[JURIST] Texas oil baron David Chalmers was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $9 million Friday for paying millions in bribes to Iraqi officials in connection with the UN oil-for-food scandal [JURIST news archive]. Chalmers, the owner of Bayoil USA Inc and Bayoil Supply and Trading Ltd, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last August to conspiracy to commit wire fraud [indictment, PDF]. He was ordered to report to prison by April 30.

The UN Oil-for-Food program [official website] allowed the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], under UN sanctions in the wake of the first Gulf War, to sell limited stocks of oil in return for foodstuffs and other humanitarian supplies. Hussein's regime nonetheless bribed foreign officials and commercial interests so it could sell oil on the black market, embezzling over $1 billion in program funds and perhaps as much another $10 billion from other sources. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) [official website] is currently referring approximately 40 percent fewer criminal cases to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution than it did 20 years ago, according to a study [text] released Friday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) [official websites] at Syracuse University. The study partly attributed the drop in referrals to the FBI's concentration on terror investigations in the wake of 9/11:

The FBI has frequently noted that because of the government's heightened concern about the threat of terrorism it has pulled a substantial number of agents away from the traditional kinds of enforcement of the past, assigning them to intelligence, national security and counterterrorism duties.

[JURIST] A Scottish court Friday rejected the latest appeal for disclosure by defense lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi [CNN profile], convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 [BBC backgrounder] over Lockerbie, Scotland. Specifically, they were seeking access to a "missing document" [JURIST report] that allegedly contains information about the timer used to bomb Pan Am Flight 103. Al-Megrahi's lawyers were appealing a denial of access to the document by UK government officials, who said it would compromise national security and international relations. BBC News has more. AFP has additional coverage.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) [official website] granted an appeal [JURIST report] in al-Megrahi's case in June 2007 and referred it to Scotland's High Court of the Judiciary [official website] after the commission identified six grounds [press release, PDF] for a possible "miscarriage of justice" in al-Megrahi's trial and conviction. In 2003, Libya agreed to accept responsibility [US DOS press release] for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and compensate the victims' families.

[JURIST] The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination [official website] on Friday concluded its review [report, PDF; press release] of US compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [text]. The committee praised the US for reauthorizing key laws, including the Violence Against Women Act and the Voting Rights Act, but also expressed concern over racial disparities in the criminal justice system. According to the committee's summary of its observations:

The Committee also reiterated its concern with regard to the persistent racial disparities in the criminal justice system of the United States, including the disproportionate number of persons belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities in the prison population and the significant racial disparities with regard to the imposition of the death penalty. It recommended that the United States allocate sufficient resources to ensure legal representation of indigent persons belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities in civil proceedings. Moreover, the United States should increase significantly its efforts to eliminate police brutality and excessive use of force against persons belonging to racial, ethnic or national minorities, and also increase efforts to prevent and punish violence and abuse against women belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities.

The Committee regrets the position taken by State party that the Convention is not applicable to the treatment of foreign detainees held as "enemy combatants", on the basis of the argument that the law of armed conflict is the exclusive lex specialis applicable, and that in any event the Convention "would be inapplicable to allegations of unequal treatment of foreign detainees" in accordance to article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention. The Committee also notes with concern that the State party exposes non-citizens under its jurisdiction to the risk of being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by means of transfer, rendition, or refoulement to third countries where there are substantial reasons to believe that they will be subjected to such treatment.

[JURIST] Total payments in clergy abuse [JURIST news archive] settlements nearly doubled in 2007 to reach $526 million, the highest number ever, according to an annual report [PDF text; press release] by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops [religious website] released Friday. The number of new allegations of abuse fell for the third year in a row, dropping by three percent. The total number of offenders named in new allegations rose 10 percent, from 448 to 491.

Last year's report [PDF text] found that claims of clergy sex abuse levied against the US Roman Catholic Church involving claimants under age 18 had dropped significantly in 2006 [JURIST report]. Money spent by the dioceses and religious orders on support, settlements and litigation fees also dropped from $467 million to $399 million last year. The report measures the US dioceses' compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People [text], drafted in 2002 in response to widespread reports of sexual abuse committed by clergymen. Settlements involved dioceses across the country. The total settlements of all Catholic clergy abuse claims have cost the US church at least $2.3 billion since 1950. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two former Bosnian Serb police officers pleaded not guilty [press release; case summary] Friday to war crime charges before the War Crimes Chamber [HRW backgrounder] of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website]. Krsto Savic is accused of involvement in the arrest and killing of 80 Muslims in Kalinovik during the Bosnian war [JURIST news archive], while Milko Mucibabic is accused of involvement in the torture of Muslims and Croats in Nevesinje. Reuters has more.

Last month, the War Crimes Chamber convicted two former prison officials [JURIST report] for the systematic abuse of detainees at the Foca Correctional Facility during the Bosnian war. The War Crimes Chamber was set up to alleviate the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website], and will continue to hear cases as the ICTY winds down in 2010.

[JURIST] A bill [HR 5560 materials] that would overturn a decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a greenhouse emissions waiver [rejection letter, PDF; JURIST report] to California was introduced in the US House of Representatives [official website] Thursday. The bill, which would allow states to introduce higher greenhouse emissions standards than those mandated by federal law, would immediately grant California's waiver request and clear the way for 12 other interested states to impose higher emissions standards. A similar bill has already been introduced in the Senate. Reuters has more.

In December 2007, the EPA denied California's waiver request, with EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson saying that a unified national standard for greenhouse gas regulation was preferable to a state-by-state network of regulations and pointing to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 [HR 6 materials; WH fact sheet], signed into law that month by President George W. Bush. California filed suit [JURIST report] in January to challenge the denial. Last month, the EPA issued an official explanation [JURIST report] of its decision to deny California's waiver request. Also last month, internal EPA documents [press release and excerpts] revealed that agents with the EPA urged Johnson to approve the waiver request [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Chinese rights activist Teng Biao has disappeared and is thought to have been detained by state authorities, rights group China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group [advocacy website] said Friday. Teng, a lawyer with close ties to civil rights activist Hu Jia [Radio Free Asia profile], did not return home Thursday evening, and neighbors witnessed an unidentified man being dragged into a car. In September 2007, Teng and Hu wrote an open letter [text] requesting that the international community investigate China's promises to improve its human rights record. China has been criticized in recent months for cracking down on human rights activists and political dissidents [JURIST report] ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Hu was formally arrested and charged with inciting subversion of state power [JURIST report] last month. Last year, Hu made public [JURIST report] letters and recordings from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges. In November 2007, rights group Dui Hua reported that the number of political arrests in China more than doubled in 2006 [JURIST report].

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile] said Friday that she will not seek a second term [press release; recorded video] when her commission ends on June 30. Arbour's decision not to seek a second term [JURIST report] was made public earlier this week, but Friday's comments during her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council [official website] mark Arbour's official announcement. While serving as the UN's top human rights official, the Canadian-born Arbour has frequently spoken out against rights abuses by world powers, including the United States in the context of the "war on terror." Most recently, she said the US practice of waterboarding, not currently used by intelligence officials, is "clearly torture" under international definitions of the term, and criticized the Bush administration [JURIST report] for defending its past use of the interrogation technique. She has also pressed for greater respect for human rights in Darfur and the Middle East. AP has more.

Arbour was appointed [JURIST report] to her position in 2004 after five years as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She succeeded Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in a 2003 suicide bomb attack on UN offices in Baghdad. Arbour served as chief war crimes prosecutor for the UN in the late 1990s.

2:43 PM ET - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement [text] Friday expressing regret at Arbour's decision not to seek a second term. Ban said:

She has fulfilled her four-year mandate with immense dedication, and I have been most impressed by her extraordinary courage, energy and integrity in speaking out forcefully on human rights, which is among the UN's most important mandates. She has taken on the challenge of this difficult assignment in precisely the way that I would have expected. She has never hesitated to incur the criticism of States or other entities by highlighting the victims of abuses, and the inadequacies of legal systems everywhere. She has consistently represented the highest ideals of the [United] Nations, and the many tributes being paid to her today around the world are richly deserved.

Her legacy will be one of a strengthened and more wide-ranging United Nations human rights system, a stronger focus on justice and accountability, reformed protection mechanisms, and a more balanced approach to the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

[JURIST] Chadian President Idriss Deby [official website, in French; BBC profile] said Thursday that he may pardon six French aid workers convicted in Chad in December of attempting to kidnap [JURIST reports] 103 African children within a month. In February, Deby said that he is prepared to pardon the French citizens [JURIST report], but that he would only do so upon an official request from France. French officials say they sent the request to Deby in early February. Deby also said in an interview with France-24 television [France-24 report] Thursday that he would like the families of the children to receive $12 million in compensation, noting that Chad will have to cover the costs if the aid agency is unable to do so. AP has more.

The aid workers, affiliated with Zoe's Ark [advocacy website], said they were attempting to airlift orphaned children [JURIST news archive] from the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, but investigations revealed that most of the children were not Sudanese or orphans. In January, another aid worker was charged in French court [JURIST report] with conspiring to allow illegal residents into the country in connection with the foiled airlift.