[JURIST] A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction blocking a planned strike by flight attendants for Northwest Airlines [corporate website]. Urged to intervene by both the airline and the US Department of Justice (DOJ), US District Judge Victor Marrero set a Wednesday deadline for parties to determine whether continued talks on a disputed pay cut are possible. Northwest welcomed the decision [press release], saying it "remain committed to negotiating a consensual agreement with our flight attendants and hope to accomplish that goal in the near future." The Northwest flight attendants [union website; legal documents] said, however, that although the courts have stalled strike plans, flight attendants will continue to plan a work stoppage [press release, PDF].

In a filing [Reuters report] Wednesday the DOJ argued that a strike would violate the US Railway Labor Act [text; Wikipedia backgrounder] in addition to causing significant disruptions to the US air transportation system. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepal's Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) on Friday presented a draft constitution [PDF text, in Nepali] to government officials and Maoist rebel representatives participating in the negotiations. The interim draft encompassing 172 articles is designed to replace the current constitution [text] until a new representative body is elected and drafts a permanent constitution. The six-person ICDC was formed in July under an agreement [text; JURIST report] between the interim civilian government and Maoist rebels. The draft specifies that "sovereign rights and executive powers are vested in the people" and outlines procedures for electing the new representative body to draft a permanent constitution. A three-member Constituent Assembly Court, part of the current Supreme Court of Nepal [official website], is established to manage the elections and resolve disputes that may occur during elections, and a range of fundamental political and social rights have been specified for explicit protection.

Maoist representatives have expressed reservations [JURIST report] that the draft interim constitution does not adequately address the key issue of whether the new government should retain elements of the monarchical system brought into precipitous disrepute after King Gyanendra [official profile] took over direct rule of the country in early 2005 and held it for over a year until mass pro-democracy demonstrations [JURIST news archive] forced him to return power to a civilian government. The ICDC has recommended a referendum be held on the monarchy's fate, but Nepalese Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said Friday that negotiations will continue on that issue. The draft interim constitution must now be ratified. AFP has more. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] US District Judge James Brady has issued a preliminary injunction [ruling, PDF] preventing Louisiana state officials from enforcing a recently enacted statute [PDF text] banning the sale of violent video games to minors. Brady ruled that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) [trade website] and the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) [trade website], "are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments." The two industry groups sued the state [press release] in June, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The statute forbids the sale or rental of electronic games to anyone under age 18 if:

(1) The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the video or computer game, taken as a whole, appeals to the minor's morbid interest in violence.
(2) The game depicts violence in a manner patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors.
(3) The game, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

[JURIST] Law enforcement agencies in Kyrgyzstan have been detaining asylum seekers from neighboring Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] in recent weeks as part of Kyrgyz counterterrorism sweeps, and several asylum seekers have disappeared and have possibly been forcibly returned to Uzbekistan, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] said Friday. HRW expressed concern [press release] that four disappeared Uzbek asylum seekers are in danger and urged the "United Nations, the European Union and Washington [to] call upon the Kyrgyz government to protect refugees and asylum seekers." If the four men have been transported back to Uzbekistan, HRW said they could be forced to publicly incriminate themselves and others as part of the Uzbek government's campaign to shift blame away from government troops for the deaths of hundreds of people in the Andijan massacre and whitewash the government's appalling human rights record." Kyrgyz officials have denied any involvement in the disappearances.

Earlier this month, Kyrgyz officials authorized the extradition of a group of refugees and asylum seekers back to Uzbekistan, prompting condemnation [JURIST report] from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. Dozens of Uzbeks sought refuge in Kyrgyzstan after last year's unrest in Andijan [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. In May 2005, thousands of demonstrators protesting the trial of 23 businessmen on religious extremism charges stormed a prison [JURIST report], allowing about 2,000 inmates including the businessmen to escape. In response, the government troops killed as many as 500 demonstrators [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Chinese court of Friday sentenced New York Times researcher Zhao Yan [HRIC profile, PDF] to three years in prison for fraud charges, but also dismissed more serious charges of illegally leaking state secrets. Zhao was convicted of taking $2,500 from a village official. He was initially also charged with providing state secrets to foreigners, and had he been convicted on those charges Zhao could have faced an additional 10-year sentence in a high-security prison.

Zhao was formally indicted [JURIST report] on the state secrets charges in December after a 2004 New York Times report [text] revealing the resignation of Jiang Zemin as head of the military before it was formally announced by the government. The charges were dropped in March, but China continued to detain Zhao and eventually reinstated the charges, a process which Chinese officials maintained was legal [JURIST reports].
Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US State Department [official website] has opened an investigation into whether Israel used cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder; Cluster Munition Coalition advocacy website] in Lebanon during the most recent Middle East conflict [JURIST news archive] in violation of several US-Israel agreements restricting the use of the weapons, the New York Times reported Friday. Last month, advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Israel [press release] of using cluster grenades in an attack on a Hezbollah village in south Lebanon, allegations which Israeli officials have denied [JURIST report]. Cluster munitions 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 [text] of the Geneva Conventions (1977). At the time of its initial report, HRW said that the weapons used by Israel were not necessarily supplied by the United States and could have been Israeli-made.

The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls [official website] opened its investigation earlier this week, according to a State Department official, based on allegations that US-made cluster bombs have been found in Southern Lebanon. The investigation is focusing on whether Israeli use of the weapons violates several decades-old agreements requiring that the weapons only be used against clearly defined military targets or the Arms Export Control Act [text], which authorizes use of the weapons only for self-defense. The State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement [official website], has meanwhile also pledged emergency aid to help defuse unexploded mines [Washington File report] and cluster munitions in Lebanon. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [JURIST news archive] expressed disappointment Thursday in recent court decisions preventing the Texas Republican Party from removing his name as a congressional candidate in the November elections, saying that he was "very disappointed in our justice system." DeLay was forced to withdraw his name from the Texas ballot [statement; JURIST report] after US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied a request [JURIST reports] from the Texas Republican Party to stay a federal appeals court ruling [text, PDF] preventing the party from replacing DeLay with another GOP candidate. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] ruled earlier this month that the Texas GOP could not simply replace DeLay's name on the ballot because DeLay, who now resides in Virginia, could return to Texas before election day. Republicans are not able to name a candidate to replace DeLay after he withdrew, and are instead relying on write-in candidates.

DeLay told a Texas television station that "there doesn't seem to be justice" and that GOP efforts to replace him on the Texas ballot were not "bungled" but were in line with legal requirements. DeLay resigned from Congress [JURIST report] earlier this year after winning a March primary for his congressional seat. He is awaiting a Texas trial on money laundering and conspiracy charges [JURIST report] for allegedly using corporate money to fund legislative campaigns. AP has more.

NEW ON JURIST  Op-ed: Why the Fifth Circuit Was Wrong About Tom DeLay

[JURIST] US Army Lt. Col. Mark Keith, the investigating officer with recommending whether 1st Lt. Ehren Watada [advocacy website; Wikipedia profile] will face a military trial for refusing to deploy to Iraq, will recommend Friday that Watada face court-martial on charges [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] of missing his unit's movement, contempt toward officials, and conduct unbecoming an officer. A spokesman for Fort Lewis said Thursday that Keith will recommend that the case against Watada proceed to a general court-martial. Keith's report now goes to Fort Lewis commander Lt. Gen. James Dubik and Col. Cynthia Murphy, the commander of Watada's brigade, for a final decision.

If the case proceeds to trial and Watada is convicted on all charges, he could face a seven-year prison sentence and a dishonorable discharge from the Army. Watada announced in early June that he would not deploy because he believes the Iraq war is unlawful [JURIST report], adding that he would go to Afghanistan if called to do so. AP has more. The Seattle Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Defense Department said Thursday that Murat Kurnaz [AI case sheet; chronology, PDF], a Turkish citizen who is also a legal resident of Germany, has been transferred [press release] from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] into German custody. Kurnaz's release, which was expected [JURIST report], comes at the recommendation of a Guantanamo Administrative Review Board [DOD materials]. The panel recommended last year that Kurnaz be released, but the actual release was delayed while US and German negotiators worked out the conditions of his release, including assurances from German authorities that Kurnaz would be treated humanely and that steps would be taken to ensure that Kurnaz "does not pose a threat to the international community, Germany or the United States."

Kurnaz was arrested in Pakistan in 2001 and transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2002. His lawyers say that Kurnaz was not involved in terrorism and that the US government's evidence against him is "tangential" and "preposterous." Last year, Kurnaz claimed [JURIST report] that he had been subjected to torture, physical abuse and sexual humiliation by US interrogators. AFP has more.

4:34 PM ET - Kurnaz's lawyer said Friday that Kurnaz was blindfolded and in chains during the trip to Germany, saying he was "humiliated and dishonored to the very end by the Americans." The lawyer also repeated allegations that Kurnaz had been tortured while held at Guantanamo Bay. Reuters has more.