[JURIST] Three Canadian opposition MPs and a US military lawyer urged the Canadian government Monday to request the extradition and repatriation of Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive], a Canadian citizen being detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The three MPs - Joe Comartin (NDP, Windsor-Tecumseh, Ontario), Dominic LeBlanc (Liberal, Beausejour, New Brunswick) and Vivian Barbot (Bloc Quebecois, Papineau, Quebec) - and Khadr US military lawyer Lieutenant Commander Bill Kuebler, held a press conference criticizing the Canadian Conservative Party government for what they called its failure to protect Khadr's rights as a Canadian citizen. The MPs said they would seek an emergency debate in the Canadian House of Commons [Parliament of Canada website] and the establishment of a subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee to focus on the Khadr case. CBC News has more. AFP has additional coverage.

Khadr, now 21, faces life imprisonment for crimes allegedly committed at the age of 15 when he supposedly threw a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. His military commission trial is currently set for May. Earlier this month, a US military commission heard jurisdiction arguments [JURIST report] in the case. Defense lawyers, a UN official [JURIST reports], and rights groups have said if the US proceeds with the military trial, it will be in violation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [text].

[JURIST] Russia's backing of Serbia in its denunciation of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence [text; JURIST report] last week is in keeping with international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [official profile] said Monday. Lavrov told Vesti 24 [media website] television that Russia is "actively supporting" Serbian efforts to restore the breakaway region to Serbian control and criticized other nations for recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign state, insisting that it would set a dangerous precedent for other regional conflicts around the world. RIA Novosti has more.

Last Monday, the United States and several key European Union powers formally recognized Kosovo [JURIST report]. The Serbian government immediately denounced the unilateral declaration as illegal [press release]. The Serbian Interior Ministry has filed treason charges [JURIST report] against Kosovo's prime minister, president and speaker of parliament for their roles in organizing the declaration of independence. Last Wednesday, Russia condemned [JURIST report] a decision [press release, PDF] by the European Union [official website] to send a task force of police, prosecutors and judges into Kosovo [JURIST news archive] to support the rule of law there after the expiry of the current UN mandate.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] in Cuellar v. United States [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-1456, where the Court considered "whether merely hiding funds with no design to create the appearance of legitimate wealth is sufficient to support a money laundering conviction" under 18 USC 1956(a)(2)(B)(i) [text]. The case involves Humberto Cuellar, who was sentenced to over six years in prison for international money laundering. Cuellar's car was pulled over about 100 miles from the Mexico border and police found over $80,000 in cash hidden in the vehicle. Several justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed skeptical that the Cuellar's actions met the requirements of the federal money laundering statute. Cuellar is appealing a decision [PDF text] from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upholding his conviction. AP has more.

The Court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] in Warner-Lambert v. Kent [LII case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-1498, where the Court considered whether federal law preempts a Michigan law that allows personal injury lawsuits against prescription drug manufacturers only when the drug at issue was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration based on the fraudulent submission or withholding of information.

[JURIST] At least 10 Turkish universities have continued to enforce a ban on headscarves [JURIST report] despite recent amendments to the Turkish constitution [text] lifting the ban, according to Monday media reports. Head of the Higher Education Board Yusuf Ozcan said in a weekend statement that universities "have the duty and responsibility to adjust practices in line with the constitutional amendment," signed into law [JURIST report] by Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Friday, but universities in Ankara and several other cities turned away students wearing headscarves.

Headscarves and other forms of Muslim traditional religious dress [JURIST news archive] have long been banned from many public places in modern Turkey, a majority Muslim country despite official secularism. The new law alters the constitution and Higher Education Law No. 2547 [HRW backgrounder] to allow scarves tied at the chin. Chadors, veils and burqas reportedly are still banned. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II [official profile] will resign his position with the US Department of Defense [official website] next month, according to an announcement [text] from the DOD Monday. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [official profile] commented that Haynes' tenure as DOD general counsel was the longest in US history. Principal Deputy General Counsel Daniel Dell'Orto [official profile] will serve as acting general counsel after Haynes' departure.

Haynes leaves the Department of Defense less than five months after former Guantanamo Bay chief military prosecutor Col. Morris Davis [official profile, PDF] resigned [JURIST report; JURIST op-ed] his position citing political pressure from the Defense Department. In an interview [text] with The Nation last week, Davis implied the tribunal process may be rigged [JURIST report], saying that Haynes had told him none of the detainees could be acquitted. President George W. Bush nominated Haynes for a federal appeals court judgeship multiple times since 2003, but the nomination was never approved by the Senate and was eventually withdrawn [JURIST reports] in 2007. Haynes' nomination met resistance [JURIST report] in part over his role in helping to draft the Defense Department's detention and interrogation policies after Sept. 11.

[JURIST] The US Embassy in Minsk [official website] and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner [official profile] issued renewed calls Monday for Belarus to release all political prisoners currently in custody. US and EU officials specifically urged the release of opposition politician Alexander Kozulin [CFR profile and interview], who was sentenced [JURIST report] to over five years in prison in July 2006 for leading unauthorized protests [JURIST report] over the controversial re-election [JURIST report] of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] earlier that year. Kozulin has reportedly been on a hunger strike since prison authorities refused to allow him to attend the funeral of his wife who died Saturday. AP has more.

The Supreme Court of Belarus last Friday ordered the release of a former newspaper editor who had been sentenced [JURIST reports] to three years in prison for reprinting cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive], a move interpreted as an attempt to improve relations with the West. Lukashenko has recently sought to improve his country's ties with western nations, but the US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarus pending the release of all political prisoners.

[JURIST] A district court in Indonesia [JURIST news archive] held hearings Monday to consider the second appeal of three men sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [BBC backgrounder]. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Indonesia ordered the lower district court [JURIST report] to assemble a panel of judges to review the merits of the latest appeal of Mukhlas, Amrozi, and Imam Samudra [BBC profiles]; the panel will submit its recommendation to the Supreme Court for consideration in making its final decision. The Supreme Court rejected the Bali bombers' first appeal in December, but last month accepted the second appeal [JURIST reports] to determine whether the bombers should have been tried under retroactive laws that were not in effect when the bombings took place. AKI has more.

In August 2007, the Indonesian government reduced the sentences [JURIST report] of 10 other Islamic militants convicted for their roles in the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings [BBC report]. Originally serving between eight to 18 years, six of the militants received a sentence reduction of five months, while the other four received a reduction of two months. Terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] has been blamed for both Bali bombings.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Monday reiterated his support [transcript] for a surveillance bill that grants immunity for telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. During a meeting with the National Governors' Association, Bush urged the House of Representatives to allow the measure to go to the floor "for a vote, up or down," adding:

We share a responsibility to protect our country. I get briefed every morning about threats we face, and they're real. And therefore the question is, what do you do about them? In my judgment, we have got to give the professionals who work hard to protect us all the tools they need. To put it bluntly, if the enemy is calling to America, we really need to know what they're saying. And we need to know what they're thinking. And we need to know who they're talking to.

We are already working to reconcile the House and Senate bills and hope that our Republican colleagues will join us in the coming weeks to craft final, bipartisan legislation. A key objective of our effort is to build support for a law that gives our intelligence professionals not only the tools they need but also confidence that the legislation they will be implementing has the broad support of Congress and the American public.

If the president thinks he can use this as a wedge issue to divide Democrats, he is wrong. We are united in our determination to produce responsible legislation that will protect America and protect our Constitution.

[JURIST] New International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz [ICC profile; JURIST report] reiterated in a Sunday interview with Serbian news site B92.net [media website] that he will do everything in his power to ensure that fugitive Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; ICTY indictment] and Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; ICTY indictment] are arrested as soon as possible. In January, Brammertz said that finding and prosecuting Balkan war crimes suspects would be a top priority [JURIST report] under his leadership. Mladic and Karadzic are believed to have masterminded the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline, JURIST news archive] in which 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed. EUObserver has more.

Brammertz took over the court's leadership in January, saying that he would continue his predecessor's tough stance on Serbian cooperation [JURIST report] with the tribunal. Former chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [JURIST news archive] had long criticized Serbia for its apparent reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY. The EU has made Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY a key element of its membership negotiations [EU accession materials].

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday agreed to hear three cases [Order List, PDF], including Arizona v. Gant (07-542) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] where the Court will consider whether "the Fourth Amendment require[s] law enforcement officers to demonstrate a threat to their safety or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search incident to arrest conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured?" Arizona is appealing an Arizona Supreme Court ruling [PDF text] that Rodney Joseph Gant's constitutional rights were violated when police searched his car after he was handcuffed and seated in a police car. AP has more.

The Court also granted certiorari in Carcieri v. Kempthorne (07-526) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], where the Court will consider whether the US Department of the Interior can take Indian land into federal trust for Indian tribes recognized after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 took effect. The case involves the Rhode Island Narragansett Tribe, recognized by the federal government in 1983. The tribe asked the federal government to take a 31-acre parcel of land into trust for the tribe, but Rhode Island has argued that the land should be governed by state law. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against Rhode Island [text], holding that the Department of the Interior properly gave the land "Indian country" status. In addition to Indian Reorganization Act question, the Court also agreed to consider "Whether an act of Congress that extinguishes aboriginal title and all claims based on Indian rights and interests in land precludes the Secretary from creating Indian country there." AP has more.

Finally, in Chrones v. Pulido (07-544) [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court took an appeal from a US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling [PDF text] to consider whether "the Ninth Circuit fail[ed] to conform to 'clearly established' Supreme Court law ... when it granted habeas corpus relief by deeming an erroneous instruction on one of two alternative theories of guilt to be 'structural error' requiring reversal because the jury might have relied on it[.]" SCOTUSblog has more on all of Monday's cert. grants.

[JURIST] The Afghan journalism student who was sentenced to death [JURIST report] in January for distributing papers questioning gender roles under Islamic practice told the Independent [interview text] on Sunday that he was not afforded a lawyer to represent him during his four-minute closed court trial, and that he was not permitted to speak on his own behalf. Sayad Parwez Kambaksh told the Independent that during his second hearing that:

I was taken into the court just before it shut at 4 o'clock. There were three judges and a prosecutor and some details of the case were repeated. One of the judges then said to me that I have been found guilty and the sentence was death. I tried to argue, but, as I said, they talked to me like a criminal, they just said I would be taken back to the prison.

[JURIST] The Cuban National Assembly on Sunday, by a unanimous show of hands, officially voted Raul Castro [BBC profile], 76, to the position of president, and also chose Jose Ramon Machado Ventura [GlobalSecurity profile], 76, as the first vice president. Ventura is known as a hard-line supporter of former President Fidel Castro, who resigned [JURIST report] last Tuesday, and was a member of the original Cuban Revolution against the Batista government.

United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte announced last Tuesday that the United States has no immediate plans to lift the economic sanctions [Guardian report] that have governed its policy toward Cuba for nearly fifty years. In a statement [text] Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that the US believes that Cubans have an "inalienable right ... to choose their leaders in democratic elections" and said that:

We support their aspirations for a better life, and their desire to enjoy the fundamental rights and liberties expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. ...

We urge the Cuban government to begin a process of peaceful, democratic change by releasing all political prisoners, respecting human rights, and creating a clear pathway towards free and fair elections.

[JURIST] Chief Justice Ronald George [official profile] of the California Supreme Court told the state's Judiciary Council on Friday that the Supreme Court is withdrawing a proposed constitutional amendment [PDF text] aimed at expediting death penalty appeals by allowing the Supreme Court to transfer death penalty appeals to the intermediate appellate courts, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. George had proposed the amendment [JURIST report] in November, but said Friday that the amendment might overburden the limited financial resources of the Courts of Appeals, as well as the attorney general's office and the public defender's office. The Supreme Court currently has the power to transfer any matter to the Courts of Appeal for review, except appeals from judgments imposing the death penalty. The amendment drew opposition from the California Public Defenders Association and the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice over concerns that the arrangement would lead to inconsistent rulings.

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.