[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Friday reduced by $2 billion a 1994 damages award against ExxonMobil corporation in respect of the sinking of the tanker Exxon Valdez, which caused a major Alaska oil spill [Anchorage Daily News archive] when it ran aground [BBC file report] in Prince William Sound in 1989. A three-judge panel held [ruling, PDF] that the original $5 billion punitive damage award against the corporation was excessive in light of a 2003 US Supreme Court ruling on the need for punitive damages to be reasonable and proportionate to the harm incurred and the cleanup and compensation efforts already made by Exxon.

Responding to the ruling late Friday, Exxon noted its objection to even the reduced award, saying in a press statement:

The Valdez oil spill was a tragic accident that ExxonMobil deeply regrets. The company took immediate responsibility for the spill, cleaned it up, and voluntarily compensated those who claimed direct damages.

This case is not about compensating people for damages. The plaintiffs have been compensated for damages and most were compensated within one year of the spill. This ruling is about whether punitive damages are warranted in this case....It is our view that the U.S. Supreme Court needs to provide more definitive guidance to the lower courts on the law governing punitive damages. In our opinion, the facts of this case do not warrant an award of this size.

[JURIST] A US federal judge ruled [PDF text] Friday that Iran is liable to pay $254 million in damages and compensation to families of American victims of a 1996 terrorist attack it helped finance on Khobar Towers [AFA backgrounder], a US military housing compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Nineteen Americans were killed in the truck bomb explosion, undertaken by a Saudi group allied with Hezbollah. Iran is not expected to pay the award, but the decision by Judge Royce Lamberth clears the way for the families to seek compensation from assets of the Iranian regime previously seized in the US.

At trial, former US FBI director Louis Freeh testified extensively about Iran's involvement in the plot, although no Iranians have been named as directly responsible for the ultimate attack. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pope Benedict XVI [official profile] on Friday condemned proposed Italian legislation [JURIST report] that would recognize civil unions for unmarried couples, including same-sex couples. The Pope, speaking [VIS press release] in a Christmas address to the Rome clergy, said the legislation threatens traditional marriage by granting legal recognition to "de facto couples," and that the legislation blurs the "masculinity and femininity" of men and women.

The new center-left government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [official website; BBC profile] promised before taking office last May to consider recognizing civil unions. The government's position had already prompted condemnation from the Vatican [JURIST report], with Pope Benedict denouncing any legal recognition of same-sex couples. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Italian prosecutors have begun an investigation into the death of Piergiorgio Welby [profile, in Italian], a man who suffered from muscular dystrophy and sought the right to die by euthanasia. Welby's quest to die became a nation-wide debate after Italy's Radical Party [party website] took up Welby's cause. Welby passed away Wednesday, three months after pleading [recorded video appeal] with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano [BBC profile] to be allowed to die.

Though an autopsy has not been performed yet, some politicians have already labeled Welby's death a murder. Italian law gives people a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment, which was most recently recognized [BBC report] last weekend in a 15-page ruling by Judge Antonio Salvio but the constitution [text, in English] contradicts the Italian medical code, which requires doctors to keep patients alive. The Rome judge said no Italian law can require a doctor to take affirmative measures to end a patient's life, and urged legislators to remedy the contradiction in the constitution and the medical code. AP has more.

[JURIST] Human rights [JURIST news archive] abuses have worsened in countries around Asia due to authoritarian developments in "malfunctioning" democracies, according to a report [PDF; press release] by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) [advocacy website] released Thursday. AHRC attributed failing legal systems to corruption and inadequate criminal justice systems, resulting in discontent among citizens. The report also expressed concern over continued extra-judicial killings, disappearances and torture throughout Asia.

The human rights report spanned eleven countries: Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It expressly singled out Nepal for its overthrow [JURIST news archive] of King Gyanendra [BBC profile], the bloodless coup [JURIST report] in Thailand that restored the military to power, extra-judicial killings in the Philippines [JURIST news archive], and the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka [JURIST news archive]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Massachusetts Governor-elect Deval Patrick [campaign website] said Thursday he will rescind an agreement with the federal government allowing Massachusetts state troopers to detain illegal immigrants found or located while the troopers are performing their general duties. The agreement [JURIST report], signed earlier this month by outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney [official website] and US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, provides for 30 state troopers to receive federal immigration law enforcement training under the provisions of s. 287(g) [ICE backgrounder] of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. That section, added in 1996, allows a trained and certified trooper conducting state criminal investigations who encounters an immigration violator, to question and detain the individual, charge them with a violation of immigration law if appropriate, and place them in removal proceedings. Similar section 287(g) agreements have been made with state authorities in Florida and Alabama, as well as with several California and North Carolina counties.

Patrick told reporters that he does not want busy state troopers to have to enforce federal law on top of their state duties. Though Patrick did not sign the agreement, the governor-elect's office thinks he has the power to revoke the agreement, which was designed to remain in effect until either party ends it. Patrick is slated to take over the Massachusetts governorship when he is inaugurated January 4. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was sentenced Friday to a three-year suspended prison term for following his earlier conviction [JURIST report] for inciting subversion of state power [CECC report]. If Gao breaks any laws in the next three years, his prison sentence will be reinstated. The court additionally stripped Gao of his political rights, including the rights to free speech and to gather to protest, for one year.

Gao gained international notice by representing controversial clients, including members of the banned Falun Gong [group website; BBC backgrounder] sect. Gao's license to practice law was revoked [CECC backgrounder; HRW letter] late last year. There have been several high-profile subversion trials in China this year, leading to the jailing of several journalists and a ten-year sentence for a teacher [JURIST reports] who posted pro-democracy essays on the Internet. AP has more.

[JURIST] President Bush granted pardons to 16 people on Thursday, including some convicted of drug crimes and others who were involved in fraud and kickback schemes. Bush additionally commuted the sentence of another man who had been convicted of drug offenses.

Bush has issued a total of 113 pardons in his six years as president, the fewest issued by any president [US DOJ clemency statistics] since World War II. Former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Reagan issued 457, 77, and 406 respectively during their tenures in office. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official website, in French; JURIST news archive] was questioned by judges for more than 17 hours Thursday and early Friday in connection with an investigation of an alleged smear campaign conducted against Villepin's political rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile; BBC profile]. It has been alleged that Villepin may have known that Sarkozy did not own secret bank accounts as the smear claimed. Villepin told reporters Friday morning he was glad to testify, calling himself "a victim of slander and lies" for having been tarred with responsibility for the smear.

Sarkozy is a prime candidate to replace French President Jacques Chirac in elections scheduled for spring 2007. Villepin, who has been politically damaged by this scandal and the debacle over a new youth labor law earlier {JURIST news archive] this year is not running. AP has more.

[JURIST] A defense lawyer for imprisoned former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] said [press release] Friday that he and former business associate Platon Lebedev have been transferred from their Siberian penal colony in Chita Oblast [Wikipedia backgrounder] to a local remand prison [PV backgrounder]. The transfer took place on Wednesday. Lawyers for the two men are expecting prosecutors to lay new charges against them next week. Interfax has more.

Khodorkovsky was convicted in May 2005 of tax evasion [JURIST report], and the Russian government effectively nationalized Yukos to pay off $33 billion in back taxes. Khodorkovsky's lawyers have insisted that legal actions against their client have been politically motivated.

[JURIST] Two co-defendants charged along with Saddam Hussein testified Thursday that chemical weapons were not used against Kurds during the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] as the ousted Iraqi president's genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] continued in Baghdad. Former defense minister Sultan al-Tai and former army operations deputy director General Hussein Mohammed claimed that only conventional weaponry was used, and that any action taken by them was by order of their superiors. The defendants further claimed that documents offered by the prosecution as evidence of the use of chemical weapons were forged. The trial has been adjourned until January 8. AP has more.

Hussein and six co-defendants all face crimes against humanity charges in connection with the Anfal attacks, and Hussein and co-defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile], known in the West as "Chemical Ali," also face additional genocide charges [JURIST report]. Earlier this week, the prosecution offered video evidence of the gas attacks [JURIST report]. Hussein already faces the death penalty after being convicted [judgment; JURIST report] on separate crimes against humanity charges relating to a 1982 crackdown in the Iraqi town of Dujail. That verdict is currently on appeal, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that he hoped the appeal panel's ruling would be handed down soon and that Hussein would be executed next month [JURIST report].