[JURIST] A delegation of European Parliament [official website] members told two subcommittees of the US House of Representatives [official website] Tuesday that the use of extraordinary renditions [JURIST news archive] by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] is illegal. At the hearing [notice] conducted by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight [official website], EP rendition investigator Carlo Fava said he deemed renditions "an illegal instrument used by the United States in the fight against terrorism."

Also Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed [Post report] that CIA Director Michael Hayden [official profile] complained privately to European diplomats last month following the release of Fava's European Parliament report [JURIST report] condemning member states for their cooperation with the CIA in operating illegal secret prisons and extraordinary rendition flights in Europe. Hayden is said to have claimed that the European Parliament report exaggerated rendition practices, which he maintains are legal. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) [official website] announced [press release, PDF] Tuesday that the Senate Appropriations Committee [official website] he chairs has agreed to adopt new standards governing so-called earmarks [CRS backgrounder, PDF] inserted by legislators into bills to fund special spending projects. The proposed ethics and earmark reform legislation will define the term "earmark" and will require that all earmarks be clearly identified in the committee bill and report, both of which will be published on the Internet. In addition, the legislation will mandate that Senators certify that neither they nor their spouses have a financial interest in any earmark. Byrd said the Senate Appropriations Committee will follow the standards until they are enacted into law. The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 [PDF text; CRS summary] passed by the US Senate [JURIST report] in a 96-2 vote [roll call] in January proposed similar earmark reform rules, but that legislation has yet to receive approval from the US House of Representatives. AP has more.

In September, the US House adopted [JURIST report] a new rule requiring lawmakers to disclose their sponsorship of earmarks. H.Res. 1000 [summary] provides that earmarks can no longer be inserted anonymously and requires that bills coming out of committee, bills containing tax measures, and conference reports list all earmarks and the names of the congresspersons who requested them.

[JURIST] Ugandan police fired on a Kampala press briefing held by political activists and opposition leaders on Tuesday, five days after violent protests caused the deaths of three people [BBC report]. Leaders of the Forum for Democratic Change [party website], the Democratic Party [party website], the Conservative Party [Wikipedia backgrounder] and the Justice Forum [Wikipedia backgrounder] held the briefing to call for the release of 27 people who were detained after the environmental protest, including two members of parliament. The demonstrators marched in opposition to a government plan to cut down 7,000 hectares of the Mabira Forest Reserve [backgrounder] and replace it with an Indian-owned sugarcane plantation, but the march soon turned to rioting and culminated in looting, an attack on a Hindu temple, and the death of a businessman of Indian descent.

Ugandan police have brought charges against 23 detainees; four face murder charges, while the rest are accused of conducting an illegal demonstration. President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile] has defended the plans to raze the forest, saying that conservation is a luxury Uganda cannot afford. The Mabira forest has been a nature reserve since 1932 and contains rare species of plants and wildlife. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Polish National Remembrance Institute [official website] ruled Tuesday that former Polish President Wojciech Jaruzelski [official website, in Polish; BBC profile] and eight former officials can be charged with "Communist crimes" for imposing martial law [Polish government backgrounder] in Poland in 1981. Jaruzelski, now 83, already faces charges [JURIST report] of organizing crimes of a military nature and depriving individuals of freedom in connection with the 1981 decree. About 100 people are said to have died as a result martial law, which also involved the arrests of reformist Solidarity movement [official website] leaders - among them future Polish President Lech Walesa [BBC profile] - and the detentions of some 10,000 others in internment camps. Jaruzelski has argued that his decision to impose martial law was necessary to maintain order and prevent Russian intervention in Poland along the lines of what happened in reformist Czechoslovakia in 1968.

The prosecutions are part of a plan for "moral renewal" [Washington Post report] pushed by current Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski [official websites]. The plan, which has purged police and military intelligence agencies and requires civil servants to disclose whether they served as police informants prior to 1989, has caused divisions among Polish society. UPI has more.

[JURIST] Charges have been dropped against a US Marine in exchange for his testimony in hearings regarding the November 2005 killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive], the Marine Corps announced Tuesday. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, originally charged with unpremeditated murder and making a false official statement, will receive immunity for testifying against seven other Marines, who are charged [USMC charge sheet; JURIST report] with offenses ranging from murder to dereliction of duty in connection with the deaths.

The Haditha investigation has culminated in the largest US military prosecution involving civilian deaths during the war in Iraq. Iraqi witnesses claim that the Marines, led by Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich [advocacy website], shot into the homes of civilians after a fellow Marine was killed by a roadside bomb. Wuterich, who faces thirteen charges of unpremeditated murder, has maintained that his unit followed the rules of engagement [JURIST report] and did not purposefully attack civilians. An Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder] will be held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold a court-martial for the seven. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Egypt [JURIST news archive] police have arrested an Egyptian engineer on charges of spying on an atomic research program for Israel, AP reported Tuesday. According to Egyptian High State Security Prosecutor Hisham Badawi, Muhammad Sayed Saber allegedly gave files from his work at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Agency [FAS backgrounder] to the Israel Secret Intelligence Service (Mossad) [official website] service for $17,000. Egypt also named Irish citizen Brian Peter and Japanese citizen Shiro Izo as wanted in connection with the case.

Badawi said Saber was arrested in February, but police delayed the announcement until they had completed further investigation. Although Egypt has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [text; JURIST news archive], it is permitted to develop nuclear power under international supervision. AP has more.

[JURIST] Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler [official profile] said Tuesday that Maryland will not challenge a decision [PDF opinion] by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] holding that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) [text] preempts the Maryland Fair Share Health Care Fund Act [PDF text]. The act was part of a state attempt to force Wal-Mart [corporate website, JURIST news archive] to contribute more for employee health care. In a 2-1 ruling in January, the court upheld [JURIST report] a district court ruling [JURIST report] which determined that the Maryland law violates ERISA by not allowing Wal-Mart to create a uniform employee health benefit program nationwide. Maryland is now planning to look to other states as models, such as Massachusetts. The Massachusetts health care plan includes a private insurance exchange and requires that businesses help pay for the system.

The Maryland law would have required companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least eight percent on employee health care, or pay the difference of that amount into the state Medicaid fund. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) [trade website], of which Wal-Mart is a member, filed a challenge to the health care law [JURIST report] last year, arguing that the law is preempted by the federal ERISA, and that the law violates the equal protection clause of the constitution. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] will consider a resolution granting immunity to Monica M. Goodling [JURIST news archive], former special counsel to the US Attorney General, in exchange for her testimony concerning last year's firing of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive], according to a prepared statement read by committee chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) [official website] Tuesday. If two-thirds of the committee agree to the resolution, an application would be submitted to the federal district court for a grant of immunity. Speaking on the proposal, Conyers stated that Goodling's testimony is pivotal in clearing up "the many inconsistencies and gaps surrounding this matter."

Goodling previously told the committee that she would not speak to the committee about her role in the firings [JURIST report], and stated through her lawyer, John Dowd, that she would seek protection under her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if the committee issued her a subpoena. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] was originally scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] regarding the firings on Tuesday, but his testimony was postponed [JURIST report] until Thursday in the wake of Monday's shootings [New York Times report] at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute that left 33 people dead. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicholas Michel [official profile] promised Tuesday that a tribunal [JURIST news archive] to try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive] would be established, despite disagreement among Lebanese leaders. In February, the UN and Lebanon reached an agreement to establish an international tribunal, but its implementation has been delayed in Lebanon's deeply fragmented parliament. Lebanon's pro-Syrian parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri [official profile] of the mostly Shi'a Amal Movement [party website, in Arabic] has refused to convene parliament, preventing the ratification of the agreement. Michel said that while many UN Security Council members still want Lebanon to fully approve the tribunal, the Council may establish the tribunal independent of formal Lebanese approval. Michel also added that even after adopting the legal basis for the tribunal, it may take up to an year for it to become operational. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent Michel to Lebanon [JURIST report] to revitalize the ratification process of the tribunal.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora [BBC profile] and the anti-Syrian government have urged the UN to establish a tribunal [JURIST report] over the objections of the country's pro-Syrian opposition, which also includes Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [official profile]. Hariri's assassination provoked an uproar in Lebanon and amongst the international community against the Syrian presence in Lebanon. The populist response, often referred to as the Cedar Revolution [Wikipedia backgrounder], crossed Lebanon's traditional sectarian lines and culminated in the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Ukraine [official website] held hearings Tuesday on a controversial April 2 decree [text; Yushchenko statement] by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko [official website; BBC profile] ordering the dissolution of parliament and new elections on May 27. By a vote of 11 to 7, the court decided to study and review the decree until April 27 or until a final ruling is passed. Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile] and leaders of the Ukrainian Parliament filed a challenge [JURIST report] on April 3 with the Ukrainian Constitutional Court seeking to block the decree. The court delayed [JURIST report] a scheduled hearing on April 10, citing political pressure and public threats against judges. Both Yushchenko and Yanukovych have said they will accept the court's decision, but Yushchenko has also said that he will not retract his decree. He did say, however, he would allow for a delay of the elections.

Yushchenko has insisted [JURIST report] that his dissolution decree was proper under the Ukrainian constitution [DOC text]. Late last week, Yushchenko added that officials who refuse to comply with his decree could face criminal prosecution [press release; JURIST report]. Yushchenko and Yanukovych were fierce rivals in the 2004 presidential election [JURIST report], the results of which were invalidated by the country's Supreme Court [JURIST report] following fraud allegations. Yushchenko was sworn in as Ukraine's president [JURIST report] in January 2005 on the wings of the populist Orange Revolution [BBC timeline] after winning a re-vote. Yushchenko reluctantly accepted Yanukovych as prime minister last June and the two have since clashed over parliamentary attempts to expand the cabinet's power [JURIST reports] at the expense of the presidency. AP has more. RIA Novosti has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The trial of US Army Spc. Mario Lozano [defense website; Wikipedia profile] for the murder of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and attempted murders of agent Andrea Carpani and Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena [Wikipedia profile] began in Italy Tuesday. The court immediately adjourned proceedings for technical reasons until May 14. Lozano is being tried in absentia [JURIST report], but has denied all charges against him [JURIST report], maintaining that he fired upon the Italian vehicle carrying the intelligence agents and journalist in self-defense.

Calipari was shot to death [JURIST report] by Lozano while driving to the Baghdad airport after securing the release of Sgrena from Iraqi kidnappers. A second Italian agent, Andrea Carpani, was also wounded. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A panel of US copyright judges Monday denied a request [PDF order] by a group of private and public webcasters to reconsider a royalty hike for playing digital music that broadcasters say could ruin the webcasting industry. The Copyright Royalty Board [official website] last month decided to change the system [PDF determination of rates] by which Internet broadcasters must pay royalties to artists and recording companies, charging a fee for every time an online listener plays a song rather than charging according to average listening hours.

A wide number of radio stations and Internet broadcasters, including National Public Radio [organization website], Yahoo Inc. [corporate website], and Time Warner Inc. [corporate website], had objected to the change. Many are concerned that the new system will destroy the webcasting industry because most cannot afford to pay more royalties. The new system will take effect May 15. A lawyer representing several webcasters said they may appeal the issue to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The father of a Guantanamo Bay detainee accused CIA officials of torturing his son - Pakistani terror suspect Majid Khan [GlobalSecurity profile] - after arresting him in Pakistan in March 2003, according to an affidavit [PDF text; press release] released Monday. Khan was one of 14 "high value" prisoners [DNI profiles, PDF] previously held at a CIA secret prison [JURIST report] but transferred last year to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba [JURIST news archive].

Khan's father submitted the affidavit to a military review panel that will determine whether Khan is an "enemy combatant" [JURIST report]. In the affidavit, the father wrote that "The Americans tortured him for eight hours at a time, tying him tightly in stressful positions in a chair until his hands, feet and mind went numb." The CIA has denied the accusations and reiterated that the US does not torture suspects. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday refused a request to close portions of the upcoming espionage trial of two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee [advocacy website] lobbyists because doing so would violate the defendants' right to an open trial. The lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, were indicted [PDF text; JURIST report] last year under the 1917 Espionage Act [18 USC 793 text] for allegedly conspiring to receive and disclose classified US defense information over a five-year period dating back to 1999. The prosecution's plan would have allowed only the judge, lawyers and jury to have access to classified evidence, but this was rejected by US District Judge T.S. Ellis [official profile].

In August 2006, Rosen and Weissman asked Ellis to dismiss the charges, arguing that the law is unconstitutionally vague and violates their right to free speech. Ellis, however, upheld the constitutionality [JURIST report] of the Espionage Act. The trial is set for June 4. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in three cases Tuesday, including Watters v. Wachovia Bank [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], where the Court held that the National Bank Act [text] and regulations promulgated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency preempt state laws regulating mortgage lending by national banks and their operating subsidiaries, affirming the Sixth Circuit's decision [PDF text] in the case. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Ginsburg, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens. Justice Thomas did not participate in this case. AP has more.

In Global Crossing v. Metrophones [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that Sections 201(b) and 207 [text] of the Communications Act [PDF text] create a private right of action allowing a provider of payphone services to sue a long distance carrier for allegedly violating regulations governing compensation for coinless payphone calls. Metrophones sued Global Crossing, a long distance carrier, arguing that Global Crossing violated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations by failing to compensate Metrophones for coinless payphone calls, a practice determined by the FCC to be "unjust and unreasonable." The Court upheld the Ninth Circuit's decision [PDF text] in the case, which also held that that Metrophones could pursue the lawsuit. The Supreme Court determined that the FCC's "unreasonable practice" determination was lawful, and that the language of relevant Communications Act provisions allow a party injured by violations of Section 201(b) to bring a federal action for damages. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Breyer, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Scalia and a second dissent [text] from Justice Thomas. AP has more.

Finally, in Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. Dept. of Education [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that the US Department of Education properly applied an equalization public school funding formula in determining that New Mexico "equalized expenditures" for public school districts and could therefore offset federal Impact Aid [DOE backgrounder] funding by reducing state aid to individual school districts. The Court determined that the Department of Education is permitted by statute to refer to the the number of students in a school district as well as the amount of per-student expenditure in a school district when determining whether a state "equalizes expenditures" among public school districts. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Breyer, along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Stevens, a second concurrence [text] from Justice Kennedy, a dissent [text] from Justice Scalia, and a second dissent [text] from Justice Souter.

[JURIST] Arafat Rahman, the son of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia [Virtual Bangladesh profile], was released Tuesday after being arrested [JURIST report] the day before on corruption allegations, according to local media reports. The reason for Arafat's release was not apparent Tuesday, but negotiations between Zia and the military-backed government Monday ended in Zia agreeing to leave Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] if her two sons could go with her. Zia is scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia in the next few days and a high-ranking government source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Arafat would go with Zia while her elder son, Tarique Rahman [party profile, in Bengali], would join them later.

Tarique, a senior member in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [Wikipedia backgrounder], was also arrested [JURIST report] last month on corruption charges. He was widely expected to succeed his mother, who stepped down at the end of her term last October to make way for the interim government. He is currently awaiting trial on charges that he extorted $147,000 from a construction company. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Nigerian electoral commission said Tuesday that Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar [official website] would be included on the ballots for this coming Saturday's presidential elections, after the Nigerian Supreme Court [official website] overturned his disqualification [JURIST report] as a candidate. A spokesman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) [official website] did not say how Abubakar's name would be added to the 61 million already-printed ballots and did not specifically confirm that the elections would be able to go forward this weekend.

The announcement to include Abubakar coincided with a statement [text] by Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] which said last Saturday's elections for Nigerian governors and state officials [JURIST report] in 14 key states were "so marred by fraud, intimidation and violence that the results in at least those states should be canceled and the polls re-run." Peter Takirambudde [Wikipedia profile], Africa director for HRW, said that the presidential elections will suffer the same fate unless the Nigerian government "dramatically changes course."

Those opposing the results of the state elections have been protesting in the streets, leading Nigerian police to ban all political rallies [SABCNews report]. INEC officials are scheduled to meet with security agencies Tuesday to discuss concerns of violence during the upcoming presidential elections. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge began hearings Monday to decide whether John Hinckley, Jr. [PBS profile] should be given more freedom outside the mental hospital where he was sent after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 attempted assassination of US President Ronald Reagan [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Hospital officials and Hinckley's family are arguing that restrictions currently in force should be loosened so he can visit his parents overnight [JURIST report] for weeks at a time and can attend recreational events in the community without having to notify Secret Service [official website] immediately.

US District Judge Paul Friedman [official profile] has set aside one week to hear the arguments and suggested Monday that at some point St. Elizabeths Hospital [hospital website] in Washington would remove all restrictions on Hinckley. US government attorneys argued against the lightened restrictions, saying Hinckley still thinks about "notoriously violent events and people" and needs regular contact with his doctors to remain stable. Hinckley's brother said he would support him financially if he was released. AP has more.