[JURIST] The US military will recommend that an Associated Press (AP) photographer accused of collaborating with Iraqi insurgents be charged in Iraqi courts, a Department of Defense [official website] spokesperson said Monday. AP photographer Bilal Hussein [AP materials] has been in US military custody since April 2006, detained for allegedly possessing equipment to construct roadside bombs. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Monday that additional evidence uncovered since Hussein's arrest further indicates that he is a terrorist agent; evidence will be turned over to Iraq's Central Criminal Court later this month. AP called for Hussein's release and accused the military of denying Hussein his due process rights. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

In December 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists released a report [text; JURIST report] in which it noted that the US is currently detaining three journalists, Hussein and al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj [CPJ report].

[JURIST] California Supreme Court [official website] Chief Justice Ronald George [official profile] proposed a constitutional amendment [PDF text] Monday designed to expedite death penalty appeals by shifting the locus of review from the state supreme court to state appeals courts. The California Supreme Court currently has the authority to transfer any matter to the appellate courts, excepting appeals from judgments imposing the death penalty. George said that he has had "positive discussions" about the proposed amendment with the presiding justices of the appellate courts; they will meet for further discussions in early December. The California Supreme Court justices hope the proposed amendment will be on the November 2008 general election ballot.

The growing number of defendants sentenced to death in California has created a significant backlog problem in recent years, making California's the nation's largest death row at 667 prisoners. To clear it, five prisoners would have to be executed per month for the next 11 years. Since capital punishment was reinstated in California in 1978, only 13 prisoners have been executed. The Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] Uzbek President Islam Karimov [official profile; BBC profile] has registered to run for a third term in office, despite an amendment to the Uzbek constitution [text] limiting presidents to two consecutive terms. Karimov accepted a nomination to run for president earlier this month, but has given no official explanation for how his decision comports with the constitution. The election is scheduled for Dec. 23. Five opposition candidates have been blocked from registering, and three others that have registered are members of pro-government parties and are considered by observers to be fig leaf competition. AP has more.

Karimov, who has been president of the former Soviet republic since before independence, has come under international fire for his crackdown against anti-government elements since the May 2005 uprising in Andijan [JURIST news archive] that resulted in the massacre of unarmed Uzbek civilians [JURIST report]. Among those who have been arrested and tried include the Uzbek rights activists Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov and Nodira Khidayatova, as well as opposition leader and businessman Sandjar Umarov [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors Monday went to court in a civil lawsuit against Tommy Suharto [BBC report], the youngest son of former President Haji Mohammed Suharto [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], in order to recover an alleged $55 million in losses related to a land exchange scam from the mid-1990s. After failing to reach a settlement [Reuters report] in the suit last week, prosecutors are trying to prove that Tommy Suharto traded inexpensive swamp land to Bulog, Indonesia's national logistics agency, in return for high value real estate in Jakarta. Six years ago, when Suharto was in hiding [BBC report], the Supreme Court overturned a criminal corruption conviction in connection with the scheme. Suharto's lawyer argues that the lawsuit has no merit since the Supreme Court already ruled that Suharto was not guilty [CNN report].

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 the Supreme Court judge [BBC report] who had initially found him guilty. 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. DPA has more.

[JURIST] Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu [official profile] pleaded not guilty Monday as her trial on corruption and forgery charges began in Taipei. The charges [JURIST report] against Lu stem from allegations that she claimed 5.6 million Taiwan dollars in special expenses using more than 1,000 false receipts from December 2000 to May 2006 in her capacity as vice president. After Monday's court session, Lu complained about the "double standard" she believes prosecutors used when indicting her; she maintains the judicial system "remains divided" on how expenses of public officials should be handled.

Lu's trial is the latest in a string of high-profile corruption cases that have dominated Taiwanese politics in recent months. The trials of the two public officials who were indicted with Lu, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) [party website] Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former foreign minister Chen Tan-sun, are yet to be scheduled. Former Taiwanese opposition party leader Ma Ying-jeou [personal website, in Chinese] was acquitted [JURIST report] of corruption and accounting fraud charges by the Taipei District Court in August. The highest-profile allegations of emerged in August against Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian [official website; BBC profile] and several relatives. In June, a high court affirmed the conviction [JURIST report] of Chen's son-in-law on insider trading charges. Chen's wife, Wu Shu-chen, was indicted [JURIST report] last year for embezzlement and falsifying documents. Prosecutors have indicated that they have enough evidence to also indict Chen, but Chen enjoys Article 52 [text] constitutional immunity from most criminal charges while he remains in office. AP has more. The China Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] An Italian court Monday dismissed false accounting charges [JURIST report] against former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], ruling that the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors alleged that Berlusconi's broadcasting company, Mediaset [corporate website, in Italian], incorrectly reported its costs in purchasing television rights to US films in a ploy to avoid paying higher taxes in 2000. Berlusconi still faces a charge of tax fraud, and his trial is scheduled to resume in January.

Berlusconi, a media mogul and Italy's richest man, has faced trial on at least six occasions involving charges of false accounting, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and giving false testimony [JURIST reports]. In October, Italy's highest court of appeal upheld Berlusconi's April acquittal [JURIST reports] on bribery charges. That trial was initially blocked in 2004 by a bill drafted by Berlusconi ally and later defense lawyer Gaetano Pecorella but went ahead after the bill was struck down as unconstitutional. Berlusconi has continually maintained his innocence, accusing prosecutors of conducting a political vendetta against him. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Iraqi Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili and Brigadier General Hameed al-Shimmari will go to trial within days for allegedly channeling millions in government money to the Mehdi Army militia [BBC backgrounder], Iraqi chief prosecutor Ghadanfar Mahmoud told AP Monday. The two high-level officials also allegedly allowed Shiite death squads to use Health Ministry facilities and ambulances to target Sunnis.

On Saturday, an Iraqi government spokesperson said that the upcoming trial indicated that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] was serious about enforcing the rule of law [JURIST report]. Zamili was arrested [DOD statement] in February during a security crackdown in Baghdad. The Mahdi Army is loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr [BBC profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Almost eight percent more hate crimes were reported in 2006 than the previous year, according to the 2006 Hate Crime Statistics [report; press release] released by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) [official website] Monday. Participating local law enforcement agencies reported a total of 7,722 incidents in 2006, up from 7,163 reported incidents in 2005. The report listed 5,449 instances of crimes against persons, mostly intimidation and simple assaults. Law enforcement agencies also documented 3,593 instances of crimes against property, of which 81 percent were acts of vandalism and destruction of property. The report says that racial discrimination accounted for 51.8 percent of all reported hate crimes, while religious bias followed with 18.9 percent. The increase in reported incidents does not necessarily represent an increase in actual hate crimes, as increased reporting could be due to greater prioritization by local agencies. Over 25 percent of local law enforcement agencies also do not report incidents to the FBI.

In September, the US Senate approved an amendment to the 2008 Senate Defense Reauthorization Bill [HR 1585 materials] that would expand federal hate crimes legislation to include violent attacks against people based on their gender or sexuality. The White House has repeatedly threatened to veto [policy statement, PDF] the hate crimes legislation. In 2006, the FBI reported that the number of reported hate crimes fell by six percent in 2005 [JURIST report] from the previous year. In 2004, the FBI reported an increase in racially motivated hate crimes [JURIST report] over those committed in 2003. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani authorities in Lahore and Balochistan Monday ordered the release of a number of lawyers arrested earlier this month for protesting [JURIST report] President Pervez Musharraf's November 3 declaration of emergency rule. In Lahore, an anti-terrorism court judge granted bail to 42 lawyers held in various jails, according to a report by the Associated Press of Pakistan. A legal source in Lahore told JURIST, however, that those lawyers had not actually been released [JURIST comment] because the bail orders had "not yet reached destinations." One of the lawyers granted bail Monday was the general secretary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. The latest bail grants follow the bail of some 350 other Lahore lawyers [News report] on November 10. In Balochistan, meanwhile, the head of the new caretaker regional government announced that all lawyers, politicians and workers who had been arrested in the city of Quetta and elsewhere in that province would be released as a sign of goodwill. Dawn has more.

On Friday, UN officials reported that chairwoman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Asma Jahangir had been released from her two-week house arrest [JURIST report]. Human rights groups still claim that there are over 3000 lawyers being held [AHRC press release] in the country in the aftermath of the emergency declaration and that "many of the best known" Pakistani lawyers are in hiding.

[JURIST] The Israeli cabinet on Monday approved the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners 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. The release [JURIST report] approved fell short of the demand for the release of 2,000 prisoners by Abbas and other Palestinian leaders who will participate in the peace talks.

Israel released 86 Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in October and another 255 prisoners [JURIST report] in July after the government determined that they were not directly involved [press release] in the killing or wounding of Israelis. Some 9,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Sapporo District Court in Japan dismissed a lawsuit Monday filed by 33 people who claimed that the deployment of Japanese troops in Iraq was unconstitutional. According to the Kyodo news agency, the group, which included the late former Deputy Minister of Defense Noboru Minowa, requested that Japan [JURIST news archive] end its mission in Iraq and compensate each person 10,000 yen for causing anguish. The lawsuit was based on Article 9 of the Japanese constitution [text], under which "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign nation and the threat of force as means of settling international disputes." Similar lawsuits have been filed in district courts in 10 other regions, with most courts ruling in favor of the government. While Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq last July, the a Japanese unit based in Kuwait continues to provide airlift support for the Multi-National Force-Iraq.

The debate over Japan's involvement military operations abroad recently caused 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 opposition Democratic Party of Japan [party websites], which opposes Japan's involvement in operations abroad, blocked the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], which expired on November 1 and allowed Japan to refuel allied ships in the Indian Ocean for operations in Afghanistan. A bill re-authorizing the mission was passed [JURIST reports] by the Japanese House of Representatives last week. Bernama has more.

[JURIST] The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus [official website] has agreed to pay $50 million to settle more than 100 claims of sexual abuse by its Jesuit priests in Alaska. The claims involved 13 or 14 priests and spanned nearly 30 years. As part of the settlement, which has not yet received final approval, the Roman Catholic religious order will not admit fault in the cases. None of the priests involved have been criminally charged. AP has more. The Anchorage Daily News has local coverage.

Other religious orders across the country have reached similar settlements. In September, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh [diocesan website] announced the creation of a $1.25 million fund to settle 32 lawsuits [JURIST report] alleging abuse or injury by priests. The Catholic Diocese of San Diego [diocesan website] also announced an agreement [JURIST report] that month to pay $198.1 million to settle 144 claims of sexual abuse by its clergy. A Los Angeles Superior Court in July approved a $660 million settlement [JURIST report] between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles [diocesan website] and plaintiffs in 508 outstanding clergy sex abuse lawsuits. In January 2007, the Catholic Diocese of Spokane [diocesan website] agreed to settle molestation claims [JURIST report] against its own priests for $48 million as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The total settlements of all Catholic clergy abuse claims [JURIST news archive] have cost the US church at least $2.3 billion since 1950.

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday arrested [press release] former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan following his release from a hospital. Khieu Samphan, who suffered a stroke [NYT report] last week, will appear before investigating judges later Monday to determine what charges he will face. Khieu Samphan has defended the late Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot [JURIST report] in a newly released book, denying that he was responsible for genocide. In his Reflection on Cambodian History Up to the Era of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia), Khieu Samphan called Pol Pot a patriot [BBC report] insisting that in his government "[t]here was no policy of starving people. Nor was there any direction set out for carrying out mass killings." The Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder] has been blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people [PPU backgrounder] from starvation, disease, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979.

Khieu Samphan is the fifth senior Khmer Rouge leader to be detained by the ECCC, though no top Khmer Rouge official has faced trial to date. Last week, the ECCC announced formal charges [JURIST report] against former Cambodian Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who served as minister of social affairs. In August, the ECCC brought its first charges against Kaing Khek Iev [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 is awaiting trial [JURIST report] for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. ECCC trials are expected to begin next year. AP has more.

5:16 GMT - Khieu Samphan has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] has sentenced [press release] former Rwandan mayor Juvenal Rugambarara [TrialWatch profile] to 11 years in prison. Rugambarara pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in July to a single count of extermination, a crime against humanity, as part of a plea deal that eliminated eight other charges including genocide, torture and rape. The extermination charge stems from his failure as mayor to adequately investigate abuses or punish perpetrators during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. The judges who sentenced Rugambarara Friday considered the sincerity of remorse Rugambarara displayed, his assistance to Tutsis during the genocide, and his good behavior while in ICTR custody when determining his sentence.

Rugambarara was mayor of Bicumbi commune from 1993 until 1994. His trial began in 2003 after he was arrested in Uganda. It took two years for the plea deal to be negotiated with prosecutors. Rugambarara is one of several local Rwandan leaders who have pleaded guilty or have been found guilty [JURIST news archive] by the tribunal for their roles in the mass killings. The Hirondelle News Agency has more.

[JURIST] The reconstituted Pakistan Supreme Court [official website] Monday dismissed five out of six challenges to the October re-election [JURIST reports] of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website; JURIST news archive] while still serving as chief of Pakistan's army. The court will hear the sixth petition later this week. Among the rejected petitions was that of former Chief Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad [Wikipedia profile], who had argued [JURIST report] that the new Supreme Court bench, staffed by judges who have sworn an oath [text] under Musharraf's Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) [text, as amended] "is in no legal position to rehear the case, as the Constitution does not recognise it." On Monday, however, Justice Nawaz Abbasi told Ahmad's lawyer that he risked contempt charges and the cancellation of his license if he kept challenging the reconstituted court's legitimacy. Presidential candidate Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the vice chairman of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party [party website], also had his challenge to Musharraf's re-election dismissed Monday.

Musharraf has vowed to step down as chief of Pakistan's army [JURIST report] once the high court clears his October re-election, but he now must wait until the high court rules on the sixth challenge. Under Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule [JURIST report], 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 Pakistan's Supreme Court, which Musharraf has been gradually reconstituting [JURIST report] by appointees hand selected by him. Bloomberg has more. Reuters has additional coverage.