[JURIST] Nine Tibetan monks have been arrested by Chinese authorities in connection with the March bombing of a government building as part of recent protests against Chinese rule in Tibet [BBC backgrounder]. China's Xinhua news agency reported Saturday that the Buddhist monks have confessed to the bombing. Also Saturday, Chinese President Hu Jintao [BBC profile] said that the ongoing conflict in Tibet was not a "human rights problem" or an issue of religion or politics, but instead was about "preserving national unity." The Dalai Lama [personal website], Tibet's spiritual leader currently in exile, on Friday again denied he was seeking separation from China.

Chinese officials have blamed the exiled leader for the protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa last month. China claims 19 people died after the skirmishes, but the Tibetan government-in-exile [official website] said that 130 had died [JURIST report]. The Dalai Lama has denied accusations that he was behind the riots and has said that he supports true autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence. A Chinese government official in Tibet said last week that police have detained over 900 people [JURIST report] in connection with the protests. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists (CPN-M) [party website; JURIST news archive] has won 27 constituencies where vote counting has been completed in the election for Nepal's Constituent Assembly, election officials said Saturday. The 601 member assembly will be in charge of drafting a new constitution [JURIST news archive], which is seen as marking the end of the country's 240-year-old monarchy. The Assembly will have 240 of its members decided by the polls, 335 seats based upon proportional representation, and 26 named by the cabinet. According to the Election Commission of Nepal [official website] the CPN-M, a former rebel group still considered a terrorist group by the US, has a lead in the polls in 61 other constituencies where voting is still being conducted. Additionally, the former leader of the Maoist insurgency, Prachanda [BBC profile], won a seat in a constituency in the capital city, Kathmandu. The final vote count for all 240 constituencies is expected to take several weeks.

The vote for the assembly and the abolition of the monarchy were the main parts of a 2006 peace agreement [text; JURIST report] between the CPN-M and the Nepalese government, which marked the end of the 10-year-long Maoist insurgency [JURIST report]. The polls are the first for Nepal since 1999. Reuters has more. eKantipur has local coverage.

[JURIST] Indonesian Internet providers said Friday that they will remove a ban [JURIST report] on file-sharing websites including YouTube, Google Video, and MySpace [corporate websites], which was put in place to prevent the transmission of a controversial anti-Islamic film [JURIST report] created by far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders [personal website, in Dutch]. Due to complaints from Web users, the Internet providers have said that they will attempt to block individual web pages that carry the film. Indonesia's secular government issued an order [Reuters report] to block the websites earlier this month, citing fears of unrest between the nation's different religions.

Wilders' 15-minute film, released in late March and entitled "Fitna," shows images of the Quran contrasted with images of violence and says democratic values are threatened by the increasing number of Muslims in Europe. The film was described by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "offensively anti-Islamic" [JURIST report] last month. In February, Pakistan blocked access to YouTube's website because it had posted a movie trailer for Wilders' film; access was restored [JURIST reports] several days later. Last week, a district court in the Netherlands rejected [JURIST report] a bid by the Dutch Islamic Federation to block Wilders' anti-Quran statements, saying that his comments are protected by the right of free expression and do not constitute speech that incites hate or violence. AP has more. The Telegraph has additional coverage.

[JURIST] China's chief justice has instructed judges to impose harsh sentences, including the death penalty, for violent crimes, China's Xinhua news agency reported Saturday. Touring the Guangdong province last week, president of the Supreme People's Court [official website] Wang Shengjun [official profile], said that crimes posing a serious threat to the "social order" should be dealt with especially harshly. The death penalty is thought to enjoy popular support in China despite growing international opinion against the practice [JURIST report]. The comments come amid efforts by the Supreme Court to drastically reduce the number of executions in China [JURIST report]. AP has more.

In response to wrongful convictions and international criticism, China implemented reforms [JURIST report] at the beginning of 2007 requiring all death sentences be approved [JURIST report] by the Supreme People's Court. High court vice-president Jiang Xingchang [official profile] said in September that death sentences handed down by Chinese courts were at a ten-year low in 2006 and the trend continued [JURIST report] in 2007.

[JURIST] Frustrations over the delay of the US military commission trial of Canadian Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] continued Friday, with prosecutors urging US military judge Col. Peter Brownback to set a trial date and Khadr's defense team blaming the prosecution for delays, saying that they have blocked access to evidence that could exonerate Khadr. Khadr's trial was originally scheduled to begin May 5, but last month Brownback postponed the trial [JURIST report] and instead scheduled a May 8 hearing in order to hear arguments on a number of evidence issues that must be reconciled before the trial can begin. Military prosecutors said Friday that Khadr's defense has been appealing the case to the media and intentionally stalling in hopes that a "political solution" for the detainee will materialize while the victims' families continue to suffer as a result of the delays. The defense Friday said that the trial system in place at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] is inherently unjust, because no detainee could obtain an acquittal in light of the government's unlimited resources and unrestricted access to classified documents integral to the trials.

Khadr, now 21, faces life imprisonment after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed US Sgt. Christopher Speer and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2002. He was charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. Among evidence the defense insists could exonerate Khadr is new alleged reports from witnesses that could prove Speer was killed accidentally by "friendly fire" [AP report]. The New York Times has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A Colombian court Friday temporarily blocked extradition to the US of narcotics trafficker and former paramilitary chief Carlos Mario Jimenez Naranjo, also known as "Macaco," staying extradition approval granted last week by President Alvaro Uribe that had followed the Colombian Supreme Court's ruling permitting extradition [Xinhua reports]. Jimenez, who was indicted in the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2005 and in the Southern District of Florida in 2007, is wanted by the US on charges of federal drug trafficking, money laundering, and financing terrorist groups. The Colombian court on Friday halted the government's extradition approval after victims of paramilitaries appealed, saying permitting him to leave Colombia would impede their abilities to seek compensation for his role in paramilitary operations. While most paramilitaries who have made peace deals with the Colombian government in exchange for a reduced sentence are immune from extradition, Jimenez was stripped of such protection [BBC report] last year after the government discovered he was engaged in drug trafficking and paramilitary activities in jail, breaking his peace deal.

In February, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) [official website] designated Jimenez [press release] a "Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker" pursuant to Executive Order 12978 [PDF text], which was issued by President Clinton in October 1995 and applies financial sanctions against Colombian narcotics traffickers. The designation freezes any property located in any US jurisdiction and forbids business transactions between American citizens and the designated companies and individuals. If extradited, Jimenez would be the highest ranking Colombian paramilitary sent to the US to stand trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US will continue to hold Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein [AP materials; JURIST news archive] despite an Iraqi judicial order dismissing terrorism-related charges [JURIST report] against Hussein, a US military spokesman has said. Hussein, who has been detained in Iraq by the US for two years, was granted amnesty this week under Iraq's amnesty law [JURIST report], which effectively closes the case against him. Military officials, however, said Thursday it could continue to hold him, pending review of the Iraqi order, as military forces in Iraq are authorized to hold detainees deemed to be a security risk. On Friday, advocacy group Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged the US to release Hussein [news release], saying: "The US military held Bilal Hussein for nearly two years without charging, then transferred him to the Iraqi justice system, which apparently sees no reason to detain him. It's time to set him free."

In November 2007, the US Department of Defense pushed for terrorism charges against Hussein [JURIST report]. AP has repeatedly called for his release and has accused the military of denying Hussein his due process rights. In December 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists released a report [text; JURIST report] noting that the US was at the time detaining three journalists, including Hussein and Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj [CPJ report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] said Friday that DHS will move forward with plans to use spy satellites as part of a domestic intelligence program designed to assist law enforcement agencies. In his response to concerns [press release; letter, PDF] by Representatives Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Jane Harman (D-CA), and Chris P. Carney (D-PA) on the progress of the DHS's National Applications Office (NAO) [DHS fact sheet], Chertoff outlined the NAO's satellite program, giving assurance that it would not impede the privacy or civil rights of American citizens. According to Chertoff, the satellites would immediately be used for scientific and non-intelligence DHS activities, including charting damage cause by hurricanes and monitoring climate changes. He also said that the program would not be used for law enforcement purposes until concerns by the House Committee on Homeland Security [official website] could be addressed. DHS says that the satellites will not be used to intercept domestic communications, but some lawmakers have pushed for greater assurance of such protection before the program is launched.

The NAO was established by DHS [WSJ report] last year to compile information obtained from intelligence satellites and a number of traditional domestic monitoring capabilities including radar, electronic signal information, and chemical detection that could be used to help law enforcement agencies. In October, however, DHS halted implementation of the program [press release], in response to Congressional concerns surrounding the office procedures and safeguards. DHS submitted answers to Congress's inquires on Thursday, but democratic legislatures said they were still unsure whether establishment of the NAO, whose budget and size remain classified, violated the Constitution. Critics of the program also cite concerns that the military's role in domestic law enforcement would become too powerful and that important civilian or scientific satellites would be used for intelligence gathering rather than their intended purposes. The Washington Post has more.