[JURIST] The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Friday upheld [opinion, PDF] the dismissal of a rendition-related lawsuit [complaint, PDF] by German citizen Khaled El-Masri [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] against the CIA [official website], deciding that the case could not be heard in a US court because of the government's state secrets privilege [Sourcewatch backgrounder]. The lawsuit [ACLU materials], argued by ACLU [advocacy website] lawyers, charged former CIA director George Tenet [Sourcewatch profile] and CIA officials with violating international human rights law by their involvement in the alleged kidnapping and extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of El-Masri to Afghanistan in 2003. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said [ACLU press release] the ruling turned the state secrets doctrine into "a shield that covers even the most blatant abuses of power.” AP has more.

El-Masri alleged that CIA agents kidnapped him while on vacation in Macedonia in 2003 and transferred him to Afghanistan, where he was held in a secret prison for five months and subjected to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation. He was eventually released in Albania in 2004 without charge. In October 2006, el-Masri testified before a Spanish judge [JURIST report] as part of an investigation [JURIST report] into whether the CIA used Spanish airports to transport el-Masri to countries where they could legally torture him. In June 2006, a German investigator concluded that no evidence had surfaced to disprove el-Masri's story [JURIST report]. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier denied [JURIST report] in December 2006 that Germany had any knowledge of the alleged kidnapping.

[JURIST] A team of Swiss forensic pathologists from Institute of Legal Medicine at Lausanne University [institute website, in French] Friday announced the results of an autopsy on deceased Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Ahmed Ali Abdullah [Wikipedia profile], concluding that while available evidence supported the US government claim that Abdullah committed suicide by hanging last June, it was impossible to be completely sure due to military authorities withholding information. Abdullah, a Yemeni national, was one of three detainees to commit suicide in a single night [JURIST report; JURIST news archive], the first to die that way at the US military facility.

Distrusting the military's findings, Abdullah's family had asked the institute through the Alkarama [advocacy website, in Arabic] human rights organization to perform a second autopsy. The autopsy team said they could not be absolutely certain the death was a suicide because key body parts, including the larynx and other elements of the upper airway were missing. The US military did not respond to requests for a copy of the original autopsy, or other anatomical samples. Swissinfo has more.

[JURIST] A three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] threw out a lawsuit challenging Ohio's death penalty procedure [JURIST news archive] Friday on the grounds that the claim was filed too late. In the 2-1 opinion [Cooey v. Strickland text, PDF], judges Richard Fred Suhrheinrich and Edward Eugene Siler [official profiles] decided that the statute of limitations on the inmate's 42 USC 1983 [text] method of execution challenge would have run at the latest two years following the 2001 decision that made lethal injection Ohio's only form of execution. Plaintiff Cooey did not file his challenge until December of 2004.

Last year Ohio executed its first prisoner using modified lethal injection procedures [JURIST report] aimed at preventing extreme pain during an execution. The procedures were changed last June [JURIST report] following a difficult May execution where staff struggled to find a vein to administer the lethal injection cocktail, and the one they did use collapsed before injection. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Marine Corps Cpl. Trent D. Thomas [advocacy website] was arraigned [press release] Thursday on charges of murder and kidnapping related to the April 2006 slaying of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive], but declined to enter a plea. Thomas was arraigned for the killing previously after he pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to unpremeditated murder, but last month he withdrew his guilty plea [JURIST report]. Prosecutors have amended the most recent charges to include premeditation. Thomas claims that he acted under "color of law" and that he followed the orders of his superior, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, who also faces several charges [JURIST report], including murder. Allegedly, the murder of civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] was arranged to appear as if he were planting an explosive; the soldiers left his body by the side of the road with a shovel and AK-47 to make him look like an insurgent.

Last month, USMC Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington [advocacy website] was sentenced [JURIST report] to eight years in military prison for his role in Awad's death. US Marine Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos, [JURIST reports] and Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson [advocacy website; JURIST report] have also pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony in the case, in which seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were originally charged [JURIST report]. Thomas is also charged with assault in an unrelated incident. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge in California on Thursday dismissed all claims in the second of four patent infringement lawsuits filed by Alcatel-Lucent [corporate website] against Microsoft Corp. [corporate website; JURIST news archive]. The case, which was scheduled to begin trial March 19, concerned speech recognition technology. The ruling, issued by US District Judge Rudi Brewster [AIC profile], will be appealed by Alcatel-Lucent.

Last Thursday, a federal jury in California awarded Alcatel-Lucent $1.52 billion [JURIST report; special verdict form, PDF] in damages for violations of two of Alcatel-Lucent's digital music patents committed by Microsoft. Microsoft indicated it might appeal the verdict. Two additional patent suits between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent are pending, with the next trial scheduled to begin May 21. CNET has more.

[JURIST] The US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] Thursday agreed to extend [DHS press release; rulemaking notice] by 18 months the compliance timeline for the REAL ID Act [text, PDF; JURIST news archive] until December 31, 2009. In addition to the extension of the deadline imposed on states, DHS will allow states to use as much as 20 percent of the money allocated by the agency to ensure compliance. The proposed changes follow resistance by state and federal lawmakers [JURIST report], who questioned the feasibility of implementing uniform driver's license standards under the act before the original May 2008 deadline, and aim at assuaging concerns [JURIST report] over the cost of the new regulations.

The REAL ID Act, initially drafted after the Sept 11 attacks and designed to discourage illegal immigration, attempts to make it more difficult for terrorists to fraudulently obtain US driver's licenses and other government IDs by mandating that states require birth certificates or similar documentation and also consult national immigration databases before issuing IDs. The law is also meant to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to board aircraft or enter federal government buildings. After controversy and strenuous opposition from civil libertarians [FindLaw commentary] it finally passed in 2005 as part of an emergency supplemental appropriations defense spending bill. AP has more.

[JURIST] Belgium [JURIST news archive] has become the first country to criminalize investment in companies that make cluster bombs [JURIST news archive; FAS backgrounder]. Legislation passed the Belgian Senate [official website] on Thursday, and the Parliament plans to publish a list of companies that manufacture cluster munitions. Belgian banks KBC and Fortis [corporate websites] have already terminated their investments in such companies, and KBC has published its own list of manufacturers. The new law will prohibit Belgian banks from owning shares in cluster bomb manufacturers or offering them credit.

Last week, 46 countries pledged to develop a new international treaty [JURIST report; Norwegian government press release] to ban the use of cluster bombs by 2008 at the Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions [conference materials]. Last year, Belgium was the first country to ban cluster bombs [JURIST report]. Although the US did not attend the Oslo conference, top Democratic lawmakers recently introduced a bill [JURIST report] in the US Senate that would ban federal funds for the use, sale or transfer of cluster bombs. Cluster munitions, which have been used by at least 23 countries, are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal [CMC backgrounder] under multiple provisions of Protocol I [text] of the Geneva Conventions (1977). Reuters has more. Indymedia has local coverage.

[JURIST] Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine [official website] has announced that he will sign a bill [text] requiring sixth grade girls to receive a vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV) [CDC fact sheet], a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. The law, which passed both houses of the Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday, would take effect at the beginning of the 2009 school year. Parents would be permitted to opt out of the requirement by signing a form.

In February, Texas became the first state to require that girls be vaccinated [JURIST report] when Governor Rick Perry (R) [official website] issued an executive order in the face of legislative opposition. That order may be overturned by the Texas legislature, however, which is advancing a bill [JURIST report] to rescind. Kentucky [Murray State News report] is currently moving ahead with its own legislation to mandate HPV vaccinations, and lawmakers in about 20 other states are considering similar measures [PJEPHL report]. CTV has more. Listen to a late-January podcast by Governor Kaine on HPV vaccinations.

[JURIST] The Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] has said as part of a court claim for British citizenship that he was shown a photo of a beaten fellow inmate and told that if he did not co-operate with interrogators he would be flown to Egypt for the same treatment. The statement and other details of allegedly harsh treatment by American personnel are contained in a document that will be presented in May as Hicks presses his thusfar unsuccessful case for British citizenship [JURIST news archive] on the basis of his mother's nationality. Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock [official website] has promised to investigate Hicks' allegations, but in an interview [World Today transcript] Friday he refused to answer "affirmatively or negatively" whether he was satisfied with the way in which Hicks has been treated.

After five years of detention at Guantanamo, Hicks was officially charged [JURIST report; PDF charge sheet] on Thursday with providing material support to terrorists [DOD press release]. Ruddock praised the fact that a proposed attempted murder charge against Hicks has been dropped, deeming it a sign that "the [US] Convening Authority is properly exercising her discretion . . . in a conscientious and thorough way." Many have criticized the charge against Hicks [The Age editorial] as retrospective, however, claiming that it only became an offense within the military commissions' jurisdiction last October.

In Australia, Hicks' lawyers have filed a claim [JURIST report] against the Australian government for breaching its duty to protect Hicks as a citizen by failing to call for a fair trial. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Meir Shamgar [official profile], the president of the Israeli Supreme Court [official website, in Hebrew] between 1983 and 1995, has signed a public petition against Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's recent proposal to restrict the ability of the Supreme Court to overturn laws [JURIST report] passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knessett [official website]. The petition, to be officially published Friday, states that "abolishing substantive judicial review endangers the freedoms that have been legislated to date...[and will not] advance the rule of law" but erode it because "a majority of Knesset members" could, at any time, restrict fundamental freedoms granted to Israeli citizens.

The proposal would also grant the Knessett the authority to revise laws overturned by the Supreme Court, thereby renewing those laws' validity. The proposal would allow the Knesset to overturn a Supreme Court ruling with an ordinary one-round of voting. Current laws requires a 61-majority in the 120-member body in three rounds of voting to overturn the Supreme Court. Haaretz has more.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law [official website] voted Thursday to subpoena former Justice Department prosecutors Carol C. Lam (San Diego), David C. Iglesias (New Mexico), H.E. Cummins, III (Arkansas), and John McKay (Seattle), to testify at a subcommittee hearing [materials] next Tuesday. The subcommittee issued the subpoenas after the former US Attorneys privately told representatives that they would not voluntarily testify. Several of the prosecutors had been engaged in politically sensitive cases. Lam had prosecuted former Republican congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham [JURIST news archive] and Igleias was investigating local Democrats for a kickback scheme. McKay decided against empaneling a grand jury to examine accusations of voter fraud in Washington State's 2004 election for governor, which was won by a Democrat. Eight federal prosecutors received phone calls on December 7 saying that they were being asked to resign, without explanation. Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, told the New York Times that the DOJ has "never removed a United States attorney in an effort to retaliate against them or inappropriately interfere with a particular investigation, criminal prosecution or civil case."

The firings have sparked arguments about the power of the US Attorney General to indefinitely appoint replacement prosecutors, and also allegations that the firings were politically charged. Earlier this week Iglesias told reporters that federal lawmakers pressured him [JURIST report] to speed up indictments of local Democrats in time for the November elections. In testimony [JURIST report] before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty [official profile] denied that the removal of the attorneys was motivated by political considerations. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Thirteen defendants have been charged [press release, PDF] "with participating in two massive insider trading schemes and in two separate bribery schemes" that netted more than $8 million dollars in illegal profits for themselves and the hedge funds with which the defendants were affiliated, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official websites] announced Thursday. Ten indictments and criminal informations have been unsealed, which include allegations that Mitchel Guttenberg, executive director and institutional client manager at UBS AG [corporate website], sold two co-defendants material, nonpublic information regarding upcoming upgrades and downgrades in UBS analysts' securities recommendations, which often had a direct effect on the trading price of stock prices. Randi Collotta, former in-house counsel at the global compliance division of Morgan Stanley [corporate website], is alleged to have provided material, non public information regarding certain public companies' planned merger and acquisition activities. A broker at Banc of America Securities [corporate website] is alleged to have accepted cash kickbacks to allocate public offering shares to a hedge fund. Four defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud, and commercial bribery charges. Guttenberg, if convicted, faces a maximum prison term of 90 years.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $10 million settlement [JURIST report] to the Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] last June without admitting or denying allegations made by the SEC that the corporation had failed to protect against potential misuse of insider trading information as required by law. AP has more.