[JURIST] The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) [official website] has threatened [statement] to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth if it does not end emergency rule by November 22. The group also called on Pakistan to release all detainees, restore the constitution and the independence of the judiciary, and have Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website; BBC profile] resign as army chief by the same deadline. The Commonwealth ministers and ambassadors voiced

grave concern at the dismissal of the Chief Justice and several other judges and their placement under house arrest, which it deemed to constitute a serious breach of the Harare Commonwealth principle of independence of the judiciary and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles. [The CMAG] took the view that other actions taken against lawyers, opposition politicians and civil society leaders, and the suspension of all private media broadcasts and restrictions on the press also constitute violations against Commonwealth fundamental values of freedom of expression and human rights. It noted with alarm the recent amendment to the Army Act, which retrospectively gives military courts the right to try civilians on charges of ‘anti-national’ activities and believed this to be a further derogation of constitutionality and rule of law.

[JURIST] A Japanese parliamentary committee Monday approved a controversial anti-terror bill re-authorizing Japan's support mission for US operations in the Indian Ocean. Under the bill, Japanese ships will be barred from refueling US ships involved in combat or humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, but will be allowed to refuel ships involved in anti-terrorism or anti-smuggling patrols. The bill is intended as a compromise between Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP) [party websites], and, if approved, would replace the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], which expired on November 1. The LDP previously sought a full renewal of the anti-terror law, but narrowed the scope [JURIST reports] of the legislation to obtain greater DJP support. The full lower house is expected to vote on the bill Tuesday.

Japan's involvement in Operation Enduring Freedom [DOS backgrounder] by refueling and supplying water to coalition ships in the Indian Ocean has precipitated a major rift [JURIST report] between Japan's two major parties, contributing to the September resignation [BBC English translation; JURIST report] of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The DJP wishes to entirely scrap Japan's mission, saying it violates the country's pacifist constitution [text] by involving Japan in military operations. AP has more. The Japan Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The White House must preserve all of its e-mail records by saving back-up disks, United States District Court Judge Henry Kennedy ordered [PDF text; press release] Monday. The order was a blow to the Bush administration, which has been fighting lawsuits brought by private advocacy groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and the National Security Archives [advocacy websites] against the Executive Office of the President [official website]. CREW requested the temporary restraining order [press release; JURIST report] last month. Kennedy ordered the White House to

preserve media, no matter how described, presently in [its] possess or under [its] custody or control, that were created with the intention of preserving data in the event of its inadvertent destruction. Defendants shall preserve the media under conditions that will permit their eventual use, if necessary, and shall not transfer said media out of their custody or control without leave of this court.

[JURIST] The trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] issued a decision [PDF text; press release] Monday setting the trial date for former Union of Patriotic Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga [ICC materials; BBC profile] for March 31, 2008. The trial chamber also set December 14 as the date when prosecutors must turn over all evidence to Lubanga's defense lawyers. Lubanga is charged [JURIST report] with enlisting child soldiers in the violence-plagued Ituri district [HRW backgrounder]. He has denied the charges against him. Lubanga's trial will be the first for the ICC.

Lubanga became the first war crimes defendant to appear before the ICC after he was taken into ICC custody [JURIST reports] in March 2006. The ICC has also taken steps to prosecute Germain Katanga [BBC backgrounder; ICC materials], a Congolese militia leader, who has also been accused of using child soldiers. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] led by Musharraf emergency appointee Abdul Hameed Dogar [JURIST report] indicated Monday that its full bench will hear a petition later this week challenging General Pervez Musharraf's November 3 declaration of emergency rule [PDF text]. Pakistan's independent Geo TV reports that former provincial minister Tikka Iqbal is arguing that only the president, not the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), has authority to enforce the emergency under Article 232 of Pakistan's constitution [text]. The declaration was issued by Musharraf in his capacity as COAS. Counsel for Iqbal urged the high court Monday to order the release of lawyers, political workers and media persons arrested after the emergency declaration. Geo TV has more. APP has additional coverage [PDF].

Top Pakistani bar sources told JURIST over the weekend that the Iqbal application was a "decoy petition...filed to wangle a stamp of legitimacy to the illegal acts of this government" and that the case was actually designed to elicit a high court ruling endorsing the emergency decree [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Pakistani lawyers began returning to work in some of the country's lower courts Monday, one week after thousands of lawyers and law students protested against President Pervez Musharraf's proclamation of emergency rule [JURIST reports], suspension of the constitution and dismissal of the country's Supreme Court. Following a Pakistan Bar Council call [JURIST report] Friday, the lawyers agreed to return to work to ease a pre-existing backlog of cases exacerbated by last week's legal vacuum, but they still plan to rally for one hour each day and to strike every Thursday until the country's constitution is restored. Lawyers also plan to boycott the courts of those judges who have taken new oaths under Musharraf's Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) [text].

Lawyers in the provincial region of Balochistan continued a full boycott of the courts there on Monday. The Sindh High Court Bar Association announced Monday that a general ban on the courts in that province would continue throughout the week, and urged a boycott of judges who had taken PCO oaths. In Lahore, an advocate told JURIST that the normally-busy High Court compound there was "deserted" [JURIST comment] with "many plain clothed policemen and other military agents...roaming around." AP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile] told parliament Monday that the government was planning to release 400 more Palestinian prisoners later this month, adding to the release [JURIST report] last month of more than 80 Palestinian prisoners. The releases are meant as a gesture of good will toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] in preparation for a US-sponsored peace conference [NPR report], scheduled to begin at the end of the month. Some 11,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, and their release has been demanded by Abbas and other Palestinian leaders who will participate in the peace talks.

Israel released 255 Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in July after the government determined that they were not directly involved [press release] in the killing or wounding of Israelis. Those prisoners were released in an effort to strengthen the moderate Fatah against more-hardline Hamas, which violently took over the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounders] in June. Palestinian infighting between the Islamist-Hamas and the secular-Fatah has established two parallel Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza. AP has more.

[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors on Monday announced the breakdown of court-ordered settlement negotiations with lawyers representing Tommy Suharto [BBC report], son of former President Haji Mohammad Suharto [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Indonesian law requires that parties try mediation to resolve civil disputes before courts may proceed with a case, but prosecutors will now go ahead with court proceedings in the government's civil lawsuit, which was filed [AFP report] in August. The charges relate to a scam where Goro Batara Sakti (GBS), a company in which Tommy Suharto served as president and commissioner, traded low value swampland to the state national logistics agency Bulog in return for high value real estate in Jakarta. The plot bilked the state out of approximately 95.4 billion rupiah, valued at $781,612 at the time. Government lawyers are seeking to recover $1.5 million in appropriated funds and damages.

The lawsuit is the latest of several suits brought against Tommy Suharto and his father. In May, prosecutors reopened a corruption probe [JURIST report] into Tommy Suharto's involvement in a Suharto-owned car company's monopoly to build a national car, in which Tommy allegedly earned over $159 million. Last October, Tommy Suharto was released from prison by court order [JURIST report] after serving a 10-year sentence for hiring a hitman to kill a judge [BBC report] who had found him guilty in an earlier corruption case. In September, Indonesian prosecutors began court proceedings [JURIST report] against the elder Suharto in a civil action alleging that he embezzled $440 million from the Yayasan Supersemar, a state-funded scholarship fund, between 1974 and 1998. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said Monday that the newly-reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] will next week resume consideration of legal challenges to the eligibility of President Pervez Musharraf [official website] to run for re-election while remaining Army Chief of Staff. Qayyum said that newly-installed Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar will likely adjudicate the cases after swearing in two more justices, expected to occur Tuesday, to form an eleven-justice bench.

Musharraf, who issued his proclamation of emergency rule [PDF text; JURIST report] ahead of the much-anticipated Supreme Court ruling on Musharraf's eligibility [JURIST report], has promised to step down as head of the country's military only if he wins another term as president. Musharraf won an overwhelming victory [JURIST report] last month in legislative elections for the presidency, according to unofficial results. The Supreme Court, proper to being reconstituted following Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule in early November, ruled before the election that the controversial ballot could proceed even though Musharraf continued to serve as army chief, but it barred the Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] from officially declaring a winner until the high court rules on whether Musharraf was in fact eligible to run under the circumstances. Musharraf's opposition has challenged the landslide victory on the grounds that he should have first stood down as head of the army. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Civil Rights Division [official website] of the US Department of Justice is stepping up its enforcement of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act [official backgrounder], according to a report from McClatchy Newspapers. The law, commonly known as the "Motor Voter Act," is designed to make it easier for Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration. It targets registration of low income and disabled people, many of whom are minorities, and requires all public-assistance agencies to offer voter registration services. The division sent letters in August requiring 18 states to provide evidence of proof of compliance with the Act, an effort which was partly in response to criticism of department policies that allegedly discourage votes of minorities, particularly African-Americans, who are likely to vote Democrat. Justice Department spokeswoman Jodi Bobb told McClatchy Newspapers that the Department has always protected African-American voter rights and accusations to the contrary are "false." The DOJ has filed lawsuits [DOJ materials] dating back to 1994 against states that fail to comply with the Act's requirements.

The new emphasis by the DOJ is partially in response to criticisms earlier this year that the Department had become politicized, as with the dismissal of several US attorneys [JURIST report]. New Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey [WH profile, JURIST news archive] has promised not to allow partisan politics to interfere with the DOJ's law enforcement decisions. The Civil Rights Division has also come under scrutiny in recent months for what some say is a shift in the department's focus. The New York Times reported in June that the Bush administration has focused on investigating issues of religious freedom and discrimination [JURIST report] at the expense of race. Earlier this year the Justice Department unveiled a new religious discrimination education initiative [JURIST report], and noted that the Civil Rights Division has "dramatically increased enforcement" of religious discrimination laws [DOJ report] between 2001 and 2006. McClatchy Newspapers has more.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly [official website] Monday criticized procedures used by the UN Security Council and the European Union for blacklisting individuals and organizations on its terror list, adopting a draft report [text; press release] by parliamentarian Dick Marty [personal website; JURIST news archive] that characterized the procedures as "totally arbitrary" and lacking in credibility. Marty's report said that the lists violate basic human rights by not informing individuals or groups when they've been added to the blacklist or giving them an opportunity to respond to the allegations.

In July, the European Court of First Instance overturned [judgment; JURIST report] the EU's decision [Council Decision 2006/379/EC text, PDF] to freeze the assets of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Jose Maria Sison [MIPT profile] and the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa Foundation [judgment], finding that the Council did not give its reasons or provide an opportunity for the plaintiffs to challenge the legal basis or evidence to justify the seizure. In December 2006, the European Court of First Instance annulled the asset freeze [JURIST report] of Iranian opposition government People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) [organization website, in Farsi]. The judgment prompted the Council of the European Union to revise [press release, PDF; JURIST report] the procedures used in establishing and maintaining the EU's terror lists. EUobserver has more.

[JURIST] The government of Pakistan said Monday that a Tuesday protest march planned by former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [personal website] violates the declaration of emergency [PDF text] announced by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website; BBC profile] and will not be allowed to take place. The protesters would have marched from the city of Lahore to the capital of Islamabad, but the government said that all such political gatherings are presently illegal. Bhutto has also announced plans to boycott the January parliamentary elections [CBC report] unless Musharraf steps down as military chief and ends the declaration of emergency rule, saying that fair elections are impossible under the current state of emergency.

Musharraf said Sunday that the parliamentary elections will take place, but set no time limit to emergency rule [JURIST report]. That same day, two Pakistani bar leaders warned [JURIST report] that Musharraf's government is drafting papers to get the declaration of emergency and Provisional Constitution Order [text] validated by the new Supreme Court installed by Musharraf. AP has more.

5:51 PM ET - Bhutto was subjected to a seven-day house arrest order Tuesday morning local time in an effort to prevent the protest march from taking place, though one of her aides told AP that as the government has not personally served the detention order to Bhutto or her representatives, it is not binding. The aide said that Bhutto would try to lead the march despite the order. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian prosecutors dismissed a terrorist training charge against Izhar Ul-Haque [CagePrisoners profile] Monday after the New South Wales Supreme Court found that two officials belonging to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) [official website] had violated his rights by kidnapping and falsely imprisoning him. Judge Michael Adams found that ASIO agents coerced Ul-Haque into a vehicle, threatened him with serious consequences unless he cooperated with the ASIO, and illegally detained him as they searched his home. The judge ruled [text] that the ASIO's misconduct meant that later interviews conducted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) [official website] were inadmissible because the AFP did not obtain a proper warrant to detain and question Ul-Haque at his residence. Ul-Haque allegedly received training from the Lashkar-e-Taiba [MIPT backgrounder] between January and February 2003, although the group was not designated by the Australian government as a terrorist organization until late 2003.

The decision is the latest setback for Australian anti-terror prosecutions. In August, the Federal Court of Australia ruled [text; JURIST report] that the government should reinstate the work visa of Mohammad Haneef [JURIST news archive], who was detained by Australian authorities in July in connection with the attempted UK car bomb terror attacks [JURIST report]. Haneef, who had not been implicated by UK authorities, was detained for 25 days for allegedly providing reckless material support to the suspected terrorists. The Australian government is appealing the reinstatement [JURIST report] of Haneef's work visa. Reuters has more. The Sydney Morning Herald has local coverage.

[JURIST] The crew of the Cosco Busan, which leaked some 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the San Fransisco Bay [IndyBay report] after colliding with a bridge last week, is being held for questioning by federal investigators as a criminal investigation into the oil spill begins, the US Coast Guard [official website] said Sunday. Coast Guard Captain William Uberti said that a preliminary Coast Guard investigation indicated that the ship crashed into the Bay Bridge due to human error, possibly because of communications and management problems among the crew members [AP report]. An independent probe by the National Transportation Safety Board [official website], which began work Sunday, will also investigate the incident.

The Cosco Busan crashed [Chronicle report] into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge last Wednesday, cutting a 100-foot gash into the side of the ship. The Coast Guard noted that there was heavy fog at the time, but some, including US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) [official website], say that weather cannot excuse the accident. The Coast Guard has been criticized for its delayed response, but Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen has promised a thorough investigation into the incident. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], better known in Western media as "Chemical Ali," will not be transferred to Iraqi custody for execution until a legal debate on the executions is resolved, the US embassy in Iraq said Monday. US spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said that there are unresolved questions about the legal and procedural requirements for executions ordered by the Iraqi High Tribunal, and until such questions are answered, al-Majid and two other defendants will remain in the custody of the coalition forces. The remarks come as a response to comments made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] on Sunday accusing the US military of thwarting Iraqi attempts to execute al-Majid [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced [JURIST report] al-Majid to death in June on genocide and war crimes charges. The Tribunal's Appeals Chamber upheld the death sentence [JURIST report] in September. Iraq's Presidency Council, including Kurdish President Jalal Talibani, Shi'ite Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, have nonetheless refused to sign any execution order [JURIST report]. An Iraqi judge said in September that presidential approval is not required [JURIST report] to carry out an execution for al-Majid and his co-defendants, but al-Hashemi reasserted in October that the presidency did in fact have the power to block the carrying out of the death sentences [AP report], regardless of their approval by al-Maliki.

[JURIST] Ousted Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] said in a statement reported by Pakistani media Monday that he and other Pakistan Supreme Court judges were removed by General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule early this month because an independent judiciary would have prevented Musharraf from rigging upcoming elections. "Election manipulation is not possible under an independent judiciary", declared Chaudhry. The high court was already poised to issue a ruling on Musharraf's eligibility [JURIST report] to run for re-election as president in October while still holding the position of Army chief of staff, but the country was also looking ahead to parliamentary elections in the new year. Some media reports immediately following the emergency declaration claimed that an eligibility ruling against Musharraf had already been prepared but not released, although one Supreme Court justice has been quoted as saying that no verdict had as yet been reached. Musharraf has since promised to have elections held by January 9. Responding to comments by Musharraf [JURIST report] in a Sunday press conference saying he had been removed for corruption, Chaudhry countered "If there was any proof of corruption against me, why so many other judges of the superior judiciary have been removed through an unconstitutional act?"

Chaudhry is currently under virtual house arrest in Chief Justice House, his official residence in Islamabad. Other justices removed from the Supreme Court are also still confined. On Sunday, the Times of London reported that prior to the emergency declaration they and their families had been threatened with sexual blackmail [Times report] unless they ruled in favor of Musharraf in the re-election eligibility case. ANI has more. Dawn has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Iran temporarily suspended the sentence of women's rights activist Delaram Ali [advocacy profile; personal blog] Monday for two weeks while officials decide whether to review her case. Despite leniency pleas from seven leading human rights organizations [joint press release], Ali was set to begin a sentence [JURIST report] of 34 months in prison and 10 lashes Saturday. Ali was sentenced for her part in a 2006 demonstration [JURIST report] where she and other activists protested Iranian laws that discriminate against women. She had been out on bail, but her pending appeal was recently dismissed and Iranian authorities ordered [JURIST report] her to begin serving her sentence. Charges of abuse [arrest photos] that Ali had brought against police were also dismissed.

The demonstration Ali took part in was intended to help collect one million signatures [advocacy website] protesting Iran's interpretation of Sharia law [BBC backgrounder], which has been held to require a woman to obtain her male guardian's permission to work or travel, to prohibit women from serving as judges, and to give a woman's testimony only half the value of a man's. Ali was officially charged [Iranian penal code, PDF] with "acting against national security" and "advertising against the system," as were other activists present. Five other women activists involved in the demonstration were given jail terms of up to a year, with suspended sentences of up to three years. RFE/RL has more.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Paulo Sergio Pinheiro [official profile] began his investigation Monday into the Myanmar military government's crackdown on protesters [JURIST report] by visiting Rangoon's Insein prison and a Buddhist monastery earlier raided by troops. Pinheiro arrived in Myanmar [JURIST report] on Sunday after the junta agreed [JURIST report] to allow the UN rights expert into the country. He had been blocked from visiting Myanmar since 2003. Insein prison is said to hold numerous political prisoners and former inmates claim to have suffered torture, abysmal conditions and long stretches in solitary confinement. Pinheiro also visited the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery near Rangoon, which was raided by troops in late September in an effort to squash protests by Buddhist monks. The UN investigator also met with officials at the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Home Affairs Ministry where he discussed his proposed visits to several prisons.

The military crackdown on protests started in September when Myanmar [JURIST news archive] security officers arrested hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating against rising fuel prices and human rights abuses by the military regime. Protests only subsided when junta troops effectively locked down Myanmar's major cities. At least 10 people were killed when government soldiers shot into protesting crowds [JURIST report] and the government has said that some 3,000 people were arrested for participating in the protests. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Cambodian Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith were arrested Monday and brought before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Ieng Sary and his wife, who served as Minister for Social Affairs, have been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Khmer Rouge regime. Sary and Thirith were two of five former Khmer Rouge leaders under investigation and their arrests were widely anticipated. Sary is suspected of perpetrating and facilitating murders as well as coordinating Khmer Rouge's policies of forcible transfer, forced labor and unlawful killings. Thirith allegedly directed and planned widespread purges and the killings of members within the Ministry of Social Affairs. Sary and Thirith are schedule to appear before the before the UN-backed genocide tribunal on Wednesday.

The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2004, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. To date, no top Khmer Rouge officials have faced trial. In August, the ECCC brought its first charges against Kaing Khek Iev [TrialWatch profile; JURIST report], better known as "Duch", who was in charge of the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea [GenocideWatch report] is awaiting trial [JURIST report] for charges [statement, PDF] of war crimes and crimes against humanity. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] has transferred former Bosnian Croat soldier Miroslav Bralo [ICTY case backgrounder] to Sweden to serve the remainder of his 20-year prison sentence, DPA reported Monday. Christer Isaksson, head of security for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service [official website], told DPA that Bralo had been transferred to Sweden several days ago, but he declined to say which prison is holding Bralo. He was sentenced in 2005 to 20 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] to murder, rape and torture charges stemming from the 1993 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Bralo initially pleaded not guilty [JURIST report], but later changed his plea [plea agreement, PDF]. ICTY Judge Iain Bonomy [UN profile] said this move, along with Bralo's remorse and voluntary surrender to the war crimes tribunal, served as a mitigating factor reducing Bralo's sentence from a possible 25 years. Bralo belonged to a special Bosnian Croat force known as the Jokers that attacked Muslim villages in central Bosnia during the 1993 conflict and subsequently imprisoned and tortured civilians. The Appeals Chamber of the ICTY upheld [JURIST report] Bralo's 20-year prison sentence in May, dismissing his arguments that the trial chamber failed to consider relevant facts. DPA has more.