[JURIST] The US House of Representatives [official website] Wednesday rejected by a vote of 250-162 [roll call] a controversial bill [summary] that would have mandated medical practitioners to inform women seeking an abortion after 20 weeks of the pain the procedure causes to an unborn fetus. The Unknown Child Awareness Act, HR 6099 [text], introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) [official website], would also also require women to decide in writing whether fetal anesthesia is used in the procedure. Acknowledging the near certainty of its rejection, the bill's supporters said they proposed the vote to spur debate on the issue.

Last week, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) [official website] encouraged the House to approve the bill [statement] and send the legislation to the Senate, where he promised to seek a vote. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa [official profile] ordered the Zambian Police Service [official website] Wednesday to ban future rallies led by populist opposition politician Michael Sata [party profile], disregarding recommendations by national Solicitor-General Sunday Nkonde. Mwanawasa had ordered police to stop the rallies led by Sata's supporters, but Nkonde overruled the orders [AFP report] and allowed the meetings to occur. Mwanawasa said the rallies incite riots and hatred and accused Sata of treasonous offenses. He went on to ask Nkonde to resign [Times of Zambia report] if he was unhappy with his official orders.

Following his arrest [JURIST report] Tuesday for financial improprieties concerning declared assets on his presidential candidate form, Sata pleaded not guilty [SomaliNet report] Wednesday to charges of false declaration of wealth, which carry a two-year minimum jail term. Sata is a vocal critic of the Mwanawasa, who was elected to a second five-year term as president in September 2006 over Sata, who finished second. In August 2005, Sata was charged with espionage [JURIST report] for his alleged incitement of explosions caused by workers at the Konkola Copper Mines during employment strikes. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Sri Lanka [government website] cabinet enacted strict new anti-terror laws Wednesday that ban individuals from aiding anyone "engaged in terrorism" and prohibit the wearing of uniforms "relating to terrorism." The new laws also give police and security forces additional broad powers to arrest and interrogate terror suspects. The laws come as a response to the increasing conflict and violence between Sri Lanka security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elena (LTD) [COFFER backgrounder; faction website], or "Tamil Tigers." BBC News has more.

In September, human rights groups called [JURIST report] on the UN Human Rights Council [official website] to support an independent watchdog to guard against human rights violations in the conflict. The Tamil Tigers have demanded that the government of Sri Lanka establish an independent ethnic state for Tamils within the current boundaries of Sri Lanka, a demand the government has rejected since the 1970s. Over 60,000 people are estimated to have died since the Tamil Tigers began an open rebellion in 1972. In August, US officials arrested eight Tamil Tigers [JURIST report] for allegedly attempting to buy weapons in the United States to use against the Sri Lankan military.

[JURIST] Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Roy Belfast Jr. and Charles Taylor Jr., son of former Liberia [JURIST news archive] president Charles Taylor, was indicted [text, PDF; US DOJ press release] Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida [official website] on charges of committing torture in the first prosecution brought under a federal anti-torture statute [18 USC 2340A text] passed in 1994. The charges stem from Emmanuel's activities as head of the Liberian Anti-Terrorist Unit [Global Security backgrounder] and allege that he was involved in murder, torture, and recruitment of child soldiers. Specifically, the indictment ties Emmanuel to a 2002 incident in which he allegedly took a man from his home and tortured him with a hot iron, scalding water, and electric shocks.

In September, Emmanuel pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release] to using a US passport obtained through false statements. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had arrested Emmanuel when he arrived in Miami on a flight from Trinidad. Emmanuel's father Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is currently awaiting trial [JURIST report] at The Hague before judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] on charges of crimes against humanity. Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard testimony [JURIST report] from witnesses in October that linked Taylor to the execution of some 250 Sierra Leoneans. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Wednesday mandated that Dutch officials force-feed Serb nationalist and war crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj [BBC profile; ICTY case backgrounder] in the event that the hunger strike [JURIST report] he has been engaged in since November 11 threatens his life. The panel nonetheless advised authorities to proceed with caution, and to use force-feeding methods only "to the extent that such services are not contrary to compelling internationally accepted standards." The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] maintains that force-feeding is permissible in the event of a medical necessity. Seselj's supporters, however, say that he will continue the hunger strike until the ICTY meets his demands, even if it results in his death. Seselj has demanded the ICTY dismiss his court-appointed lawyers, among other requests.

On Tuesday, Serbian ambassador to the Netherlands Radoslav Stojanovic told reporters after a meeting with the ICTY's president that "having in mind that this is a case of life or death for Vojislav Seselj, it would be good if the tribunal decided for Seselj to be transferred to Belgrade" for treatment. Belgrade radio B92 [official website] nonetheless reported Seselj's deputy Tomislav Nikolic as saying soon afterwards that Seselj [JURIST news archive] did not wish to be treated by any hospital, even in Belgrade. Reuters has more.

The ICTY has postponed [JURIST report] Seselj's war crimes trial because of his poor health stemming from the hunger strike. Seselj was transferred to a Dutch prison hospital [JURIST report] adjoining the tribunal's detention center [ICTY backgrounder] at Scheveningen near the Hague last week so that his medical condition could be more closely monitored. The court stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself [JURIST report] in November after he failed to appear in court. Seselj is accused of establishing rogue paramilitary units affiliated with the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) [party website, in Serbian], which are believed to have massacred and otherwise persecuted Croats and other non-Serbs in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. Seselj has pleaded not guilty to the charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website; BBC profile] publicly alleged Wednesday that France supported the 1994 genocide [HRW backgrounder; BBC backgrounder] that wracked the African nation. Kagame previously accused the French government of providing training and weapons [JURIST report] to Hutu militias who perpetrated the 100-day massacre that left over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus dead. This is nonetheless the first time the Rwandan president has blamed the French for failing to stop the killings and for supporting the government that carried out the massacre. Kagame's comments follow a decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] to accept into evidence [JURIST report] a report compiled by a French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere [BBC profile] that implicated Kagame in the 1994 killing of former president Juvenal Habyarimana [Wikipedia profile], which sparked the genocide.

Last month, Bruguiere issued several arrest warrants for Rwandan officials [JURIST report] and pressed for Kagame himself to be tried for Habyarimana's murder. Rwanda has severed diplomatic ties [JURIST report] with the French government over the bid. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] FBI Director Robert Mueller [official profile] refused to answer questions Wednesday during an FBI oversight hearing [meeting materials; Mueller statement] before the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] about the administration's domestic spying program [JURIST news archive], saying the information is classified. Mueller, who acknowledged that information about the program had been divulged to congressional intelligence committees, claimed that the classified status of the materials prevented its disclosure to the panel in response to questions about the efficacy of domestic surveillance. Mueller listed several plots thwarted by the intelligence community, including an Ohio trucker's plan to detonate explosives on the Brooklyn Bridge and plans to attack synagogues in Los Angeles, but declined to attribute the information to domestic spying. Several senators contended that the failure to provide specific data about the program hindered the panel's ability to properly assess the FBI, while Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] expressed concern [statement] that the program's secrecy threatened civil liberties of American citizens.

Mueller also lobbied the panel for the expansion of search and surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (text) and for greater leeway in attaining subpoenas for suspected terrorism. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Australian Parliament [official website] Wednesday voted to lift restrictions on stem cell research and permit the therapeutic cloning of human embryos. Members of the House of Representatives voted 82-62 in favor of lifting the previous therapeutic cloning ban; the Senate approved the measure [JURIST report] last month. The House vote followed a contentious debate, with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and other Liberal Party leaders expressing opposition to the bill for moral reasons. In August, Howard agreed [JURIST report] to hold a conscience vote [SAVES backgrounder] on the more.

[JURIST] A court in Yemen on Wednesday found Mohammad al-Assadi guilty of denigrating Islam and fined him 500,000 rials ($2,541) for republishing offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] earlier this year. Al-Assadi, editor of the Yemen Observer [media website], said the guilty verdict was "baseless" and that he would appeal the decision. The newspaper temporarily had its license to print revoked over the matter, and prosecutors initially called for the death penalty [JURIST report] in the case. The paper's publishing ban was lifted [JURIST report] by government officials in May.

Last month, the editor-in-chief of another newspaper, al-Rai al-Aam [media website, in Arabic] was convicted and sentenced to one year in jail for violating Article 103 of the Press and Publications Law of 1990 [text] for publishing the cartoons. The cartoons depicting Muhammad originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September 2005. They initially went unnoticed but violent protests erupted around the world [JURIST report] in February 2006 when they were republished. Reuters has more. The Yemen Observer has local coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Tolerance on Trial: Why We Reprinted the Danish Cartoons [Yemen Observer publisher]

[JURIST] The Cambodian government is interfering with the adoption of court rules [press release] to govern the upcoming Khmer Rouge genocide trials, advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday. Tribunal judges convened last month to establish court rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website], which is scheduled to begin trials for surviving Khmer Rouge leaders in mid-2007, but they failed to agree [JURIST report] on the Draft Internal Rules [PDF text] and delayed making a final decision. HRW accused the Cambodian government of being responsible for the delay and said, in part:

As documented in numerous reports by the United Nations, international legal organizations and Cambodian NGOs, the Cambodian judiciary and legal system remain under the tight control of the government. The government has ensured the appointment to the ECCC of Cambodian judges, prosecutors and security personnel who are politically loyal to the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and the national police chief, Hok Lundy. Such political control mechanisms are aimed at preventing judges and prosecutors from acting independently and conducting fair trials free from political interference.

Throughout the negotiations with the United Nations to establish the ECCC, Hun Sen and the Cambodian government engaged in a pattern of delay and obstruction...The government has long tried to bog down efforts at creating the tribunal and, now, at making it functional, through seemingly endless and often fruitless negotiations, which absorb huge amounts of time, funding and expertise, but result in little or no substantive improvements.

[JURIST] Fiji [JURIST news archive] military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama [BBC profile] declared a state of emergency Wednesday and appointed a new prime minister and head of police in the South Pacific island nation after overthrowing the government in a military coup [JURIST report] Tuesday. In a statement released over the radio Tuesday evening, Bainimarama dismissed criticism of the coup and vowed that Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase [official profile] would not return to power. Qarase is adamant that he is still the legitimate leader of Fiji, despite Bainimarama conducting a ceremony Wednesday to swear in military medic Dr. Jona Senilagakali as the interim prime minister. Bainimarama also said he would develop a complete interim government next week which will be tasked with conducting the country's future elections in an attempt to restore democracy.

The coup was carried out after Qarase refused to stop proposed legislation that would have given coastal land ownership to the indigenous population of Fiji, rather than use it as a region for tourism, and also would have given pardons to individuals who plotted a coup against the government in 2000. Qarase, who claims he is currently under house arrest, has accused Bainimarama of "raping" the country's constitution [text]. The US has joined New Zealand and Australia [JURIST news archive] in objecting to the coup by suspending $2.5 million in assistance to the nation. Tuesday's coup marks the fourth in the nation during the past 14 years. AP has more.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] appeared in court Wednesday, despite an earlier vow not to attend [JURIST report] future proceedings in his genocide trial, and looked on as presiding Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa called a final witness for the prosecution. The prosecution has presented more that 70 witnesses, including several US forensic experts [JURIST report] describing mass graves believed to be the result of the 1987-88 "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] against ethnic Kurds in Northern Iraq. Prosecutors will now begin presenting documents that allegedly link Hussein to the genocide.

In a separate trial, Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death [judgment; JURIST report] for crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail. Hussein's defense team formally appealed [JURIST report] that judgment Sunday. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [official website] said Tuesday that it will appeal a November ruling [PDF text; order, PDF; JURIST report] ordering the agency to reinstate certain housing payments for victims of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] due to FEMA's failure to clearly explain to evacuees why they were denied housing assistance under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act [text]. US District Judge Richard J. Leon found that FEMA had violated the constitutional due process rights of certain evacuees by failing to provide adequate, written notice of housing denials, and by failing to restore temporary housing assistance until the exhaustion of the administrative appeals process.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) [advocacy website], which brought the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs, filed court papers Tuesday indicating that FEMA has yet to disclose when or how they intend to restart the temporary housing program, as ordered by the district court. It is unclear whether FEMA will petition for temporary relief from the order pending appeal of the decision to the US Circuit Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australia's Federal Court [official website] has agreed to hold a hearing next week to consider a petition [docket materials] filed Wednesday by lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive]. Hicks' lawyers have asked the court to direct the federal government, including Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official profiles], to negotiate Hicks' release from the US military facility. Hicks' lawyers say the government has an obligation to protect Hicks under the Australian constitution [text] and that Ruddock and Downer would be able to secure Hicks' release and repatriation to Australia.

Hicks was taken to Guantanamo Bay after he was captured in Afghanistan, where he allegedly had been fighting for the Taliban. He was charged [PDF text; JURIST report] in 2004, but his trial was delayed [JURIST report] while the US Supreme Court considered, and eventually ruled against, the legality of the military commissions system. New charges are expected to be filed against Hicks and other detainees once new commission procedures are finalized under the recently-passed Military Commissions Act [JURIST news archive]. There has been increasing pressure in Australia for the federal government to take action in the case with Australian state and territory attorneys general sending a letter to Ruddock late last month urging that Hicks be brought to trial in Australia [JURIST report]. Earlier in November, Ruddock himself said that the government would request Hicks' return [JURIST report] if charges were not laid against him soon. AAP has more.

[JURIST] A US District Court judge has refused to entertain a motion to stay the execution of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] that was filed by Italian advocate Giovanni di Stefano [law firm website; Wikipedia profile], an advisor to Hussein's defense team. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected the motion because di Stefano is not admitted to practice before the US District Court for the District of Columbia where he filed the motion. It is unclear what actions a US District Court could take to intervene in the case.

Hussein is appealing his conviction and death sentence [JURIST report] resulting from a trial on charges of crimes against humanity [judgment] committed in the town of Dujail. Hussein is also currently on trial facing genocide charges [JURIST news archive] for the "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] against ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq between 1987 and 1988. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for several Chinese detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] have filed a lawsuit in US federal court seeking their release due to the flawed process by which they were determined to be enemy combatants. The group of seven ethnic Uighurs were deemed enemy combatants by Guantanamo's Combatant Status Review Tribunals [DOD materials], while five other Uighurs were cleared and subsequently released [JURIST report] from Guantanamo Bay. The new lawsuit alleges that the CSRTs relied on essentially the same evidence that was used to clear the five, and asserts that the detainees continue to be held as the result of a political agreement between China and the US.

The US military's combatant status reviews were determined to be "show trials" [PDF text; JURIST report] by a Seton Hall law professor who analyzed transcripts and recordings of 393 detainee hearings. Mark Denbeaux's report concluded that detainees were not given adequate opportunity to contest the accusations against them or to object to their status as enemy combatants [JURIST news archive]. The report also noted that the government did not present witnesses at the hearings, denied all detainee requests to examine classified evidence against them and denied all requests for defense witnesses not housed at Guantanamo Bay. AP has more. The Washington Post has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US military is close to charging at least five US Marines in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [JURIST report] last November, a military spokesperson said late Tuesday. Though specific details have not yet been disclosed, some Marines may be charged with murder and others with the lesser charge of negligent homicide. The 24 deaths prompted two separate military investigations: one conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) [official website], aimed at determining whether to prosecute the soldiers involved, and an investigation into decisions made by Marine leadership led by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell [Wikipedia profile]. An anonymous US official familiar with the NCIS investigation, speaking in May, suggested the Marines murdered in cold blood [JURIST report], and the probe concluded in August that evidence exists [JURIST report] to support murder allegations. Bargewell's report [JURIST report] has not yet been released, but officials briefed on the investigation said that there was evidence that soldiers concealed and destroyed evidence [JURIST report] relating to the incident and were reluctant to hand over evidence.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, the US Marine commander in charge of the Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment [official website] implicated in the Haditha incident, told the Washington Post in August that he did not order an immediate investigation into the deaths because he did not suspect any wrongdoing [JURIST report]. Lt. Gen. James Mattis [official profile], the officer responsible for determining whether to charge the Marines involved, attracted press attention in 2005 when he told a panel discussion that "It's fun to shoot people" [CNN report]. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.