[JURIST] The European Union said Monday that it will only sign a new pre-membership aid and economic deal with Serbia when that country has demonstrated its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Carla Del Ponte [official profile], the ICTY chief prosecutor, will submit a report in the next few weeks to the EU suggesting whether she believes Serbia is fully cooperating with the ICTY. Del Ponte has discouraged agreements between Serbia and the EU before [JURIST report] based on Serbia's lack of progress in the capture and arrest of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY backgrounder; JURIST news archive].

Previous negotiations were put on hold [JURIST report] for more than 13 months after Del Ponte determined Belgrade was not actively pursuing wanted fugitives. The EU and Serbia reopened membership talks after the Serbian government renewed efforts to capture Mladic which led to the arrest of his former intelligence officer, Zdravko Tolimir [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Charles McArthur Emmanuel [JURIST news archive], son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, pleaded not guilty Monday to a US federal indictment charging him with involvement in killings and torture in Liberia. Emmanuel, a Boston-born US citizen, was the first person ever to be indicted under a 1994 federal anti-torture statute [18 USC 2340A text]. During his father's regime, Emmanuel was the leader of the Liberian anti-terrorist unit known by others as the "Demon Forces". The eight-count indictment accused Emmanuel of using electric shocks, lit cigarettes, stinging ants, molten plastic and bayonets to torture victims from 1999 to 2002. More specifically, he was accused of shooting three random victims at a April 1999 bridge checkpoint and then ordering another's throat slit after he attempted to escape.

In July, US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga upheld [JURIST report] the torture charges, rejecting Emmanuel's argument that the federal statute under which he was charged exceeds Congressional authority because it criminalizes behavior of foreign government officials outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Last December, a federal judge denied bail for Emmanuel, ruling that Emmanuel was a flight risk and a danger to the community. Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is currently on trial in the The Hague before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] for crimes against humanity. AP has more.

[JURIST] California resident Hamid Hayat was sentenced to 24 years in a federal prison Monday following his 2006 conviction [JURIST report] for supporting terrorism and lying to the FBI. Because Hayat [JURIST news archive] had no prior criminal record, US District Court Judge Garland Burrell Jr. [official profile] determined that the maximum sentence of 39 years imprisonment was more than needed to sufficiently punish Hayat.

Hayat was found guilty on three counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of providing material support to terrorists, and initially faced up to 39 years in prison. It was alleged that Hayat attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. At the sentencing hearing, Burrell reiterated his belief that Hayat had "attended a terrorist training camp, returned to the United States ready and willing to wage violent jihad when directed to do so." AP has more.

[JURIST] Palestinian judges in the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder] who are unwilling to cooperate with local authorities will be replaced, Hamas [BBC backgrounder] spokesmen said Monday in a bid to end a three-month judicial stalemate. The Gaza Strip judiciary, under orders from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile], has refused to cooperate with the Hamas government in Gaza and has ceased functioning since Hamas violently took over the territory in June. A backlog of criminal cases quickly accumulated, and, in July, Hamas replaced [JURIST report] Palestinian Authority courts with a judicial committee to begin considering the excess. Monday's move is seen as an attempt to return judicial control to the courts.

Palestinian infighting between the Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah Movement [BBC backgrounder] has led to the establishment of two parallel Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas, which was elected as the ruling party [JURIST report] of the Palestinian Authority in early 2006, has refused to distance itself from terrorism or recognize Israel's right to exist as a nation-state, resulting in increased ostracism by the United States, the European Union, and Israel. Earlier this month Abbas announced changes to Palestinian election law [JURIST report] intended to reduce the political power of Hamas. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] announced Monday that 25 defendants facing war crimes charges have begun a coordinated hunger strike [press release], demanding to be tried under the criminal code in place at the time of their alleged crimes, not under the 2003 criminal code [text] which authorizes forty-year maximum penalties for the crimes charged. The code enforced during the 1992-1995 civil war [Wikipedia backgrounder] authorized maximum penalties of only fifteen years. The Court said it would:

act in accordance with its legal obligations, respecting all rights of the suspects and accused. Taking into consideration the ongoing hunger strike the Court of [Bosnia and Herzegovina] will also ensure the necessary medical assistance to the detainees.

[JURIST] US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell [official profile] Monday urged senators [PDF text] to pass long-term legislation to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive], contending that a permanently-revised FISA is critical to fighting terrorism. Speaking at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee [official website] on the status of fighting terrorism six years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive], McConnell said:

The recent enactment of the Protect America Act of 2007 provided a necessary update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This critical legislation has already assisted the Intelligence Community in closing a critical gap in the IC's ability to provide warning of threats to the country. This Act sunsets in less than six months, and I believe that making its changes permanent will be an important step toward ensuring the protection of our Nation. Importantly, the Act provides for meaningful oversight of activities.

[JURIST] An Iraqi judge and spokesman for the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] said at a Baghdad news conference Monday that the execution of three former Saddam-era Iraqi officials sentenced to death for their role in the 1988 Anfal Campaign [HRW backgrounder] can proceed without the approval of the Iraqi president because of the scope of their crimes. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] said Friday that he objected to the planned execution of one of the condemned officials [JURIST report], former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai [TrialWatch profile], and that he would not approve al-Tai's death sentence. The Iraqi constitution holds that executions must first be approved by the government and the president's office, but legal experts disagree over whether that rule applies to the special court that tried the former officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity. A lawyer for the three condemned officials, also including Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti and Ali Hassan al-Majid - known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali" [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], filed a petition [text, doc] for commutation of the sentences Sunday, insisting that they could not be carried legally out without the personal approval of the Iraqi president. Monday's announcement, although not an official ruling, suggests that the petition is likely to be denied. AP has more.

The three officials were all convicted [JURIST report] in June of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the slaughter and gassing of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal Campaign. Al-Majid has repeatedly denied the allegations [JURIST report], saying that he does not know who used chemical weapons or "if they were ever used." Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] was also a co-defendant in the Anfal genocide trial before he was executed in December 2006. Talabani similarly refused to sign Hussein's death warrant [JURIST report], invoking his general opposition to the death penalty. The warrant was subsequently signed by Talabani's vice-presidents.

[JURIST] The United States and other western countries repeatedly impeded efforts by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] to arrest Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], according to the memoirs of Florence Hartmann [book website], former spokeswoman for ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte [BBC profile], published Monday in France. Hartmann said that French President Jacques Chirac had planned a campaign to capture Karadzic, but backed down at the urging of the US, Britain, and Germany. Hartmann also said that Russia aided in moving Karadzic to safety in Belarus, and alleged that the West helped in order to hide information about the Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive].

Del Ponte has repeatedly called on [JURIST report] Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to renew their efforts to capture Karadzic and fellow war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [BBC profile]. Mladic and Karadzic are suspected of orchestrating the genocide of nearly 8,000 people in Srebrenica in the 1990s. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Several inmates of a federal penitentiary in New York have filed a lawsuit challenging a decision by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) [official website] to remove religious and spiritual books from prison chapel libraries, according to the New York Times [media website] on Monday. Prison chaplains across the country have been directed to remove from prison chapel libraries any books that are not included on a list of preferred texts compiled at the behest of BOP by religious experts. The inmates say that the program, referred to as the Standardized Chapel Library Project, violates the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act [text]. The BOP says it produced the lists based on a 2004 report [PDF text] by the US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General [official website], which provides recommendations for curbing violence and derogation related to Muslim extremism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive]. The report states that:

. . . supervision of chapel libraries is not as thorough as it should be. None of the chaplains at the facilities that we visited was able to produce an inventory of the books and videos available to the inmates, and it did not appear that these materials had been evaluated after the terrorist attacks of September 11. We recommend that the BOP undertake an inventory of chapel books and videos to confirm that they are permissible under BOP security policies. The BOP also should consider maintaining a central registry of acceptable material to prevent duplication of effort when reviewing these materials.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Indonesia [official website, in Bahasa Indonesian] has awarded former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile; JURIST news archive] the equivalent of $129 million in damages in Suharto’s defamation suit against Time Magazine [media website], according to a court spokesperson. The ruling was made on August 30. Suharto sued Time over a 1999 article [text] that said Suharto had hidden billions of dollars in foreign banks. The Supreme Court overturned two lower court decisions against Suharto, ordering Time to pay damages and publish a formal apology in Indonesian newspapers and its own magazine.

Suharto is currently the subject of a civil lawsuit [JURIST report] brought by the Indonesian government for allegedly embezzling $440 million between 1974 and 1998 from the Yayasan Supersemar [website, in Indonesian], a state-funded academic scholar fund. Last week, prosecutors announced that the court-ordered settlement negotiations [JURIST report] had broken down, and that the government will instead proceed in court [JURIST report]. Suharto was ousted from power in 1998 amid violent protests against a 32-year dictatorship that used security forces to stifle dissent and allegedly embezzled billions of government funds. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] has modified its Automated Targeting System [CBP backgrounder] to limit its ability to track persons who may be considered a security threat when they travel abroad. Under regulations that went into effect late last week, DHS will now hold risk assessments of those traveling abroad who may pose a potential risk on file for 15 years instead of the original 40. In addition, profiles of persons deemed potential security risks will no longer be shared with other federal or state agencies for routine matters.

Critics such as the Center for Democracy and Technology [advocacy website] have dismissed the changes as insufficient to protect privacy because they do not allow travelers to view the assessments made against them. DHS maintains that larger changes would hinder the system’s ability to prevent terrorists from entering the country. Recent US negotiations with the European Union over an airline passenger data-sharing agreement [JURIST report] almost failed over European concerns that profile data passed to DHS would be inappropriately shared with other US agencies. Under the new agreement, EU citizens will be permitted to seek compensation and redress for any breach pursuant to the US Privacy Act [text; JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bangladeshi interim government lifted the complete ban on all indoor political activity Monday, ahead of scheduled voting reforms talks between the country's election commission [official website] and its political parties. The ban [JURIST report] was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in March 2007, extending the January 11 state of emergency [JURIST report] order by President Iajuddin Ahmed [official profile] which prohibited street protests and public gatherings but not "indoor political activities." Fakhruddin Ahmed [official profile], head of the military-backed interim government, said electoral reforms would only be introduced after talks with the political parties, and promised to try to hold elections before a December 2008 deadline.

The new interim government has arrested over 150 high-profile citizens since declaring a state of emergency over concerns that fraud would ruin scheduled national elections. Last week, Bangladeshi officials arrested [JURIST report] former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [UN profile] and her son on corruption and misuse of power charges. Zia's rival, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed [party profile; JURIST news archive] has also been charged by Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission [governing statute, PDF] with six counts of murder, corruption, and, most recently, bribery [JURIST reports]. The special courts set up by the interim government to try corrupt leaders have so far sentenced more than a dozen former officials and their families. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website, in Japanese; JURIST news archive] said Sunday that he would resign if parliament refuses to extend a special anti-terrorism law. Abe faces opposition from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) [party website], which has criticized Abe's ability to function and have threatened to veto [press release] the renewal of the legislation. The Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], originally passed in 2001 and extended annually [MOFA press release] since, is currently slated to expire November 1. Among other things, it allows Japan to refuel allied ships in the Indian Ocean for operations relating to Afghanistan. While Abe announced he would step down if the law is not extended, US officials expressed concern at losing Japanese support in the Middle East.

Japan's involvement in Afghanistan has caused a rift between Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LPJ) [party website] and the DPJ. DPJ president Ichiro Ozawa [party profile] has voiced his opposition to Japan acting abroad in operations not sanctioned by the United Nations. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official profile] Sunday voiced his disapproval of an administrative decision allowing Muslim women to wear veils and burqas while voting in upcoming by-elections in the province of Quebec. Elections Canada [official website], an independent body that oversees national elections, announced Thursday that Muslim women will be allowed to wear [press release] traditional Muslim niqabs or burqas [JURIST news archives] and will not be required to show their faces [JURIST report] to vote so long as they are able to sufficiently prove their identity with photo IDs or other documentation. Harper said the decision contradicted a unanimous vote in the House of Commons [official website] this past spring to make visual identification mandatory when casting a ballot. Harper noted that unless Elections Canada reconsiders its decision, parliament will have to find a way to make sure the House's ruling takes effect. Canadian chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand said Monday that there was nothing in Bill C-31 [text] on voting procedures that required voters to show their faces.

The issue came to a head in an election in March when Quebec's chief electoral officer [official website] refused to allow Muslim women to vote without showing their faces [CBC report], a move criticized as offensive to their religion by Muslim rights groups. Traditional Muslim face-covering garb and other religious dress [JURIST news archive] have recently become controversial as lawmakers struggle to balance an individual's right to practice their religion with security concerns. AP has more. CTV has local coverage. The Globe & Mail has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] will remain in a US federal prison until all appeals relating to an extradition request by France have been exhausted, despite his originally-scheduled September 9 release date [BOP materials; JURIST report], the US Department of State said Friday. Ultimately, the State Department will issue the final order on France's extradition requests. US District Judge William Hoeveler Friday rejected [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] arguments by Noriega's lawyers that his extradition to France would violate his prisoner of war status, lifting a stay of extradition he had imposed Wednesday. US government lawyers had told Hoeveler they were satisfied that France would effectively treat Noriega as a prisoner of war [JURIST report] even if it has not formally asked France to declare him such, and France itself has formally declined to do so. The State Department concluded from informal talks with France that Noriega will retain the same extra benefits in French custody that he enjoyed during his 17 years in US federal prisons, including nicer quarters, and telephone and television privileges. Hoeveler's ruling allowing the extradition has now been taken before the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals; it could several more weeks until the appeal process is concluded. State Department officials say, however, that they expect the extradition to go ahead.

Noriega is wanted in France on charges of money laundering through French banks. Noriega and his wife were sentenced in absentia [AP report] to 10 years in jail in 1999, but France has agreed to hold a new trial if he is extradited. Noriega's lawyers had argued that France's request was superseded by his status as a US prisoner of war and that under the Geneva Conventions the US must return him home to Panama upon his release. AP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli police have arrested a gang of neo-Nazis [JURIST news archive] accused of attacking foreigners, homosexuals and Jewish people last month, according to weekend media reports. Each member of the gang, comprised of eight young men between the ages of 16-21, are Israeli citizens who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union under the Law of Return [text], a law that allows anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent to become an Israeli citizen. Israeli police arrested the gang members after a year-long investigation triggered by the vandalism of a synagogue [Jerusalem Post report] in Petah Tikva, a predominantly Jewish Orthodox city, depicting Nazi swastikas and Adolf Hitler's name. Searches of the homes of the gang members discovered Nazi uniforms, portraits of Hitler, knives, guns, TNT and video footage [BBC video] of the gang's attacks on Israeli citizens and foreigners. On Sunday, the Interior Ministry [official website, in Hebrew] said they are considering revoking each gang member's Israeli citizenship, while lawmakers suggested changing the Law of Return to prevent neo-Nazis from becoming citizens. BBC News has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

Israel has dealt with alleged domestic neo-Nazis in the past. In 2005, Israeli police detained a group of 20 young neo-Nazi immigrants from the former USSR after arresting a young neo-Nazi serving in the Israeli army [JURIST reports]. The soldier was arrested on drug charges, but police found neo-Nazi material on his computer and a Nazi tattoo on his arm.

[JURIST] Pakistan Monday deported former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile] to Saudi Arabia shortly after Sharif's attempted return from exile. Sharif was arrested on corruption and money laundering charges [JURIST report] shortly after landing in the country on a flight from London. He chose detention over continued exile but then was put on an airplane back to Saudi Arabia despite his wishes. Sharif was first sent to Saudi Arabia seven years ago under a deal with then coup leader and now president Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile] to stay out of the country for 10 years. Over the weekend, security officials detained more than 2,000 supporters [JURIST report] of Sharif anticipating his return to Pakistan, where he was expected to challenge Musharraf's re-election bid.

In August, the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] ruled that Sharif had an "inalienable right to enter and remain in the country" [JURIST report] as a citizen of Pakistan, notwithstanding his earlier agreement to a 10-year exile with Musharraf's government to avoid charges. Musharraf has seen his popularity decline since he attempted a failed bid to remove Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] from office in March for alleged judicial misconduct. Musharraf's critics have alleged that Chaudhry's attempted dismissal was an attempt to preemptively quash legal objections to Musharraf's re-election bid. AP has more.