[JURIST] Pakistani police acting at the direction of what one official called "higher ups" arrested two American human rights activists in Lahore Tuesday, according to AP. Medea Benjamin [Wikipedia profile] and Tighe Barry are members of the US-based human rights group Global Exchange and the women's peace group CODEPINK [advocacy websites] and were protesting emergency rule, the dismissal of the country's superior court judges and the detention of leading lawyers. The arrests were confirmed by the US Embassy in Islamabad. The anonymous police official said the two were likely to be deported.

The activists held a vigil [CODEPINK materials] at the home of Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan [PILDAT profile] Sunday into Monday. Ahsan was arrested and jailed last month when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf issued a declaration of emergency rule [PDF text]. The Pakistani government transferred Ahsan to house arrest last week so he could file as a candidate [Hindu report] for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party in upcoming parliamentary elections. Benjamin told JURIST is a statement Sunday that when she and Barry

tried to meet with Aitzaz Ahsan on December 1, they discovered that his home is still designated a "sub jail" and he remains hostage in his own home, unable to go out or to receive visitors. For that reason [we] decided to stage a vigil outside his home.

The two have had their visas revoked and are being forcibly removed from the country on an early morning flight (in just a few hours Lahore time).... The reason for their forcible deportation is that under emergency rule, protests are illegal, therefore Benjamin and Barry have been participating in illegal acts punishable by deportation.

[JURIST] The sentencing of convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] will be delayed until January, according to US federal court officials cited by AP Tuesday. Sentencing hearings that were due to begin this week were rescheduled due to a death in the family of US District Judge Marcia Cooke [official profile]. Padilla was convicted in August along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi [profiles] of conspiracy to commit illegal violent acts outside the US, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. The sentencing hearing could result in up to life in prison for Padilla.

Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially alleged to have planned the explosion of a "dirty bomb" in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged with other offenses in November 2005. Padilla was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Bangladesh court sentenced four university professors Tuesday for participating in anti-government student protests [JURIST report] that took place in August. Police inspector Mahbub Siddiqui told AFP that the academics were found guilty of breaking emergency laws [JURIST report] banning protests and all gatherings. Each received a two-year jail sentence. All four professors were from Rajshahi University [university website] and were accused of joining protests in Dhaka. Four professors from Dhaka University [university website], as well as some 24 students have also been detained in response to the unrest. Dozens of students from Dhaka university held hands and covered their mouths with black badges to protest the detentions, but dispersed after about half an hour. Dhaka university Vice Chancellor SMA Faiz urged the head of the government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to release the professors. AFP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

The interim Bangladesh government imposed a curfew after the August unrest which resulted in hundreds of injuries and one death. The riots first began at Dhaka University, when students demanded that a military post be removed from the campus, and then spilled out into the Dhaka city streets. Protesters called for an end to emergency laws, which have been in place since January. The interim government has used its anti-corruption campaign [BBC Q&A; JURIST news archive] to justify the emergency laws.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in Snyder v. Louisiana [SCOTUSwiki backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-10119, where it considered whether a prosecutor improperly excluded all black potential jurors from serving on a jury in a murder case because of their race. During the sentencing phase of Allen Snyder's trial, the prosecutor drew comparisons between the proceeding and the trial of OJ Simpson [CourtTV case materials] in urging the jury to impose the death penalty. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld [opinion, PDF] Snyder's death sentence. Snyder argued on appeal that the prosecutor used the comparison to create a race-based rationale for the death penalty. In its 1986 ruling in Batson v. Kennedy [opinion text], the Supreme Court held that lawyers cannot exclude people from a jury solely on account of their race. AP has more. The Christian Science Monitor has additional coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Comment: Prosecutor in Louisiana death penalty case disregarded defendant's rights

The Court also heard arguments [transcript, PDF] in Riegel v. Medtronic [SCOTUSwiki backgrounder; merit briefs],06-179, [docket; cert. petition], where it considered whether Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] regulation of medical devices protects manufacturers such as Medtronic, Inc. [corporate website] from state product liability lawsuits. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that a damages claim by a man injured by a Medtronic device was preempted by the device's FDA approval [opinion, PDF].

[JURIST] Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett [official website] said Tuesday that Pennsylvania and several other states will file lawsuits against tobacco company RJ Reynolds [corporate website] for violating an agreement not to use cartoon characters to advertise tobacco products. A press release [text] from Corbett's office said the suits are in response to a multi-page ad for Camel cigarettes in the November issue of Rolling Stone magazine, containing various cartoon images [copies]. Corbett described the ad as "a flagrant violation of the 1998 national tobacco settlement." California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio, and Washington will file similar lawsuits, which could result in more than $100 million in sanctions against RJ Reynolds. Rolling Stone publisher Ray Chelstowski told AP that RJ Reynolds was unaware the ads would be illustrated and said they promote a music-oriented website and not cigarettes.

Shortly after the ad was published last month, anti-smoking groups urged state attorneys general to investigate the matter. In 1998, 46 states signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) [NAAG backgrounder; PDF text] with RJ Reynolds and three other tobacco companies to settle state suits involving billions of dollars in costs for treating smoking-related illnesses. That agreement banned the use of cartoons in tobacco advertising to prevent targeting youth, largely in response to RJ Reynolds' use of the Joe Camel [Encarta article] character in cigarette ads. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Martin Scheinin [JURIST news archive] will attend military commission hearings at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] beginning Wednesday, according to a statement [text] by Scheinin on Tuesday. Scheinin said that the United States invited him to attend hearings as a follow up to an earlier visit to Guantanamo in May. Scheinin expects to observe an evidentiary hearing for Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [TrialWatch profile; JURIST news archive]. The US Supreme Court [official website] in October declined to review [JURIST report] an appeal by Hamdan challenging the constitutionality of the military commission system. Hamdan, allegedly a driver for Osama bin Laden, last year successfully challenged President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the commission system as initially constituted violated US and international law. Hamdan now faces trial [JURIST report] under the subsequently passed Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text; JURIST news archive]

In October, Scheinin called on the US to quickly prosecute or release terror suspects [JURIST report] detained at Guantanamo so that the detention center can be closed. In May, he said that the US has committed human rights violations [JURIST report] in its interrogations of terror suspects and by putting questionable restrictions on immigration. The UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] Twenty-six ethnic Indians have been charged with attempted murder in connection with anti-discrimination demonstrations [TIME report] in Malaysia [JURIST news archive] last month, a lawyer for the defendants said Tuesday. All 26 suspects pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder during a clash with police at a temple compound outside of Kuala Lumpur. The defendants' lawyer told AP that the Malaysian government was prosecuting the suspects because of their race, a claim that Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail denied. Last week, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi [official website; BBC profile] said Malaysian authorities may rely on the country's controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) [JURIST report; HRW backgrounder] to halt protests in Kuala Lumpur by thousands of the nation's ethnic Indians. The ISA is a preventive detention law that allows the Malaysian government to detain suspects for two years without trial and to renew the detention indefinitely.

The November 25 rally was sparked by complaints that the predominantly Malay Muslim government economically discriminates against ethnic Indians and other minorities. Three Hindu activists originally arrested before the protest and charged with sedition were subsequently released [BBC reports]. Earlier in November, Malaysian police cracked down [JURIST report] on demonstrators participating in an unauthorized election reform rally held by the electoral rights group Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections [advocacy website], firing tear gas and water cannons at protesters. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down unanimous decisions in two cases Tuesday, including Logan v. US [LII case backgrounder] where the Court held a defendant's misdemeanor convictions that did not result in him losing civil rights nonetheless allow a longer sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) [44 USC 924 text]. Under the ACCA, so-called "career criminals" may be subjected to longer sentences if the defendant has three prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses. James Logan argued that his three previous misdemeanor battery convictions should not count toward ACCA sentencing because he did not lose his civil rights, but the Supreme Court rejected that argument, affirming the Seventh Circuit's decision [PDF text] in the case. Logan's appeal was based on an ACCA provision which allows prior convictions to be disregarded if the defendant "has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored," but the Court rejected his argument:

We hold that the §921(a)(20) exemption provision does not cover the case of an offender who retained civil rights at all times, and whose legal status, postconviction, remained in all respects unaltered by any state dispensation.

The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act prohibits States from discriminating against railroads by taxing railroad property more heavily than other commercial property in the State. Two decades ago, we held that this statute permits an aggrieved railroad to challenge a State's valuation of its property for tax purposes. Burlington Northern R. Co. v. Oklahoma Tax Comm'n, 481 U. S. 454, 462 (1987). Because the railroad in that case challenged only the State's application of its valuation methods, we expressly reserved the question whether a railroad may challenge the State's methods themselves. We answer that question today, and hold that railroads may challenge state methods for determining the value of railroad property, as well as how those methods are applied. The statute provides for nothing less.

[JURIST] The New Jersey Senate Budget Committee Monday voted 8-4 to pass a bill [S171 text, PDF] designed to replace capital punishment with life in prison, paving the way for New Jersey to abolish the death penalty [JURIST news archive] all together. The New Jersey Assembly [official website] is scheduled to vote on the bill next week [JURIST report], and proponents of the legislation hope it will pass both houses before the legislative session ends on January 8. Bill proponents, including New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, argue that capital punishment spends more tax dollars than life in prison without parole [Senate report, PDF; NYT op-ed], and add that capital punishment statistically does not deter homicide. New Jersey currently has eight prisoners on death row, but the state has not executed anyone since 1963. If the bill becomes law, New Jersey would be the first state to abolish capital punishment since the US Supreme Court reinstated it nationally in 1976.

A report [PDF text; JURIST report] in January endorsed by 12 of the 13 members of the New Jersey Death Penalty Commission [official website] concluded that there was "no compelling evidence that the New Jersey death penalty rationally serves a legitimate penological intent," although there was "increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency." Corzine, a longtime opponent of capital punishment, welcomed the report [statement] and said he would work with the legislature to implement it. AP has more.

[JURIST] US House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) [official website] has asked US Attorney General Michael Mukasey to help the committee obtain transcripts of interviews with US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and five White House aides from the criminal investigation into the Valerie Plame leak scandal [JURIST news archive], according to Monday reports. In a letter [PDF text] Monday, Waxman said that the White House has blocked Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald from handing over the transcripts [letter, PDF] to the Committee. Waxman expressed hope that Mukasey would not bow to White House objections to turning over the documents, noting that there was precedent for US Attorneys General acting independently to help Congressional committees: former US Attorney General Janet Reno independently provided FBI interview reports to Congress. Waxman is seeking transcripts, reports, notes and other documents relating to interviews with Bush and Cheney, as well as interviews with former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, White House Senior Advisor Dan Bartlett, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. AP has more.

In August, the US Department of Justice argued [JURIST report] that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] requests in response to a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group to force the Office of Administration to turn over information about missing White House e-mails regarding the CIA leak investigation and the US Attorney firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. Last month, a federal judge ordered the White House to preserve all of its e-mail records [JURIST report] by saving back-up disks.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] on Monday encouraged all nations involved in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to help arrest Sudanese and Ugandan crimes against humanity suspects [statement]. The ICC has executed arrest warrants for seven men who have not yet been taken into custody - two Sudanese men accused of crimes against humanity for actions taken in Darfur [JURIST news archive], and five Ugandan men accused of kidnapping thousands of children to serve as mercenaries or sex slaves. The Sudanese government, not a signatory to the ICC's Rome Statute [PDF text], refuses to hand over suspected criminals to the ICC. In October, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] called on citizens worldwide to "break the silence" [JURIST report] to pressure their governments to help apprehend Sudanese war crimes suspects in Darfur for prosecution by the ICC. Moreno-Ocampo has previously called on Sudan itself to arrest Sudanese war suspects, but Sudan has responded by saying the ICC does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Sudanese war suspects.

Similarly, the Ugandan government refuses to hand over members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] while the Ugandan government brokers a peace deal with the LRA. Last month, the ICC declined to withdraw the five Ugandan arrest warrants [JURIST report]. In 2005 the ICC indicted [ICC materials; JURIST report] five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, including LRA leader Joseph Kony [BBC profile], for orchestrating the killing of thousands of civilians and the enslavement of thousands more children over two decades of conflict. The Ugandan government has indicated that they will refuse to sign any peace agreement unless the ICC withdraws its indictments. The government has also said that Kony is willing to face trial at home [JURIST report], but not at the ICC. AP has more. The UN News Centre has additional coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: International Criminal Court | Op-ed: The Cambodian Genocide Court: Lessons for the ICC in Uganda?

[JURIST] The Catholic Diocese of Davenport [diocesan website] has agreed to settle 156 clergy sex abuse claims for $37 million [press release], paving the way for the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy. The Davenport, Iowa diocese filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy [AP report] last year, and a settlement agreement became a requirement of filing for reorganization in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa [official website]. The settlement agreement, reached last week, also requires Bishop of Davenport Martin Amos to write personal letters of apology to victims who want an apology, and for the Diocese to publish the names of offenders.

Other dioceses across the country have reached similar settlements. The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh settled 32 sex abuse claims for $1.25 million [JURIST report] in September, closely following a agreement [JURIST report] by the Catholic Diocese of San Diego 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 and plaintiffs in 508 outstanding clergy sex abuse lawsuits. In January 2007, the Catholic Diocese of Spokane agreed to settle molestation claims [JURIST report] against its own priests for $48 million as part of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan. The Archdiocese of Portland filed for Chapter 11 [JURIST report] in 2004, and the dioceses of Tuscon, Spokane, and Davenport soon followed suit in the wake of hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits [JURIST news archive] against clergy. The total settlements of all Catholic clergy abuse claims have cost the US church at least $2.3 billion since 1950. AP has more.