[JURIST] Valerie Plame, the undercover operative whose revealed identity precipitated the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive], and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, have now sued former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage [official profile] for serving as the primary source responsible for disclosing Plame's CIA affiliation to columnist Robert Novak in the summer of 2003. Armitage confirmed last week [JURIST report] that he had leaked confidential information concerning Plame's identity.

Plame and Wilson initially filed a lawsuit [JURIST report; complaint, PDF] in federal court in July against Vice President Dick Cheney, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove [official profile] and former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense trust profile] for their alleged roles in revealing her CIA status. Armitage will now be added to the list of defendants in that lawsuit. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US House Armed Services Committee [official website] approved [press release] its version of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text] Wednesday, a bill that would permit the use of military commissions [JURIST news archive] for terror detainees and enemy combatants. President Bush presented [JURIST report] the legislation [PDF text; White House fact sheet] to Congress last Friday.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) [official website], chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee [official website], said his committee will consider the compromise military commissions bill [JURIST report; PDF text] he has co-sponsored with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) [official website] and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official website] when it meets on Thursday. The three senators take issue with several provisions in the Bush administration's proposed bill, particularly as it conflicts with prisoners' rights guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials]. A meeting with CIA Director Michael Hayden [official profile] and acting Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury [SourceWatch profile] Wednesday failed to persuade the senators to adopt the administration's view.

The full House and Senate are not expected to vote on the military commissions bills until next week at the earliest. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Jordan military court concluded two separate terrorism cases Wednesday, convicting a total of 10 suspected militants, including two fugitives in absentia, of charges stemming from alleged plots to kill Americans in Jordan [JURIST news archive]. The court sentenced the suspects to terms ranging from 10 to 20 years with hard labor, though lawyers for both sets of defendants said they plan to appeal. The first case involved an alleged terrorist scheme conceived by four Jordanian citizens planning to target Americans working at and traveling to a US-run training center for Iraqi police. Most of the six suspects convicted in the second case were young Palestinian men, who allegedly planned to attack American nationals at resort locations in Jordan, including nightclubs and liquor stores. AP has more.

Last month, Jordan's National Assembly [official website] passed a controversial new anti-terrorism bill [JURIST report] that opposition parties claim is tantamount to "martial law" [JURIST report] and an impermissible curb on civil liberties. The legislation will take effect when King Abdullah II [official website] signs it into law. Last week a top UN official encouraged the Jordanian authorities to revisit the legislation [JURIST report] to address rights issues.

[JURIST] Two US congressmen on Wednesday filed a motion [PDF text; press release] in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] requesting Judge Emmett Sullivan [official profile] to order the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) [official website] to provide a reasoned explanation for its decision to treat tax-exempt 527 groups [Opensecrets.org backgrounder] on a case-by-case basis or, in the alternative, to issue new rules requiring the groups to adhere to federal campaign finance laws. The motion refers to the March 2006 ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] by Sullivan in a suit brought by Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) [official websites] that demanded an explanation for the case-by-case adjudication of 527 groups, which have been criticized as vehicles for political interest groups to avoid the soft-money restrictions required by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 [FEC materials], popularly known as the McCain-Feingold law. In the motion, Shays and Meehan urge immediate action due to the approaching 2006 congressional elections and 2008 presidential election, asking Sullivan to impose a deadline for providing an explanation, or to compel the FEC to identify a date when it will provide the explanation.

Since the March 2006 ruling, the FEC has made no attempt to explain its reasons for the move to case-by-case adjudication, but the commission did announce in June that it voted 4-2 in opposition to issuing new rules [JURIST report].

[JURIST] UK Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells [official profile] called for the redefinition of "war crimes" in light of the recent Mideast conflict [JURIST news archive] between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, during a Wednesday hearing [press release] of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament [official website]. Howells blamed the "ruthless" tactics of Hezbollah, such as storing weapons in schools and apartment blocks, for the need to reevaluate what constitutes a war crime. Facing questions from the panel, Howells refused to characterize Israel's actions as disproportionate, but claimed that the airstrikes were ineffective against an enemy like Hezbollah [CFR backgrounder]. Howells also defended UK and US actions in handling the region's unrest, asserting that any hesitation to intervene could be attributed to the desire for a permanent solution instead of a temporary ceasefire.

Last week, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] warned senior government and military officials [JURIST report] that inflammatory statements some made about the recent conflict with Lebanon, such as advocating the bombing of villages that housed Hezbollah rebels, could lead to war crimes prosecutions abroad. Israel has faced criticism concerning its airborne attacks on Lebanon and the resulting loss of civilian lives, including statements Howells made during a July visit to the region in which he questioned the nation's purported selection of civilian targets. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] approved the National Security Surveillance Act of 2006 [S 2453 summary] Wednesday, a bill that pushes forward Republicans' efforts to confer legal status on the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], which involves warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency [official website]. The bill would subject the program to a review to determine its legality by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [FJC backgrounder], established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text]. Sponsored by US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website], the bill also proposes to extend from three days to seven days the time surveillance can be performed before the FISC is formally petitioned for approval, and would require progress reports from the US attorney general twice a year. The bill gained passage to the full Senate with votes to approve from all ten Republican committee members, while all eight Democratic members voted against it. It is unlikely the bill will remain in its current form once it reaches the Senate, where division over its contents has led to the development of several amendments [AP report].

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives canceled markup for a bill [summary; JURIST report] sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) [official website] that would update FISA, most notably increasing the time period in which the government can conduct surveillance before obtaining a secret warrant from three to five days. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Texas' highest court for criminal cases announced Wednesday that it will consider whether to reinstate conspiracy charges [JURIST document] against former US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official profile; JURIST news archive]. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] granted a request [JURIST report] by Travis County Prosecutor Ronnie Earle [official profile], although it did not set a date for oral arguments. The charges of conspiracy to violate election law and conspiracy to commit money laundering were dismissed [JURIST report] last December after the trial court found that the campaign finance law DeLay allegedly broke was not enacted until after DeLay committed the acts for which he was indicted. In April, the Texas Third Court of Appeals affirmed that decision [JURIST report] but refused to dismiss money laundering charges [JURIST document]. In dismissing the conspiracy charges, the Third Court of Appeals noted that although Earle's arguments for reinstatement were strong, they conflicted with precedents established by the Court of Criminal Appeals. No trial date has been set for the money laundering charges.

DeLay and two other Republicans are accused of transferring $190,000 in corporate money directly to the Republican National Committee, which then donated the same amount to local Texas campaigns. DeLay and the other suspects have denied raising or spending money illegally. After he was indicted [JURIST report], DeLay stepped down as House majority leader and later resigned from Congress [JURIST reports]. DeLay withdrew his name from the November ballot [JURIST report] after several courts ruled that the Texas Republican Party could not name a new candidate to take his place. The Houston Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] China's Supreme People's Court [official website] has promulgated new rules aimed at preventing leaks of information regarding sensitive cases, and has established a system whereunder all court information will flow through court spokesmen, 65 of whom have already been appointed, according to a Wednesday China Daily report [text]. The report did not say how the new spokesman system would alter previous bans on the release of sensitive court information, nor did it detail the penalties now threatened for information leaks. A court spokesman said the new rules are aimed at increasing the transparency of judicial decision-making, though they explicitly ban spokesmen from discussing cases falling in certain "forbidden zones," including cases involving state and commercial secrets.

Announcement of the new court disclosure rules comes just days after China released new media regulations [JURIST report; text] restricting the domestic release of news and information by foreign news agencies. The regulations give China's official Xinhua News Agency [official website] ultimate rights of approval over the distribution and release of foreign news content in the country. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Tuesday ordered [PDF] the state of Missouri [JURIST news archive] to submit new protocols for carrying out the state death penalty [JURIST news archive] by lethal injection and has refused to authorize executions until revisions are approved. The order by US District Judge Fernando Gaitan [official profile], issued Tuesday, marks the second time that Missouri has had to make revisions after convicted murderer Michael Taylor [NCADP backgrounder] sued the state [case materials], claiming that Missouri's execution procedures were "constitutionally cruel" because an incorrect administration of the drug mixture could lead to severe pain for the inmate. The US Supreme Court [official website] in February refused to vacate [JURIST report] a previous stay of execution for Taylor but also denied certiorari in Taylor's case challenging lethal injection.

In July, Gaitan ordered [JURIST report] a board-certified anesthesiologist to assist in the executions, but state officials were unable to find an appropriate person. Gaitan said he would accept the state's proposal to instead have a physician assist, but said the selected doctor must be in good standing with the Missouri licensing board and cannot be someone who has received disciplinary action from the board. A spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections [official website] said the judge's order surpasses what is normally necessary to comply with constitutional standards for death penalties. The deadline for Missouri to submit its revised protocols is October 27. AP has more.

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website, English version] has said he will not make an exception to the Russian Constitution [text] or other laws in order to pursue a third term [JURIST news archive] for himself in the scheduled 2008 Russian election. In a transcript [text, in Russian] posted on the Kremlin's website Tuesday, Putin was quoted as acknowledging public polls indicating that the people of Russia [JURIST news archive] want internal stability, but said this could not be accomplished through the continued presence of one person, suggesting instead that adherence to the constitution by everyone, including himself, would be better for society.

Putin made his remarks during a meeting with members of the Valdai Discussion Club [group website] last week. The club brings together Russian affairs experts and leaders of main foreign policy and research think tanks. Itar-Tass has more.

[JURIST] The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) [official website] presented a report [text] to the Australian Parliament [official website] Wednesday recommending [ALRC press release] that references to the term "sedition" in the new Australian anti-terrorism laws [ANS materials] be removed. The ALRC report presents the group's conclusions after a five-month inquiry. ALRC President David Weisbrot said that continued use of the word is misleading because the public otherwise supports the aim of the new legislation:

We found that there is a real problem in the current law's continued use of the word "sedition," which is historically associated with stifling and punishing criticism of the established authority. Once you get beyond the term, there is support for the basic thrust of the new offenses.

The Report recognizes that free speech and robust political debate are cornerstones of Australian society. The feedback we've received during our consultations makes it plain that we need a clear distinction in the law between free speech and conduct calculated to incite violence in the community—which properly should be the subject of the criminal law.

[JURIST] The National Assembly of Serbia [official website] voted 219-5 on Tuesday to refer to Kosovo as an "integral and historic" part of Serbia [press release] in Serbia's forthcoming constitution, voicing its opposition to efforts by Kosovo [government website; JURIST news archive] to form a fully independent nation. UN-sponsored talks over the Kosovo issue began in February [IHT report]; in July Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica [official profile] offered the territory - still technically a Serbian province - "substantial autonomy" within Serbia, but the offer was rejected by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian President Fatmir Sejdiu [BBC profile]. Serbia insists that Kosovo is still legally part of Serbia [BBC report] under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 [text, PDF], but leaders of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority see independence as their only legitimate option [BBC report] for their continued survival.

The United Nations has governed Kosovo since North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website] forces drove the Serbian military out of the province in 1999 [JURIST archive; Wikipedia backgrounder] after Serbs began a campaign that resulted in the displacement of some 300,000 ethnic Albanian residents. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft [BBC profile], who resigned from the post in November 2004, told an audience at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Tuesday that President Bush has done less harm to civil liberties than any other wartime president in US history, and said that Bush administration efforts to combat terrorism, including the USA Patriot Act [JURIST news archive], were "narrowly tailored" to the threat presented. Over catcalls from students, Ashcroft said that when drafting the Patriot Act, DOJ lawyers always acted within the limits of the US Constitution, and that his greatest failure as attorney general was not doing a good job of promoting the legislation as a necessary weapon in the war on terror.

Ashcroft also reminded the crowd that in March the Senate passed [JURIST report] a Patriot Act reauthorization bill 89-10. The bill incorporated several additional civil liberties protections, including allowing recipients of Section 215 subpoenas for information in terror investigations to be able to challenge the accompanying gag order; eliminating a requirement that people who receive National Security Letters (NSL) [sample text, PDF; ACLU backgrounder] must provide the FBI the names of lawyers consulted about the NSL; and a clarification to ensure that libraries functioning in their traditional roles would not be subject to NSLs. John Ashcroft is currently Chairman of The Ashcroft Group, a corporate strategic consulting firm, and serves as a Distinguished Professor in the schools of Law and Government [faculty profile] at Regent University. The Raleigh News & Observer has local coverage. The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper, has more.

[JURIST] The US military will not pursue the death penalty against US Marine Corps [official website] Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr. [legal defense fund blog] in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania [JURIST news archive], a military prosecutor said Tuesday during an Article 32 [JAG backgrounder; UCMJ text] hearing. Shumate, 21, is accused of firing at Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] and then providing false official statements to investigators. Eight US service members allegedly dragged Awad out of his home, shot him and placed an AK-47 rifle and a shovel near his body to make him look as if he had been burying a roadside bomb.

The seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were charged [JURIST report] in June, and in late August, prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty [JURIST report] for co-defendant Pfc. John Jodka III, who is accused of firing the deadly shots at Awad. Another co-defendant who was involved in the Article 32 hearing with Jodka, Cpl. Marshall Magincalda, is charged with kidnapping Awad and binding his feet. The other members of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, [official website] based in Camp Pendleton, CA, are expected to face preliminary court-martial hearings in the coming weeks. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] A lawyer for Momin Khawaja [CBC backgrounder], the first person charged [JURIST report] under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act [text; CBC backgrounder], urged an Ontario Superior Court judge Tuesday to strike down the anti-terror legislation because it is unconstitutionally vague and violates several provisions of the Canadian Charter on Rights and Freedoms [text]. In a second day of arguments, Lawrence Greenspon told the court that the anti-terror legislation, passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, was rushed through parliament and was a "mockery of parliamentary legislation." Greenspon argued that the law is "so broad and vague in scope that a vast array of activities that nobody would perceive to be terrorism-related risk being caught under these provisions" and violates multiple charter rights, including freedoms of religion, association and expression.

Khawaja, the Canadian-born son of Pakistani immigrants, was arrested in March 2004 and is accused of knowingly participating in or contributing to the activities of a terrorist group and of knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity. His trial is scheduled to begin in January. Canadian Press has more. CanWest News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Munqidh Al Faraun, the chief prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] requested Wednesday that presiding judge Abdullah al-Amiri remove himself from the case for reasons of bias, specifically, for allowing defense lawyers to make politically-charged statements in court. Al-Amiri was named trial judge [JURIST report] in August of the second Hussein trial [BBC timeline], this one involving the so-called "Anfal" operation [HRW backgrounder] that killed 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s. Reminding prosecutors of his long tenure as a judge, al-Amiri refused the requests for removal.

The trial resumed [JURIST report] in Baghdad this week after several weeks adjournment and the court heard testimony [JURIST report] from survivors who described the aftermath of the chemical weapons bombing campaign. Hussein and his co-defendants are all charged with crimes against humanity [JURIST report] and Hussein and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile], known as "Chemical Ali," also face more serious charges of genocide. In August, Kurdish witnesses testified about the alleged Anfal gas attack [JURIST report], when they described two planes flying over two Kurdish villages dropping chemical weapons on the villagers and said that many people were blinded in the attacks, though defense lawyers say the witnesses were coached. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] The chief US prosecutor for the military tribunals [JURIST news archive] at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters Tuesday that his office has begun preparing charge sheets for the 14 high-profile terror suspects [DNI profiles, PDF] who have been transferred from secret CIA prisons to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report]. Col. Moe Davis also reminded reporters that military lawyers are just beginning to work on the cases, and that the charge sheets should not be expected in the immediate future.

New charges against terror detainees cannot be filed in Guantanamo military commissions until Congress passes legislation to authorize the tribunals, given the June US Supreme Court ruling that the military commissions as initially constituted lacked proper legal authorization [JURIST report; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld text]. The White House sent Congress a military commissions bill [JURIST report] last week and two other proposed bills have been offered by members of Congress.

Among the terror suspects who were recently transferred to Guantanamo Bay is Khalid Sheik Mohammed [BBC profile], the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer [official profile; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday blasted the US for denying Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees adequate access to the judicial system. In a speech [text] delivered in Sydney, Australia, on "The Role of Judges in a Modern Democracy," Falconer, who also serves as Britain's Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said:

It is a part of the acceptance of the rule of law that the courts will be able to exercise jurisdiction over the executive. Otherwise the conduct of the executive is not defined and restrained by law. It is because of that principle, that the USA, deliberately seeking to put the detainees beyond the reach of the law in Guantanamo Bay, is so shocking an affront to the principles of democracy. That we disagree on this issue does not detract from the fact that the USA is a close and staunch ally of the UK. Without independent judicial control, we cannot give effect to the essential values of our society. To give effect to our democratic values needs the participation of executive, legislature, and judiciary together. How well they do it, as in every endeavour, depends on the quality of the individual decisions each branch of the state takes. The ability to give effect to these values is not just the morally correct position to take, though I believe it is most certainly that. It is also a vital part of providing security for our peoples.