[JURIST] The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) [DOD materials] at Guantanamo Bay were pressured to declare detainees "enemy combatants" based on vague or incomplete evidence, according to a Friday affidavit [PDF text] filed with a DC appeals court by a US army officer involved in the tribunals. The statement by Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, who said he worked as a liaison between the CSRT and intelligence agencies, is the first such public criticism by a member of a CSRT. Abraham filed the affidavit on behalf of Fawzi al-Odah [Amnesty International profile], a Kuwaiti detainee who is contesting his status as an "enemy combatant," after being approached by al-Odah's lawyer David Cynamon [firm profile]. Abraham also said that intelligence agencies often arbitrarily withheld information from both defense and prosecution. The Department of Defense had no immediate reaction, but a spokesman said officials were preparing a response. AP has more.

In May, the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] heard arguments in a case brought by Guantanamo Bay detainees challenging their designation as 'enemy combatants.' Last year, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text], which barred Guantanamo prisoners from challenging their indefinite detention but did allow them to appeal their "enemy combatants" [JURIST news archive] status to the appeals court. In April, the US Supreme Court declined [JURIST report] to hear a lawsuit brought by two Guantanamo Bay detainees challenging the legality of Congress' decision to deny habeas challenges by suspected terrorists under the Military Commissions Act. The same month, the Court declined to hear [JURIST report] another case brought by other Guantanamo detainees on whether those prisoners could challenge their detention in US federal court.

[JURIST] UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [official website; Guardian profile] announced Friday that he will resign his post effective next week. Goldsmith, who leaves just as Tony Blair [official profile] steps down after 10 years as Prime Minister, said that he has wanted to move on for some time. Incoming Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official profile] praised Goldsmith for his "outstanding service to Britain."

Goldsmith has broken with Blair on several critical occasions. Last year, he spoke out [JURIST report] against Blair's proposal to extend the current 28-day limit on police detentions of terrorism suspects who have not been charged. In February, Goldsmith criticized the new rules governing US military detainee trials contained in the Manual for Military Commissions [PDF text] and reiterated his longstanding call for the military prison in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to be shut down. Sky News has more.

[JURIST] European leaders continued to grapple Friday with disagreements over a proposed EU constitution treaty [JURIST news archive] on the second day of the summit meeting [EU Council press release] in Brussels. Britain threatened to veto a watered-down version of the treaty unless it incorporated four non-negotiable issues [JURIST report] outlined by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website] earlier this week. Among the four points, Blair demanded that the UK retain the ability to opt out of a European Charter of Fundamental Rights [European Parliament materials], that the treaty not supersede British national law, and that it not restrict British foreign policy. Blair also said the treaty should avoid all the trappings of a "constitution," and should merely amend earlier agreements.

Poland also threatened to veto the proposed treaty unless it were guaranteed voting rights equal to those established in the 2000 Nice Treaty [JURIST report]; the EU is considering a voting system based on each country's population, which would reduce Poland's voting weight. In response to Polish objections, German chancellor Angela Merkel [official website] threatened to call a conference on a draft EU treaty without Poland's input. Merkel met with Polish President Lech Kaczynski before the summit reconvened on Friday, but a preliminary agreement was rejected by his Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski [official websites]. Jaroslaw Kaczynski later appeared on Polish television to say talks "had hit a wall." AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage and more on individual countries' objections to the treaty.

[JURIST] A terror suspect believed to be associated with senior al Qaeda leaders and related terrorist groups in Afghanistan was transferred [press release] to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] Friday. The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] says that Haroon al-Afghani has admitted to serving as a courier for al Qaeda leaders. DOD officials also say that there is evidence that he is a commander in Hezb-e-Islami/Gulbuddin (HIG) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], an Afghanistan-based militant group that has conducted improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in the country. He was transferred to Guantanamo because he is thought to possess some information about al Qaeda operations. DOD indicates that the International Committee of the Red Cross [advocacy website] will have access to al-Afghani.

With his transfer, there are around 375 detainees at the prison. The transfer comes as the White House is allegedly considering closing the facility [JURIST report], although it denied [JURIST report] Friday that closure was imminent. Al-Afghani is one of a small number of detainees who have been transferred to the prison since September's transfer of 14 'high-value' suspects, who were previously held at secret CIA prisons [JURIST reports]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The White House Friday denied a Thursday AP report [JURIST report] that officials are nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison, saying that, although there is a general desire to eventually close the facility, "nothing is imminent" [press briefing]. White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said that although President Bush indicated his desire to see the facility close as soon as possible, and that "the United States should not be the world's jailers," he has not established a deadline for when such an action would take place. Perino also denied that the cancellation of a Friday meeting about Guantanamo [NBC report] was a reaction to the release of the AP story. She told reporters that such meetings occur routinely, and it was decided that the planned Friday meeting "wasn't needed."

Also discussed at the press briefing was a US plan to transfer numerous Afghans currently held at Guantanamo Bay back to Afghanistan. The US has been working to renovate part of Afghanistan's Pol-e-Charki prison [Financial Times report] so that the prisoners can be held securely. The US has also been training Afghan guards to assure that prisoners receive humane treatment. Perino had no comment about where prisoners not repatriated to their home countries would be relocated to in the event of Guantanamo Bay's closing. AP has more.

[JURIST] Negotiations to establish an international broadcasting treaty at the Second Special Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) [materials] failed Friday, as US and European delegations were unable to overcome fundamental differences concerning the extent anti-piracy protections should protect the retransmission of content. European delegations wanted to protect the content of the transmission, giving broadcasters more protection even for content they did not produce. The US delegation wanted a more narrow anti-piracy protection limited to the signal, which telecommunication companies and consumer advocates say would allow more technological innovation and freedom of use.

The summit, which was held at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) [official website] in Geneva, Switzerland, was intended to pave the way for a summit scheduled for November where states are hoping to approve a comprehensive international broadcasting treaty. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) [official website] judgment [PDF text] convicting former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] and other co-defendants of crimes against humanity [JURIST report] committed in the Iraqi town of Dujail [JURIST news archive; BBC verdict summary] was plagued by serious factual and legal errors, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) briefing paper [PDF text; press release] released Friday. HRW found that the judgment relied solely on the defendants' governmental position or status as Ba'ath Party members to find that the defendants had the "knowledge and intent to commit the crimes." The report also found that the judgment did not establish clear lines of operational control needed to establish the culpability of the higher officials for the acts of the military.

The report also found serious flaws in the decision issued by IHT Appeals Chamber, including instances where it came to faulty legal conclusions based upon factual findings never made by the Trial Chamber. HRW says that the trial was also plagued by political interference from the Iraqi government and emphasized that the procedural and substantive deficiencies in the Dujail trial remain prevalent in the Anfal genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline], where six former Hussein-era defendants are facing genocide charges for their alleged involvement in the slaughter of thousands of Kurds during the 1988 "Anfal campaign" [HRW backgrounder].

[JURIST] Two Chinese labor officials were arrested Friday after allegations broke that they failed to report the enslavement of hundreds of people, which included not only adults, but also children and the mentally retarded. A total of 359 people, with at least 12 children, were forced to work up to 20 hours a day without pay at various Chinese brick kilns in the Shanxi and Henan provinces in central China [JURIST news archive]. Hou Junyuan, the head of the local labor inspection team, was arrested for dereliction of duty, while one of his officers was arrested on charges of abuse of power. China's official Xinhua News Agency [media website] said that the two forced a child laborer, who had been released from one kiln and was on his way back home, to go to a new kiln where he was forced into slave labor again [Xinhua report].

More charges may be brought against other government officials. Xinhua said one father who went looking for his son was told by a local police officer that he could take his own son home if he found him, but "otherwise, keep your nose out of this" [Xinhua report]. Chinese officials have detained 59 people, placing 35 in criminal detention. Investigators are currently searching for 20 others believed to have been involved. A State Council conference chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao [BBC profile] said earlier this week that those who have illegally employed children or subjected workers to slave conditions will be severely punished. CBC earlier reported that one of the kiln foremen, who was caught after police offered a reward, expressed sorrow for the slaves, but said that he felt he did nothing wrong in enslaving them [CBC report]. Last week China was criticized by the US State Department for "not making a significant effort to combat human trafficking" [JURIST report]. CBC has more. The People's Daily has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande [official profile] announced Friday the arrest of Rwandan genocide suspect Isaac Kamali [fugitive list profile] by US authorities at the Philadelphia International Airport while Kamali was attempting to enter the United States earlier this week. Murigande hopes that Kamali, a former senior official with the Ministry of Public Works who holds dual-citizenship from France, will be extradited to Rwanda to face trial for allegedly participating in the killing, looting, and destruction of property held by Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. It is unclear whether French authorities will contest the extradition, which might be complicated by Kamali's use of a French passport to enter the United States. French law prohibits the extradition of French nationals to other countries.

On Monday, senior UN officials from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official websites] urged [press release; JURIST report] countries to cooperate in the capture of numerous fugitives who remain at large. The ICTR is expected to finish its work by 2009, and has moved to transfer some genocide cases [JURIST report] to Rwandan courts after the Rwandan parliament abolished the death penalty [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] told the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) [association website] Thursday that to keep guns away from the mentally ill, all states must upgrade their reporting [speech text] to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) [FBI backgrounder]. In giving his perspectives on violent crime to the NAAG 2007 Summer Meeting [agenda, PDF], Gonzales noted that only 23 states currently provide mental health records to the NICS, and that to be effective the database must be complete. Gonzales also spoke at length on how to best protect the public from convicted sex offenders, calling for increased aggression in prosecution and the start of a "national, zero-tolerance attitude towards pedophiles and sexual predators." Gonzales also asked the attorneys general to increase cooperation with Project Safe Childhood [official website], a campaign run by the US Department of Justice [official website] and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children [advocacy website] to protect children from Internet based exploitation and abuse.

Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill [HR 2640 materials] that mandated improvements [JURIST report] in state reporting to the NICS. Had the NICS known that Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho [Wikipedia profile] was under a court order [text] to undergo psychiatric treatment, he would have been barred from purchasing the guns he used in the attack. The Savannah Morning News has more.

[JURIST] Outgoing US Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty [official profile] Thursday denied [transcript] playing a key role in the controversial firings of at least eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive] in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee [official website]. McNulty disputed the testimony [JURIST report] of former US Department of Justice (DOJ) aide Monica Goodling [JURIST news archive] who said that McNulty was closely involved and frequently updated on the list of US Attorneys to be fired. McNulty testified that he "had no knowledge of any plan to remove US Attorneys prior to October of 2006," adding that he was consulted near the end of the process only after the list was compiled by former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson [DOJ press release; JURIST news archive] sometime in October or November. McNulty indicated that he removed US Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Gregory R. Miller [official profile] from the firing list, and added Kevin V. Ryan [Wikipedia profile], one of nine US Attorneys fired, but the only one that received consistently negative performance evaluations.

In May, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] told reporters that he relied upon McNulty's recommendations [JURIST report], saying that McNulty knew better than anyone else about the qualifications of the US Attorneys. Last Friday, Mike Elston, chief of staff to McNulty, announced his resignation [JURIST report] effective June 22. Elston is accused of making threatening phone calls to at least four of the dismissed US Attorneys, urging them to remain silent about the circumstances of their firings. McNulty announced his resignation [JURIST report] last month, effective as early as the end of the summer or when a successor receives Congressional approval. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] asked a federal district judge Thursday to block New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Missouri, and Connecticut from investigating potential violations of state consumer privacy laws in the controversial warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], arguing that the state secrets privilege doctrine bars the state governments from subpoenaing ten telecommunication companies to determine what information they passed onto the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website]. DOJ lawyers told Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court of Northern California [official website] that the disclosure would harm national security and interfere with foreign affairs. New Jersey First Assistant Attorney General Anne Milgram countered [brief, PDF; press release] on behalf of all five states that "neither the state secrets privilege nor any federal statute or Executive Order" allows the federal government to prevent state officials from conducting an investigation, adding that the state secrets privilege may only protect information from disclosure.

Walker is also currently presiding over a class action lawsuit [EFF case backgrounder; JURIST report] challenging the legality of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) [advocacy website] brought the class action against AT&T [corporate website] in January 2006, alleging that the company had unlawfully provided the NSA with access to its facilities and resources to unconstitutionally spy on "millions of ordinary Americans." In July 2006, the DOJ motioned to dismiss the case citing the state secrets privilege, which Walker denied [JURIST report] on the grounds that the broad media coverage of the surveillance program had neutralized any danger of disclosing state secrets. The DOJ has appealed the ruling [JURIST report] to the Ninth Circuit, which will hear the arguments in August. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Vice President Dick Cheney has exempted his office [press release] from Executive Order 12958 [PDF text] as amended by Executive Order 13292 [text], which requires executive branch officials to submit annual reports to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) [official website] to ensure that classified information is properly secured, according to documents released Thursday by the House Oversight Committee. The committee said that the ISOO issued letters of protest in June and August 2006 [PDF texts], and upon being ignored by Cheney's office, submitted a letter [PDF text] to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in January 2007. According to the ISOO, Cheney's office responded to the ISOO's request for access by asking President Bush to amend the executive orders to close the ISOO. Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman chastised [letter, PDF] Cheney's office for blocking efforts by the ISOO to conduct oversight by asserting that the office was not an "entity within the executive branch." Waxman further criticized the "legality and wisdom" of Cheney's actions, citing repeated security breaches in Cheney's office. In October 2005, the DOJ indicted [PDF text] Leandro Aragoncillo, an official in Cheney's office, for passing classified information to individuals in the Philippines. Aragoncillo pleaded guilty in May 2006. Waxman also cited the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [JURIST news archive] as an instance where Cheney's office failed to adhere to security protocols.

Cheney is accused of consistently shielding the internal workings [Oversight Committee fact sheet, PDF] of his office from external oversight. In 2005, Cheney successfully blocked [JURIST report] efforts by watchdog groups to obtain internal communications of the National Energy Policy Development Group [policy report, PDF], a task force headed by Cheney that consulted with private industry officials. Cheney has also sought to block efforts [JURIST report] by the Washington Post and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to obtain Secret Service visitor logs [JURIST report] to identify lobbyists and religious leaders who have visited Cheney's residence. In May, the DOJ revealed that Cheney's lawyers instructed the Secret Service to destroy the visitor logs [JURIST report], despite claims that the information was protected by the Presidential Records Act [text]. The DOJ is currently reviewing the decision of the vice president's office to not comply with the executive orders. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The Portuguese government officially published a new abortion law [JURIST report] Thursday, formally adopting the law and paving the way for it to enter effect on July 15. The law allows abortions [JURIST news archive] during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy free of charge at a public hospital, but requires a meeting with a doctor who will be required to warn of the potential dangers followed by a three-day mandatory "reflection" period. Women will also be required to attend family planning education within two weeks following an abortion to be educated on contraception methods.

The law, passed [JURIST report] in March by the Portuguese National Assembly [official website, in Portuguese], was proposed to liberalize abortion legislation [JURIST report] after a general referendum on abortion failed [JURIST report] due to low turnout. Approximately 60 percent of those who voted in the referendum supported a reform of the former law, which only permitted abortion in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or risk to the mother's health. President Anibal Cavaco Silva signed the law in April and the Health Ministry has spent the past few weeks drafting guidelines to accompany the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] The White House is considering the closure of detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and the transfer of the estimated 385 detainees currently held there to other military detention facilities, AP reported Thursday. Three senior Bush administration officials told AP they believe a consensus has been building within the executive branch, saying that the proposal has "at least tacit support" from the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community. Vice President Dick Cheney and the Department of Justice are believed to be the major opposition to the proposed closure, fearing that the transfer of detainees [JURIST news archive] to other jurisdictions could give them more significant legal rights. The officials said that a meeting on the issue was scheduled for Friday, although National Security Council spokesperson Gordan Johndroe later said that the meeting has been moved to a later date [NBC report].

The detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay were established in 2002 as part of a deliberate effort to detain "enemy combatants" [JURIST news archive] outside of the US or another state's legal jurisdiction. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base [official website] is under an indefinite lease with Cuba and is not subject to any Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] that customarily define the legal status of individual and property within US military bases hosted on foreign territories. Cuba and the US also do not maintain formal diplomatic relations. Many foreign governments, including the UK [JURIST report], and prominent current and former US officials have urged the closure of Guantanamo. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell recently criticized the facilities [JURIST report], saying that Guantanamo is a stain on United States' creditability and reputation as a global leader. The US House of Representatives passed an amendment to a defense spending bill last month which would require the Pentagon to develop a Guantanamo shutdown plan [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court began judicial proceedings against former Pharmaceutical Registration Department director Cao Wenzhuan Thursday as a part of China's crackdown on corruption at the State Food and Drug Administration [official website, in Chinese], where high-ranking officials allegedly received bribes in exchange for the certification of substandard drugs. Cao alleged received $307,000 in bribes from two pharmaceutical companies, and has also been charged with neglecting his duty to properly certify medication.

In May, former Commissioner of the State Food and Drug Administration Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death for receiving $832,000 in bribes [JURIST report] and allowing eight companies to bypass the drug approval process. One improperly approved antibiotic is suspected of killing at least 10 people. Zheng, who served as the food and drug commissioner from 1998 to 2005, has appealed his death sentence on the grounds that it is too harsh because he cooperated with the investigation and has confessed his crimes. Death sentences in China require the approval [JURIST report] of the Supreme People's Court [official website]. AP has more.