[JURIST] South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile] promised in his annual state of the nation address [text] Friday to reduce crime by increasing the police force and reducing unemployment. South Africa [CIA backgrounder; JURIST news archive] has one of the highest crime rates in the world; averaging 50 murders a day. Additionally, last year there were more than half a million reported burglaries and robberies. To combat this, Mbeki announced plans to increase the number of police officers from 152,000 to 180,000 within 3 years, and improve cooperation between the official police and the large private security forces.

Mbeki has been heavily criticized recently after claiming that most citizens are unconcerned about the crime rates. Although his speech backpedaled on such assertions, opposition parties seemed unsatisfied, and pessimistic about Mbeki’s chances of success before the end of his term in 2009. AP has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] ruled unanimously [opinion, PDF] Friday that US citizen and suspected terrorist Shawqi Omar [JURIST news archive] has a right to argue his case before a US court. In a simultaneous 2-1 decision, the court upheld last year’s District Court injunction [JURIST report] blocking the Pentagon from turning him over to be tried in Iraqi courts. The judges rejected the US contention that, although it has custody of Omar, US court jurisdiction is precluded because the forces are part of a multinational effort. Judge Janice Rodgers Brown, who dissented on the issue of upholding last year’s injunction, said Omar could remain in US custody while being tried by the Iraqi courts, so that both trials could run concurrently. The Brennan Center for Justice [advocacy website], who filed a habeas corpus petition on Omar’s behalf in December 2005, hailed the decision as a landmark ruling [press release] that US citizens cannot be detained without judicial review.

Omar, who the US describes as a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile], was arrested in Baghdad in October 2004 after he was caught harboring an Iraqi insurgent and a group of foreign fighters illegally in Iraq. Omar’s family says he is an innocent businessman who was seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq, and will likely be tortured if removed from US custody. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Environmental Protection Agency [official website] on Friday finalized a regulation [text and materials] intended to slash toxic emissions from automobiles and related sources through the year 2030. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said [press release] the new standards will be phased in for fuel containers in 2009, for cars in 2010 and for gasoline in 2011. The EPA estimates that cutting emissions of benzene and other toxins will cost about $400 million a year by 2030 while saving about $6 billion in annual health care spending. Benzene [US CDC backgrounder] is a leading cause of cancer in some parts of the United States.

Public interest law firm EarthJustice [official website] praised the new regional limits on benzene emissions, but criticized a provision of the rule [press release] that allows gasoline refineries to avoid the limits by "trading" pollution credits with refineries elsewhere in the country. Because of a lawsuit brought by EarthJustice [press release] on behalf of the Sierra Club [advocacy website], the EPA entered into a consent decree [PDF text] requiring the rule to be finalized by Friday. AP has more.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] A North Carolina State Senator proposed a bill [text] Thursday that will protect doctors who assist in executions [JURIST news archive] from disciplinary actions. Senate Bill 114, filed by Republican State Senator Phil Berger [official website], will shield health care professionals including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from

any disciplinary or corrective measures by any board, commission, or other authority created by the State or governed by State law which oversees or regulates the practice of health care professionals.

[JURIST] Russian prosecutors said Friday their case against former Yukos [corporate website] CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] and his business partner, Platon Lebedev [defense website], is solely a criminal matter and not politically motivated. A spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office [official website, in Russian] said Khodorkovsky wreaked "serious damage" upon the Russian economy. Last December, Khodorkovsky was transferred to a Siberian remand prison [JURIST report] for refusing to cooperate with authorities until he faced "concrete charges." He claims that his case is a scheme to silence his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin [official profile].

The prosecution indicted Khodorkovsky and Lebedev Monday on new charges of embezzling and laundering $23-25 billion [JURIST report]. Khodorkovsky has condemned the indictment [JURIST report]. The two men are also accused of embezzling money from Yukos subsidiaries and laundering it through the Open Russia Foundation charity [SourceWatch backgrounder]. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] The US District Court of Maine [official website] has ruled that the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) [official website] cannot compel Verizon Communications [corporate website] to disclose whether the telephone company participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] run by the US National Security Agency (NSA) [official website]. In Bangor Thursday, US District Judge John Woodcock [official profile] cited a "potential risk" to national security as he granted Verizon's motion for declaratory judgment. The judge also barred the MPUC from holding a hearing scheduled for Friday, during which Verizon representatives were ordered to testify under oath about statements [press release] the company made regarding the NSA program last spring. Verizon said it would not comment on the NSA program or the company's relationship to it, although it did deny media reports that it had agreed to provide the NSA with data from customers' domestic calls.

The lawsuit was filed [JURIST report] by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in August. In the past, the DOJ has argued that lawsuits challenging the NSA surveillance program could reveal state secrets [JURIST report] and should therefore be dismissed. Last month, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] that the Bush administration has agreed to submit all future domestic surveillance requests [JURIST report] to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FJC backgrounder] for approval under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [text]. Maine's Bangor Daily News has more.

[JURIST] The government of Spain [JURIST archive] agreed Friday to declassify and deliver to Spanish High Court [official website] Judge Ismael Moreno intelligence documents he ordered from Spain's National Intelligence Center [official website] pertaining to secret CIA "rendition flights" [JURIST news archive] that transferred suspected terrorists between countries. The documents show that dozens of planes stopped at the Spanish holiday islands of Mallorca and Tenerife before heading to other locations. Investigators assert that prisoners were held illegally and may have endured torture at the hands of the destination countries.

Spain said the information would remain private and that it would request Moreno to only use the documents for his investigation into whether CIA rendition flights stopped at Spanish airports [JURIST report]. Although the government recognizes that it may have been a stopover on the way to commit alleged crimes in other territories [JURIST report], it claims there is no evidence that international laws were violated within Spain's borders.

Last year, Council of Europe [official website] investigator Dick Marty [official website: JURIST news archive] accused Spain of acting in collusion with the interstate transfer of suspected terrorists. Investigators allege that up to 50 individuals were transported through Europe to jails in other countries. The United States concedes that detainees were secretly transferred [JURIST report], but denies they were tortured or turned over to countries that abused them. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission [official website] proposed Friday that all EU member nations criminalize serious environmental offenses and impose minimum sanctions for violations. Commission Vice President for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini [official profile] said [press release] the proposed directive [Q/A] would prevent environmental criminals from exploiting discrepancies between member states' criminal law systems. The directive would have all EU members treat offenses that seriously harm humans or the environment as so-called green crimes [Commission materials] if committed intentionally or with gross negligence. Listed offenses include illegal shipment of waste and trade in endangered species or ozone-depleting materials, punishable by at least 5 years in prison and corporate fines of up to 750,000 euros (US $975,000). Timothy Kirkhope [official website], the British Conservative leader in the European Parliament [official website], criticized the proposed directive as a "significant transfer of power to the commission" that "sets an alarming precedent."

The proposed directive is intended to replace a 2003 framework decision [PDF text] by the European Council [official website], which comprises the EU heads of state. The commission, the EU's executive branch, challenged that s framework decision in the European Court of Justice [official website], which issued a judgment [text; press release, PDF] annulling the decision in 2005 because it encroached on the EU's powers [JURIST report] conferred by the EC Treaty [text]. Earlier this week, the commission unveiled a mandatory emissions strategy [JURIST report] that would impose mandatory carbon dioxide (CO2) limits on all cars by 2012. BBC News has more.

This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.

[JURIST] Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock [official website] Friday denied contentions by lawyers representing Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] that comments [JURIST report] made by the head of the US military prison indicated he would not get a fair trial. US Navy Rear Admiral Harry Harris [official profile], commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay [official website], remarked Thursday that Hicks was a terrorist and "dangerous", and that there are no innocent men being held at Guantanamo. On Friday Ruddock nonetheless also praised Hicks lawyer USMC Major Michael Mori [MSN profile] as a "fearsome advocate" for his client.

The US military drafted new charges [JURIST report] against Hicks last week, after repeated pressure from Australian lawmakers [JURIST report]. Hicks has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since shortly after his 2001 arrest in Afghanistan, where he allegedly fought for the Taliban. The Australian government has expressed support for the new charges, [JURIST report] which are expected to be approved within two weeks. ABC has more.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Colombia [official website] has ruled [summary] that same-sex couples must be accorded the same property rights as other unmarried couples. With eight votes in favor and one abstention, the court held unconstitutional a 1990 law creating a presumption that property held by "a man and a woman" who lived together in de facto marriage for at least two years was held in common. Judge Rodrigo Escobar Gil wrote that limiting the law to heterosexual couples "goes against the constitutional principles of respect for human dignity, the state's duty to protect all persons equally and the fundamental right to freely develop one's personality. In the light of the Constitution [text], all human beings, as bearers of the inherent dignity of persons, require the same protection from the state . . ." According to the abstaining judge, the ruling did not go far enough in enumerating the rights of same-sex couples.

While the ruling allows homosexual couples to inherit the property of a deceased partner, it does not address the legality of same-sex unions, a question that is currently before the Colombian Parliament. BBC News has more. El Universo has local coverage [in Spanish].

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] against the federal government Thursday, alleging that "its practice of indefinitely delaying citizen applications" violated due process rights protected by the Constitution and federal statutes and regulations governing immigration. The immigrant plaintiffs in the case, all long-time lawful permanent residents of the United States, passed mandatory criminal background checks and naturalization interviews over two years ago. The complaint states that the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official websites], both responsible for the naturalization process background checks, have violated regulations "requiring that such applications be adjudicated within 120 days of the initial examination" and seek a time limit for the background checks and speedy adjudication of their applications.

Current immigration regulations stipulate that "a decision to grant or deny the application shall be made at the time of the initial examination or within 120-days after the date of the initial examination of the applicant for naturalization." The plaintiffs are also seeking naturalization adjudication before a district court under 8 USC 1447(b) [text], which allows a district court to make a determination if the CIS has failed to make a determination within 120 days. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] filed an amicus curiae or "friend of the court" brief [PDF text; press release] with the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] Thursday arguing that imposing the death penalty on former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] would be a violation of Iraq's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text]. According to the brief:

The High Commissioner submits that in the circumstances the Court's imposition of the death sentence on the current defendant would violate Iraq's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, specifically article 6 (which protects against arbitrary deprivation of life and details the limitations on permissible imposition of capital punishment); article 7 (which protects against torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or exposure to a real risk thereof) and article 14 (which guarantees the right to a fair trial and appeal). As a consequence the High Commissioner submits that Court should refrain from imposing the sentence of death. ...

At the present phase of proceedings, the High Commissioner is concerned as to four discrete aspects of due process that are of particular relevance. These relate to a fair trial before a competent court and the presumption of innocence, the opportunity to contest evidence in a position of equality, the capacity of defence counsel to exercise an appropriate defence and the adequacy of appeal.

[JURIST] The US military's determination that there is not sufficient evidence to support allegations of abuse [statement, PDF; JURIST report] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prompted Amnesty International [advocacy website] Thursday to renew its calls for an independent investigation into the allegations. In a statement [text], Amnesty called the military's investigation into the abuse allegations [JURIST report] "flawed" as no actual detainees were interviewed and said that "secrecy surrounding the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay allows human rights abuses to go unpunished."

The statement continued:

The US administration investigating itself is not enough. Instead, the US authorities should allow independent bodies, including Amnesty International, to visit the detention centre and interview all prisoners in order to ensure that their complaints are not going unheard.

[JURIST] US Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] rested the prosecution's case Thursday in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive]. As the prosecution's final witness, Tim Russert [official profile], Washington bureau chief for NBC News, testified Wednesday that he was unaware of former undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity until reading Robert D. Novak's July 14, 2003 column. Libby had told investigators that he first learned about Plame's identity from a telephone conversation on July 10 or 11 with Russert and not administration officials. Russert has said that Plame was never discussed in the conversation. The defense is expected to begin presenting their case Monday by calling journalists to testify, although the defense team has not indicated whether and when they still plan to call [JURIST report] Libby's former boss, Vice President Dick Cheney [official website] to take the stand.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak of Plame's identity [JURIST news archive]. Last Tuesday, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified [JURIST report; JURIST news archive] concerning conversations Libby had with Miller, during which he allegedly told her about his frustration with the CIA and revealed to her the identity of Valerie Wilson. On Monday, a federal district judge authorized public release of audio recordings [JURIST report] of the secret grand jury testimony after they were played at the trial. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Italy's Cabinet approved a controversial proposal [PDF text, in Italian; JURIST report] Thursday that would give legal rights to unmarried heterosexual and same-sex couples [JURIST news archive]. The proposal, which has been harshly criticized by the Italian justice minister and the top Italian bishop [JURIST reports], would give unmarried couples combined medical insurance, the right to visit their partner in prisons or hospitals, inheritance rights, and decision-making authority should one partner become sick. Couples would have to live together for nine years before they would be entitled to property rights, but if the legislation is passed, couples would be able to take advantage of the other legal protections immediately.

The legislation must still be approved by the Italian parliament. AP has more.