[JURIST] The 14 "high-value" terror suspects [DNI profiles, PDF] recently transferred from secret CIA prisons to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report] are expected to face Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] hearings in the next two to three months, according to Navy Capt. Phil Waddingham, director of the US Defense Department's Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants. Among the 14 is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile], the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Represented by US military counsel, detainees can choose to attend their Combat Status Review Tribunals in which a three-member panel determines if a detainee can continue to be held as an enemy combatant, or if he should be released to his home country. AP has more.

Last week, the chief US prosecutor for military tribunals [JURIST news archive] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] said his office had started preparing the suspects' charge sheets [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed a bill [HR 4844 text, PDF] Wednesday 228-196 [roll call] that would require voters to present valid photo ID cards [JURIST news archive] when they head to the polls to vote in federal elections starting in 2008, thereby amending the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 [text; DOJ fact sheet]. By 2010, under the bill, voters would have to present identification that certifies they are US citizens. In addition, the bill contains a provision requiring that states provide the required documentation to indigent citizens free of charge.

Republican supporters of the measure, including US Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) [official website], one of the bill's co-sponsors and chair of the House Administration Committee [official website], said it would ensure integrity in the election process [press release] and combat fraud. Democratic opponents of the bill, such as US Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) [official website] have argued a voter ID law will disproportionately disadvantage the poor, minorities, and the elderly [statement text]. Similar bills have been struck down in various states, most recently Georgia, where a state judge Tuesday ruled the latest state voter ID law unconstitutional [JURIST report]. The House bill requires Senate passage and Presidential signature before becoming law. AP has more.

[JURIST] The much-anticipated trial of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [party profile] ended abruptly Wednesday, when the high court judge presiding over the case threw out the corruption charges [JURIST report] against Zuma, saying prosecutors had failed to follow proper procedures. Prosecutors still retain the right to refile the charges against Zuma at a later date, as the judge did dismiss the entire case, which has already been postponed twice [JURIST report].

Zuma, who remains deputy president of South Africa's ruling African National Congress [party website], has indicated repeatedly that he intends to run against South African President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile] in the 2009 presidential election, and observers have suggested that Wednesday's ruling helps his chances in that vote. Reuters has more. From South Africa, the Mail & Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] The state of California filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against six leading US and Japanese car manufacturers on Wednesday, alleging that vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases [EPA backgrounder] from cars made by the companies have contributed to global warming constituting a 'public nuisance' that has cost it millions of dollars. The said [press release] complaint brought by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer against Chrysler, General Motors Corporation, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan alleges that vehicles manufactured by the companies "currently account for nearly 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and more that 30 percent in California."

California passed the nation's first bill [JURIST report] to restrict greenhouse gas emissions in early September. The legislation's goal is to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent before 2020. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa was appointed Wednesday to preside over the second Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive], replacing Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri who was removed at the Iraqi government's insistence [JURIST report] on Tuesday. Defense lawyers walked out of the court in protest of the replacement, and Hussein was later ordered to be removed from the court room after a heated exchange with al-Khalifa over Hussein's rejection of court-appointed lawyers. The court continued with business after Hussein's removal, as Kurdish witnesses took the stand to continue testifying about the chemical attacks that took placed during the so-called "Anfal" campaign [HRW backgrounder].

Al-Amiri was removed Tuesday because the Iraqi government believed he had "lost his neutrality." 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 charges of genocide. Hussein is currently awaiting a verdict in the Dujail crimes against humanity case [JURIST report] for which he is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website] on Wednesday unanimously acquitted [press release] former education minister Andre Rwamakuba [ICTR case materials] on genocide charges, ruling [judgment, PDF; summary, PDF] that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Rwamakuba, also a physician, was charged [indictment, PDF] with genocide, or alternatively, complicity in genocide, and extermination and murder as crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering the massacre of Tutsis who sought refuge in hospitals.

According to the court's press release:

In its Judgement, the Chamber found that the evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against Rwamakuba. The Chamber was convinced that the testimony of Prosecution witnesses was mainly indirect and hearsay evidence and undermined by significant credibility and reliability issues. Furthermore, the Chamber heard testimony from Defence witnesses, including Tutsis survivors, that the Accused was not present at the time and location of the events and was not involved in the massacres that took place in Gikomero commune and at Butare University Hospital in April 1994.

[JURIST] Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz [Project Disappeared profile], former chief investigator of the Buenos Aires province police, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for his role during the Dirty War [GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] in Argentina [JURIST news archive]. With the conviction, Etchecolatz becomes the second person to be sentenced for crimes committed during the Dirty War since the Argentine Supreme Court [official website] in June 2005 struck down two amnesty laws [JURIST report], known as the Full Stop Law [text] and the Law of Due Obedience [text], blocking prosecution of crimes committed during the nation's 1976-83 dictatorship.

Etchecolatz's trial began on June 20 [JURIST report]. In August, Julio Simon was sentenced to 25 years [JURIST report] in prison for the disappearance of two people and the abduction of their daughter during the Dirty War, making him the first former official sentenced after the amnesty laws were lifted. AP has more.

[JURIST] A senior Spanish judicial officer said Tuesday that 29 suspects accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive] are scheduled to go on trial in February 2007, with the proceeding ending by July and a final decision expected by October. A Spanish judge originally charged the 29 defendants [JURIST report] in April. Five of the 29 are accused of 191 murders and 1,755 attempted murders, representing the casualty figures in the terror attacks, while 24 others will stand trial as accomplices. A Spanish National Court judge confirmed [JURIST report] the charges in July.

The massive charge documents [PDF text in Spanish, parts 1, 2, 3 and 4] are based on evidence ranging from phone records to financial statements. They conclude, however, that al Qaeda was not directly responsible for the attacks. After the charges were announced in April, Spanish lawmakers have drafted legislation to compensate terror victims [JURIST report] and fund programs to assist victims with finding new jobs and homes. Seven bombing suspects committed suicide during raids that occurred weeks after the attacks. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website; BBC profile] called for a ban on the "defamation of Islam" during his speech [PDF text] at the 61st Session [materials] of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. Citing feelings in the Muslim world of "desperation and injustice" in the face of oppression and the war on terror, Musharraf said:

We also need to bridge, through dialogue and understanding, the growing divide between the Islamic and Western worlds. In particular, it is imperative to end racial and religious discrimination against Muslims and to prohibit the defamation of Islam. It is most disappointing to see personalities of high standing oblivious of Muslim sensitivities at these critical moments.

[JURIST] The government of Rwanda and the UN-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday resolved a dispute [JURIST report] over the court's alleged hiring of genocide suspects by agreeing to improve information-sharing mechanisms and to conduct background checks on job applicants to avoid the problem in the future. The row erupted when the ICTR successfully pressed Tanzania to release ICTR employee Callixte Gakwaya [press release], a lawyer accused of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder] who also appears on Interpol wanted lists. Last week, the Rwandan government threatened to sever ties with the ICTR unless the court fired all employees accused of participating in the genocide.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame [BBC profile] in June criticized the tribunal as inefficient [JURIST report], noting it has convicted fewer than 40 people since its inception. The ICTR was established by the UN in 1997 to investigate the genocide that left 800,000 dead. Reuters has more. IRIN has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Mexican officials are willing to begin extraditing suspected drug lords held in Mexican custody to the US to face drug charges, Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website; BBC profile] said Tuesday at a press conference in New York. On Monday, alleged cartel mastermind Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix [Wikipedia profile], who was the first major accused drug dealer to be extradited from Mexico, pleaded not guilty to cocaine distribution charges [AP report]. The US has reportedly requested the extradition of at least three other alleged kingpins.

Felix was extradited to US custody over the weekend after Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] signed off on the prisoner transfer, two years after the extradition was approved by a Mexican judge. In November 2005, The Supreme Court of Mexico [official website] ruled that prisoners serving life sentences can be extradited abroad [JURIST report], overturning a 2001 decision [EscapingJustice.com backgrounder] that prevented such prisoners from answering to charges in the US insofar as punishment there might be cruel and unusual and not directed at rehabilitation of the prisoner. A 1978 treaty between the US and Mexico still prevents the extradition of prisoners who face the death penalty. AP has more.

[JURIST] Canada's House of Commons [official website] on Tuesday voted 172-116 to approve a controversial softwood lumber trade agreement [PDF text] between Canada and the US that would end a two-decades old trade dispute between the two countries by removing punitive tariffs now levied against Canadian timber and refunding 80 percent of collected tariffs, or approximately $4 billion, back to Canadian lumber companies. After Tuesday's vote, observers expect the bill to survive future parliamentary votes. In July, Canada and the US initialed the deal [Canada PM press release] over the objections of Canada's timber industry, which want to be reimbursed for 100 percent of the collected tariffs.

The long-festering [BC government backgrounder] softwood lumber dispute [CBC backgrounder] was revived in 2001 when the US argued that Canada was unfairly subsidizing its lumber industry. In August of this year, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled that US timber tariffs violate international trade laws, reversing April's panel decision favoring the United States [JURIST report], which Canada appealed. The Appellate Body found that the US method of calculating the anti-dumping tariffs, known as zeroing, arrived at artificially high prices because it did not take into account transactions in which Canadian lumber sold at higher prices than US lumber. AFP has more. Canada's Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Tuesday defended US conduct in handling the Maher Arar [advocacy website; CBC timeline] case, saying that while the US did in fact deport the Canadian citizen, the US was "not responsible for his removal to Syria," and that if US officials had rendered Arar to Syria, they only would have done so if they received assurances that Arar would not be tortured. Arar was detained in 2002 during a layover at New York's JFK airport on a flight home to Canada from Tunisia; he was detained by US immigration officials and then, after a brief stopover in Jordan, sent to Syria, where he was born. Arar alleged he was deported so that he could be tortured in Syria, where he eventually made false admissions of terrorist activity. He was released from Syrian custody in 2003. A Canadian official judicial inquiry, the Arar Commission [official website], established to trace events leading to Arar's deportation to Syria, released [JURIST report] its findings [commission materials] Monday. The commission concluded that the US may have acted upon information provided by the RCMP, Canada's federal police force, that was inaccurate and unfair and that overstated Arar's importance to an ongoing terrorism investigation. When asked about the report during a press conference [transcript], Gonzales said:

Well, we were not responsible for his removal to Syria, I'm not aware that he was tortured, and I haven't read the Commission report. Mr. Arar was deported under our immigration laws. He was initially detained because his name appeared on terrorist lists, and he was deported according to our laws.

Some people have characterized his removal as a rendition. That is not what happened here. It was a deportation. And even if it were a rendition, we understand as a government what our obligations are with respect to anyone who is rendered by this government to another country, and that is that we seek to satisfy ourselves that they will not be tortured. And we do that in every case. And if in fact he had been rendered to Syria, we would have sought those same kind of assurances, as we do in every case.

[JURIST] Thai Army chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin [BBC profile; Sobaka profile], who led Tuesday's coup ousting the Thai civilian government [JURIST report], told reporters Wednesday that he will serve as acting prime minister and hopes to find a replacement prime minister and enact a temporary constitution within two weeks. Sondhi also said Thailand will hold a general parliamentary election in October 2007. Sondhi orchestrated the nonviolent coup while Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official website] was in New York City attending the opening of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly. When asked whether the provisional government intends to seize Thaksin's considerable assets, Sondhi said that lawbreakers will be prosecuted under the law.

In the US, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asserted that the coup threatens human rights [press release] in Thailand, saying that "[t]he return of tanks to the streets of Bangkok is clear evidence that the rights of all Thais are in jeopardy." HRW urged military leaders to "immediately restore fundamental human rights and protect those exercising their rights to free expression, association and assembly." Similarly, the Asian Human Rights Commission condemned the coup [press release], and the coup organizers' decision to dissolve the Thai Constitutional Court [official website], saying:

It has no place in Thailand at a time that parliamentary democracy, despite difficulties, was maturing and taking root, and at a time that the courts were playing a growing role in securing the rule of law there. The coup amounts to a complete rejection of all international laws and standards to which Thailand has in recent years, to one degree or another, sought to adhere.

The Asian Human Rights Commission makes the following calls:

1. The Royal Thai Army must immediately renounce power and allow for a return to a caretaker civilian government by the most effective and expedient means possible.

2. The Supreme Court of Thailand should, in the absence of the Constitution Court, declare the coup unconstitutional and order the immediate restoration of the constitution. ...

[JURIST] The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved policies requiring judges to disclose their sponsors when traveling to attend seminars, and to investigate financial conflicts of interest more closely. Under the first measure [PDF text], nongovernmental sources who pay for judges to attend seminars must disclose their patronage on the Judicial Branch website [official website] and judges must produce a follow-up report, to be filed on local court web sites. In addition, a new Mandatory Conflict Screening Policy [PDF text] will require judges to use special software to ensure that they are not assigned to cases in which they have a financial stake. The new policies will apply to all federal judges with the exception of US Supreme Court justices, who are not subject to any official oversight. AP has more.

Meanwhile a six-member panel charged by late Chief Justice William Rehnquist to investigate the handling of complaints about alleged judicial misconduct has reported revealed that judges mishandled complaints against their colleagues in thirty percent of high profile cases between 2000 and 2005. According to a report [PDF text; press release] submitted by US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer [LII profile], who chaired the panel, errors occurred in the handling of 5 of 17 complaints. In ordinary circumstances, however, the panel said complaints were handled adequately. Reuters has more.