[JURIST] Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] leader Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] has condemned as "illegal" a process of recounting votes in 23 constituencies that began Saturday after a judge dismissed an opposition appeal [JURIST report]. The MDC won 109 seats in the country's 210-seat assembly in the original count. Tsvangirai told Al Jazeera television that "as far as we are concerned, we have won the election, the people of Zimbabwe have spoken and their vote must be respected." Tsvangirai also referenced a shipment of weapons that was turned away to support his allegations the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website] was preparing for a 'war' against the people. Al Jazeera has more.

On Thursday, Mugabe and the ZANU-PF accused [JURIST report] Tsvangirai of treason, saying he was conspiring with Britain to overthrow Mugabe. Zimbabwean police arrested at least 30 MDC members [JURIST report] this week after the party called for a strike to protest the nondisclosure of the presidential election results. The police said that the MDC supporters were arrested for blocking roads and traffic and attempting to intimidate people from going to work after police announced a ban on all political rallies [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Eight former British Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees are suing the UK's MI5 (domestic) and MI6 (foreign) [official websites] intelligence services over alleged complicity with the US in their illegal abduction, treatment and interrogation at the prison, according to a report [text] Saturday in London's Daily Mail. Two separate writs have been issued at the High Court in London, although neither has yet been served. The first writ was issued by lawyers for three British foreign nationals - Omar Deghayes from Libya and Jamil el-Banna from Jordan, who were released from Guantanamo last December, and Bisher al Rawi, an Iraqi who was released [JURIST reports] in April 2007. The second writ was issued on behalf of five British citizens Moazzam Begg, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and Richard Belmar.

Rasul, Iqbal, Ahmed and another former detainee, Jamal Al-Harith filed a US lawsuit [case backgrounder; JURIST report] in 2004 against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Meyers, and others for alleged torture and infringement of religious practice during their captivity. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] dismissed [JURIST report] the lawsuit, ruling [PDF text] that detainees do not have the right to sue high-ranking government officials for such allegations. Lawyers for the men are taking the case to the Supreme Court. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Retired Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers [official profile] was 'hoodwinked' into believing aggressive interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo detainees were taken from the army's field manual, University College London law professor Philippe Sands [official profile] claims in his new book, Torture Team [book website], scheduled for release in May. Excerpts from the book were published by the UK Guardian newspaper Saturday. Sands alleges the new techniques, approved by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile], were actually developed by inexperienced Guantanamo lawyers and pushed through by senior Bush administration lawyers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington and William Haynes.

Myers reportedly believed the prisoners were protected against torture by the Geneva conventions' Common Article 3 [text] even though a memo [text] written by Haynes made it clear the Guantanamo detainees could not rely on the protections. According to former chief of staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, Larry Wilkerson, Rumsfeld recommended Myers for the job because he 'was not a very powerful chairman' and was easily cut out of important meetings and plans. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] A Chilean court indicted five navy officers and a navy doctor Friday for their role in the kidnapping, torture, and killings of British-Chilean priest Micheal Woodward [profile] and other political dissidents. Retired admirals Sergio Barros, Guillermo Aldoney and Adolfo Walbaum and retired navy captains Sergio Barra and Ricardo Riesgo, were all indicted on kidnapping and torture charges and are being held at military barracks in Valparaiso. Carlos Costa, a navy doctor, was also charged. According to Judge Eliana Quezada, all men are maintaining their innocence.

Woodward, who had joined Christians for Socialism after being suspended by the Roman Catholic church, was taken into custody by security forces on September 16, 1973, shortly after the military coup against Chilean Socialist president Salvador Allende that brought General Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive] to power. He was alleged to have been tortured, along with other dissidents, aboard naval ships used as detention centers. He died six days later, and his family was told that he died of cardio-respiratory problems. The indictments follow the sentencing [JURIST report] of Pinochet's secret police chief earlier this week for his role in the 1974 disappearance of a political dissident. Over 3000 people are said to have been killed for political reasons during the Pinochet regime. AP has more.

[JURIST] US prison officials said Friday that convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] will serve his approximately 17-year term at a "supermax" federal prison in Colorado. The maximum-security facility located in Florence [official website] also holds "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, and September 11 attacks conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive]. Padilla's co-defendants remain in Miami's downtown detention center. In an email to AP Friday Padilla's attorney Michael Caruso said the decision was "yet another example of Jose being treated differently and in a more punitive fashion than others who have been accused of similar crimes." AP has more.

Padilla was convicted in August, along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifadh Wael Jayyousi [profiles], of conspiracy to commit illegal violent acts outside the US, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially alleged to have planned the explosion of a "dirty bomb" in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged with other offenses in November 2005.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of Colombia [official website, in Spanish] has held that same-sex couples should be given the same pension and health benefits as those held by opposite-sex couples. The Constitutional Court reached its decision Thursday after considering arguments presented by domestic and foreign human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch [advocacy website]. In its decision [court materials, in Spanish], the Court said that to exclude same-sex couples from receiving such benefits would undermine their fundamental right to human dignity and equal protection of the laws. The director of the Human Rights Watch Americas Division said that Colombia had "set an example" for countries in the region and that others should "follow suit."

In March 2007, the UN Human Rights Committee [official website] voted in favor of a Colombian man seeking his deceased partner's pension, but the Colombia Constitutional Court said it lacked the legal framework to implement the decision. In August 2007, multiple human rights groups challenged the relevant Colombian laws [Article 1 of Law 54/1990 and Articles 47, 74 and 163 of Law 100/1993], arguing that to deny same-sex couples these benefits would violate human rights protected by international law. Last June, the Colombian Senate voted against landmark legislation [JURIST report] that would have given same-sex couples who have cohabited for over a period of two years similar rights as persons in heterosexual common law marriages. Last February, the Constitutional Court ruled [JURIST report] that same-sex couples must be accorded the same property rights as other unmarried couples. Reuters has more.