[JURIST] Twenty-eight anti-government activists were indicted in Zimbabwe on Monday on public disorder charges related to a strike [JURIST report] organized by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] last week to protest the nondisclosure of the results in the March 29 presidential election [JURIST report]. All the defendants pleaded not guilty during a court hearing Monday, during which defense lawyers alleged that police and soldiers had beaten some of the activists in custody to extract confessions. The MDC accused authorities of only prosecuting government critics, while ignoring violence it says has been perpetrated by pro-government militias.

On Thursday, current Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) [party website] accused [JURIST report] MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] of treason, saying that Tsvangirai and Britain are conspiring to overthrow Mugabe. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said Sunday that more than 400 supporters of the MDC have been detained [JURIST report] and more than 3,000 families displaced since the March 29 election, in which Tsvangirai claims to have won more votes than Mugabe. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Serbia's war crimes court has charged four former members of a notorious Serbian paramilitary organization with war crimes stemming from their alleged involvement in a 1999 massacre of ethnic Albanian civilians in the Kosovar village of Podujevo, the Serbian prosecutor's office said Monday. The four suspects, alleged to be members of the Scorpions, were arrested [JURIST report] in October 2007. AP has more. TurkishPress.com has additional coverage.

Four Scorpions members have already been convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] for their role in the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive]. Another member has been convicted of killing ethnic Albanians in Kosovo [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors on Monday accused the former deputy chief of staff of the Department of Justice Criminal Division [official website] of criminal conflict of interest charges connected to his relationship with disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive]. Robert Coughlin is accused of accepting gifts from Abramoff's lobbying group, as well as discussing future employment at the firm where Abramoff worked. In April 2007, the Washington Post reported that Coughlin accepted tickets to sporting events paid for by Abramoff's lobbying firm. AP has more.

Abramoff pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in January 2006 to two conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from the 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casino [corporate website] as part of a plea agreement [PDF text] with federal prosecutors that would reduce his punishment in exchange for favorable testimony in future DOJ corruption cases.

[JURIST] The New Jersey Supreme Court [official website] Monday ruled [PDF text] that Internet service providers may not turn over users' personal information to police or other agencies unless they obtain a valid grand jury subpoena when the information sought relates to an indictable offense. The court held that the New Jersey constitution [text] affords greater protections than the US Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The unanimous decision upheld a lower court's ruling suppressing information obtained from Internet provider Comcast [corporate website] identifying a woman who changed access codes on her employer's account with a supplier. The court found the municipal court subpoena for the data obtained by police inadequate because an indictable offense was at issue. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], better known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali," was admitted to a US medical facility in Iraq on Sunday, the US military said Monday. Al-Majid had reportedly been on a hunger strike since Friday, but is now in stable condition after passing out Sunday. One of al-Majid's co-defendants has also been hospitalized in connection with the hunger strike. AP has more.

The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced [JURIST report] al-Majid and his co-defendants to death in June 2007 on genocide and war crimes charges for their roles in the deaths of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder] of 1988. Iraq's Presidency Council, consisting of Kurdish President Jalal Talibani, Shi'ite Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, approved al-Majid's execution [JURIST report] on February 29. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government said in early March that al-Majid would not be executed [JURIST report] until the Presidency Council approved the death sentences of al-Majid's two co-defendants.

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[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday agreed to hear three cases [Order List, PDF], including the consolidated cases of US v. Eurodif (07-1059) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] and USEC v. Eurodif (07-1078) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] where the Court will consider whether the federal government can impose anti-dumping tariffs on contracts for uranium enrichment services. The key issues in the cases center on whether raw materials from the United States that are reprocessed abroad constitute a "good" or a "service." US law does not allow tariffs to be imposed on "services." AP has more.

The Court also granted certiorari Monday in Chambers v. US (06-11206) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] where the Court will consider whether a conviction for "escape" after a defendant fails to report for confinement qualifies as a "violent felony" within the meaning of the Armed Career Criminal Act [18 USC § 924(e) text]. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled [PDF text] last year that all escapes are violent crimes. A Supreme Court ruling in the case could resolve a current 10-2 split among the circuit courts of appeals. SCOUTSBLOG has more on both certiorari grants.

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[JURIST] The US Department of the Treasury issued proposed regulations [PDF text; press release] Monday designed to implement the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 [PDF text; HR 556 materials]. In January, US President George W. Bush issued an executive order [text; JURIST report] similarly designed to implement the Act, which expands the investigative scope of the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) [official website] to include foreign infrastructure and energy investments and adds an additional 45-day review of proposed acquisitions from foreign state-owned entities. A 45-day public comment period on the proposed regulations will begin later this week after the regulations are officially published in the Federal Register.

The law, passed by Congress [JURIST report] in July 2007, stems from congressional criticism [JURIST report] of a proposed acquisition by United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World [corporate website] that would have allowed the company to manage six major US ports in early 2006. The deal eventually fell through [JURIST report], but prompted Congress to pass the legislation to increase scrutiny of foreign investment proposals. AP has more.

[JURIST] White House lawyers argued on Monday before a federal appeals court that White House visitor logs maintained by the Secret Service are executive branch documents and thus not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] requests. The appeals court judges hearing the case seemed skeptical of the administration's arguments that the visitor logs should be privileged and not publicly released, but also seemed to indicate that a balance must be struck to allow the president to keep private some information about who is visiting the White House.

Public interest group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) initially sought the visitor logs to support its contention that conservative evangelicals exert an undue influence over the White House, but the White House resisted, ordering the logs submitted directly to the White House rather than to the Secret Service so that they would fall outside the scope of FOIA. In December 2007, a federal district judge ruled [opinion, PDF; order, PDF] that the White House visitor logs are public documents [press release; JURIST report] under the meaning of FOIA. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is considering an appeal of that ruling. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday denied [order list, PDF] without comment petitions for certiorari filed by 10 death row inmates seeking to have their executions blocked. Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that lethal injection [JURIST news archive] does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Three of the inmates whose petitions were denied Monday were previously granted last minute stays of execution, including Earl Wesley Berry and Carlton Turner, Jr. [JURIST reports]. The petitioners may soon be executed as their stays of execution terminated automatically when their appeals for certiorari were denied. AP has more.

Last week's Supreme Court ruling came in Baze v. Rees [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], where lawyers for Kentucky death row inmate Ralph Baze argued that the three-drug lethal injection cocktail [DPIC backgrounder] used in most states violates the US Constitution because the first drug administered can fail to make the subject fully unconscious, thereby making the subject suffer excruciating pain when the heart-stopping drug is injected. Also last Wednesday, several US states, including Virginia and Oklahoma, announced that they would resume executions by lethal injection [JURIST report] after the Supreme Court's decision.

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[JURIST] Australia has acquired exploration and drilling rights to an additional 2.5 million square kilometers of ocean shelf after a UN commission ruled that Australia's continental shelf extends farther than previously defined, the Australian government said Monday. The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) [official website] is the body charged with administering the 1994 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UN materials], under which countries have 10 years after their ratifications of that treaty to make extended continental shelf claims; Australia made its submission [materials] in 2004. The CLCS ruling does not give Australia rights to control shipping or whaling activities that take place in the ocean above the continental shelf. Australia's ABC News has more.

Several countries, including the UK and Chile, have petitioned the CLCS [JURIST report] in recent years to stake claims to portions of Antarctica ahead of claim deadlines. It is unclear, however, how the 1994 treaty interacts with the 1959 Antarctic Treaty [text; ATS materials], which specifically prohibits its signatories from asserting new land claims in Antarctica. The Antarctica Treaty gives countries with valid Antarctic claims the right to search for oil and natural gas beginning in 2048.

[JURIST] Afghan President Hamid Karzai [official website; BBC profile] rejected calls for the reinstatement of a moratorium [JURIST report] on the death penalty Monday, saying that while he prefers life sentences, he will abide by Islamic law's sanctioning of the death penalty for certain crimes, including the kidnapping and murder. Under Afghan law, President Karzai is required to sign execution orders after courts issue the sentences.

Last week, the Afghan Supreme Court approved death sentences issued by lower courts for 100 prisoners convicted of kidnapping, hostage taking, armed robbery, murder, and rape. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged Karzai to reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty, noting that Afghan legal experts had reservations in a number of criminal trials [press release], citing incomplete investigations and the failure of courts to disclose crucial evidence leading to convictions. Last October, Afghanistan abruptly lifted its moratorium on the death penalty [JURIST report], executing 15 prisoners by firing squad. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has also urged Afghanistan to reinstate the ban [JURIST report] on the death penalty. AP has more.

[JURIST] Sergei Ordzhonikidze, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva [official websites], on Monday urged UN member states to advance the cause for human rights by increasing arms control efforts, saying that the improvement of human rights in developing regions will enhance long-term peace, stability, and contribute to sustainable development. Ordzhonikidze comments came during the inaugural Beijing Forum on Human Rights; he said that increased arms control will free up additional resources, which should instead be allocated for the advancement of human rights.

The Beijing Forum on Human Rights is commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) [text] in 1948. The UDHR declared that every person has the right to life, and disavows slavery, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] An Indonesian judge handed down 15-year sentences to two leaders of the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive], after convicting them on terrorism charges. The judge also ruled that JI is a terrorist organization, the first time an Indonesian court has recognized JI as such. The two JI leaders, Zarkasih and Abu Dujana [BBC profiles], went on trial [JURIST report] in December, charged with training and equipping JI members as well as conspiracy to commit terrorism. Prosecutors had previously demanded life sentences [JURIST report] for the two.

Abu Dujana, arrested [JURIST report] in June, has confessed to leading JI's military wing, which has claimed responsibility for the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy [BBC report] in Jakarta and a series of 2005 Bali bombings [BBC report]. He was charged with possessing explosives as well as assisting and harboring two men wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali night club bombings [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.

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