[JURIST] US District Judge T.S. Ellis has upheld the constitutionality of the 1917 Espionage Act [18 USC 793 text; Wikipedia backgrounder], refusing to dismiss charges against two former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [advocacy website]. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman were indicted [PDF text; JURIST report] last year under the Espionage Act for allegedly conspiring to receive and disclose classified US defense information over a five-year period dating back to 1999. Rosen and Weissman asked Ellis to dismiss the charges, arguing that the law is unconstitutionally vague and violates their right to free speech. In an opinion [PDF text] Wednesday, Ellis rejected their points, concluding:

In the end, it must be said that this is a hard case, and not solely because the parties' positions and arguments are both substantial and complex. It is also a hard case because it requires an evaluation of whether Congress has violated our Constitution's most sacred values, enshrined in the First and the Fifth Amendment, when it passed legislation in furtherance of our nation's security. The conclusion here is that the balance struck by § 793 between these competing interests is constitutionally permissible because (1) it limits the breadth of the term "related to the national defense" to matters closely held by the government for the legitimate reason that their disclosure could threaten our collective security; and (2) it imposes rigorous scienter requirements as a condition for finding criminal liability.58

The conclusion that the statute is constitutionally permissible does not reflect a judgment about whether Congress could strike a more appropriate balance between these competing interests, or whether a more carefully drawn statute could better serve both the national security and the value of public debate. Indeed, the basic terms and structure of this statute have remained largely unchanged since the administration of William Howard Taft. The intervening years have witnessed dramatic changes in the position of the United States in world affairs and the nature of threats to our national security. The increasing importance of the United States in world affairs has caused a significant increase in the size and complexity of the United States' military and foreign policy establishments, and in the importance of our nation's foreign policy decision making. Finally, in the nearly one hundred years since the passage of the Defense Secrets Act mankind has made great technological advances affecting not only the nature and potential devastation of modern warfare, but also the very nature of information and communication. These changes should suggest to even the most casual observer that the time is ripe for Congress to engage in a thorough review and revision of these provisions to ensure that they reflect both these changes, and contemporary views about the appropriate balance between our nation's security and our citizens' ability to engage in public debate about the United States' conduct in the society of nations.

[JURIST] The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation [official website] has ordered [PDF text] that seventeen cases challenging the legality of the NSA's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] be transferred to the chief judge of the US Northern District of California [official website]. In an order issued Wednesday, the panel wrote:

On the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held, the Panel finds that these actions involve common questions of fact, and that centralization under Section 1407 in the Northern District of California will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation. All actions are purported class actions sharing factual and legal questions regarding alleged Government surveillance of telecommunications activity and the participation in (or cooperation with) that surveillance by individual telecommunications companies. Centralization under Section 1407 is necessary in order to eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings (particularly with respect to matters involving national security), and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary. ...

We conclude that the Northern District of California is an appropriate transferee forum in this docket because the district is where the first filed and significantly more advanced action is pending before a judge already well versed in the issues presented by the litigation. One of the Government's key arguments for centralization in this docket is its contention that, because of security concerns associated with the production of highly classified information, a framework should be created whereby a single transferee court (rather than the multiple courts where MDL-1791 actions and potential tag-along actions are now pending) would be charged with the task of reviewing any classified information that might need to be produced in connection with the plaintiffs' claims and the Government's assertion of the state secret defense. In that regard, the California district is one of the two districts in this litigation where a court has already established and utilized a procedure for reviewing classified information that the Government deems necessary to decide its state secret claim. On the other hand, the District of District of Columbia, which the forum choice of the movants, the Government and other responding defendants, is a district where no constituent MDL-1791 action is now pending. Centralization in the District of Columbia forum would thus require the very duplication and expansion of access to classified information that the Government deems to be so perilous.

[JURIST] A US federal appeals court opinion [PDF text] upholding the convictions of five accused Cuban spies [advocacy website] prompted condemnation from the Cuban government Thursday, who called the decision political and unfair. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, sitting en banc, on Wednesday handed down a 120-page decision overturning the decision of a three-judge Eleventh Circuit panel. In August 2005 the panel threw out the convictions [JURIST report] of the five defendants for being unregistered Cuban agents and for conspiring to commit murder, finding that media bias tainted the jury. The government appealed that decision and during a rehearing [JURIST reports] before the full appeals court, the defendants argued that "the pervasive community prejudice against the Cuban government and its agents and the publicity surrounding the trial that existed in Miami prevented them from obtaining a fair and impartial trial." Though the trial was held in Dade County, Florida, no Cuban-Americans served on the jury.

Writing for ten of the 12 circuit judges, as the same two judges who overturned the convictions in 2005 again sided with the defendants, Judge Charles Wilson wrote:

[The defendants] failed to show that so great a prejudice existed against them as to require a change of venue under Rule 21, in light of the court's effective use of prophylactic measures to carefully manage individual voir dire examination of each and every panel member and its successful steps to isolate the jury from every extrinsic influence. Under these circumstances, we will not disturb the district court's broad discretion in ruling that this is not one of those rare cases in which juror prejudice can be presumed.

[JURIST] Police in Argentina [JURIST news archive] have arrested three former officials suspected of human rights violations during the country's "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity.com backgrounder], the former military junta's campaign against its domestic opponents - at least 13,000 of whom "disappeared" from 1976 to 1983. Authorities arrested Raul Antonio Guglielminetti, a former intelligence agent, late Wednesday in connection with a series of disappearances at a Buenos Aires torture center. Police also arrested retired navy Vice Commodore Nestor Horacio Guillamondequi and former army Col. Ruben Victor Visuara. The three arrests came after federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issued 16 arrest warrants for suspects who allegedly took part in a systematic campaign of abductions, torture and executions during the Dirty War.

Last year, the Argentine Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] threw out the country's amnesty laws [JURIST report] that granted immunity to former government officials and on Saturday, an Argentine court convicted the first Dirty War suspect [JURIST report] in over 20 years. Former police investigator Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz [Project Disappeared profile] went on trial in June on murder, kidnapping and torture charges, making him the first former government official to stand trial [JURIST report] since the amnesty laws were overturned. Etchecolatz's trial is still ongoing. The amnesty laws, known as the Full Stop Law [text] and the Law of Due Obedience [text], were passed in the 1980s by the democratically elected government that replaced the junta and were meant to prevent rebellions among the military. AP has more. La Nacion has local coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika [BBC profile] on Thursday called for the resignation of Ishmael Wadi, Director of Public Prosecutions, who in July dropped [JURIST report] corruption charges against former President Bakili Muluzi [BBC profile] on the eve of Muluzi's trial. Mutharika, who was elected as Muluzi's hand-picked successor on a platform of ending government corruption, suspended the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) [official website] in July before the charges were dropped. Wadi previously said the charges against Muluzi were dropped because after the ACB director was fired, no one was left to prosecute the government's case [Herald report] because under Malawi procedure, only the ACB director can prosecute such cases.

Muluzi, who ruled Malawi [CIA backgrounder] from 1994 to 2004, had been charged with 42 counts of corruption, fraud and theft arising from allegations that he directed campaign contributions into his personal accounts through the Malawi embassy in Tunisia. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Dutch prosecutors have charged a Rwandan immigrant arrested in Amsterdam with committing war crimes and torture in Rwanda, officials said Thursday. Specifically, prosecutors alleged that "Joseph M." ordered the killing of several Tutsis that were dragged out of an ambulance and shot during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder]. The defendant, who was arrested earlier this week, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Dutch law permits the prosecution of persons residing in the Netherlands who are accused of committing war crimes in foreign nations. Since 2005, two other defendants have been prosecuted by the same team of Dutch detectives who arrested Joseph M. on Monday. In June, a Dutch court convicted [JURIST report] a former arms dealer of violating the UN embargo against former Liberian President Charles Taylor's government, and in December, a Dutch court sentenced a Dutch businessman to 15 years [JURIST report] in prison for complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals used to produce poison gas to the government of Saddam Hussein. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Swiss Justice Ministry [official website] has decided to grant US investigators access to information about bank accounts of terrorism suspects, a justice ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] requested the information in a four-year old investigation into money laundering to support terrorist activities. The US prosecutors suspect more than 100 charitable organizations have provided aid to terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, Hamas and the Palestinian jihad, through "complex financial transactions."

US prosecutors allege that more than $26 million was transferred through UK Isle of Man "entities" with bank accounts in Switzerland, and was then transferred to the charitable organizations. AP has more.

[JURIST] The human rights situation continues to deteriorate [press release] in some parts of Darfur [JURIST news archive] despite the Darfur Peace Agreement [DS backgrounder] signed in May by the Sudanese government and the main rebel group in the region, the Sudan Liberation Movement [Globalsecurity.org backgrounder], according to a report [PDF text] released Wednesday by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Mission in Sudan [official websites]. According to the report, the government and the SLA have respected the cease-fire, but fighting between smaller rebel groups has continued. In addition, militias continue to target civilian populations, reports of sexual violence have increased and "Parties to the conflict continued to violate principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the principle of military necessity and the principle of distinction."

The organizations conclude that "without additional government support, the DPA is doomed to failure, with the population of Darfur continuing to suffer grave violations of human rights as violence among competing armed groups in Darfur persists." According to a report [PDF text] issued by the UN Mission in Sudan, overall violence in Darfur increased during the month of July. The UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] The Australian House of Representatives [official website] approved the Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill [PDF text] by a margin of 78-62 Thursday, a bill that will require asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat to be processed in offshore camps. As expected [JURIST report], the bill passed despite opposition from four MPs within the governing Liberal Party [party website]. Three members of the governing party led by Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website] voted against the legislation, and one abstained, calling the legislation "profoundly disturbing." Critics of the bill condemn Howard for catering to Indonesia to resolve a diplomatic dispute between the two countries that arose after Australia gave visas to more than 40 Indonesian asylum seekers [BBC report] from Indonesia's Papua province earlier this year.

Under the current law, asylum seekers have their cases handled within mainland Australia, but the new law will divert most asylum seekers to a small island nation near the Equator called Nauru [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The legislation now moves onto the Senate, where the governing party faces a weak one-vote majority. The Senate will likely vote on the bill next week. VOA has more. The Australian has local coverage.

[JURIST] Efraim Zuroff, a director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center [advocacy website], urged Serbia on Wednesday to request the extradition [press release] of Ivo Rojnica and Milivoj Asner [Wikipedia profile], two Croatian-born men accused of committing atrocities against Jews, Serbs and Gypsies during World War II. As part of Operation: Last Chance [advocacy website], an initiative committed to bringing elderly Nazi war criminals to trial before they die, Zuroff met with Serb President Boris Tadic [official website] and other Serb Justice Ministry [official website] officials to urge Serbia to bring the two men to trial. Zuroff argues that Serbia could prosecute Rojnica and Asner even though they are not Serbian citizens because some of their alleged victims were Serbian.

Zuroff believes that Rojnica lives in Buenes Aires, Argentina and that Asner lives in Austria. Asner was indicted [OLC press release] by the Croatian government last year for crimes against humanity, but Austria refused to grant extradition because Asner has Austrian citizenship. In February, Zuroff condemned Austria [JURIST report] for failing to prosecute former Nazi war criminals, saying that the country had become a "paradise" for fugitives. AP has more.

[JURIST] An attorney for former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay [Houston Chronicle profile; JURIST news archive] has indicated that he intends to ask a federal court to vacate Lay's criminal convictions and dismiss the indictment in the case. Lawyer Samuel Buffone filed a motion in federal court Wednesday to supplant Lay's name in court records with Lay's estate, clearing the way for the lawyer to appear on Lay's behalf. Lay, who died in July [JURIST report], was convicted of six counts of fraud and conspiracy [JURIST report] in May. Lay's co-defendant Jeffery Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile] was convicted of 19 securities fraud, conspiracy, and insider trading counts, and will be sentenced on October 23.

As Lay died before his sentencing date and he was not afforded an opportunity to exhaust the appeals process, no final judgment was issued in the case. Without a final judgment entered against Lay, the court is expected to dismiss the indictment and the conviction, because Lay's death renders the case moot. Federal agents did not seize any of Lay's assets under a forfeiture order [motion text, PDF] that was filed days before Lay's death [Washington Post report], and if the court dismisses the conviction, the federal government will have no means of seizing property controlled by the Lay estate to compensate victims of the Enron collapse. Instead, victims will have to pursue civil remedies against Lay [JURIST report] in order to recover money lost when Enron [JURIST news archive] declared bankruptcy in 2001. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] on Wednesday introduced plans to give small public US companies and some foreign companies [SEC releases, PDF] additional time to comply [press release] with restrictive internal control requirements relating to financial reporting. The requirements were adopted by Congress in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [PDF text; SEC materials] in an effort to protect investors, and gave companies until fiscal years ending on or after July 15, 2007 to implement internal controls to ensure accurate financial reporting and to seek confirmation of the controls by an external auditor, but the new requirements would extend the deadline [JURIST report] until December 15, 2007 for small companies. Under the plan, the deadline for firms' outside auditors to evaluate the internal controls will also be extended until December 15, 2008. For foreign firms, the SEC plan would extend the deadline for internal control requirements until July 15, 2007.

In May, the SEC announced that all publicly traded firms, including small and mid-size firms, would be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [press release; JURIST report], despite complaints from small companies that the rules would be prohibitively expensive. The rules have prompted many small businesses to go private [JURIST report] in order to avoid the costs of compliance, according to a report [PDF text] from the Government Accountability Office. Dow Jones News has more.

[JURIST] The London Metropolitan Police Service [official website] announced Thursday that it had foiled an alleged terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several planes traveling from London's Heathrow airport [corporate website] and surrounding airports to various destinations in the United States and had arrested 21 people suspected to be involved. Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson [official profile] referred to the plot as a plan to "commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale," while UK Deputy Assistant Commissioner and head of the Met's Anti-Terrorism Branch [official website] Peter Clarke told the media [Met press release] that several suspects intended to hide explosives in carry-on luggage and detonate the explosives mid-flight. UK authorities acted early Thursday morning to arrest the suspects after an investigation that has lasted several months. Authorities arrested most of the suspects in London, but some hailed from Thames Valley and Birmingham.

US counterterrorism officials said Thursday that the terrorists had targeted flights on United, American and Continental airlines traveling to New York, California and Washington, DC. A senior US counterterrorism official also said that as many as 50 people were involved in the thwarted plot, adding that it had the "footprint" of al Qaeda on it. British authorities raised the threat level to "critical" [Home Office materials] indicating that an attack is expected imminently, while the US Department of Homeland Security [official website] raised the US aviation threat level to the highest level [TSA press release] for the first time since the warning system was implemented after the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive]. AP has more. BBC News has local coverage.