleges that security agents in Jordan torture terror suspects on behalf of the US to obtain forced confessions.

Amnesty reports that during the past 10 years, there have been complaints from over 100 defendants in terrorism-related trials alleging torture by Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) [official website] and that GID receives secret funding from the US government. Amnesty also reports that after GID obtains forced confessions from detainees, the cases proceed to the State Security Court, where judgments are often made solely on the forced confessions obtained by GID. Amnesty called on Jordan to stop holding detainees in secret, abolish the independent powers of GID, and to investigate allegations of torture and extraordinary rendition. Last month, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [official website] told a press conference that Jordan should criminalize torture and end the use of special courts [JURIST report] that protect accused police and intelligence officials. AP has more.

[JURIST] US House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) [official website] told Fox News Sunday [transcript] over the weekend that he might challenge a July 10 federal court order [PDF text] allowing the FBI to view documents seized in the congressional office raid [JURIST report] of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) [official website] in May. Chief Judge Thomas Hogan ruled [JURIST report] earlier this month that the FBI raid was constitutional because "a Member of Congress is generally bound to the operation of the criminal laws as are ordinary persons." Last week, Judge Thomas rejected a request [JURIST report] by Jefferson to stay his order authorizing an FBI filter team to view the seized documents. Though Hastert said the House will not support Jefferson in an appeal of the order, Hastert said the House may separately challenge the order to voice its opposition to the congressional office search, which has prompted widespread separation of powers debate [JURIST report].

The FBI raided Jefferson's congressional offices as part of an investigation connected to a bribery scheme involving a Kentucky telecommunications firm that received contracts in Nigeria. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and FBI Director Robert Mueller all said they would resign [JURIST report] if forced to hand back information gathered during the search, prompting President Bush to order the documents to be sealed for 45 days [JURIST report] until the matter could be resolved. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) [official website] promised Sunday that US United Nations Ambassador John Bolton [official profile] would face a difficult fight in his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing. Last summer, President Bush bypassed the Senate confirmation process and appointed Bolton during the Senate's summer recess [JURIST report], despite Senate Democrat opposition that had stalled debate on Bolton's confirmation [JURIST report]. Bolton's recess appointment [CRS backgrounder, PDF] will only remain valid until the current congressional session ends in January. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website] will hold a new confirmation hearing [committee materials] for Bolton on Thursday.

Dodd, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, appeared on CNN's Late Edition [transcript] Sunday and reiterated last year's concerns that Bolton lacks credibility [JURIST report] to serve as the Ambassador to the UN, adding that Bolton's tenure as ambassador has "polarized the situation." Republicans have mustered 55 votes in support of Bolton, but will need 60 votes to confirm Bolton. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] resumed in Baghdad on Monday, though the former Iraqi leader was not in court due to his weekend hospitalization [JURIST report] after collapsing in jail [LA Times report] on the sixteenth day of his hunger strike protesting trial court procedures and a lack of adequate security for defense lawyers. Defense closing arguments were scheduled to continue Monday at the Iraqi High Tribunal, but several defense lawyers boycotted proceedings prompting one of Hussein's co-defendants, Barzan al-Tikriti, to reject his court-appointed lawyer. Closing arguments have already been delayed due to boycotts, and earlier this month presiding Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile] said he would appoint lawyers [JURIST report] to present the remaining closing arguments if the defense team continued to refuse to appear in court. Al-Tikriti told the court Monday that he was present against his will and urged the judge to let him leave the courtroom.

Hussein and his seven co-defendants are charged with crimes against humanity [JURIST report] for allegedly killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents, as well as committing other inhumane acts, in response to an alleged 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein. Prosecutors have called for the death penalty [JURIST report] in the case. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] An American Bar Association Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine [ABA materials] has determined [press release] that President Bush's practice of attaching signing statements [1993 DOJ backgrounder] to new laws "undermine[s] the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers." In a report and recommendations to be released Monday, the task force found that the frequency and purpose of signing statements has changed dramatically during the Bush administration. Bush has used signing statements to clarify his interpretation of laws and in some instances reserve the right to bypass laws more than 800 times, compared to just 600 signing statements for all other presidents combined. ABA president Michael Greco expressed concern that Bush's "unchecked" use of bill-signing statements "does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine." The task force recommended that Congress adopt legislation to allow the president, Congress or other entities to challenge signing statements in court any time the president claims he has the authority to change the bill duly enacted by Congress, and urged President Bush to veto bills instead of signing them with a statement attached. The ABA Board of Governors [ABA backgrounder] voted in early June to launch an inquiry [JURIST report; ABA press release] into President Bush's frequent use of signing statements to bypass provisions of new laws because of his interpretation of presidential and executive powers under the US Constitution. The bipartisan task force [member list] will report its findings to the ABA Board of Delegates at their annual meeting [ABA materials] in August, where the ABA policymakers will decide whether to adopt the task force findings and encourage legal challenges over signing statements.

In June, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michelle Boardman told [prepared remarks] the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] that President Bush's use of signing statements is "indistinguishable" [JURIST report] from practices of previous presidents, and the number of statements Bush has issued "is in keeping with the number issued by every President during the past quarter century." In January this year, President Bush controversially reserved the right to bypass a ban on torture [JURIST report] when he signed the 2006 defense spending bill [JURIST report], prompting criticism [JURIST report from even top Republican leaders. In February, the ABA adopted the findings of a similar task force [ABA materials] investigating the warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], which recommended [JURIST report] that Bush abide by the constitutional limitations placed on the president or work with Congress to enact new legislation if he believes current laws are inadequate. AP has more.

11:21 AM ET - The Task Force Report with Recommendations [PDF text] is now available.