[JURIST] An Afghan terror suspect has been transferred to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], the US Department of Defense (DOD) announced [press release] Wednesday. Known only as Inayatullah, DOD said the detainee has admitted to being the head of al-Qaeda operations in Zahedan, Iran, and to orchestrating al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. DOD indicated that Inayatullah's status will be determined by a combatant status review tribunal [DOD materials], and that the International Committee of the Red Cross [advocacy website] will be granted access to him while he is detained. Including Inayatullah, there are approximately 340 detainees currently at Guantanamo.

The Defense Department says that approximately 80 detainees at Guantanamo are currently eligible to be transferred off the base, and the terms of their departure are the focus of ongoing discussions between the US and the detainees' home nations. In early September, 16 Saudi detainees were transferred [JURIST report] back to Saudi Arabia. In August, six detainees were transferred [JURIST report] to their home countries of Bahrain and Afghanistan.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Vermont ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that states have the power to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions. In Green Mountain Plymouth Dodge Jeep v. Crombie the court held that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) [text] does not preempt state regulation of emission standards. Auto industry insiders, including General Motors, Daimler Chrysler [corporate websites], and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers [trade website], had testified that the heightened emissions standards adopted by states like California and Vermont [legislative materials] would not stop global warming but would cripple the automotive industry. The court rejected the latter claim, stating that the automotive industry "bears the burden of proving the regulations are beyond their ability to meet," and that

in light of the public statements of industry representatives, history of compliance with previous technological challenges, and the state of the record, the Court remains unconvinced automakers cannot meet the challenges of Vermont and California’s [...] regulations.

[JURIST] The New Jersey Supreme Court [official website] Wednesday ruled [syllabus and opinion, PDF] 5-0 that New Jersey doctors do not have a duty to inform abortion-seeking patients that an embryo is an "existing human being." The court declined to use the case of Acuna v. Turkish to weigh in on the issue of when life begins, holding that

a physician has a common law duty to provide a woman with material information concerning the medical risks of terminating her pregnancy; however, there is no common law duty requiring a physician to inform a pregnant patient that an embryo is an existing, living human being and that an abortion results in the killing of a family member.

[JURIST] A group of six US states and the District of Columbia, collectively called the "California group," Tuesday requested that the terms of the 2002 Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive] antitrust settlement [final judgment] be extended from their scheduled expiration this November until 2012. Lawyers for the group, arguing in front of Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly [official profile] of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website], said that Microsoft should still be subject to oversight, as products Windows and Internet Explorer still dominate the market. The California Group may have a difficult time convincing Kollar-Kotelly, who said that the settlement agreement was not designed to reduce Microsoft's dominance in the market but was instead designed to correct anti-competitive practices. Microsoft's filing [PDF text] largely responded to criticisms in the California group's separate filing [PDF text]. Both the Justice Department and the "New York Group," another group of five states, have recently touted the success of the decree [filing text].

The California group had not mentioned requesting an extension of the decree when all parties were preparing a joint status report [filing text] late last month. As such, Kollar-Kotelly has asked the California group to prepare a written proposal explaining the rationale for an extension by October 15. Microsoft will then have a little less than a week to establish a timeframe for responding to the request. Last year, Kollar-Kotelly granted [JURIST report] a Justice Department request [JURIST report] to extend certain provisions of the settlement until November 2009. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] Tuesday rejected [order, PDF] an appeal by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official profile] of rulings creating a federal panel [JURIST report] to supervise California's overcrowded prison system [JURIST news archive]. In July, two separate district court judges held [JURIST report] that while California may appeal specific orders made by a special three-judge panel, the state cannot appeal the original rulings establishing the panel. Schwarzenegger had argued that the panel was established too soon, before the state's $7.7 billion prison expansion program [JURIST report] had time to work. The Ninth Circuit denied the appeal based on lack of jurisdiction, stating that California may not appeal before the three-judge panel has been established and has entered a final judgment. The panel's first meeting is set for September 24; the Schwarzenegger administration does not plan to further appeal.

In July, Judge Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District of California and Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of the Eastern District of California rejected California's argument that the panel may jeopardize public safety by ordering the release of prisoners from overpopulated facilities. California's construction program will create 53,000 new prison and jail beds over the next five years. The threat of federal oversight has also induced California to introduce a plan to release prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes [JURIST reports]. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] A Chinese bank official convicted of corruption was executed [Peoples Daily report] Tuesday for taking bribes and embezzling the equivalent of almost $2 million USD. Wen Mengie, the former IT head of the Beijing branch of the Agricultural Bank of China [corporate website], bought three houses in Beijing with money received during bank purchases of ATM machines and computer software. He originally argued that the money had been a gift from the suppliers, but the suppliers testified that he had demanded the money as a bribe. Investigators were tipped off when Wen went to a bank wearing dark glasses and using a fake name, seeking to pay off mortgage loans using bags of money.

The Agricultural Bank of China has been financially struggling due to employee corruption. Last year, the bank fired 64 people and disciplined 1300 more after investigators found financial discrepancies equivalent to nearly $7 billion USD. China [JURIST news archive] has been cracking down on corruption [JURIST news archive] using capital punishment. In July, the former commissioner of China's State Food and Drug Administration [official website, in Chinese] was executed for accepting $850,000 in bribes [JURIST report]. In August, Chinese Communist Party discipline commission spokesman Gan Yisheng said that China's use of capital punishment in political and economic corruption cases is appropriate and effective [JURIST report]. Gan justified the punishment saying that it had "been endorsed by the Chinese people and also recognized by the international community." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Former British Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Tarek Dergoul [History Commons profile] is suing the UK's MI5 (domestic) and MI6 (foreign) [official websites] intelligence services over complicity with Dergoul's alleged torture, according to a Wednesday report [text] in the Guardian. Dergoul alleges that he was subjected to beatings, sexual humiliation, extremes of cold, and insults to his religion while being held by US forces in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, and that UK agents periodically interviewed him during his detention, attempting to benefit from his abuse at the hands of others. Dergoul seeks a ruling to prevent UK intelligence from benefiting from the abuse of prisoners held outside the UK. He also seeks damages from the intelligence services and the UK's Foreign Office [official website], citing "misfeasance in public office."

Dergoul was picked up in Afghanistan in 2001, where he was held for four months before being sent to Guantanamo Bay. He was returned to Britain in 2004, where he was released without charge [JURIST report]. Dergoul alleges that he was only in Afghanistan to study Arabic, and has no ties to terrorism. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Peruvian President Alan Garcia [official website] criticized the Supreme Court of Chile on Tuesday for delaying until after September 19 its ruling on whether to allow the extradition of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [personal website, JURIST news archive]. Garcia said that he was confident the judges would come to the right decision, but expressed disappointment that the verdict has been repeatedly delayed. The Supreme Court of Chile announced in August that the decision would be postponed [JURIST report]. It was expected at that time that a verdict would be issued by September 5, but it was further delayed because of the ill-health of one of the judges [LIP report] and the absence from the country of Chilean President Michell Bachelet [BBC profile].

The Supreme Court's review comes after Peru filed an appeal of a lower court's ruling [JURIST reports] denying the government's request for extradition. Fujimori served as president of Peru from 1990 to 2000 and is currently under house arrest [JURIST report] in Chile. He was arrested in Chile [JURIST report] in December 2005 after flying into that country from Japan to campaign for the Peruvian presidency, despite having been officially banned from holding public office until 2010 [JURIST report]. He is currently running for a seat in the Japanese parliament [JURIST report]. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] The directors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA) [official websites] have said that a July 20 appeals court decision [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] mandating the disclosure to federal appeals courts of all evidence on Guantanamo detainees will pose a serious risk to national security. In court filings, the intelligence officials argued that the release of such information could impede further intelligence gathering. The officials also said that the compiling of all the information would take so much effort that it would distract the organizations from ongoing terror investigations.

The July 20 decision held that federal appeals courts reviewing "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] designations of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees must review all evidence regarding that detainee. The ruling further held that while the government can withhold "certain highly sensitive information" from defense counsel, it can cannot keep such evidence from the court. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] Tennessee [JURIST news archive] executed a condemned man by electric chair [Wikipedia backgrounder] on Wednesday, the first execution by electrocution in the state since 1960. Daryl Holton, who confessed to the 1997 murder of his three sons and their half-sister, chose to be electrocuted [Shelbyville Times-Gazette report] rather than to receive a lethal injection, Tennessee's usual method of execution. Tennessee law allows inmates to choose their method of death if their crime occurred before 1999 [TDC backgrounder].

According to a fact sheet [PDF text] distributed by the Death Penalty Information Center [advocacy website], 153 executions by electrocution have taken place in the US since 1976, with only 10 occurring since the turn of the century. Ten states currently authorize the use of electrocution [DPIC backgrounder], Nebraska being the only state that requires it. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ousted Philippines president Joseph Estrada [BBC profile] was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after being convicted on "plunder" charges stemming from kickbacks he received while in office. Plunder was formerly a capital offense, but the Philippines abolished the death penalty in June 2006. Estrada said that he was disappointed with the trial [AP report], saying that the decision against him was based on political motives. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Estrada to pay $15.5 million. The former president's son Jinggoy Estrada and lawyer Eduardo Serapio, co-defendants on the charges, were acquitted.

Estrada was forced from power in a 2001 revolt that brought to power his former vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo [official website]. He has been held in detention in the Philippines [JURIST news archive] ever since his ouster. He had been charged with mass corruption under the nation's economic plunder law [text] for allegedly stashing some $77 million in gambling payoffs, kickbacks and illegal commissions in secret bank accounts under an alias. AP has more. The Philippines Star has local coverage.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush has narrowed the list of candidates to replace outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive], with officials indicating that former Solicitor General Theodore Olson [official profile] is one of the top candidates for the position. Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Schumer (D-NY) [official website] was quoted in Wednesday's New York Times as saying that Olson's candidacy suggests the White House is not looking to work with the Democrats to reach a consensus on choosing a replacement, as Olson is considered by many to be very partisan. White House aides counter, however, that it would be difficult for Democrats to block a confirmation after spending months demanding that a new attorney general replace Gonzales.

Gonzales announced his resignation [letter, PDF; JURIST report] on August 27, saying that it will take effect on September 17 [JURIST report]. His resignation followed months of controversy over the Justice Department's handling of the firings of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive] and subsequent allegations that he may have perjured himself [JURIST report] in testimony before Congress. Current Solicitor General Paul Clement [official profile] will serve as acting attorney general until the Senate confirms a new permanent official. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [official website, in Japanese; JURIST news archive] announced his resignation [BBC English translation] on Wednesday, citing problems renewing a Japanese anti-terrorism law. His office also cited health reasons. At a news conference, Abe said he hoped his resignation would allow Japan's political parties to work together to approve the law [AP report], which would provide further support to US operations in Afghanistan:

Recently, in Sydney, I said that the mission that has been the expectation, and that has been highly regarded by the international community, in the war against terrorism should not be discontinued and that it should be continued by all means.

International contribution forms the core of the assertive diplomacy that I have advocated.

I had the responsibility to persist in this policy with everything in my power. With that thought, I said that I would make every effort and risk my job in order not to discontinue this mission.

I also said I would absolutely not cling to power. Toward this end, I had to make every effort possible.

I also felt that I had to work hard to create the environment, and that I had to give everything I have, and to do everything possible.

Today, I requested a party leaders' meeting with [opposition Democratic Party of Japan] President [Ichiro] Ozawa in order to convey my honest feelings.

Unfortunately, my proposal for the meeting was, in effect, rejected.

President Ozawa had criticised [me] before for not following the people's mandate. It is truly regrettable.

I thought about what I should do in order to continue the war against terrorism and concluded that I needed to turn the tide.

Under a new prime minister, the government should aim to continue the fight against terrorism, and to provide a breakthrough in this situation.