[JURIST] Zimbabweans voted Saturday in local, senate, assembly and presidential elections amid opposition allegations that the government was rigging the results. President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was challenged by ruling party defector Simba Makoni [official website] and opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [official website] leader Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile]. MDC officials claimed detergent could remove voting ink from ballots and that the three million extra ballots and a bloated voter roll 'ensures that there will be multiple voting.' The two opposition parties will likely unite if no candidate wins more than 51 percent of the vote and the election goes into a second round.

Mugabe, now 84 years old, has served as the head of government in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] since 1980, when the country attained independence from Britain. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] raised doubts about Saturday's election in a report [text] last week, suggesting that it was likely to be "deeply flawed." Despite concerns about fairness, analysts project that the election poses the biggest threat to Mugabe's rule [BBC report] since he took office. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani [official profile] told parliament Saturday that he will 'work for the reinstatement' of superior court judges purged by President Pervez Musharraf [official profile; JURIST news archive] last fall. The commitment was made in Gilani's first major policy speech on terrorism since taking office. He also promised to abolish criminal codes still in place from British colonial rule and strengthen regulation of religious schools. Absent from the speech was any mention of Musharraf or whether Gilani would seek the president's resignation or impeachment.

Gilani heads the new coalition government formed by the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The government has vowed to establish a fully independent judiciary and work to reinstate judges [JURIST reports] ousted by Musharraf's November declaration of emergency rule [proclamation, PDF; JURIST report]. On Monday, Gilani ordered the release [JURIST report] of former Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and several other judges from months-long house arrest. Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum has said reinstating the ousted judges would require a constitutional amendment [JURIST report] with a two-thirds majority vote. AP has more and provides additional coverage.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council [official website] passed a resolution [press release] Friday condemning the military government of Myanmar [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] for ongoing systematic violations of human rights and people's fundamental freedoms. The European Union expressed particular concern over human rights violations in the country and the lack of investigations in the aftermath of last year's government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations [JURIST report]. In support of the resolution proposed by the EU, Slovenia's ambassador Andrej Logar stated:

The European Union particularly deplored the continued imposition of restrictions on the freedom of movement, expression, assembly and association, the prevailing culture of impunity, ongoing summary executions, torture and forced labour practices, recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence. Enforced disappearances and the number of detainees also continued to grow. Progress on the political front could only take place if the authorities in Myanmar engaged in real dialogue with all political parties and relevant actors and ethnic groups. The release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and other fundamental steps needed to be taken for any change to be meaningful.

[JURIST] Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) [official profile; JURIST news archive] was released from federal prison Friday after a federal appeals court ruled that he was not a flight risk while his appeal of his fraud and bribery conviction is pending. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] made the ruling Thursday, which coincided with a request from the House Judiciary Committee [official website] to have Siegelman provide testimony about the committee's investigation into whether politics played a role in alleged selective prosecutions [JURIST news archive] by the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website]. Siegelman's testimony is scheduled for May, according to a spokesperson for the committee.

Siegelman and former HealthSouth [corporate website] CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive] were convicted [DOJ press release, JURIST report] of federal bribery and fraud charges in June 2006. Siegelman was convicted on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud. Scrushy was found guilty of fraud and both were also convicted in connection with a $500,000 payment from Scrushy for Siegelman's 1999 campaign debts in exchange for a seat on a state-operated review board that regulates hospitals. Siegelman and Scrushy were sentenced [JURIST report] to 88 and 82 months respectively. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy [profile] on Friday asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse a federal judge's decision to impose sanctions against her for refusing to disclose government sources [RCFP backgrounder] who provided information about former US Army germ-warfare researcher Dr. Steven J. Hatfill [Washington Post profile]. In a ruling earlier this month, US District Judge Reggie Walton found Locy in contempt of court [PDF text; JURIST report] and ordered that, beginning March 11, Locy pay a fine of $500 a day; the fine was due to increase to $1000 a day after one week and then up to $5000 a day after two weeks. Walton refused to delay the sanctions until Locy could file an appeal and also ruled that Locy cannot accept reimbursement for the monetary sanctions. The appeals court, however, on March 11 granted [PDF text; JURIST report] an emergency stay against the monetary sanctions while Locy pursued her appeal. Locy's lawyers said that she is unable to pay the fines and categorized the sanctions as "destructive", arguing that Walton had abused his discretion. Oral arguments on the appeal are scheduled to be held May 9.

Locy, now a journalism professor at West Virginia University, has refused to cooperate in Hatfill's suit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its alleged violation of the US Privacy Act [text], arguing that the information Hatfill is seeking has not been demonstrated to be central to the lawsuit. Hatfill was identified as a "person of interest" in the investigations of the 2001 anthrax attacks [GWU backgrounder]. He contends that FBI and DOJ officials violated federal privacy laws [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] by providing personal information and information about the investigation to journalists. Locy and former CBS reporter James Stewart have refused to comply with orders to reveal their sources. Locy has said that she no longer has notes from her reports and that she cannot recall who gave her the information. Walton has not yet decided whether to hold Stewart in contempt. AP has more.

Editor's Note: Toni Locy served as a JURIST student staff member while pursuing her MSL at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2006-07.

[JURIST] Malaysia's opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) [party website] on Saturday denounced [statement text] the government's refusal to release five prominent members of the Hindu Rights Action Force, including M. Manoharan who was recently elected to the state legislature. The five were arrested [JURIST report] in December for allegedly orchestrating a November street demonstration [TIME report] by thousands of the nation's ethnic Indians in Kuala Lumpur, and have since been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA) [HRW backgrounder]. While detained, Manoharan ran for a seat in the state legislature as a member of the DAP and won in Malaysia's March 8 election. Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, citing national security concerns, said that Manoharan may be sworn into office, but that he will not be released to attend state assembly sessions. The DAP said that the ruling National Front (BN) [party website] has failed to hear the voice of the people who called for a more democratic and progressive Malaysia in the elections, in which the BN lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and suffered its biggest defeat to date.

The detentions were originally upheld [JURIST report] in February after a Malaysian court ruled that the men were lawfully held under the controversial ISA, which permits the government to detain suspects for two years without trial and to renew the detention indefinitely. Both the DAP and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) [advocacy website] say the law is being used to silence political dissidents and that it violates fundamental human rights. In January, the FIDH urged Malaysia to revoke the act [JURIST report]. AP has more. The Star has local coverage.

[JURIST] Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Murat Kurnaz [Amnesty profile; JURIST news archive], a Turkish citizen born in Germany, detailed his allegations that he was tortured while in US custody in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in a new interview to air Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes. Kurnaz told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that he was exposed to extreme temperatures, hung upside down from the ceiling of an airplane hangar for five days, and submerged under water while being beaten by his interrogators. Kurnaz, detained until 2006, also said that the abuse continued even after US authorities determined in 2002 that he was not a terrorist and should be released. Responding to CBS by e-mail, the Department of Defense [official website] said that detainees are treated humanely and that credible claims of abuse are thoroughly investigated, but that Kurnaz's allegations were "unsubstantiated", "implausible", and "simply outlandish." Kurnaz's abuse claims echo similar allegations he made while still in custody at Guantanamo in 2005 and following his release [JURIST reports].

Kurnaz spent almost five years at Guantanamo Bay before being returned to Germany in August 2006 after German authorities pressed for his release [JURIST reports]. Declassified documents released in December showed that a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at Guantanamo ignored evidence clearing Kurnaz [JURIST report] of terrorist connections. The evidence included a memo [PDF] from 2002 in which a German intelligence officer wrote that the US had considered Kurnaz's "innocence to be proven" and a 2005 opinion [PDF] from US District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Joyce Hens Green that held that Kurnaz did not receive "fair opportunity to contest the material allegations against him." CBS News has more.