[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Friday denied [PDF text] the request of Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha [BBC profile] to stay his transfer to Algeria [JURIST report]. Belbacha has been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], but he has says that he will be tortured and perhaps killed if returned to Algeria.

Belbacha filed the emergency application for a stay [PDF text; SCOTUSblog report] last week after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted its stay [order, PDF] on Belbacha's transfer. The appeals court instead put the case on an expedited schedule [JURIST report]. US District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled [AP report] last month the the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the challenge. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers representing exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] filed an appeal Friday against the latest arrest warrant [JURIST report] issued by a Moscow district court on allegations that Berezovsky embezzled $13 million in credit funds [JURIST report] from a bank he formerly owned. The court has also ordered the seizure of Berezovsky's Mediterranean real estate in France, which was allegedly purchased with the embezzled funds.

In July, a Moscow court began trying Berezovskyin absentia [JURIST report] for allegedly embezzling millions from the Russian national airline Aeroflot [corporate website]. Berezovsky, who fled Russia in 2001 after falling out of favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website], has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom and is also facing charges of allegedly plotting a coup [JURIST report] against Putin. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor reiterated allegations Friday that Libyan authorities subjected the six medics to torture during their eight years in Libyan custody on suspicion of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus [JURIST news archive]. The six medics have consistently maintained their innocence, and in testimony before a Bulgarian investigation commission Friday, they accused Libyan authorities of using electric shock and beatings to elicit confessions [HRW report]. Bulgarian prosecutors are currently investigating whether to proceed with torture charges [JURIST report] against Libyan authorities. The Palestinian doctor, who has been given Bulgarian citizenship, said last week that he plans to file a torture complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee [JURIST report] against Libya.

The son of Libya's leader, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, on Thursday acknowledged [JURIST report] that the foreign medics had been subjected to electric shocks and threats of retaliation against their family. The medics were initially sentenced to death [JURIST report] for allegedly infecting patients with the HIV virus, but a Libyan judicial body commuted their sentences after the families of the infected patients each received $1 million in compensation [JURIST reports]. All six were pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov after their release by Libyan authorities [JURIST reports] under the pretense that they would serve their sentences in Bulgaria. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Bush administration Friday announced new reforms [fact sheet] that are designed to "address border security and immigration challenges." In a statement [text] Friday, Bush said that the new meausres "represent steps my Administration can take within the boundaries of existing law to better secure our borders, improve worksite enforcement, streamline existing temporary worker programs, and help new immigrants assimilate into American society." Bush continued:

Although the Congress has not addressed our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive reform legislation, my Administration will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made in strengthening our borders, enforcing our worksite laws, keeping our economy well-supplied with vital workers, and helping new Americans learn English.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] ordered the Pakistani government to produce complete voter registration records Friday after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC profile] petitioned that there were up to 30 million missing registrations. Bhutto's lawyer Latif Khosa argued that the 2002 registration had failed to account for 20 million eligible voters, and that an estimated additional 10 million Pakistanis had become eligible for the 2007 elections, which are scheduled for November. Newly reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] rejected a request by government lawyers for 140 days to produce the records, and gave the government 30 days to complete the list.

The ruling is the latest setback to a bid by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile] to extend his eight-year rule by another five years. Last Friday, the high court ordered that jailed opposition leader Javed Hashmi be released on bail [JURIST report]. Hashmi is appealing his 2004 conviction [BBC report] for inciting mutiny in the armed forces, forgery and defamation by circulating an unsigned letter allegedly written by army officers opposed to Musharraf. Musharraf, who is also under pressure to resign as Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army, last week publicly accepted [JURIST report] the judgment of the judiciary to reinstate [order] Chaudhry to his post after Musharraf suspended him in March. Many lawyers and opposition leaders have alleged that the suspension [JURIST report] was an indirect bid to forestall any legal challenges if Musharraf seeks to extend his rule. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] China has released a prisoner initially sentenced to death for burning debris during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests [BBC backgrounder], the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy [advocacy website] reported Friday. Former construction worker Xi Haoliang, who the center said was released Tuesday, was among an estimated 12 individuals still in detention for their alleged involvement in the protest, which spanned nearly two months and involved thousands of students and laborers.

The protests, which began in April of 1989 with mainly students and laborers protesting the Communist Party of China, prompted the Chinese government to declare martial law in May, culminating in the violent dispersal of protesters by the People's Liberation Army on June 4. Precise estimates of the number of casualties are unavailable as the Chinese government has never publicized official figures. AP has more.

[JURIST] Three men charged with conspiracy to cause explosions [JURIST report] for their alleged involvement in the July 7, 2005 London transit bombings [JURIST news archive; BBC timeline] pleaded not guilty Friday. The defendants - Mohammed Shakil, Sadeer Saleem, and Waheed Ali - are accused of plotting terror attacks against tourist attractions and public transportation in London between November 2004 and July 2005, and are the first to be charged for the deadly bombings, which killed 56 people, including four bombers, and injured more than 700 others. Their trial is scheduled to begin in March 2008.

British police arrested [press release; JURIST report] three suspects in March, two at the Manchester Airport and a third at his residence. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Marcia Cooke [official profile] ruled Thursday that jurors in the terror trial of Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] and co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi [GlobalSecurity profiles] will not be able to consider the "defensive jihad" defense, agreeing with federal prosecutors that the defendants can be convicted even if they believed that their "conduct was religious, politically, or morally required, or that ultimate good would result." The ruling is a setback for the defense, which had argued that Islam allows "defensive jihad" and that this is different from terrorism because it is intended to defend Muslims from aggression and not intended to threaten innocent lives. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations after closing statements Monday.

Padilla, Hassoun, and Jayyousi are accused [JURIST report] of being a part of an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist support network and conspiring to murder US nationals. Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] 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 with other offenses in November 2005. Padilla was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006 and has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense has cleared for release one of the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees who was a legal resident in the UK before his detention, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Sandy Hodgkinson said Thursday. The US has not transferred the detainee, who was not identified, to his country of origin due to concerns that he could be subject to mistreatment. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office [official website] said earlier this week that it has asked the United States to release five detainees [press release; JURIST report] who held UK residency before being detained at Guantanamo. The five detainees - Saudi Arabian Shaker Aamer, Jordanian Jamil el Banna, Libyan Omar Deghayes, Ethiopian Binyam Mohamed and Algerian Abdennour Sameur - had been granted either refugee status, indefinite leave or exceptional leave to remain in the UK. Hodgkinson indicated that US authorities will provide the British government detailed documents on the five detainee, but said that their release from Guantanamo would not be conditioned on a British promise to detain the men.

British officials under the government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had refused to seek the release of British resident aliens held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], and el Banna and Deghayes were among a group of detainees who lost a court bid [JURIST report] to force the UK government to lobby the US for their release. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Johnson & Johnson (J&J) [corporate website] filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the American Red Cross (ARC) [organization website] alleging that the ARC has been improperly licensing the red cross symbol [J&J press release] for commercial purposes. ARC President and CEO Mark W. Everson called the lawsuit "obscene" [ARC press release].

Johnson & Johnson, which has used the red cross emblem since 1887 and maintains it has the exclusive commercial rights to use the trademark on commercial products, reached an agreement to allow the ARC use of the red cross symbol in 1895. The ARC has licensed the use of the red cross symbol to several businesses for marketing on health products and safety kits. BBC News has more.