[JURIST] Some 50,000 detainees held by Iraqi and US authorities in Iraqi could be freed by the end of 2008, an Iraqi official said Sunday. Iraqi national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaei said that 24,000 detainees held in facilities run by the Iraqi defense, interior and justice ministries could be freed under what appears to be an extended version of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Pardon and Safety plan, originally described as providing for the release of convicted detainees [JURIST report]. The plan would have to approved by cabinet and parliament. Another plan being worked out with US-led multinational forces could see the release of another 26,000 Iraqis. The mass releases are seen by the government as critical to its national reconciliation efforts between Shi'ite and Sunni factions; the vast majority of the detainees are Sunni.

Earlier this year, the country's largest Sunni parliamentary bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front [BBC backgrounder], boycotted major government meetings in response to al-Maliki's failure to respond to demands [JURIST report] that included pardons for uncharged security detainees. In October, Iraqi Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi urged fellow Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Jalal Talabani to press the Iraqi parliament to pardon detainees [JURIST report] not classified as "dangerous elements" linked to the insurgency. Reuters has more. IANS has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has suspended the country's attorney general on charges of corruption and established a three-person tribunal to investigate the charges. Officials charged [JURIST report] Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele in November with acting contrary to or inconsistent with his duty as a public officer in violation of section 174 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification Reform) Act [text, PDF]. Gula-Ndebele is said to have met with fugitive former banking executive James Mushore while Mushore was on the Zimbabwean police's wanted list, informing him that he would not be arrested if he returned to the country. The meeting was apparently held without the government's knowledge or permission. The investigatory tribunal, which includes two justices and a lawyer, will investigate the situation and will then recommend whether Gula-Ndebele should remain in office. The president can revoke the suspension based on the tribunal's recommendation; otherwise, Gula-Ndebele could face a fine or up to 15 years in prison.

Mushore was on the police's wanted list from 2004 until his October arrest on suspicion of violating hard currency exchange regulations. Banks, including the country's central bank, have admitted buying hard currency, which is valued at $1 USD to 30,000 Zimbabwe dollars, at black market rates - $1 USD to 2 million Zimbabwe dollars - to help pay off the country's expenses. Political analysts have suggested the charges against Gula-Ndebele are politically motivated because of his refusal to sanction some politically related state prosecutions and because of his reported conflict with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa concerning the reported plans by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Justice to decrease the power of the attorney general's office. AP has more. The Harere Herald has local coverage.

[JURIST] The chairman of one of Pakistan's two leading opposition groups said Sunday that his party would seek to reverse constitutional amendments [JURIST report] unilaterally promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf in association with his lifting of emergency rule [JURIST report] on Saturday. Pakistan Muslim League-N [party website] chief Raja Zafarul Haq said that the PML-N, led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive], would take action in parliament to rescind provisions limiting press freedom and entrenching new superior court judges to replace those effectively ousted when the emergency was declared November 3. Amendments to Pakistan's constitution are traditionally made by parliament, but Musharraf allocated the prerogative to himself under his emergency Provisional Constitution Order [text]. The Revocation of Proclamation of Emergency Order issued Saturday additionally sought to insulate the changes by providing that they "shall not be called in question by or before any court, including Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, High Court, any forum or authority, on any ground whatsoever." AP has more.

Rights groups Saturday expressed ambivalence about the lifting of the emergency, criticizing Musharraf's self-accorded impunity, his refusal to reinstate ousted members of the pre-emergency Supreme Court and provincial High Courts and his addition of the restrictive amendments.