[JURIST] Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [official website] has called for the establishment of special courts to deal specifically with corruption charges, telling a convention of high-ranking justices and government ministers on Saturday that "apart from pendency and delayed justice, corruption is another challenge we face both in government and the judiciary." Singh said addressing these problems would increases both domestic and foreign confidence in the court system. Following the prime minister's remarks, Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan [official profile] told reporters that Singh did not mean that the judiciary itself was corrupt, but rather that it has to deal with a large number of cases brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation [official website] which alleged government corruption. Balakrishnan went on to say that allegations of judicial corruption were rare and dealt with swiftly when they did arise.

In response to questions about what checks exist against possible judicial corruption, Balakrishnan told reporters that Supreme Court [official website] justices are required to submit an accounting of their assets when they assume their post and to amend that accounting when they acquire new property. He also said that the because justice positions were constitutional rather than governmental, that this asset list and some other information on the justices were not publicly available through India's Right to Information Act [RTI materials], but that the Indian Parliament [official website] did have the power to enact laws requiring more judicial accountability if they chose to. The Hindustan Times has more. The Hindu has additional coverage.

[JURIST] More than 400 supporters of the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] have been detained and more than 3,000 families displaced since the March 29 election [JURIST report], MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said Sunday. Biti also said that more than 10 people have been killed in post-election violence and that another 500 supporters have been hospitalized since the election, in which MDC opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] claims to have won more votes than current president Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Mugabe has demanded a recount, which Tsvangirai condemned as "illegal" [JURIST reports] after it began Saturday. The MDC won 109 seats in the country's 210-seat assembly in the original count.

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]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The National Assembly of Niger [official website, in French] passed new anti-terrorism legislation Saturday aimed at helping security forces combat the resurgence of an ethnic Tuareg rebellion [BBC backgrounder] that has thrown the West African country into in a state of disarray. The new law passed by parliament increases penalties for possession of explosive devices, attacks on transport vehicles, hostage-taking, and unlawful possession of radioactive materials. Additionally, the legislation punishes financing and recruitment for terrorism and allows authorities to hold suspects for a longer period of time before filing formal charges.

Leaders of the rebel group, the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) [group website, in French], have been conducting guerrilla attacks on the central government since early 2007, in an effort to achieve self rule and a greater share of the wealth from uranium exports. Earlier this month, Amnesty International [advocacy website] released a report [text] alleging extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances committed by the Nigerien army against civilians during clashes with Tuareg rebels. The Nigerien government has denied the report. Reuters has more.