[JURIST] The Egyptian Parliament [official website] Wednesday deprived two Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] lawmakers of their official immunity. Under Egyptian law, legislators enjoy immunity from prosecution unless the parliament votes to remove it. Sabri Amer and Ragab Abu Zeid were the first Brotherhood members to lose immunity since the 2005 election; Zeid labeled the decision as a government-orchestrated attempt to intimidate the Brotherhood. Both men were briefly detained [AP report] by authorities last month.

The Brotherhood has been banned since 1954, but has grown into Egypt's most powerful opposition movement, holding 88 seats in the 454-seat parliament. Egyptian police arrested 31 Brotherhood members in June 2006 and an additional 72 members [JURIST reports] in February 2007. Over 700 Brotherhood members are believed to be in police custody. The government accuses the organization of trying to create an Islamic theocracy, but the Brotherhood claims the crackdown was meant to quell opposition to constitutional amendments [JURIST report] proposed by Mubarak last year. The amendments passed [JURIST report] by referendum in March. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US Marine sergeant testified Wednesday at the Article 32 [JAG backgrounder] hearing of Marine lawyer Capt. Randy W. Stone that Stone and other supervisors repeatedly ignored his requests to launch an investigation into the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. 1st Sergeant Albert Espinosa, who was responsible for the casualty reports of the Marine company said he pushed Stone and other superiors for a probe in the incident, but was told not to worry about it. Stone stands accused [JURIST report] of dereliction of duty and violating a lawful order to investigate the incident; three other officers are charged with similar offenses. A platoon commander, 1st Lt. William Kallop, testified Tuesday that he was surprised at the number of civilians killed at Haditha, but defended the soldiers' actions as part of a "legitimate combat operation." AP has more.

The Haditha investigation has culminated in the largest US military prosecution involving civilian deaths during the war in Iraq. Iraqi witnesses claim that 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. Last month, charges against Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz were dropped [JURIST report] in exchange for his testimony against other marines involved. An official report on the incident by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell found "serious misconduct" [JURIST report] on all levels of the US Marine Corps chain of command.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] Wednesday blocked all media coverage of the proceedings against suspended Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] and ordered an end to television and newspaper commentary that could "interfere" with the legal process. In a statement, the court said:

Discussions, comments or write-ups which are likely to interfere with the legal process, ridicule, scandalise or malign the court or any of its judges or touching the merits of the case are strictly prohibited and violation in this regard shall be dealt with under the law relating to contempt of court.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Japan [official website, in English] Wednesday dismissed two cases filed by Chinese nationals seeking compensation for Japan's use of biological weapons and the Nanjing Massacre [Wikipedia backgrounders] during the Second Sino-Japanese War [Wikipedia backgrounder] between 1937 and 1945. The high court upheld previous decisions by the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court which acknowledged the suffering of the 198 plaintiffs but denied compensation claims because the 1972 Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China [text] renounced Chinese claims for war reparations from Japan.

In April, the Supreme Court denied compensation claims [JURIST report] by two Chinese women forced to work as "comfort women" [Amnesty backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and five wartime slave laborers [JURIST report] on similar grounds. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski [official website] signed two gay rights bills into law [press release] Wednesday, establishing civil unions for gay couples and enacting anti-discrimination measures. House Bill 2007 [text] allows same-sex couples to enter into contractual domestic partnerships with the same state benefits as married couples. The measure covers state benefits including inheritance, child custody, and hospital visitation rights, but does not affect federal benefits for married couples. Kulongoski had said [press release] he would sign the bill if it passed the state House and Senate [JURIST reports]. Kulongoski also signed Senate Bill 2 [text], banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations, and creating a civil cause of action for violations of the act. KGW has more.

Currently, Vermont, Connecticut, California, New Jersey, Maine and Washington are the only states that recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships. The Washington State Senate passed a domestic partnership bill [JURIST report] in March. Late last month, the New Hampshire Senate voted [JURIST report] in favor of a bill already passed by the state House allowing same-sex civil unions. Also in late April, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage [JURIST report] in New York.

[JURIST] An Alabama grand jury issued a sealed indictment Wednesday in the 1965 shooting and death of 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson [Sojourners report] by state trooper James Bonard Fowler during an attempt by state troopers to disperse a protest against the jailing of a civil rights worker. The indictment, which will remain sealed until it is served, is expected to name Fowler, who says he acted in self-defense. Perry County District Attorney Michael Jackson, elected in 2004, revived the dormant case in 2005. Jackson said there are "strong witnesses" to support the prosecution despite the death of two FBI [official website] agents who originally investigated the killing and the destruction of journalists' photographic evidence by the state troopers during the dispersal. Jackson's death helped spark the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches [Wikipedia backgrounder].

The indictment falls in line with a recent trend in settling unfinished civil rights [JURIST news archive] cases. In 2004, the US Justice Department re-opened the case of Emmett Till [JURIST report], who was abducted and murdered in August 1955 in Money, Mississippi. The next year, however, the FBI declined to file federal civil rights charges [JURIST report] and subsequently turned over the case to the local Mississippi district attorney. In February, a Mississippi grand jury refused to indict a suspect in the case [JURIST report] due to lack of sufficient evidence. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Council of Representatives [official website, in Arabic] Wednesday approved a measure to take legal action against Al Jazeera [media website] television for alleged insults against top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [BBC profile; official website]. The measure followed days of protests [AP report] by thousands of Shi'a Muslims in the southern cities of Basra and Najaf against Egyptian talk show host Ahmed Mansour, who had openly questioned al-Sistani's leadership credentials and whether the revered leader authored his own fatwas. Council Speaker Mamoud al-Mashhadani did not reveal the specifics of the action, but did say the matter would be referred to the council's legal committee. Al-Sistani, who rarely appears in public, has not responded to the comments.

On Sunday, Iran's legislative body, the Majlis [official website, in English], voted to ban Al Jazeera reporters from its parliamentary building. In August of 2004, the interim Iraqi government banned Al Jazeera from operating in Iraq [JURIST report] on grounds that the Qatar-based satellite television network incited sectarian violence and hatred by airing footage of threatened hostages. The ban has not been rescinded. AP has more.

[JURIST] Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry [official website] Tuesday reluctantly signed a strict immigration reform bill meant to discourage illegal immigration. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 [HB 1804 text, DOC] denies illegal immigrants state identification, and requires all state and local agencies to verify citizenship status of applicants before authorizing benefits. The law also require public employers to enter job applicants into an electronic immigration database to verify legal status. Henry said, however, that the new law would do little to curb illegal immigration and that the real responsibility to deal withe issue lay with the federal government. The State House approved [JURIST report] the bill 84-14 last month.

Supporters praised the bill as a way to save taxpayer money, but immigrant groups criticized it for saddling Latinos with new discriminatory barriers in housing and jobs. The League of United Latin American Citizens [advocacy website] and other advocacy groups have said they may challenge the law's constitutionality because immigration policy is the responsibility of the federal government, not the state. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Zimbabwe court ruled Wednesday that British national Simon Mann [BBC profile] could be extradited to Equatorial Guinea [JURIST news archive] to face charges of plotting a coup against Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo [BBC profile]. Mann's defense team had argued against Mann's extradition on the grounds that he is likely to face torture and possible death in Equatorial Guinea. Zimbabwean prosecutors said Equatorial Guinea had provided assurances that Mann would not face the death penalty and would receive a fair trial with a judge appointed by the African Union (AU) [official website]. Harare Magistrate Omega Mugumbate said in her decision ordering the extradition that Mann had not adequately shown that he might face torture while the Zimbabwean prosecutors had "provided a prima facie case against [Mann]." Mann's lawyer said the ruling would be appealed and Mugumbate ordered Mann not to be extradited until his appeal is heard before the High Court.

Mann, a former officer with the Special Air Service (SAS), has been serving a four-year prison sentence in Zimbabwe since September 2004 after being convicted [JURIST report] for attempting to purchase weapons without a license. In 2004, Mann and over 60 mercenaries were sentenced [JURIST report] in Zimbabwe for plotting a coup. In 2005, Sir Mark Thatcher [BBC profile], son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, pleaded guilty in South Africa to charges relating to the failed coup and was fined [JURIST reports]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A UK court found two men guilty of violating Section 3 of Britain's Official Secrets Act [text] by leaking a secret memo in which President Bush was said to have told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile] in April 2004 of a plan to bomb Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera [media website] at the height of the US campaign against Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah. The jury found civil servant David Keogh guilty of making a damaging disclosure of a government document without authority and found MP researcher Leo O'Connor guilty of damaging disclosure of a document passed illegally.

The trial of the two men began in April [JURIST report], with both Keogh and O'Connor denying the charges against them [JURIST report]. Keogh is said to have given the memo to O'Connor at some point between April 15, 2004 and May 29, 2004. Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper reported [text] in November 2005 that Blair resisted Bush's proposal to bomb Al Jazeera, adding that sources disagreed as to the seriousness of Bush's suggestion. The White House has called the report "outlandish and inconceivable," while Blair has said he had no information about any proposed US action against Al Jazeera. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The new UK Ministry of Justice [official website] began operations Wednesday, as a controversial split of the traditional Home Office [official website] that is setting the British government against the judiciary went into effect. Lord Falconer of Thoroton [official profile], serving as the first Secretary of State for Justice, said [press release] that the new focus of the Justice Ministry "provides the opportunity for the whole justice system to work together better than ever before." Outgoing [Guardian report] Home Secretary John Reid shared similar sentiments [press release] from his institutional perspective, saying that the changes "have refocused the Home Office on the issues that matter most to the public."

Critics, however, have expressed concerns over the likely effectiveness of the split, and even doubt its constitutional advisability. Late last month the former Lord Chief Justice of English and Wales Lord Woolf said that shifting the traditional position of Lord Chancellor into the Ministry of Justice represented a major constitutional change [JURIST report] that should be undertaken only after serious study and not rushed through, warning that the responsibilities of the Lord Chancellor in the expanded Ministry might water down his traditionally close relationship with judges. Top judges have been particularly wary of the possibility that government concerns over sentencing practices [JURIST report] might put judges under political pressure [Phillips letter, PDF]; Lord Justice Thomas, who has led negotiations with the government on behalf of the judges, has said that "difficult questions of principle" relating to the merged responsibilities of the new ministry remain to be settled.

In a statement [text] issued Wednesday, current Chief Justice Lord Phillips reiterated the judges concerns:

The judiciary consider that the creation of a new Ministry of Justice raises important issues of principle; these have been communicated repeatedly to the Lord Chancellor since January 2007 and are summarised in the judicial position paper of 29 March 2007. A working group composed of senior judges and senior Government officials has been meeting since 21 March 2007 to discuss the issues with the aim of putting in place constitutional safeguards to protect the independence of the judiciary and the proper administration of justice...

We have not yet reached agreement on a way forward. We will continue with our discussions with the Government in our attempt to resolve the important issues of principle that remain.

I have convened a special meeting of the Judges' Council to discuss these issues on 15 May 2007 with representatives of all levels of the judiciary. I will also be giving evidence on this subject to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons on 22 May 2007 when I shall explain the judiciary's position, and the stage we have reached in our discussions with the Government.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] reduced the sentence of former Bratunac brigade commander Vidoje Blagojevic [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] from 18 to 15 years for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive]. The court reversed [judgement summary; press release] Blagojevic's conviction on charges of complicity in genocide, holding that Blagojevic should have been acquitted on those charges because he was not aware that the massacre was going to take place. The court upheld his other convictions on aiding and abetting the persecutions, killings and forcible transfer of Bosnian Muslims.

The 2005 Srebrenica massacre left over 7,000 Muslims dead at the hands of Bosnian Serb forces. The ICTY found Blagojevic guilty [JURIST report] in 2005 for playing a role in the genocide, while co-defendant Dragan Jokic was found guilty on aiding and abetting charges. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Three US lawmakers introduced legislation [HR 2212 text; summary] Tuesday to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], calling the prison a symbol of US failure and hypocrisy. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) [official website] announced the legislation with a statement [press release] Tuesday, asserting:

Guantanamo has become a liability. The real and perceived injustices occurring there have given our enemies an easy example of our failures and alleged ill intent. The prison is so widely viewed as illegitimate, so plainly inconsistent with America's proud legal traditions; it has become a stinging symbol of our tarnished standing abroad.

[JURIST] A federal judge dismissed the indictment [order, PDF] against anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles [JURIST news archive; case materials] on Tuesday, holding that the government purposefully manipulated Carriles' statement in order to charge him with lying to immigration authorities. The government alleged that Carriles confessed to illegally crossing the Mexican border, but US District Judge Kathleen Cardone [official profile] held that the interpretation of the April interview with Carriles "is so inaccurate as to render it unreliable as evidence of defendant's actual statement."

In April, Carriles was released from a New Mexico jail [JURIST report] after posting bond amidst ongoing debate concerning his release. On Tuesday, Cuban President Fidel Castro blamed the US release of Carilles [JURIST report] for sparking the attempted plane hijacking [Reuters report] by two soldiers that resulted in the death of an army officer in Cuba. Carriles is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela on terrorism charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official website] Tuesday denied a request by the city government of Washington, DC for an en banc rehearing of the court's March decision invalidating the city's handgun ban [JURIST report]. DC Mayor Adrian Fenty expressed disappointment [statement] with the decision, saying that "The District's gun control laws have been a critical part of the City's public safety strategy for more than 30 years. I remain deeply committed to combating gun violence and vigorously defending the laws of the District of Columbia." The city now has 90 days to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The city petitioned [JURIST report] the circuit court for an en banc rehearing last month, after a 2-1 panel vote in Parker v. District of Columbia held that the Second Amendment [text] required the court to overturn a 31-year old ban on handguns in the District of Columbia. A Republican bid to overturn the DC gun ban legislatively passed the US House of Representatives [WP report] in 2004 but failed to get Senate approval. The New York Times has more. The Washington Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] With Serbia poised to assume the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe [official website] this week, several human rights groups have spoken out against the country's new role, asserting that a country in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention [text] should not be allowed to lead the European human rights watchdog. In February, the International Court of Justice ruled [JURIST report] that although the Serbian government was not directly responsible for genocide during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder], the country violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention by failing to prevent genocide and by failing to bring to justice former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] and his military commander Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive], both wanted on war crimes charges.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] director Richard Dicker submitted a letter [text; HRW report] Monday to the Council of Europe, urging reconsideration of Serbia's presidency. Dicker said:

Serbia is the only country [in the United Nations] ever judged to have violated the Genocide Convention, and it's persisting in that violation by not turning over Ratko Mladic. The Council of Europe, the 'human rights conscience of the European Union,' should insist that Serbia cooperates fully with the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.

[JURIST] The Administrative Court in Egypt [JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that a presidential order that forty top members of the Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] be tried before a military court was invalid, holding that the members must be tried instead in civilian court. According to a statement [text] from the Muslim Brotherhood, the decision was a "historic ruling" as it was the first time that a court has canceled the president's decision. The government has not yet said whether it will appeal the ruling.

The trial of the Muslim Brotherhood members proceeded before a secret military court [JURIST report] in April, with defense lawyers announcing that they would boycott the proceedings. A civilian court ordered the release of a number of defendants, including Brotherhood deputy supreme guide Khairat al-Shatir [BBC report], in January, several days before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile] ordered the Brotherhood members tried before the military court. A civilian court issued a second order for their release in April. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jury selection concluded Tuesday in the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] and two co-defendants. Prosecutors have accused the defense of trying to exclude all white and Hispanic men from the jury, while the defense accused prosecutors of excluding any person with ties to Islam. US District Judge Marcia Cooke [official profile], however, determined that neither side was basing their objections to potential jurors on racial or ethnic biases. Opening statements are scheduled to begin on Monday.

Jury selection began over three weeks ago, shortly after Cooke refused to dismiss the terror charges based on Padilla's allegations that he was tortured [JURIST reports]. Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially accused of planning to set off a "dirty bomb" in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] in November 2005 on unrelated counts of conspiracy to murder US nationals and supporting terrorist activity. He was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006 and has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. In February, Padilla was ruled competent to stand trial [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Tennessee executed its first death row inmate Wednesday after a moratorium on executions [executive order, PDF; JURIST report] imposed by the governor in February expired earlier this month. Philip Workman's execution had been postponed five times, and last minute appeals by his lawyers arguing that lethal injection [JURIST news archive] constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and that the state's new lethal injection protocols had not been reviewed sufficiently were unsuccessful. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen [official website] ordered the moratorium in February and directed the Tennessee Department of Corrections to conduct a "comprehensive review of the manner in which death sentences are administered... and provide [the governor] new protocols and related written procedures in administering death sentences in Tennessee." Bredesen accepted revised death penalty protocols [PDF text; JURIST report] for lethal injections last week and the moratorium expired May 2.

The new protocol includes more detailed guidelines for administering lethal injections but still includes a controversial three-drug "cocktail" which some say may be ineffective in preventing inmates from suffering a painful death [JURIST report]. The American Bar Association [official website], which takes no position on capitol punishment, had urged Bredesen to broaden the death penalty review [press release; JURIST report] "to permit a thorough review of every aspect of capital punishment administration in the state," including "excessive caseloads and inadequate standards for defense counsel" and "racial disparities and inadequate review of death row inmates' claims of actual innocence." The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Scotland Yard arrested four suspects [press release] in London on Wednesday in connection with the London transit bombings [JURIST report; JURIST news archive; BBC News timeline] on July 7, 2005 that left 52 people dead. Police arrested Mohammed Sidique Khan, Mohammed Shakil, Sadeer Saleem, and Waheed Ali on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the UK Terrorism Act 2000 [text]. According to the Metropolitan Police [official website], the arrests were part of a "pre-planned, intelligence-led operation."

Last month, British police arrested three men [JURIST report] in connection with the bombings. Those arrests were the first significant arrests in the bombings case. Al Qaeda officially claimed responsibility for the attacks on September 1, 2005, in a videotape which aired on al Jazeera TV. AP has more.

[JURIST] Russian officials have harassed human rights defense lawyer Karinna Moskalenko and are attempting to disbar her after Moskalenko filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights over alleged rights violations by the Russian government, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights [advocacy website] said Tuesday. IHF is asking Russian authorities to end the harassment [press release]. IHF Executive Director Aaron Rhodes said that "The initiative by the office of the Russian Prosecutor General to deprive Ms. Moskalenko of her professional status and prevent her from practicing law is an apparent attempt at discrediting and punishing her for her work on politically inconvenient cases and at establishing an example for other lawyers in this field." Prosecutors say that she should be disbarred based on allegations of violations of professional ethics and obstruction of investigations.

In her tenure as a human rights lawyer, Moskalenko has obtained more than twenty rulings against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website]. Moskalenko represented former chess champion and liberal United Civil Front [party website, in Russian] leader Garry Kasparov [official website, in Russian] after he was arrested [JURIST report] during an April protest, and has also represented billionaire oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] said Tuesday that it will continue to move forward with implementation of the REAL ID Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive], despite opposition among state legislatures and in the US Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] met on Tuesday to hear testimony on privacy and civil liberties Concerns with the law, the same day public comments on the Act were due to DHS for review. At the hearing [committee materials], chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed doubt [statement text] that states would be able to comply with rigid requirements of the Act, and said that "there are also civil liberties concerns involving this hasty Act." Jim Harper of the Cato Institute [think tank website] testified [Cato materials] that these are real concerns, and that the "proposal lays the groundwork for systematic tracking of Americans based on their race." As of May 1, 43 organizations have joined together in opposition [FCW report] to the Act due to worries that it will seriously effect the privacy and civil rights of US residents.

Since the REAL ID Act passed in May 2005, five states have passed anti-REAL ID legislation that rejects implementation of the Act. Most recently, Washington passed legislation [JURIST report] with strong support that dictates that the state not spend any money implementing the REAL ID Act unless privacy and security concerns are addressed. Initially drafted after the Sept. 11 attacks and designed to discourage illegal immigration, the law 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 [JURIST report] as part of an emergency supplemental appropriations defense spending bill. Other state lawmakers have previously expressed concern [JURIST report] about possible problems expected to accompany the implementation of the REAL ID Act, fearing that they will not be able to comply with the law's requirements before a May 2008 deadline. In March, Homeland Security responded to these concerns by extending the deadline for compliance by 18 months [JURIST report]. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Jury selection is expected to begin Wednesday in the court-martial [JURIST report] of US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz, charged [press release, DOC] under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Espionage Act with leaking secret national defense information to a person outside the government in connection with allegedly passing then-undisclosed names of Guantanamo detainees [JURIST report] to a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] while stationed at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Diaz is a former staff attorney with the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps [official website]. In February 2005 a CCR lawyer filing habeas corpus appeals on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo received in the mail approximately thirty-nine pages of a computer printout containing approximately 550 detainee names. Suspecting that the document was sensitive, she turned it over to federal authorities. AP afterwards forced the Defense Department to release detainee lists [JURIST report; JURIST documents] through Freedom of Information Act requests. If convicted, Diaz faces more than 36 years in prison.

Defense lawyers for Diaz have argued [motion, DOC] that the government abused legislative provisions authorizing national security letters [ACLU backgrounder] to access Diaz's personal e-mail and that prosecutors read privileged communications marked "attorney work product." Read additional case documents.