[JURIST] International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [advocacy website] President Jakob Kellenberger [official profile] told reporters Friday that all sides of the conflict in the Sudan are violating international humanitarian law [press release]. The statement came after Kellenberger completed a 5-day trip to the country that included time in the Darfur region [JURIST news archive]. While holding the Sudanese government primarily responsible for the violations, he also faulted the armed groups who have fought against the government for the last four years. Kellenberger called for all sides to follow international humanitarian law in protecting civilians and aid workers.

Next week Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile], chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [official website], is expected to introduce evidence and name the first suspects in its Darfur war crimes investigation [JURIST report], which has documented thousands of civilian killings and hundreds of rapes. Last week the UN Human Rights Council [official website] pulled a probe into the Darfur region [JURIST report] after Sudanese officials refused to grant a visa to a team member who had accused the Sudanese government of violating human rights in a 2004 report [UN News report]. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] United Nations human rights experts Friday condemned [press release] a proposed Nigerian law [JURIST report] banning gay marriage and tightening laws criminalizing homosexuality in the country. While engaging in homosexual acts in Nigeria is already punishable by death by stoning, the UN experts said the new law, which authorizes a maximum five-year sentence for any person found to be openly gay,

will make persons engaging in, or perceived to be engaging in, same sex relationships in Nigeria more susceptible to arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill-treatment and expose them even more to violence and attacks on their dignity.

[JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] has announced a plan to release some prisoners convicted of nonviolent crime [press conference video/transcript] to alleviate the burden on California’s overcrowded prison system [JURIST news archive]. The move comes in response to various federal actions, including one as recently as last week by US District Judge Thelton E. Henderson [official profile] of the Northern District of California [official website], that could establish federal oversight of California’s prison system if the overcrowding problem is not solved. The California system has more than 171,000 inmates living in facilities that combined were designed for 100,000. Schwarzenegger’s press office has indicated that felons will not be eligible for early release.

Earlier this week a California state judge ruled that a plan to transfer prisoners out of state violated state law [JURIST report]. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] A South African court Friday dismissed charges against eight South African mercenaries suspected of plotting a coup [BBC backgrounder] against the president of Equatorial Guinea [JURIST news archive]. The Pretoria judge found that the state had not proven its case against the men. Lawyers for the defendants argued that South African officials were behind the failed plot, but the South African government denied any involvement. The eight men were arrested in 2004 in Zimbabwe for allegedly purchasing weapons in preparation for a coup against Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang Nguema [BBC profile], who assumed power himself through a coup in 1979.

In 2004, over 60 other mercenaries involved in the plot were tried and sentenced [JURIST report] in Zimbabwe, most receiving one year jail sentences. The alleged coup leader, British national Simon Mann [BBC profile], received a four-year prison term in Zimbabwe for buying weapons without a license. In 2005, Sir Mark Thatcher [BBC profile], son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, pleaded guilty to charges related to the failed coup and was fined [JURIST reports]. BBC News has more. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] Members of Guinea's National Assembly voted unanimously Friday to reject the request of Guinean President Lansana Conte [BBC profile] for an extension of martial law in the Republic of Guinea [government website, in French; US State Dept. backgrounder]. Conte declared [JURIST report] martial law in the country last week, and the measure is set to expire at midnight Friday. Conte said Thursday that he would seek an extension [Reuters report] from parliament.

Hundreds of civilians have been arrested [JURIST report] for opposing the government since Conte announced martial law February 12 in response to protests and strikes in opposition to Conte's continued rule. In addition to the lifting of martial law, opposition leaders are demanding a new prime minister before unions will end the strike. The emergency declaration instituted a strict curfew and authorized the military to monitor phone calls and to put under house arrest anyone who engages in activities "against the state." Guinea's military has been accused of firing upon unarmed protesters [HRW report] as well as beating and raping civilians. In November of 2006, Guinea was ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations [JURIST report] by the annual Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index [text]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Hilmi Aydogdu, leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder], was charged by Turkish authorities Friday with inciting hatred after stating that any Turkish attack on Kirkuk [Global Security backgrounder], a city in northern Iraq with a large Kurdish population, would be comparable to an attack on all Kurds. Aydogdu could face up to three years in prison if found guilty.

Growing hostility between Kurds, Arabs, and Turks in Kirkuk, as well as suspicions that Iraqi Kurds seek to create an independent state with Kirkuk as its capital, has made Turkey wary. The country has suggested that it might protect its interests in the oil-rich city with military force. The status of Kirkuk [JURIST report] is set to be decided by referendum this year. Kurdish Media has more.

[JURIST] State Farm Insurance [corporate website] filed papers on Thursday to have US District Court Judge L.T. Senter, Jr. [district website; JURIST news archive] recused from certifying a class action lawsuit against the company over Hurricane Katrina damages. The insurer questioned Senter's impartiality as fellow judge John Roper and Terri Brown, a federal court clerk, could be plaintiffs in the class action suit. Senter has already disqualified himself from hearing individual lawsuits involving the two co-workers. Senter, who has not yet ruled on the insurer's recusal motion, is scheduled to hear arguments concerning the State Farm class action bid on Wednesday. AP has more.

In January, a Mississippi jury held State Farm liable for $2.5 million dollars in punitive damages [JURIST report] for rejecting a Katrina claim that State Farm said was due to wind before the storm rather than the hurricane itself. In the same month, State Farm agreed to settle with hundreds of Mississippi homeowners, but Senter rejected the proposed settlement [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Tens of thousands of protesters rallied [Radio Free Europe report] in the Afghan capital of Kabul Friday to support an amnesty bill that would shield alleged war criminals who participated in the anti-Soviet resistance during the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war [Wikipedia backgrounders] from prosecution. The lower house of the Afghan parliament [official website] approved the measure [JURIST report] at the end of January and it passed the upper house [JURIST report] earlier this month, but President Hamid Karzai [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] is known to oppose the legislation. Rights activists insist that Afghanistan's parliament includes a significant number of war criminals. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] has also criticized the resolution [JURIST report].

Under Afghanistan's 2004 constitution [text], the amnesty bill will become law unless the president acts within 15 days of parliamentary passage. If Karzai refuses to sign the bill, the 250-member Wolesi Jirga, or “House of the People," can override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote. BBC has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] has accused the Saudi government of violating international law when it beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers [HRW report] and placed their bodies on public display in the country's capital, Riyadh, on Monday. According to HRW, the four migrants, who were badly beaten [Daily Mirror report], had been imprisoned for years without access to legal representation. One of the men, Ranjith Silva, told HRW that the four men were never advised of their legal rights or warned that they faced execution. Sri Lanka twice petitioned King Abdullah [BBC profile] to repeal the death sentences. The Sri Lankan government is seeking to recover the four bodies [Daily News report]. HRW has criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record [JURIST report] in the past.

International law guarantees insists that defendants found guilty of a capital crime are due basic protections, such as the right to an appeal. HRW on Thursday called for Saudi Arabia to halt all pending executions and retry those currently on death row. AP has more.

[JURIST] Forty-six of 49 countries participating in the the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions [conference materials] on Friday agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty [press release] to ban the use of cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder] by 2008. Hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 46 nations vowed in the Oslo Declaration [PDF text] to conclude a legally binding international instrument prohibiting the use of cluster munitions that "cause unacceptable harm to civilians" and to "establish a framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities." The countries plan to continue negotiations with further meetings in Lima, Vienna and Dublin over the course of the next year. In his opening statement [text] to the conference, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Store [official profile] called for an end to the use of cluster munitions:

We must bring an end to the unacceptable human suffering caused by the use of cluster munitions. This suffering is not an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of modern war. It is the result of the use of a particular group of weapons...The time has come to agree that these weapons that cause such indiscriminate suffering should no longer be used.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] ruled [text] Friday that the government's use of security certificates [CBSA backgrounder; CBC backgrounder] to indefinitely detain and deport foreigners with suspected ties to terrorism violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text; CDCH materials]. Three Arab Muslim men - Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei and Mohamed Harkat [case summaries] - argued [JURIST report] before the high court last year that their indefinite detentions were unconstitutional. Suspected of membership in al Qaeda, the men were arrested on special security certificates authorized by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act [text]. Suspects can spend years fighting deportation while courts hear sensitive intelligence evidence against them, often in closed session without defense attorneys present.

Although the court determined that the security certificates are unconstitutional and without effect, the judgment will not take effect for one year in order to allow Parliament time to comply with the Court's ruling. The security certificates have existed since 1978 and have been used six times since 2001 [Globe and Mail backgrounder]. Sacha Trudeau, the younger son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who was the architect of the 1982 Charter, denounced the certificates [JURIST report] during a court hearing in 2005 for a Syrian held in solitary confinement for four years. CBC News has more. The Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The UK High Court has rejected [judgment text] the legal bid of Algerian-born pilot Lotfi Raissi [BBC report; Wikipedia profile] for compensation for his wrongful detention. Raissi was held under a US extradition warrant after being indicted [text, PDF] by a federal grand jury in Arizona shortly following the September 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. US prosecutors alleged Raissi offered pilot training to the hijackers, but lacking evidence, sought his extradition on the grounds that Raissi had falsified his pilot's license application by failing to disclose a knee operation. The extradition request was rejected [BBC report] by a British judge for lack of evidence linking Raissi to terrorism.

Raissi was arrested naked in his home with his wife and brother on September 21, 2001. He was granted conditional bail [BBC report] on February 12, 2002 after almost five months detention because the US government was unable to submit any materials and documents to support its allegations. He sought compensation [BBC report] from the UK government under a scheme approved by the UK Home Office which, according to the court, allows for payments "to persons whose convictions are quashed on appeal or who, following charge, have not been proceeded against or have been acquitted of crime at trial." In its judgment Thursday, the UK court ruled that Raissi's claim did not fall within the ex gratia scheme because the claim stemmed from extradition proceedings, not from Britain's domestic criminal process. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A federal jury in California awarded [special verdict form, PDF] Alcatel-Lucent [corporate website] $1.52 billion dollars in damages Thursday for violations of two of Alcatel-Lucent's digital music patents committed by Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive]. The patents govern technology that converts audio input into MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly known as MP3, which Microsoft has incorporated into several variants of its Windows Media Player [product website]. Microsoft has said that it properly licenses the MP3 technology [press release] from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft [official website], a German company which Microsoft describes as the "industry recognized licensor." Microsoft plans to appeal the jury's decision, which could have far-reaching implications in the digital media industry, as large numbers of companies in the industry, including Apple, Nokia, and Sony, license its MP3 technology from Fraunhofer.

Related claims against Gateway and Dell [corporate websites] are still pending. Lucent Technologies filed 15 patent claims in 2003 alleging that the PC makers violated patents governing technology developed by its research and development organization, Bell Laboratories [corporate website]. Microsoft joined in the litigation as an intervenor and counter-claimant, due to its wide circulation of Windows Media Player through its Windows operating system [product website]. Lucent Technologies was acquired by Alcatel in December of 2006. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Army Sgt. Paul E. Cortez received a 100-year prison sentence Thursday for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl [JURIST news archive] and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area last March. Cortez pleaded guilty [JURIST report] earlier this week to felony murder, rape and conspiracy to rape. He will be dishonorably discharged from the Army and will be eligible for parole after 10 years. His plea agreement [JURIST report], which requires that he testify against others involved in the incident, allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

In November, Army Spc. James P. Barker pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to the rape and murder charges and was sentenced to 90 years in prison [JURIST report], an effective life sentence, but with the possibility of parole. Barker also agreed to testify against the other soldiers implicated [JURIST report] in the attack. Pfcs. Jesse Spielman and Bryan Howard still face military charges and former US Army Pfc. Steven D. Green [JURIST news archive], discharged from the military because of a personality disorder before the allegations arose, has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in his civilian trial in federal court in Kentucky. Green is said to have been the key player in the rape and murders. It was recently revealed that three months before the attack, Green was diagnosed by military mental health workers as a homicidal threat [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A group that advocates the therapeutic use of marijuana [JURIST news archive] is suing the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services [official websites] for their statements that the drug has no medical value. According to a complaint [PDF text] filed Wednesday in US District Court in San Francisco, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) [advocacy website] alleges that the government's statements "deter sick and dying persons from seeking to obtain medicine that could provide them with needed, and often life-saving, relief." ASA's lawsuit invokes the Data Quality Act (DQA) [text; OMB materials; ASA backgrounder], which President Bush signed in 2001 to ensure "the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information" disseminated by federal agencies. The statute allows citizens to seek correction of flawed information. "The FDA position on medical cannabis is incorrect, dishonest and a flagrant violation of laws requiring the government to base policy on sound science," ASA chief counsel Joe Elford said in a press release [text].

ASA asserts that scientific research, including a new study involving AIDS patients [abstract] and a 1999 Institute of Medicine report [text], has shown that marijuana is effective in treating some illnesses. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction barring the agencies from disseminating statements [text] that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use" and ordering them to correct the statements. The New York Times has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

About a dozen US states permit the use of medical marijuana. Rhode Island joined that list last year, when legislators overrode the governor's veto [JURIST report] of a bill allowing patients to use marijuana under a physician's supervision. However, the US Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich [opinion text; Duke Law case backgrounder] validated Congress's power to criminalize the growth and personal use of marijuana for medical purposes.

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