[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] Thursday overturned [opinion, PDF] class action certification for a lawsuit brought by "light" cigarette smokers against Philip Morris USA Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. [corporate websites] and other light cigarette makers. The class action, which included anyone who has ever bought light cigarettes since they hit the market in the 1970s, had alleged that tobacco companies used deceptive advertising tactics to mislead smokers in response to growing health concerns over the risks of smoking cigarettes. Attorneys for the tobacco companies argued that determining why every light cigarette consumer bought the product would be impossible and therefore made class certification impractical.

In September 2006, Judge Jack B. Weinstein [official profile] of the United States District Court in Brooklyn certified [JURIST report] the class of 50 million plaintiffs for the class-action suit. Lawyers estimated that sales of light cigarettes brought tobacco companies between $120 billion and $200 billion in extra sales since 1971. AP has more.

[JURIST] The detention of five prominent members of the Hindu Rights Action Force [organization website] is proper because they are a threat to national security, Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail [official profile] told the country's Federal Court Thursday. Gani disputed arguments [JURIST report] made Wednesday by the detainees' lawyer that their detention is illegal, saying that Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi [official website; BBC profile] had only ordered the arrest after a complete investigation. The group has been held under the country's controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) [HRW backgrounder], a preventive detention law that allows the Malaysian government to detain suspects for two years without trial and to renew the detention indefinitely.

The five activists were arrested [JURIST report] in December 2007 after they were accused of being involved in orchestrating a November 2007 street demonstration [TIME report] in Kuala Lumpur by thousands of the nation's ethnic Indians to protest alleged discrimination by the predominantly Malay Muslim government. The 2007 arrests were the first time since 2001 that Malaysia has invoked the ISA against government critics. Three Hindu activists originally arrested before the protest and charged with sedition were subsequently released [BBC reports]. In December, 26 ethnic Indians were charged with attempted murder [JURIST report] in connection with the Kuala Lumpur protest. AP has more.

[JURIST] Turkish Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya [official profile, in Turkish] said on Wednesday that critics of his decision to seek the disbanding of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website, in Turkish] could face legal action. Yalcinkaya, who earlier this month petitioned the country's Constitutional Court to disband the AKP [JURIST report] and bar 71 politicians, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul [BBC profiles], from holding political office for five years, directed his comments at government officials and media agencies. On Monday, the Constitutional Court unanimously voted [JURIST report] to hear Yalcinkaya’s case.

The Constitutional Court has banned several Islamist parties in the past for violating constitutional obligations to respect Turkey's strict secular principles. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said last Saturday that a decision to ban the AKP could create an obstacle [JURIST report] to Turkey's bid to become a member of the EU [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius [official website] Thursday signed legislation [press release] that bans protests within 150 feet of a funeral one hour before, during and two hours after the end of a service. The Kansas funeral privacy act [PDF text; supplemental note, PDF] also prohibits impeding a procession by obstructing a public street or sidewalk. A similar law was struck down [JURIST report] by the Kansas Supreme Court in March. The court ruled that the previous law's judicial trigger provision [JURIST report], which said the law could not be enforced until it was declared constitutional by a state or federal court, invalidated the entire law as it would make the courts an "advisory panel" to the legislature. The new law does not contain the provision.

The law was passed in response to picketing at military funerals by members of the Westboro Baptist Church [WARNING: readers may find material at this church website offensive; JURIST news archive], who claim that US soldiers have been killed because America tolerates homosexuals. At least 37 other states have passed similar laws in response to the group, and a federal law [JURIST report] restricting protests at Arlington National Cemetery and other federal cemeteries has also been passed. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] Thursday acquitted [judgment summary; press release] former Kosovo prime minister and Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander Ramush Haradinaj [BBC profile] of all charges. Haradinaj and his two co-defendants, KLA fighters Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj [Trial Watch profiles], were charged [JURIST report] with 37 counts of war crimes, including murder, persecution, and rape [amended indictment, PDF]. Balaj was also acquitted of all charges, but Brahimaj was convicted of mistreating a detainee and ordering the mistreatment of another. Brahimaj was sentenced to six years in jail. Reuters has more.

Haradinaj was a senior commander of the KLA, the ethnic Albanian guerrilla force that opposed Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war [BBC backgrounder]. He was indicted [initial indictment, PDF] by ICTY prosecutors in 2005. In a court appearance with Balaj and Brahimaj last year, he pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges.

[JURIST] Zimbabwe security forces Thursday detained journalists [CPJ press release] working for the New York Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Coiporation and raided offices belonging to opposition candidates in what some see as indications that long-time Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] may refuse to relinquish power if he is found to have lost last Saturday's general election. [JURIST report] Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission [official website] has not yet announced the official results of the presidential election. Opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] has insisted its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] actually won, but has indicated that it is willing to participate in a run-off, as have officials of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. AP has more.

Zimbabwe opposition parties allege that the government rigged the country's local, senate, assembly and presidential elections held on Saturday. Mugabe's administration has denied any improper delays in the vote count, with Electoral Commission officials attributing the lag to the task of tallying all the results together for the first time in the country's history.

[JURIST] Law enforcement officials from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] violated the constitutional privacy and due process rights of suspected illegal aliens by raiding their homes [CSJ backgrounder], according to a complaint [PDF text] filed in New Jersey federal court Thursday. The lawsuit alleges that immigration officials entered eight homes in New Jersey between August 2006 and January 2008 without consent or a judicial warrant during pre-dawn raids, violating the due process requirements of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments [texts]. Reuters has more.

In September 2007, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release, PDF] against ICE on behalf of several families who say that ICE agents violently raided [JURIST report] their homes without first obtaining court warrants. That suit alleged that the raids, part of a program called Operation Return to Sender [DHS backgrounder], are meant to target illegal immigrants but often focus on homes that do not house them and where ICE agents could not "reasonably expect" to find them. The total number of aliens detained by ICE annually for immigration violations jumped from approximately 95,000 to 283,000 between 2001 and 2006, according to a July 2007 report [PDF text; JURIST report] by the Government Accountability Office.

[JURIST] The European Union [official website; JURIST news archive] Thursday certified [press release] that Kosovo's constitution [text] is in line with its international obligations, guaranteeing the individual and community rights of all its citizens. The constitution is expected to come into effect on June 15, close to the date that EULEX Kosovo [planning website], a 1,800-strong European Union police and justice mission [Reuters report] will assume authority from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) [official website], despite reservations from some EU member states that have declined to recognize [JURIST reports] the Assembly of Kosovo's February unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence [text; JURIST report] from Serbia.

Serb ally Russia has already condemned EULEX Kosovo [JURIST report], with the Russian foreign ministry calling it "in breach of the highest international law." Russia earlier rejected Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, warning that such unilateral action without the approval of the United Nations set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" around the world. EUobserver has more.

[JURIST] The European Union's Court of First Instance [official website] Thursday ruled [judgment] that the Council of the European Union [official website] improperly listed the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) [party website; FAS backgrounder] on its list of terrorist organizations in 2002 because it failed to state its justifications for doing so. An EU official said that a new terror blacklist has since been created in December 2007, which reportedly does include justifications for listing the PKK.

Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled [JURIST report] that the PKK could appeal its designation as a terror group. The PKK was outlawed in Turkey, the United States [JURIST report], and the European Union after the militant group waged a violent campaign to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Milberg Weiss [firm website] partner and co-founder Melvyn Weiss pleaded guilty [plea deal text, PDF] Wednesday to one count of racketeering conspiracy stemming from a long-running US Attorney investigation into an alleged kickback scheme. Weiss was indicted last year for conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and making false statements and initially pleaded not guilty [JURIST reports] in October 2007. Under the agreement [JURIST report] reached with prosecutors last month, Weiss will receive an 18-33-month sentence, some of which may be served as home confinement, and must pay $10 million in fines and penalties. Sentencing is scheduled for June 2. Reuters has more.

The indictment alleged that since 1984, Milberg Weiss paid up to $11.3 million in illegal kickbacks under a scheme where individuals agreeing to serve as lead plaintiffs in class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits were promised 10 percent of the attorney fees eventually gathered by the firm. In February, former Milberg Weiss partner William Lerach was sentenced to two years in prison for his part in the scheme; he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to obstruct justice after reaching an agreement [JURIST reports] with prosecutors in September. Three individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme in May 2006 after a federal grand jury indicted [JURIST reports] the firm. Partner David J. Bershad pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to conspiracy charges in July 2007.

[JURIST] All 50 states have been granted extensions [DHS press release] to comply with new requirements under the REAL ID Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive], the US Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. The extension pushes back the deadline for states to begin implementing new, more secure drivers' licenses to Dec. 31, 2009; in the meantime, citizens can continue using their current licenses as valid identification. DHS granted an extension to Maine, the last state to receive one, on Wednesday, after Maine Gov. John Baldacci pledged to push legislation [press release] to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining state ID cards. USA Today has more.

Initially drafted after the Sept. 11 attacks and designed to discourage illegal immigration, the REAL ID Act attempts to make it more difficult for terrorists to fraudulently obtain US driver's licenses and other government IDs by mandating that states require birth certificates or similar documentation and also consult national immigration databases before issuing IDs. After controversy and strenuous opposition from civil libertarians [FindLaw commentary], it finally passed in 2005 [JURIST report] as part of an emergency supplemental appropriations defense spending bill. State lawmakers had previously expressed concern [JURIST report] about possible problems expected to accompany the implementation of the REAL ID Act, fearing that they would not be able to comply with the law's requirements before the May 2008 deadline. In March, Homeland Security responded to these concerns by extending the deadline for compliance by 18 months [JURIST report]. In January, the DHS issued a final rule [text; DHS backgrounder] establishing the new minimum standards [press release; JURIST report] for state-issued identification cards.

[JURIST] Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia [advocacy blog] was sentenced Thursday to 3.5 years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power [JURIST news archive]. Hu's trial [HRW case history; JURIST report] began last month; he was formally charged in February after he made public [JURIST reports] letters and recordings from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges. Hu has 10 days to appeal his conviction. AP has more.

Hu supporter Teng Biao, a lawyer who has defended political dissidents, was released by the Chinese government last month after spending two days in custody. 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. In November 2007, rights group Dui Hua [advocacy website] reported that the number of political arrests in China more than doubled in 2006 and the country has been harshly criticized in recent months for cracking down on human rights activists and political dissidents [JURIST reports] ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

[JURIST] Liberia struggles with corruption in its criminal justice system, poor detention conditions and sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced marriage, according to a UN Mission in Liberia [official website] combined quarterly report [PDF text; press release] covering May-October 2007 that was released Wednesday. The report recommended that Liberia, a country still recovering from its civil war, institute legal prohibitions of all forms of violence against children, provide better human rights training for police, and increase resources for rural education. The UN News Centre has more.

Late last year, the UN independent expert on the promotion and protection of human rights in Liberia urged the country to accelerate its human rights efforts [JURIST report], and in particular called on the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) [official website] to begin operations. The TRC held its first public hearings [JURIST report] earlier this year after several months delay due to lack of funding. The TRC is investigating possible war crimes that occurred during the civil war that ended in 2003, but does not have the authority to try cases. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is currently on trial in The Hague before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] for crimes against humanity. Taylor is generally deemed responsible for masterminding and funding intertwined civil wars in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone through the sale of so-called "blood diamonds." He has been charged [PDF indictment; summary] by the SCSL with 11 counts of crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law.

[JURIST] The Egyptian state prosecutor ordered an investigation Wednesday into accusations that 147 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] caused riots during unauthorized protests on Tuesday against the government for not allowing them to participate in municipal elections set for April 8. Egyptian security forces Tuesday arrested five members of the Brotherhood as they were posting campaign fliers on behalf of Muslim Brotherhood candidates slated to run in local council elections scheduled for April 8. All 147 under investigation were arrested Tuesday but have not been charged. Tuesday's arrests add to the over 800 Muslim Brotherhood members already in custody, including nearly 150 council election candidates. On Sunday, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] criticized the Egyptian government [statement; JURIST report] for the arrests, calling them a "shameless attempt to fix the upcoming elections." AP has more.

Last month, several provincial Egyptian courts ruled that members of the Muslim Brotherhood must be allowed to register as candidates in the upcoming elections, even as Egyptian police continued arrests of group members [JURIST reports]. Muslim Brotherhood members officially run as independents in elections as the organization has been banned in Egypt [JURIST news archive] since 1954. The Egyptian government has accused the group of trying to create an Islamic theocracy through violence.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department advised the Bush administration in October 2001 that the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures enshrined in the Fourth Amendment [text] to the US Constitution did not apply to "domestic military operations" conducted in pursuit of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. The October 23, 2001 memo, authored by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, was referenced in a footnote of a 2003 memorandum [PDF text; JURIST report] on military interrogations, which was made public by the American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday. The Justice Department expressly disavowed the 2001 memo on Wednesday, saying that the department's Office of Legal Counsel has since endorsed a different interpretation. The 2001 memo remains classified and has not been publicly released.

Some federal documents indicate that the 2001 memo related to the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive], but the Bush administration said Wednesday that the memo was not the legal foundation for that program. The DOJ would not reveal when it internally overturned the 2001 opinion, but indicated that a January 2006 white paper released shortly after the New York Times revealed [JURIST report] the domestic surveillance program made clear that the DOJ does not back the opinion that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to domestic military activities. The ACLU said Wednesday that it will seek disclosure of the 2001 memo. AP has more.