[JURIST] A Swiss court Friday convicted Turkish Workers Party [party website] leader Dogu Perincek [personal website] for denying that the mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians [ANI backgrounder] during World War I constituted genocide [JURIST news archive]. The Swiss canton of Vaud [official website], where Perincek made the denial in a 2005 speech, passed a law in 2003 criminalizing the denial of genocide as racial discrimination. Perincek has denied the charges, saying that he could not deny the genocide since there was no genocide to deny.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed in a genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War I through massacres or starvation. Turkey [JURIST news archive] acknowledges that many Armenians died, but denies that it was genocide [JURIST comment] and insists that the total number of victims was under one million. Last month, the French parliament deferred consideration of a bill [JURIST report] that would have made it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide. The US Congress is meanwhile considering a bill that would recognize the mass killings as genocide [JURIST report], to the considerable consternation of Turkish leaders [JURIST report; JURIST comment]. The Bush administration has spoken out against the bill, but the Democratic-led Congress may decide to pass a resolution condemning the killings in April. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US military hearings on whether 14 top terror suspects [DNI profile, PDF] formerly held in CIA secret prisons [JURIST report] qualify as "enemy combatants" [CFR backgrounder] began Friday at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) [DOD backgrounder] will determine the status of Abu Zubaydah [BBC profile], Ramzi bin al-Shibh [Wikipedia profile], Riduan Isamuddin [Wikipedia profile], and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [FoxNews profile], the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as other detainees. The proceedings are closed to the press [JURIST report].

The Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website], the civil rights group representing detainee Majid Khan [GlobalSecurity profile], has protested that the procedings "cannot in anyway legitimize Khan's unlawful detention." Seton Hall law professor Mark Denbeaux [university profile] and Joshua Denbeaux [corporate website], co-authors of a comprehensive study of Guantanamo detainees [PDF; JURIST report] based on declassified Defense Department records, have criticized the CSRT hearings as "lawless" because detainees cannot have lawyers present or call or view evidence. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Cambodian government uses systematic human rights and civil liberty violations to maintain its hold on power, according to a report by UN special rights representative Yash Ghai [appointment notice] and obtained by AFP. The report listed illegal land grabs, torture while in police custody, corruption among senior government officials, and a steadfast government opposition to democracy among other violations. Cambodian officials angrily denied Ghai's allegations, accusing him of being an outsider speaking about things he did not understand. Cambodian government human rights advisor Om Yentieng said it would not be appropriate to respond to the accusations [DPA report], which he insisted were not based on fact. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen [BBC profile] said that Ghai is no longer welcome in Cambodia because of his criticism. In contrast, the Asian Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] condemned [press release] Sen's remarks and human rights advocate and founder of Cambodian rights group Licadho [advocacy website], Kek Galabru, said Ghai's conclusions were "generally correct." AFP has more.

The UN findings are broadly consistent with the latest US State Department human rights report on Cambodia released earlier this week as part of its 2006 worldwide human rights review [JURIST report], which concluded:

The government's human rights record remained poor. Government agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by government authorities to adhere to the rule of law. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions, often accompanied by violence, were a growing problem. The government restricted freedom of speech and press through the use of defamation and disinformation suits, controlled or influenced the content of television and radio broadcasts, and sometimes interfered with freedom of assembly. Corruption was endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

[JURIST] Ugandan judges Friday agreed to call off a strike after President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile] wrote a letter to the judiciary, expressing regret for a March 1 siege of the Ugandan High Court [Reuters report]. The judges went on strike [JURIST report] Monday to protest the incident, in which state security agents surrounded the courthouse and rearrested six defendants who had been granted bail. The defendants' lawyer was also beaten unconscious by security forces. Ugandan judges and international legal groups decried the siege as an attack on the independence of the Ugandan judiciary. On Tuesday, Museveni promised to implement more transparent procedures for making arrests [JURIST report].

The six defendants arrested in the court siege were charged with being members of the People's Redemption Army (PRA) [Wikipedia backgrounder] and plotting a rebellion with opposition leader Kizza Besigye [BBC profile]. In April of last year, Besigye pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to treason charges. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] Friday invoked the Second Amendment to reverse a lower court ruling and strike down [opinion, PDF] a three-decades old ban on individuals in the District of Columbia having handguns in their homes. The 2-1 ruling is likely to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution provides: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." Senior Judge Laurence Silberman wrote for the majority:

...the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad). In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment’s civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual’s enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.

[JURIST] A federal judge in Argentina [JURIST news archive] Thursday ordered former president Reynaldo Bignone [Wikipedia profile] arrested for his alleged role in disappearances and human rights abuses during Argentina's 1976-83 "Dirty War"[GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Judge Alberto Suarez Araujo ordered Bignone's arrest as part of an investigation into alleged human rights abuses that occurred at secret detention centers in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship. Bignone has denied any involvement in the disappearance of dissidents during the military regime.

Bignone was the last of Argentina's 1976-83 military dictators before democracy was re-established in 1983. Nearly 13,000 people are officially reported as missing during the military crackdown, although human rights groups say the toll is closer to 30,000 victims. In January, Argentine judges issued two separate warrants [JURIST report] for the arrest of former president Isabel Peron [BBC profile], currently living in exile in Spain, for her alleged role in dirty war disappearances before she left office in 1976. AP has more.

[JURIST] Flights carrying illegal workers caught in a federal raid in New Bedford, Massachusetts to a deportation holding facility in Texas were delayed Thursday after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick [official website] asked federal authorities to stop the flights until the workers' children could be accounted for [press release]. The US Department of Homeland Security [official website] detained more than 300 people for possible deportation after a raid Tuesday at Michael Bianco Inc.. [corporate website], a leather factory that makes equipment for the US military. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers [official profile] said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] agents released 60 people who said they were the sole caregivers for their children. One woman was detained until Thursday night, despite having a 7-month-old infant in the hospital for dehydration, according to Massachusetts Department of Social Services [official website] spokeswoman Denise Monteiro.

Workers were flown to a Texas detention center, where they face possible deportation [JURIST news archive]. Factory owner Francesco Insolia and three top managers were arrested for allegedly running a sweatshop, and a fifth person was charged with helping workers get fake identification. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) [official website] said Thursday it was suspending the company from bidding on future military contracts, but no changes were made to the firm's current $83.6 million contract. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bangladeshi interim government issued a complete ban on political activities late Thursday, stating that "the government will take stern action against anyone who breaches" the order. The announcement, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, expands the January 11 state of emergency [JURIST report] order by President Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile], which prohibited street protests, public meetings or gatherings, but did not prohibit "indoor political activities." In addition, police have been given four days to question Tareque Rahman [party profile, Bengali], son of slain former president Ziaur Rahman and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) [party website] leader Khaleda Zia. Rahman is accused of being involved in a $186,000 extortion scheme. Rahman, a senior member in the BNP who was widely expected to succeed his mother, was arrested [JURIST] Thursday in Dhaka.

In recent weeks, government security forces have arrested more than 60 politicians [JURIST news archive], mostly members of the BNP and the Awami League [party website]. Several major corruption trials are slated to begin later this month [JURIST report]. Transparency International [advocacy website] has listed Bangladesh as one of the world's most corrupt states. The interim government mandated by the constitution prior to a scheduled national poll has promised to hold elections which were canceled following the January 11 order, but no date has been set. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website, Spanish; BBC profile] told reporters Friday that his government has a desire to "renounce the recourse to war under the Republic of Bolivia's new constitution." Morales made the remarks following a meeting in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website; BBC profile], whose country already has a constitution [official text] with a pacifist provision [Article 9 backgrounder] imposed by the United States following World War II. Morales added, however, that even if a pacifist constitution were implemented, Bolivia's armed forces would not be dissolved and Bolivia would maintain its conscript one-year military service.

Bolivia is currently engaged in a major constitutional overhaul led by a Constitutional Assembly [official website, Spanish] dominated by members of Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) [party website, Spanish]. Japan's Abe, ironically, is currently seeking to amend his country's pacifist constitution [JURIST report] to allow more flexibility for Japanese military activities abroad. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [official website; BBC profile] suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [profile] Friday "after receiving numerous complaints and serious allegations for misconduct, misuse of authority and actions prejudicial to the dignity of office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan." Musharraf has directed the Supreme Judicial Council [governing constitutional provisions], the oversight body of Pakistan's judiciary, to investigate the allegations against Chaudhry. The details behind the allegations are uncertain, although various private media outlets have recently reported that Chaudhry used his influence to help his son, Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry, obtain the position of an Assistant Superintendent of Police. Media reports allege that Arsalan have failed to pass the highly selective Central Superior Services (CSS) exams, and is therefore unqualified for his position. Musharraf has appointed Justice Javed Iqbal as acting chief justice.

Chaudhry assumed the position of chief justice in 2005. He developed a reputation during his tenure on the supreme court for being willing to investigate alleged government abuses involving the illegal detention of political activists. In December last year, he blocked Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) from enacting a strict Sharia law bill - the so-called Hasba bill [BBC report] - after the issue was referred to the Supreme Court by Musharraf. AFP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Portugal's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic [official website, Portuguese], loosened Portugal's strict abortion law [text, Portuguese; JURIST news archive] Thursday to allow abortions in the first 10-weeks of pregnancy. The legislation still requires the endorsement of President Anibal Cavaco Silva [official profile] to come into effect.

In February, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates [official profile] said he would look the Assembly to pass liberalizing abortion legislation [JURIST report] after the failure of a general referendum [JURIST report] on the issue due to low turnout. Previous law allowed abortions only in order to save the life of the mother, in rape cases, or if the baby will be born with a deformity or incurable disease. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Britain's most senior judge assailed recent government sentencing guidelines in a speech [PDF] Thursday, warning that minimums set in 2003 threatened to eventually fill up the country's prisons with "geriatric lifers" and would have negative consequences for years to come. Speaking at Birmingham University, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers [BBC profile], also expressed concern about recent proposals [materials] by the Law Commission [official website] to break the sentencing scheme for murder down into separate categories with potentially quite disparate minimums of their own. Instead, Phillips suggested that the mandatory life sentence for murder be abandoned and that a new broad offense of "homicide" be created which would allow judges wide discretion in sentencing for different scenarios of that according to circumstances.

Both sentencing and prison overcrowding have made headlines in the UK recently. In January, the 600-member Council of Her Majesty's Circuit Court Judges pointedly rejected government proposals for sentencing reform [JURIST report], calling them "kneejerk". The same month, UK Home Secretary John Reid, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote to British judges [HO press release] urging them to limit imposition of prison sentences to only the most dangerous criminals in order to help the government deal with prison overcrowding [BBC backgrounder; Guardian Q/A] that has reached crisis proportions [JURIST report]. The Times has more.

[JURIST] Six foreign medics sentenced to death in Libya [JURIST news archive] will not be executed, according to Libyan Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Committee [official website, in Arabic] Suleiman Shahoumi, quoted by Bulgarian media. In December, a Libyan court found five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor found guilty of deliberately infecting 426 children with the HIV virus and sentenced them to death [JURIST report]. The medics have appealed [JURIST report] the decision to the Libya Supreme Court. An earlier trial also resulted in a guilty verdict that was overturned by the Libyan Supreme Court in 2005 when it ordered a retrial [JURIST reports]. According to a report by the Sofia News Agency, Shahoumi said last week in the Libya's General People's Congress that the medics will not be executed even if the court upholds their sentence.

The medics were imprisoned in Libya in 1999, but say they are innocent and are being scapegoated for unsanitary conditions in the Benghazi hospital where they worked. An independent report [text, PDF] by leading experts including Luc Montagnier [Wikipedia profile], who co-discovered the HIV virus, supported their claim. International medical and human rights groups have vigorously criticized Libya's treatment of the prisoners; a report by Human Rights Watch [text] said the medics were tortured into admitting guilt. AKI has more.

[JURIST] A US Department of Justice review of the FBI's use of so-called national security letters (NSLs) [FAS backgrounder; example, PDF] and ex parte orders for business records criticizes the Bureau for ineffective management, monitoring and reporting of the programs. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted the review under the terms of the 2005 Patriot Act renewal legislation, and found according to officials interviewed by AP that the Bureau had under-reported usage by some 20 percent due to improper record-keeping procedures. The full report is being delivered to Congress; a redacted unclassified version is expected to be made public as early as Friday.

Some 20,000 national security letters are issued by the FBI each year, authorizing agents to seize telephone, business and financial records without prior judicial approval. Alleged abuses and overreaching with the letters spurred provisions in the 2005 Patriot Act renewal to provide for greater Congressional oversight of the practice. AP has more.

11:55 AM ET - The unclassified version of the full report [PDF] - 199 pages including appendices - is now available online. It concludes that mostly as a result of poor-record keeping and mistakes by agents, the "FBI used NSLs in violation of applicable NSL standards, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies."

1:45 PM ET - The FBI has issued a press release responding to the OIG report:

In the post-9/11 world, the National Security Letter (NSL) remains an indispensable investigative tool. NSLs contribute significantly to the FBI’s ability to carry out its national security responsibilities by directly supporting its counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence missions. NSLs also allow the FBI to obtain information to eliminate concerns about individuals and close down investigations with a high degree of confidence there is no terrorism or adverse intelligence-gathering threat. We are pleased the Inspector General concurs with the FBI concerning the value of the NSL tool.

“The Inspector General conducted a fair and objective review of the FBI’s use of a proven and useful investigative tool,” said Director Robert S. Mueller, III, “and his finding of deficiencies in our processes is unacceptable. We strive to exercise our authorities consistent with the privacy protections and civil liberties that we are sworn to uphold. Anything less will not be tolerated. While we’ve already taken some steps to address these shortcomings, I am ordering additional corrective measures to be taken immediately,” Mueller said.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner Louise Arbour marked International Women's Day [official website] Thursday with a stark message [text] on violence against women [factsheet 1, 2, DOC], urging an end to impunity for what was paradoxically the "most common but least punished crime in the world" in an environment where "most States have largely accepted the international normative framework aimed at preventing, tackling and punishing discrimination and violence against women":

A recent World Health Organization study found that 23 to 49 per cent of women suffered violence at the hands of their intimate partners in most of the 71 countries surveyed. UNICEF has reported that 130 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation. According to the United Nations Population Fund, 5,000 women die every year in "honour" killings perpetrated by family members. And it is estimated that less than 5 per cent of rape prosecutions lead to convictions globally, partly because the majority of cases place emphasis on the conduct of the woman and not on that of the perpetrator....

[M]ost States...recognize that women's equality and entitlements are human rights, thus empowering women to become active right-holders and claimants, rather than passive beneficiaries of discretionary policies. Many countries, however, have not matched this progress in international law with implementation, policy and practice, particularly where it matters the most, that is, in the daily lives of women around the world.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told senators in a private meeting Thursday that the Bush administration would drop its objection to proposed legislation requiring Senate confirmation of all US Attorneys, reversing a rule change approved a year ago in the Patriot Act reauthorization [JURIST report; HR 3199 text, PDF] allowing the Attorney General to replace removed US attorneys with permanent substitutes. The legislation [S 214 text, PDF] sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and pressed in a letter [text] to Gonzales earlier Thursday would permit US district courts to appoint temporary US Attorneys when those spots become vacant. Gonzales also agreed to let senior members of DOJ staff involved in the removals of several US Attorneys appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions. AP has more.

Several former US Attorneys have recently said they were pressured to resign [JURIST report; House Judiciary Committee hearing recorded video] after pursuing politically sensitive cases. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty denied [JURIST report] that the removal of the Attorneys was motivated by political considerations, although the Washington Post later reported that the White House approved of the firings [JURIST report]. The House Judiciary Committee has launched a parallel investigation [press release] of the firings.