[JURIST] An Egyptian military court has yet to release details of the charges on which 25 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] were convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] Tuesday, a lawyer for the Brotherhood told Reuters Thursday. In a unusual move, the court had blocked the Brotherhood's lawyers, the media, and defendants' families from the courtroom while the verdicts were read. Reuters has more.

Forty Brotherhood members were originally charged with terrorism and money laundering, but those charges were later dropped; the trial, which lasted for over a year, dealt with lesser charges that included possessing anti-government literature and being a member of a banned group. Deputy guide for the Brotherhood Khairat al-Shatir [BBC report] was among those sentenced Tuesday, receiving a jail sentence of seven years. Al-Shatir has denied the charges, saying that they were politically motivated. The 40 defendants were initially arrested in a raid [BBC report] in December 2006 and but were acquitted of all charges last January in a criminal court in Cairo. They were then rearrested shortly after release and Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [official profile] ordered the transfer of the cases to a military court [JURIST report]. They were the first Muslim Brotherhood members to face a military trial in Egypt since 2001.

[JURIST] A Chilean court Thursday sentenced a retired general to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1974 disappearance of a political dissident. General Manuel Contreras [TrialWatch profile], the secret police chief under former dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive], is already serving a cumulative prison sentence of 57 years for several other convictions. AP has more.

In January, a Chilean appeals court sentenced [JURIST report] Contreras to 10 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping of seven neighborhood leaders from La Legua in December 1973. In November 2007, Chile's Supreme Court affirmed seven convictions and overturned one [JURIST report] in cases involving murders committed by state agents during Pinochet's 1973-90 regime. The court based that decision on the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials], finding that Chile was in a state of internal armed conflict when the murders occurred.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee Thursday called [press release] upon former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove [official profile] to testify concerning any involvement in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman [official profile; JURIST news archive] on federal corruption charges in 2005. In a letter [PDF text] to Rove, the committee expressed concern over allegations that the prosecution had been politically motivated, citing a sworn affidavit [PDF text] signed by Alabama lawyer Jill Simpson in which she alleged that Rove had assured Republican operative Bill Canary that Siegelman was being pursued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website].

The committee's examination of Siegelman's case is part of a larger investigation into what it alleges is a pattern of politically influenced selective prosecutions by the DOJ. In a report [PDF text] released on Thursday, the committee highlighted a number of cases it says were brought as a result of political pressures, including those against former Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht and former Wisconsin procurement official Georgia Thompson. The report also said the DOJ has refused to cooperate with its investigation. The committee Thursday asked [letter, PDF] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey to turn over all DOJ documents and case materials pertaining to the matters. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepalese police detained more than 500 Tibetan monks, refugees, and other protesters near the Chinese Embassy [embassy website, in English] in Kathmandu Thursday as demonstrations continued against China's recent crackdown against pro-Tibet protests [BBC backgrounder]. Thursday's detentions follow a sweep of arrests [JURIST report] in late March in which hundreds were taken into Nepalese police custody. Since demonstrations began in March, the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] has criticized Nepal [press release, PDF] for its actions against protesters and for restricting the right to peaceful assembly.

Rights groups have criticized China for ongoing human rights violations [HRW materials] targeted at Tibetans, and many call for the total independence [advocacy website] of the currently "semi-autonomous" region. In March, police in China detained 953 people [JURIST report], of whom 403 have been formally arrested, in connection with protests against Chinese rule in Tibet. A top Tibetan official has been quoted as saying that Tibetan courts will prosecute more than 1,000 protesters [JURIST report] before May 1. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order [PDF text; NRA press release] blocking Philadelphia from enforcing new gun control legislation [press release, PDF] that would have banned the sale of assault weapons, required owners to report lost or stolen guns within 24 hours, and limited firearms purchases to one per month. The National Rifle Association (NRA) [advocacy website] and other pro-gun groups filed a request for a temporary restraining order Tuesday to prevent enforcement of the laws before the court rules on their constitutionality. NRA Lawyers and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham have both said that state law bars Pennsylvania municipalities from regulating guns. Arguments for the case are scheduled for April 28.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in Ortiz v. Commonwealth [text] in 1996 that attempts by Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to regulate the possession of firearms were unconstitutional. AP has more. The Philadelphia Inquirer has local coverage.

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[JURIST] Former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov [Kommersant backgrounder, JURIST news archive] was released from prison Thursday after a Moscow City Court suspended his sentence. Adamov was convicted [JURIST report] on charges of fraud and abuse of office in February and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison by Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court. Adamov said he plans to appeal the verdict and seek his formal acquittal. AP has more. RIA Novosti has local coverage.

Adamov was convicted for his involvement in a corruption scheme which misappropriated $31 million in US aid designated to upgrade unsafe Russian RBMK nuclear reactors [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. He was arrested [JURIST report] in Switzerland in 2005 on a US warrant on charges of fraud and money laundering. Despite repeated US extradition requests, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that Adamov should be tried in Russia [JURIST report] because he is a Russian citizen and his crimes were allegedly committed in Russia. In August 2006, Adamov's case was thrown out due to factual errors in court filings [JURIST report]; the latest proceedings began in April 2007. The US charges are still pending.

[JURIST] A lawyer for Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia [advocacy blog; JURIST news archive], sentenced [JURIST report] in early April to over three years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power [JURIST news archive], said Thursday that his client has been denied an appeal. Hu's lawyer said that Hu had 10 days to appeal his conviction, but that Hu's legal team was not allowed to visit Hu in prison to discuss an appeal. Hu was formally charged in February after he made public letters and recordings [JURIST reports] from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges.

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 [JURIST report]. The country has been harshly criticized in recent months for cracking down on human rights activists and political dissidents [JURIST report] ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

[JURIST] Two videotapes showing CIA officers interrogating al Qaeda suspects are likely not related to a federal case filed by a Guantanamo Bay detainee and thus not covered by a court order entered in that case directing the CIA to preserve evidence relating to the case, the CIA argued in court papers filed Wednesday. The filing came in response to an order [PDF text, JURIST report] issued in January by US District Judge Richard W. Roberts directing the government to provide information about why the CIA destroyed videotapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects [JURIST news archive], whether other evidence connected to a lawsuit filed by Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Hani Abdullah was destroyed, and what steps the government has taken to preserve relevant evidence. According to the CIA filing, the CIA has reviewed thousands of classified documents in conjunction with federal prosecutors to determine whether the tapes were protected under the court order, but found nothing to indicate they are relevant to the federal case. AP has more.

CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledged [statement text] in December 2007 that the CIA destroyed the two videotapes in 2005 amid concerns that they could be leaked to the public and compromise the identities of the interrogators. In February, Roberts extended the deadline [JURIST report; order, PDF] for the CIA to reply to his request for information. The CIA had asked for the extension on the grounds that compliance could interfere with a US Justice Department criminal probe [JURIST report] into the destruction of the tapes.

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[JURIST] Martial law will be lifted in most of Thailand, new Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] said Thursday. Sundaravej said that while the restrictions were no longer necessary after elections in December and the passage of the controversial Internal Security Bill [JURIST report], martial law will still remain in effect in three southern provinces, which are home to a violent separatist insurgency.

The Thai military imposed martial law nationwide after it seized power from civilian former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] in a bloodless coup [JURIST report] in September 2006. In October 2007, Thailand's cabinet voted [JURIST report] to lift martial law [JURIST news archive] in 221 of the country's 400 districts where it was still in force. In November 2007, the Thai cabinet approved a measure to lift restrictions in 41 of the country's 76 provinces [JURIST report], including Bangkok. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Current Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] and his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website] Thursday accused opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website, in English] of treason. Mugabe's government has said that Tsvangirai and Britain are conspiring to overthrow Mugabe; Tsvangirai denied the accusations in an AP interview. AP has more.

In a CNN interview [text] Thursday, Tsvangirai called for the UN to establish a criminal court to try those responsible for violence in the wake of Zimbabwe's contested March 29th presidential election [JURIST report]. Independent observers say that Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe, but Mugabe is demanding a recount [JURIST report]. The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) [official website] has not yet released the official results because of "errors and miscalculations" in their compilation, despite an attempt [JURIST report] by the MDC to force ZEC to release election results. Zimbabwean police banned all political rallies [JURIST report] last week as tensions continued to mount and earlier this week, police arrested more than 50 MDC members [JURIST report] after the party called for a strike to protest the nondisclosure of the election results.

[JURIST] The Iowa House [General Assembly website] voted 84-16 Wednesday to pass a bill [HF 2686 text] that would require Iowa employers to verify within 10 business days of hiring a new employee that they are a legal US resident. Employers would have to sign a statement under penalty of perjury that they checked the employee's driver's licenses or state-issued identification card [JURIST news archive] and "facially validated" them. The measure also authorizes misdemeanor criminal penalties against employers who circumvent restrictions against hiring illegal aliens by improperly designating them as "independent contractors." The bill now moves to the Iowa Senate.

The bill would also require law enforcement agencies to notify the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] when they arrest an illegal alien. The Sioux City Journal has more.

[JURIST] The movement in Malaysia to reform the judiciary took another step forward Thursday as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told a Bar Council assembly that the government will implement a Judicial Appointments Commission that will identify and nominate candidates for the bench, hopefully bringing transparency to the process. A similar proposal [JURIST report] was made by the newly appointed Malaysian Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim [firm profile] in March; the top judge in Malaysia, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia Abdul Hamid Mohamad [official profile], has also announced support [JURIST report] for creating an independent judicial nominating commission. From Malaysia, the Star has local coverage.

In September 2007, approximately 2,000 lawyers and activists protested [press release; JURIST report] in Malaysia's capital, calling for an investigation into judicial corruption. The protest was sparked by the release of a 2001 video [Malaysian Bar Council report and streaming video] showing prominent Malaysian lawyer V.K. Lingam on the phone with someone who is believed to be former Malaysian Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim brokering Halim's appointment to become chief justice. In January, Lingam claimed he must have been intoxicated [JURIST report] in the video when he appeared to be arranging for the appointment of "friendly" senior judges during an official inquiry into the incident. An inquiry panel has yet to release its findings about the incident.

[JURIST] Afghan President Hamid Karzai [official website; BBC profile] should reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty and should not sign execution orders for 100 prisoners, approved by the Supreme Court this week, advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. According to the HRW press release [text]:

Supreme Court officials told the media those sentenced to death had been convicted of serious crimes, such as kidnapping, hostage taking, armed robbery, murder, and rape. Legal experts and human rights organizations in Afghanistan have long expressed concerns that international due process and fair trial standards are generally not met in capital cases.

...

Legal experts in Afghanistan told Human Rights Watch that in a number of these criminal trials, the cases were not properly investigated and the courts did not disclose crucial evidence leading to convictions.

[JURIST] Serbia is not doing enough to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said Thursday. Brammertz said he was especially concerned with Serbia's inability to find and capture four fugitives wanted in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline, JURIST news archive], including alleged Srebrenica masterminds Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; ICTY indictment] and Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; ICTY indictment]. He also noted that the lack of satisfactory cooperation is hurting the country's efforts to join the European Union. Reuters 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] South Korean prosecutors on Thursday charged Samsung [corporate website] Chairman and CEO Kun-Hee Lee [corporate profile] with breach of trust and tax evasion, but decided not to charge him based on accusations that Samsung maintained a $200 million slush fund to bribe prosecutors, judges and civil servants. Nine other Samsung executives were indicted on similar charges, but none have been arrested. Prosecutors questioned Lee [JURIST report] earlier this month. The New York Times has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

Samsung, South Korea's largest corporation, has been the center of numerous legal battles over the past few years. In May 2007, a South Korean appellate court upheld the conviction of two Samsung executives connected with illegal stock trading [JURIST reports]. In April 2007, another Samsung executive pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release; JURIST report] to US charges of conspiring to artificially inflate the cost of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), affecting the price of personal computers worldwide. In 2005, Samsung reached an agreement [JURIST report] with the US Department of Justice to plead guilty to charges that it conspired with other technology companies to fix prices on DRAM chips.

[JURIST] The Nagoya District Court in Japan ruled Thursday that Japan's air force mission to Iraq breaches the Japanese constitution [text], but did not order the government to redeploy the 210 air force personnel in Kuwait aiding the US-led Multi-National Force-Iraq. In a lawsuit brought by more than 1,100 people demanding that the dispatch of air force troops be suspended, the court found that the dispatch violated Article Nine [text] of the constitution renouncing war and forbidding the use of force to settle international disputes. Last fall, a Sapporo District Court dismissed a similar suit [JURIST report] brought under Article Nine of the Japanese constitution. Reuters has more.

In November, the Japanese House of Councillors passed a bill [JURIST report] to end Japan's air force mission in Iraq, with opposition leaders insisting that Japan should work through the United Nations rather than the United States. The debate over Japan's involvement in military operations abroad has caused a major rift [JURIST report] between Japan's two major parties, contributing to the September resignation [JURIST report] of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Democratic Party of Japan, which generally opposes Japan's overseas military deployments, blocked the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law [text], which allowed Japan to refuel allied ships in the Indian Ocean for operations in Afghanistan until its expiration last November. Compromise legislation was later approved [JURIST report] by Japan's parliament

[JURIST] US military interrogators allegedly abused Afghan detainees in 2003 at the Gardez Detention Facility [Globalsecurity.org backgrounder] in southeastern Afghanistan, according to Pentagon documents [text; press release] released Wednesday under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website]. The documents indicate that eight Afghan detainees complained of abuse by interrogators, and that a 2006 review by the Army Criminal Investigation Command [official website] determined interrogators found misconduct that did not rise to the level of abuse. The review also concluded that the alleged abuse did not cause the 2003 death of Jamal Nasser, who died in custody. In the documents, some interrogators admitted using techniques they learned in a course designed to expose them to the conditions they may face if captured by foreign forces. AP has more.

The ACLU has opened several FOIA lawsuits [ACLU materials] trying to obtain information about alleged detainee abuse at US military bases for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Last month, the ACLU filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] seeking to compel the US government to release unredacted transcripts of military hearings conducted at Guantanamo Bay in early 2007 for 14 "high-value" prisoners [DNI profiles, PDF] during which the prisoners allegedly described torture and abuse sustained during detention in CIA secret prisons [JURIST report].