[JURIST] Nations that support the use of the death penalty [JURIST news archive] Wednesday criticized a UN draft resolution [text; JURIST report] to impose a world-wide moratorium on the capital punishment. The UN Human Rights Committee [official website] is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday; if it passes, it will go to the full General Assembly later this year. Opponents of the resolution, including Singapore, Egypt, and Botswana, argued before the Committee Wednesday that it would infringe on nations' sovereignty, and presented a list of 14 last-minute amendments emphasizing nations' right to set criminal punishments. Reuters has more. The Independent has additional coverage.

Over 70 states [co-sponsor list, XLS] have backed the proposal. The draft resolution states that capital punishment "undermines human dignity," that "there is no conclusive evidence of the death penalty's deterrent value" and that "any miscarriage or failure of justice in [its] implementation is irreversible and irreparable." Two previous attempts to abolish the death penalty failed to win a majority in the 192-member assembly. This time, however, the resolution calls for a suspension, rather than a complete abolition, of capital punishment.

[JURIST] A Philadelphia judge ruled that Wednesday that Wal-mart Inc. [corporate website; JURIST news archive] must pay attorney fees and other costs for a class of Wal-Mart employees that had brought suit against the retail giant for denying them payment for work done during rest breaks. Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas [official website] Judge Mark I. Bernstein awarded the employees $46.7 million in costs. Wal-Mart has said it will appeal the decision.

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruled in favor of the Pennsylvania Wal-mart workers [JURIST report] last month, awarding the employees an additional $62.3 million under a state law which demands that pay not be withheld for over 30 days. Last year, the class won a $78.47 million verdict [JURIST report] against Wal-Mart that awarded damages for work during rest breaks and off-the-clock labor. In holding for the plaintiffs, the judge said that the fringe benefits and wage supplements of all employees, whether top executives or hourly workers, are protected under the law. With Wednesday's ruling, Wal-Mart has been ordered to pay the Pennsylvania class $187.6 million total. The Philadelphia Inquirer has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the Pakistani government Wednesday urged the reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] to validate General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency. In court papers filed in response to a challenge petition [JURIST report] brought earlier this week, counsel for Musharraf argued that the petition was itself illegal under the Provisional Constitution Order [text] of November 3 which provided in its Article 3 that:

No court including the Supreme Court, the Federal Shariat Court, the High Courts and any Tribunal or other authority shall call in question the PCO, the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007 or any order made in pursuance thereof.

The allegation of malafide is baseless. Every thing has been done bonafide and in the interest of the State. It is also denied that the action has been taken to crush the judiciary and to make it subservient to the wishes of the respondent and the executive...For any State to function, all the three pillars of the State must act in harmony in the best national interest.

[JURIST] The Court of Appeal of Paris Wednesday approved the transfer of Rwandan genocide suspect Dominique Ntawukuriryayo [ICTR case materials] to the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website]. The former public official was arrested in France [JURIST report] last month. He has been charged [indictment, PDF] with genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to genocide. The handover will be delayed as Ntawukuriryayo's appeal of the decision is pending. Reuters has more.

The charges against Ntawukuriryayo stem principally from his alleged involvement in the Kabuye Hill massacre that occurred over five days in late April 1994, during which as many as 25,000 Tutsi refugees were killed. Then sub-prefect for the Gisagara region, Ntawukuriryayo allegedly promised protection to Tutsis and ordered them to move to Kabuye Hill; instead they were surrounded and shot by gendarmes and communal policemen. Approximately 800,000 people died in the following three months of the Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder].

[JURIST] A former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee was convicted by a Tunisian court Wednesday on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization. Abdullah al-Hajji Ben Amor [HRW profile] was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was convicted in absentia on the same charges in Tunisia in 1995, five years after he had left the country, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In June, Al-Hajji was transferred to Tunisian custody [JURIST report] after five years at Guantanamo Bay. In September, HRW released a report [text; press release] accusing Tunisian officials of mistreating Al-Hajji [JURIST report] and fellow Guantanamo transferee Lotfi Lagha [HRW backgrounder]. Last month, a Tunisian court sentenced Lagha to three years in prison [JURIST report] on criminal association charges. Since 2002, approximately 470 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo and approximately 305 remain [press release], 10 of whom are Tunisian. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] on Wednesday agreed to a $30 million settlement of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [materials; DOJ backgrounder] charges against Chevron [corporate website] in connection with the oil company's alleged involvement in a scheme to exchange illegal payments to Iraqi officials under the now-defunct UN Oil-for-Food program [official website; JURIST news archive]. The settlement [press release] requires Chevron to disgorge $25 million in profits, including $20 million by agreement with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and $5 million by agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Chevron must also pay penalties of $3 million to the SEC and $2 million to the Office of Foreign Asset Controls [official website] of the US Treasury Department. According to the SEC complaint [PDF text], Chevron paid more than $20 million in kickbacks taking the form of surcharges from third-party oil sellers that were exchanged for inflated premiums on future oil purchases during the period from April 2001 to May 2002. The complaint [litigation release] alleges that Chevron knew or should have known that the surcharges were being paid directly to Iraqi bank accounts in Lebanon and Jordan. Chevron instituted a ban on paying surcharges and implemented several management checks on oil purchases, but the SEC claims that the measures were ineffective due to management's reliance on the misrepresentations of the company's purchasers. Chevron has neither denied nor admitted wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.

The UN Oil-for-Food program allowed the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], under UN sanctions in the wake of the first Gulf War, to sell limited stocks of oil in return for foodstuffs and other humanitarian supplies. Hussein's regime nonetheless bribed foreign officials and commercial interests so it could sell oil on the black market, embezzling over $1 billion in program funds and perhaps as much another $10 billion from other sources. In August, David Chalmers, owner of Bayoil USA Inc and Bayoil Supply and Trading Ltd, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to charges that he bribed Iraqi officials in connection with the scandal, while Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian oil trader who helped Chalmers buy Iraqi oil, pleaded guilty to smuggling. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Pakistani government will provide pension and other benefits to Supreme Court and High Court judges dismissed from their positions in the wake of the November 3 declaration of emergency rule, independent station Geo-TV reported on its website Wednesday. Officials have decided that the judges who refused to take an oath under the new Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) [text] will be treated in the same way as retired judges. The announced policy is similar to that followed in 1999 when six then-sitting Supreme Court judges refused to swear an oath under the PCO issued by General Pervez Musharraf when he initially seized power from then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Geo-TV has more.

Meanwhile Wednesday, deposed Supreme Court of Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] told members of the Northwest Frontier Province Bar Association in a read statement reported by PPI that he and over 60 other superior court judges who have refused to take PCO oaths still hold office under Pakistan's constitution, and that those who had suspended the constitution illegally could be tried under its Article 6, section 1 of which reads: "Any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason." Chaudhry said the state of emergency had been imposed illegally but that those who resisted it would succeed. PPI has more.

[JURIST] The government of Iran [JURIST news archive] has charged a former key nuclear negotiator with espionage, the state news agency IRNA [official website] reported Wednesday. Hossein Mousavian was arrested [Al Jazeera report] in May on suspicions that he passed classified information to the British embassy and other foreigners. Mousavian is closely allied with former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [official website, in Persian; BBC profile], a political opponent of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [official profile, BBC profile]. A trial date has not been announced.

Mousavian worked for the Foreign Policy Committee of the Supreme Council for National Security in Iran until 2005, under then-top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Larijani resigned [AFP report] in October due to alleged disagreement with Ahmadinejad, a move that many feared would further strengthen the president's control of nuclear policy. On Monday, Ahmadinejad called critics of his nuclear policy "traitors" [Al Jazeera report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [PDF text; NRDC press release] Tuesday that the US Navy's use of high-powered sonar should be limited during training exercises in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The Court vacated its earlier stay on a temporary injunction [JURIST report] preventing the Navy's use of the high-powered sonar technology effective as of the end of the Navy's current training exercise in that area or November 23, 10 days from the date of the ruling, which ever occurs first. The case was remanded to a Los Angeles district court for modification of the temporary injunction pursuant to the appeals court's ruling.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council [advocacy website] against the Navy. The NRDC has argued that the Navy's decision to use "medium frequency active sonar" without preparing a full environmental impact statement violates several federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act [EPA materials], the Endangered Species Act [PDF text], the Administrative Procedures Act [text] and the Coastal Zone Management Act [text]. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Chile [official website] affirmed seven convictions and overturned one on Tuesday in cases involving murders committed by state agents during the 1973-90 regime of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Former Air Force General Freddy Ruiz Bunger and six former members of the Joint Command, a special police force, received suspended sentences of three years and one day imprisonment for the 1976 murder of Communist Party official Carlos Humberto Contreras. Several of the men sentenced are currently serving sentences for other human rights abuses committed during the 1970s. The court based its decision on the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials], finding that Chile was in a state of internal armed conflict when the murder occurred.

The court also reversed the conviction of former Army official Claudio Lecaros Carrasco for the murders of three individuals in 1973, determining that the general 15-year statute of limitations had expired. The court held that the limitation was applicable to Carrasco's case because no state of armed conflict existed in 1973 to justify the application of the Geneva Conventions. Human rights lawyer Boris Paredes claimed that the ruling is inconsistent with Chile's responsibility under international law to prosecute and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity, and he announced that a petition would be brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [official website]. El Pais has more. El Mercurio has local coverage.

[JURIST] US State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard [official profile] Wednesday testified before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee [official website] and denied allegations [opening statement, PDF] that he politicized the Inspector General's Office by obstructing inquiries that could harm the Bush administration. The allegations brought against Krongard [Oversight Committee report, PDF] include claims that he blocked investigations of fraud and mismanaged spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and interfered with a Justice Department investigation into whether Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] was smuggling weapons into Iraq. The committee also raised concerns that Krongard had a conflict of interest in the Blackwater case, as his brother serves on Blackwater's advisory board [invitation, PDF].

The investigation into Krongard was announced in September [JURIST report]. At that time Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) [official profile] sent notice to Krongard asking for his cooperation, but the committee report notes that Krongard has refused to provide requested documents, even after the committee issued a subpoena for them. In addition, employees of the Inspector General's Office have said that Krongard's congressional liaison Terry Heide told them that they could lose their jobs [Post report] if they cooperated with the committee's investigation. Heide admitted to the committee that she had made statements to that effect, but denied they were meant to intimidate witnesses. Krongard said Wednesday that he has been working to "restore the capabilities of an [Inspector General] office that had fallen into disrepair," but has been hindered by lack of funding. AP has more.

6:55 PM ET - Krongard said Wednesday that he would not participate in any State Department decisions concerning Blackwater in light of his brother's attendance at a Blackwater advisory board meeting. Krongard said he was not previously aware of his brother's connection to the company. CNN has more.

[JURIST] The Georgian Republic will end its national state of emergency [JURIST report] this Friday, Georgian Speaker of Parliament Nino Burdzhanadze [BBC profile] said Wednesday. Burdzhanadze made the announcement on behalf of the government in a televised statement after the US called on Georgia to end emergency rule.

After several days of protests, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree last week temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili [official website] has blamed Russian spy agencies for instigating the protests [speech], though the Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed those claims [statement]. In August, a Georgian court sentenced 12 opposition activists [JURIST report] to prison terms of up to eight-and-a-half years for participating in a coup plot that Saakashvili alleged was backed by Russia. Saakashvili has allied himself closely with the US and NATO since taking office in 2004, and Georgian authorities alleged that the convicted opposition activists had been supported by the Russian security services. Georgian-Russian relations have deteriorated markedly [JURIST report] in the last year. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives [official website] passed legislation by voice vote Tuesday that would ban federal prosecutors from threatening to prosecute corporations for refusing to turn over information protected by attorney-client privilege [ABA backgrounder]. The Attorney-Client Privilege Act of 2007 [HR 3013 materials] would bar prosecutors from demanding that a corporation waive its attorney-client privilege and from considering a corporation's cooperation with that demand in deciding whether to prosecute. Rep. Robert Scott (D-VA) [official website] said the bill was necessary to stop over-zealous US attorneys from intimidating corporations from protecting their rights. AP has more.

In 2006, former US Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty [official profile] announced that the Department of Justice would no longer encourage corporations to turn over confidential records [JURIST report] to officials investigating corporate fraud. The McNulty Memorandum [PDF text] revised portions of the 2003 Thompson Memorandum [PDF text], which included business record turnover as a factor prosecutors could use in determining whether corporations were cooperating with investigations, by requiring prosecutors to receive McNulty's approval before seeking investigative facts gathered by corporate counsel and protected by attorney-client privilege.

[JURIST] Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website] told AP Wednesday that he expects to give up his position as army chief by the end of the month. Opposition groups had challenged Musharraf's eligibility to run for re-election as president while he still served as head of the army. The Supreme Court of Pakistan was on the brink of deciding the case when Musharraf declared a state of emergency [JURIST reports] in early November and issued a Provisional Constitution Order [text] barring the courts from making "any order against the President." In an AP interview, Musharraf also said that emergency rule is likely to continue until at least the upcoming parliamentary elections in January, and criticized former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [personal website] - currently under house arrest - for allegedly inciting turmoil [JURIST report]. Musharraf told AP that he will not resign as president, saying that doing so would risk chaos in Pakistan.

Under the state of emergency, the government has cracked down on its critics, detaining thousands of lawyers, rights activists and opposition politicians. The declaration of emergency rule also effectively dismissed the 19 judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which is being gradually reconstituted [JURIST report] by appointees sanctioned by Musharraf. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iranian prosecutors issued court summonses Tuesday for five Argentinians accused of falsely implicating an Iranian group with masterminding the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The five accused - former Interior Minister Carlos Corach, president of the bombed community center Ruben Beraja, judge Juan Jose Galeano, and prosecutors Eamon Mullen and Jose Barbaccia - have rejected the summonses. The call for the five to appear in Iranian court comes after the Interpol General Assembly [official website] last week voted to issue arrest notices [press release; JURIST report] for five Iranians and one Lebanese man wanted in connection with the bombing.

Argentinian prosecutors have alleged that the bombing was planned by Iranian officials, and carried out by the Lebanese group Hezbollah [BBC backgrounder]. The country originally sought the arrests of high-ranking members of the Iranian government, including former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [official website, in Farsi; JURIST report], but Interpol's Executive Committee [official website] denied the request and granted only six of the nine Red Notices requested by Argentina. The authorization of the notices went before the General Assembly following an Iranian appeal of the Executive Committee decision. AP has more. IRNA has local coverage.

[JURIST] New US Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey [official profile; JURIST news archive] was installed during a ceremony at the Justice Department Wednesday in front of hundreds of officials and DOJ lawyers. Although officially sworn-in [JURIST report] last Friday, Mukasey again took the oath of office in an installation ceremony led by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Addressing DOJ employees for the first time, Mukasey said [text]:

I have said previously that much has changed since 1972, when I took the same oath I took today to serve in the United States attorney's office, and indeed it has. There are laws on the books today that did not exist when I was sworn in then, and there are problems that confront us now that did not confront us then, mainly but not entirely involving the threat to our security from those who believe it is their religious duty to make war on us.

But the oath, of course, has stayed the same. And so in many ways has the nature of the work — the work that I did then and that you have been doing before I arrived here. You are, all of you, involved, day to day, in applying regulations or rules or laws or provisions of the constitution you have all sworn to protect, a sworn promise in which I joined this morning.

What each person here does, on a day to day basis, is law. If that sounds prosaic and rather limited, try thinking for a moment about the alternative, where the results depends on the opinion of one person or a group of people as to what they feel is right. We don't do simply what seems fair and right according to our own tastes and standards.

But when you step back and look at the thousands of decisions that are made every day under those rules and regulations and laws and Constitutional provisions that this Department enforces — the cases you handle, the prisoners in your care, the investigations you pursue — when you look at that, the result is something glorious. The result is what gives this Department its name. We do law, but the result is justice. And that is why our ultimate client — the people of this country — can and do rest secure in the knowledge that our unswerving allegiance is to the law and the Constitution, and that the result of faithful performance of our duty is justice.

That is the great work that each of you and all of you were doing before I showed up here this morning and took the same oath that you had already taken. But the reason why I believe that I was not in any meaningful sense the Attorney General until I came before you here is that my job involves not only an oath, but also a pledge, which I now give you.

And that is to use all of the strength of mind and body that I have to help you to continue to protect the freedom and the security of the people of this country — and their civil rights and liberties — through the neutral and even-handed application of the constitution and the laws enacted under it; to ask myself in every decision I make whether it helps you to do that; to take the counsel not only of my own insights but also of yours, and to pray that I can help give you the leadership you deserve.

The job of the Attorney General is one of the most important in our nation's government. The Attorney General must run the world's largest law firm, and the central agency for enforcement of our federal laws. He must aggressively prosecute gun criminals and drug dealers, hold corporate wrongdoers to account, protect victims of child abuse and domestic violence, and uphold the civil rights of every American.

In this time of war, the job of the Attorney General is also vital to America's national security. The Attorney General is responsible for our law enforcement community's efforts to detect, prevent, and disrupt terrorist attacks here at home. He must make certain that our intelligence and law enforcement communities work hand-in-hand to protect the American people from terrorist threats. He must ensure that we do everything within the law to defend the security of all Americans -- while at the same time protecting the liberty of all Americans.

Judge Michael Mukasey is the right man to take on these vital challenges. Michael understands the law from both sides of the bench. He served for more than 18 years as a U.S. District Court Judge in New York, including six years as the Chief Judge. He was a lawyer in private practice. He has served an Assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan, where he headed the Official Corruption Unit.

Judge Mukasey also understands the challenges facing our nation in this time of war. He has written wisely on matters of constitutional law and national security. He knows what it takes to fight the war on terror effectively. And he knows how to do it in a matter that is consistent with our laws and our Constitution. He will bring clear purpose and resolve to the job of Attorney General. I look forward to working with him as a member of my Cabinet, and a key player on our national security team.

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights ruled [opinion text] Tuesday that the educational separation of Roma children in the Czech Republic violates principles of human rights. By a vote of 13-4, the court held that the separation amounts to racial discrimination [ECHR press release] in violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text], finding that the schools for Roma children offered sub-standard education. The court said that:

the schooling arrangements for Roma children were not attended by safeguards [citations omitted] that would ensure that, in the exercise of its margin of appreciation in the education sphere, the State took into account their special needs as members of a disadvantaged class [citations omitted]. Furthermore, as a result of the arrangements the applicants were placed in schools for children with mental disabilities where a more basic curriculum was followed than in ordinary schools and where they were isolated from pupils from the wider population. As a result, they received an education which compounded their difficulties and compromised their subsequent personal development instead of tackling their real problems or helping them to integrate into the ordinary schools and develop the skills that would facilitate life among the majority population.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility [official website] has reopened an investigation into the administration's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] after recently being granted the necessary security clearances previously denied to DOJ investigators, OPR chief H. Marshall Jarrett said in a Tuesday letter to US Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) [press release]. The internal investigation into the role DOJ lawyers played in designing the National Security Agency's domestic spying program was originally closed just months after it began in February 2006 when security clearances were denied [JURIST reports] by the NSA, with then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales saying that President Bush had blocked the investigation [JURIST report]. Hinchey has praised the reopening of the probe, saying that it indicates that newly appointed US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile] understands his role as attorney general better than his predecessor.

Mukasey said in October that the Constitution does not preclude the president from wiretapping terrorism suspects without a warrant [JURIST report]. He went on to say, however, that surveillance of those within the United States required a more complex analysis of privacy interests, as recognized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [text] and Protect America Act [text], but that ultimately, executive authority with regard to foreign surveillance was subject to "regulation" rather than "preemption" by the legislature. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Colorado Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday approved [PDF text] the language of an anti-abortion group's proposed ballot initiative [PDF text] that would amend the Colorado constitution to define a fertilized egg as a "person" entitled to "inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of law" under the state constitution. The group, Colorado for Equal Rights for Human Life, must collect 76,000 signatures in six months in order to place the measure on the 2008 ballot. Critics argue that the measure is misleading [NARAL Colorado press release] as its supporters have said their goal is to outlaw abortion, which is not specifically mentioned in the language of the ballot initiative. Critical have also said the proposed changes could also regulate in-vitro fertilization, stem cell research, and birth control.

According to anti-abortion activists, similar ballot initiatives are under way in Montana, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan and South Carolina. AP has more.

[JURIST] An FBI investigation [JURIST report] has concluded that private security personnel in Iraq shot and killed 14 Iraqi civilians without justification during a September 16 incident [JURIST report] in Baghdad, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The investigators found that many as five Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] guards fired on civilians during the shootings, which killed 17 Iraqi civilians and prompted the Iraqi government to withdraw the company's operating license [JURIST report]. The FBI said that three of the killings may have been justified, including that of a physician and her son, though relatives say they were on a family errand at the time the guards opened fire. Under US State Department [official website] policy as quoted by the New York Times, lethal force is justified "only in response to an imminent threat of deadly force or serious physical injury against the individual, those under the protection of the individual or other individuals."

The Blackwater allegations have caused domestic outrage in Iraq and have prompted legal controversy in the US. Iraqi government investigators probing the killings have concluded that the Blackwater security detail's actions were unprovoked, and amounted to "deliberate murder" [JURIST report]. Last month, The Iraqi cabinet approved [JURIST report] a draft law [JURIST report] that would strip foreign security contractors of immunity from Iraqi prosecution. The US House has passed a bill that would expand US jurisdiction over the same private contractors [JURIST report]. AP has more.