[JURIST] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile; party profile] successfully returned to Pakistan after seven years in exile Sunday to lead his party [Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) website] in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He flew from Saudi Arabia into the international airport in Lahore, his hometown and traditional power base. A spokesman for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf insisted prior to Sharif's arrival [Bloomberg report] that he would "be treated very well and will not be arrested or placed under house arrest,” and that ”he will be a free man." In early September Sharif was arrested on outstanding corruption and money laundering charges [JURIST report] shortly after landing in the country on a flight from London. He was later put on a plane back to exile in Saudi Arabia despite his wishes and notwithstanding an August ruling [JURIST report] by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that he could return to the country. Sharif was overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 military coup; he was later sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason and corruption but was allowed go into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000.

Media reports Sunday suggested that Musharraf had allowed Sharif to return this time because the Saudi government was no longer willing to support his exile on their territory. Allowing Sharif to return and run in the upcoming parliamentary elections may, however, lend a measure of political legitimacy to Musharraf's November 3 declaration of emergency rule [JURIST news archive], expected to remain in place until the elections are over. Sharif's erstwhile opposition rival Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister allowed to return from exile [JURIST report] last month under an amnesty deal which may now be in jeopardy [JURIST report], filed her own nomination papers for the elections Friday. AP has more.

[JURIST] New Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk [BBC profile] has told the Polish Parliament [official website] that his government will refuse to sign the European Charter of Fundamental Rights [European Parliament materials], part of the new EU Reform Treaty [JURIST news archive]. Tusk said the decision, which follows a similar statement made earlier this month [JURIST report] by the country's foreign minister, was taken out of respect for a deal negotiated by the previous conservative government led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who expressed concern over the charter's supposed liberal stance on "moral issues." The opt-out would remain, according to the Prime Minister, because he needed the support of the Kaczynski's Law and Justice Party [party website, in Polish] in order to reach the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to ratify the Reform Treaty as a whole. The United Kingdom has also said it will opt out [Sky report] of the new pan-European rights charter.

The Reform Treaty, essentially a cut-down version of the stalled European constitution [JURIST news archive], has generated much debate among EU members. EU leaders only reached agreement on the final text of the treaty [JURIST report] at a summit in Lisbon last month, working through last minute objections by Poland and Italy. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] has officially indicated that it will be unable to complete its work before the expiration of its December 2008 mandate. ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga made the announcement at a press conference Saturday during the second day of the Commonwealth summit in Uganda, saying that there would be "at least one case" left unfinished at the scheduled closure of the tribunal. The formal completion strategy for the UN-backed Rwanda genocide court, as outlined in UN Resolutions 1503 and 1534 [PDF texts], calls for the closure of all investigations by 2004, trials by 2008 and appeals by 2010. Rather than extending its timeframe, Amoussouga and other ICTR officials have insisted that the Tribunal will adhere to its original mandate and transfer backlogged cases to Rwandan national jurisdiction.

As of June 2007, the Office of the Prosecutor for the ICTR intended to refer 15 cases from the Tribunal to Rwandan jurisdiction, including three detainees and 12 fugitives. That month, Prosecutor Hassan Jallow [ICTR profile] requested the first transfer [press release] of an ICTR case – that of Fulgence Kayishema – to Rwandan national jurisdiction. That transfer request, which is still pending decision, is opposed by Amnesty International [JURIST report], which petitioned the ICTR [press release] earlier this month to prevent it from extraditing suspects to Rwanda due to fairness and victim and witness protection concerns. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Bolivian Constitutional Assembly [official website, in Spanish] approved the text of a new draft constitution for the country Saturday, according to Constitutional Assembly President Silvia Lazarte. Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website, Spanish; BBC profile] has sought a full rewrite of the country's constitution [text as amended] to facilitate widespread social change since his election [JURIST report] as Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2005. The Constitutional Assembly, dominated by members of Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) [Wikipedia backgrounder], approved the draft text as many members of opposition factions boycotted the vote in protest over moving the assembly's governing body to an army compound on Friday and over the proposed relocation of the nation's capital from La Paz to Sucre [LA Times report]. Reuters cited local radio broadcasts as reporting that one individual was killed and several others sustained injuries in the protests.

Lazarte previously suspended [JURIST report] constitutional reform talks in September after days of violent protests by university students and other opposition members. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi parliament Sunday conducted a preliminary reading of a proposed law [JURIST report] that would allow former Baath Party [party website, in Arabic; BBC backgrounder] members not convicted of any crimes to return to their previously held government positions, participate in the political process, and serve in the civil and military service. Hardline Shiite lawmakers allied with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr noisily rejected the law, however, deriding it as unconstitutional. Legislators originally introduced the Justice and Accountability Law in March, and it had been scheduled for a vote before the Iraqi National Assembly [official website] Wednesday following an additional reading, although it is not now clear if that will still take place. The White House's most recent Benchmark Assessment Report [PDF text; JURIST report] in September found satisfactory progress on reforming the de-Baathification process in Iraq, while conceding little progress had been made by the Iraqi government toward accomplishing the rest of the 18 "benchmarks" thought to be essential to Iraq's stability. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage and an update.

Supporters of the draft measure are looking for a way to reinstate [JURIST report] former Baath party members who say they joined the party for professional reasons; Hussein only allowed university enrollment, career progression and specialized medical aid to those who were members of his party. Despite provisions in the proposal that would prevent reemployment of former Baathists who have been charged with, or are sought for, criminal activities, several Shiite leaders oppose the draft law [JURIST report] as a "dangerous" undertaking to return former regime members - many of the Sunnis - to leadership positions in the government. Without approval by Shiite religious leaders, the proposed law has little chance of being passed by the Iraqi National Assembly since Shiites currently hold the majority of the parliamentary seats and often vote according to the advice of their religious leaders. Some Kurds, who were also suppressed by Hussein's Baathist regime, oppose the draft law as well.

[JURIST] US District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern District of California Friday stayed [order text, PDF] until March 24 a challenge to the implementation of new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] regulations [PDF text] intended to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain US employment. Breyer granted a government motion [PDF text] seeking to halt the court proceedings while DHS revises and rewrites the regulations. Breyer granted a preliminary injunction [PDF text; JURIST report] against implementation of the regulations on October 10 after finding that there was an immediate threat of harm to the plaintiffs, a coalition of labor and business groups, that would result from the application of the new rules, which warranted blocking DHS from implementing the rules until the case has been decided. The stricter rules, announced [JURIST report; DHS transcript] in August and originally slated to take effect in September, require employers who receive notices from the Social Security Administration (SSA) [official website] informing them of non-matching records between an employee's name and Social Security number to resolve any discrepancy within 90 days, dismiss the employee, or face up to $10,000 in fines for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit [ACLU materials] challenging the new regulations, brought by employers, unions, and the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website], argues that errors in the SSA's database may cause legally employed persons to lose their jobs and that the rules impose a substantial burden on employers. In August, US District Judge Maxine M. Chesney said that the lawsuit highlighted the fact that there was "serious question" about whether DHS overreached in making the rules, and directed the SSA not to send out a mailing to approximately 140,000 employers advising them that there were discrepancies in their particular employment records. The ACLU issued a statement [press release, text] Saturday arguing that revised DHS rules which still rely on an allegedly flawed SSA database will pose additional concerns. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.