[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday unanimously upheld [ruling, PDF] a 2006 federal court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] that the state of Missouri must provide inmates with transportation to a medical facility for a non-therapeutic abortion. The Eighth Circuit rejected the trial court's conclusion that a non-therapeutic abortion constitutes a "serious medical need," and therefore may not be intentionally denied by the state under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Circuit instead affirmed the judgment under an analysis of the Fourteenth Amendment established by the US Supreme Court's 1987 case Turner v. Safley [text], which states that "prison regulations restricting constitutional guarantees are valid only if the regulations are 'reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.'" The Missouri Department of Corrections [official website] will comport with the decision as it considers an appeal.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the decision [press release] as "consistent with rulings from across the country that women prisoners do not lose their reproductive rights once they are incarcerated." The Kansas City Star has more.

[JURIST] An Afghan journalism student charged with blasphemy was sentenced to death Tuesday, following a recommendation from the Afghan Council of Mullahs. A three-judge panel found that papers printed from the Internet by 23-year-old Sayad Parwez Kambaksh, allegedly including discussion of women's role in society, insulted Islam and invoked Article 130 of the Afghanistan Constitution [text], allowing for execution consistent with Hanafi [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] law. Kambaksh showed the papers to a university teacher and classmates, some of whom said Kambaksh wrote the document himself. It was not clear if Kambaksh had legal representation at the trial, and his trial date was not made public. He will remain in prison as the sentence is appealed.

Kambaksh has received public support [RWB report] from Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website], as well as European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering [official website]. On Monday, Afghan prosecutor Hafizullah Khaliqyar said Kambaksh supporters would be imprisoned. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) [official website] Tuesday released a report [PDF text; CoE press release] criticizing the United Kingdom's voting system for its vulnerability to fraud. A February 2007 fact-finding trip conducted by a PACE committee found that fraud risks are "mainly the result of the, rather arcane, system of voter registration without personal identifiers." UK voting registers currently list only the voters' names and addresses and do not include such "personal identifiers" as date of birth or signatures. The report said that UK elections are "conducted democratically" and, while not recommending a monitoring procedure, the report said:

The Monitoring Committee should, in its periodic reports on the honouring of commitments by member states, pay special attention to electoral issues in the United Kingdom and, if the vulnerabilities noted are found to undermine the overall democratic nature of future elections in Great Britain, apply to initiate a monitoring procedure with respect to the United Kingdom.

[JURIST] Jury selection began Tuesday in the retrial of six of the seven men charged with allegedly conspiring to bomb [DOJ press release] the FBI headquarters in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago. The seven men first went to trial last year, but in December one man was acquitted and a mistrial was declared [JURIST report] for the other six after the case ended in a hung jury. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 70 years in prison.

The seven were indicted [JURIST report] in 2006 on charges [indictment, PDF] of conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda; conspiring to provide material support, training, and resources to terrorists; conspiring to maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive; and conspiring to levy war against the government of the United States. The indictment alleges that ringleader Narseal Batiste recruited the six other defendants to "organize and train for a mission to wage war against the United States government," and that they pledged an oath to al Qaeda in an attempt to secure financial and logistical backing. Lawyers for some of the men said that their clients were entrapped [JURIST report] by an FBI informant posing as an al Qaeda operative. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison Tuesday in connection with his conviction [JURIST report] on terrorism-related charges. US District Judge Marcia Cooke [official profile] handed down the sentence following two weeks of sentencing hearings, during which the government sought life sentences for Padilla and his two co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifadh Wael Jayyousi [GlobalSecurity profiles]. The defense team raised over 90 objections to a prosecutorial report supporting the request for life sentences, arguing it misrepresented the evidence presented at trial; Padilla's lawyers argued for a 10-year sentence, while lawyers for Hassoun and Jayyousi asked for penalties of four to six years and probation, respectively. Hassoun was sentenced to 15 years and eight months while Jayyousi received a 12-year, eight-month sentence. Cooke ruled last week that she could apply enhanced federal terrorism penalties [JURIST report] in the case, which in effect permitted her to consider the death penalty.

Padilla, Hassoun and Jayyousi were convicted in August 2007 of conspiracy to commit illegal violent acts outside the US, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. 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 in November 2005 and transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006. AP has more.

[JURIST] Kenya's main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) [party website], has filed a formal complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], alleging that the Kenyan government has committed crimes against humanity in using force against demonstrators protesting the recent disputed re-election [JURIST report], an ODM spokesperson said Tuesday. The violence began after the re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile], who has has long been accused of using his position to favor members of the Kikuyu tribe. Over 700 people have died since protests began last month, prompting Human Rights Watch to urge the government to ban police from using excessive and lethal force against protesters [press release]. Thirteen nations, including several European Union members and the United States, have threatened to cut off aid to Kenya's government until the crisis is resolved.

The controversial presidential vote has sparked simmering ethnic tensions in Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kibaki won the election despite early opinion polls that placed rival ODM candidate Raila Odinga in the lead. Thousands of opposition supporters have continued calls for protests against the elections [JURIST report], despite the government's temporary ban on public rallies. The ODM has also threatened to use economic boycotts and strikes [JURIST report] to continue their protests. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that a prison inmate cannot bring a lawsuit against federal prison guards over the handling of the inmate's possessions under the Federal Tort Claims Act [text]. In Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], Abdus-Shahid Ali sued prison officials working for both the District of Columbia Department of Corrections and the US Bureau of Prisons, arguing that they illegally confiscated his religious property, including copies of the Koran and his prayer rug, and harassed him for expressing his Muslim faith while in custody. The Federal Tort Claims Act includes an exception [28 USC 2680(c)] barring claims for detained property against "law enforcement officers," but Ali argued that the exception applies to officials working in an excise or customs capacity. The Supreme Court rejected that argument and affirmed the Eleventh Circuit's opinion [PDF text] in the case, concluding "that the broad phrase 'any other law enforcement officer' covers all law enforcement officers."

Read the Court's opinion [text] from Justice Thomas, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Kennedy and a second dissent [text] from Justice Breyer. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] Tuesday ruled [DOC text; press release] that France violated the rights of a lesbian woman by refusing her application to adopt a child because of her sexual preference. The French officials rejected the woman's application on the grounds that she and her partner were not able to present a male "referent," even though French law permits single adults over the age of 28 to adopt children. The ECHR ruled that France violated the petitioner's rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text], which guarantees respect for private and family life, and under Article 14, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The ECHR ordered the French government to pay €24,528 in non-pecuniary damages, costs and expenses. AP has more.

[JURIST] The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) [advocacy website] on Monday released internal Canadian government documents [PDF text] detailing evidence of continued mistreatment and abuse of detainees transferred by Canadian forces to Afghan authorities. The documents, originally distributed to senior officials of the Canadian government and officers of the Canadian military, detail an investigation conducted by Canadian officials last November which found circumstantial evidence that detainees were abused at a facility belonging to the Afghan National Directorate of Security in Kandahar.

Last November, the Federal Court of Canada ruled [JURIST report] that Amnesty International [advocacy website] and the BCCLA should be granted public interest standing to seek judicial review of actions or potential actions of Canadian military personnel deployed in Afghanistan, rejecting the Canadian government's motion to strike the groups' application on the grounds that they lacked standing and the issue was political in nature. The rights groups allege that Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan are bound by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text] and that Canadian personnel transferring Afghan prisoners at risk of torture by Afghan authorities have violated the Charter's prohibition against the deprivation of life, liberty, and security. Also in November, Canadian opposition parliamentarians called for the government to stop detainee transfers [JURIST report], after documents [text] released by the Canadian government appeared to confirm allegations that transferred suspects had been subjected to abuse. Last May, Canada and Afghanistan entered into an agreement allowing for the monitoring of prisoners [JURIST report] transferred from Canadian to Afghanistan custody. The Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] Zimbabwean police banned an opposition party political march on Tuesday, setting the stage for a legal battle involving recent amendments [JURIST report] to Zimbabwe's restrictive Public Order and Security Act [PDF text], which allows police to deny any party's application for a public gathering. Under the old version of the law, the Minister of Home Affairs, which is controlled by the ruling party, had exclusive jurisdiction over appeals of such denials, but under amendments signed by President Mugabe [JURIST report] on Sunday, political parties may appeal to a neutral magistrate and police may justify permit denials only on security grounds. The opposition is expected to appeal the denial Tuesday. The march had been scheduled for Wednesday. AP has more.

Mugabe is seeking a sixth term as president of Zimbabwe, and he is expected to prevail over splintered opposition. In the past, Zimbabwe has used the Public Order and Security Act to crack down on anti-government protests. In May, police in Harare arrested [JURIST report] members of the National Constitutional Assembly [official website] who protested against proposed amendments to the Zimbabwean Constitution [PDF text], later passed and signed into law [JURIST report], which essentially allow Mugabe to pick his successor. That same month, Zimbabwean police broke up a rally of about 50 lawyers who had gathered to protest the the arrest and imprisonment of two human rights advocates; the lawyers argued that the Public Order and Security Act exempted them from a general ban against demonstrations [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The Russian Prosecutor General's office [official website, in Russian] said Tuesday it has launched a forgery investigation targeting former Russian prime minister and now opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov [BBC profile]. According to Russian news agencies, the investigation relates to allegations that signatures were forged on petitions nominating Kasyanov for the upcoming March 2 Russian presidential elections. A spokesperson for Kasyanov's campaign immediately characterized the investigation as politically motivated.

Kasyanov and fellow opposition leader Garry Kasparov [personal website, in Russian] have been strong critics of current Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] and his allies in the run-up to the March vote. Putin dismissed Kasyanov, a close associate of former president Boris Yeltsin, as head of government in February 2004 after a four-year tenure. Last November, Kasparov was detained for five days for organizing an unsanctioned protest [JURIST report] against Putin's policies and resisting arrest. AP has more.

[JURIST] The government of Pakistan, which has kept Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and several other judges and lawyers under preventative detention since President Musharraf declared emergency rule [text; JURIST report] on November 3, may be attempting to avoid constitutional restraints on the duration of those detentions, according to a Tuesday report [text] by Pakistan's The News daily. According to The News, the constitution requires that in order for preventative detention to be extended beyond 90 days, a review board must hear the cases and decide whether to extend the detention. The 90-day period for Chaudhry and other detainees expires January 31. Thus far, the government has not referred the cases to the review board. Rather, the government has explained that Chaudhry and the other deposed judges are not under detention at all, as they are not being held pursuant to a court order, and thus do not qualify for review. As for the lawyers, it is the government's position that they are in the custody of provincial governments, not the federal government, and thus do not qualify for review. Clause 4 of Article 10 of the Constitution of Pakistan [text] says:

No law providing for preventive detention shall be made except to deal with persons acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, or external affairs of Pakistan, or public order, or the maintenance of supplies or services, and no such law shall authorise the detention of a person for a period exceeding [three months] unless the appropriate Review Board has, after affording him an opportunity of being heard in person, reviewed his case and reported, before the expiration of the said period, that there is, in its opinion, sufficient cause for such detention, and, if the detention is continued after the said period of [three months], unless the appropriate Review Board has reviewed his case and reported, before the expiration of each period of three months, that there is, in its opinion, sufficient cause for such detention.