[JURIST] ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] on Saturday called on the government of Sudan to arrest and surrender two war crimes suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. In a statement [text] noting that arrest warrants [JURIST report] for the two suspects - former Sudanese Minister of the Interior Ahmed Muhammad Harun and former militia leader Ali Kushayb [Trial Watch profiles] - were issued a year ago, the prosecutor's office said:

The Court transmitted the warrants to the Government of the Sudan on 16 June 2007. The Government of the Sudan has not responded; the GoS is not cooperating. The GoS has not complied with the UN Security Council Resolution 1593.

One year after the issuance of the warrants, Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb are free in the Sudan. Ahmad Harun is today Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs. "He attacked Sudanese people, his people, those he vowed to protect as Minister; he is an indicted minister, he is a fugitive" said the Prosecutor, adding "he will end up in Court."

In Darfur today, 2.5 million people displaced in camps are under attack; women are raped, leaders are eliminated. "Crimes are thoroughly organized. Destitution is organized. Insecurity is organized. The mobilization of the state apparatus to plan, commit and cover up the crimes is the focus of our second investigation. I will report the progress of my investigation to the United Nations Security Council on 5 June. Then I will proceed to the Judges, presenting my evidence on who is bearing today the greatest responsibility for the ongoing attacks against civilians; who is maintaining Harun in a position to commit crimes, and who is instructing him and others", stated the Prosecutor.

Today, he added, "I urge the international community to send a strong and unanimous message to the Government of the Sudan, requesting the execution of the arrest warrants. The GoS, as the territorial State, has a responsibility to do so. They can, they must surrender the two indicted criminals now, and break the system of violence and impunity in Darfur."

[JURIST] Ugandan police arrested three journalists Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected sedition, according to the journalists' lawyer. The journalists worked on two articles published in the Independent magazine [media website] that were critical of the Ugandan military. Formal charges have not yet been filed, but the journalists' lawyer said that they have been accused of possessing seditious material and defamation. The articles highlighted alleged corruption within the Ugandan army and also accused the military of covering up past atrocities.

One of the men arrested is the Independent's editor, Andrew Mwenda. Mwenda was charged with sedition [JURIST report] in 2005 for comments made on his radio show about the death of a Sudanese leader. At the time of the most recent arrest, he had been on bail for the 2005 charges. AP has more. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Opposition members of the Mexican Congress have ended their protest against a proposed energy reform bill backed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official websites, in Spanish], after the ruling party agreed to allow further debate on the bill. Members of Mexico's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) [party website, in Spanish] and several smaller parties had staged a 15-day sit-in over their objections to certain provisions of the proposed oil bill, including one that would allow state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos [official website, in Spanish] to work with private companies, a move they say is tantamount to privatization. PRD leader Carlos Navarrete told reporters Friday that the ruling party had agreed to schedule a national debate on the bill.

The protests [JURIST report] began earlier this month, when demonstrators in Mexico's lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Spanish], put up barricades around their encampment by the speaker's podium. Their colleagues in the Mexican Senate [official website, in Spanish] also reportedly began a fast. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the State Secrets Protection Act [S 2533 materials; CRS summary], sending the legislation to the Senate floor for consideration. The legislation, approved by a 11-8 vote on Thursday, would place restrictions on when the executive can assert the so-called state secrets privilege [JURIST news archive] in lawsuits involving the federal government. According to the Congressional Research Service summary of the bill, the legislation:

Amends the federal judicial code to: (1) require a federal court to determine which filings, motions, and affidavits (or portions) submitted under this Act shall be submitted exparte; (2) allow a federal court to order a party to provide a redacted, unclassified, or summary substitute of a filing, motion, or affidavit to other parties; and (3) require a federal court to make decisions under this Act, taking into consideration the interests of justice and national security. ...

Authorizes the United States to intervene in any civil action in order to protect information that may be subject to the state secrets privilege. Declares, however, that the state secrets privilege shall not constitute grounds for dismissal of a case or claim.

Prescribes procedures for: (1) determining whether evidence is protected from disclosure by the state secrets privilege; and (2) when evidence protected by the state secrets privilege is necessary for adjudication of a claim or counterclaim.

...

Requires the Attorney General within 30 days to report in writing to Congress on any case in which the United States invokes the state secrets privilege. ...

The Senate should consider this carefully crafted legislation quickly. This administration continues to show unprecedented deference to secrecy rather than transparency. The State Secrets Protection Act clarifies that no one, not even a president, is above the law. We can have security while preserving the Constitution's system of checks and balances and the important role of the courts. This legislation is a step to ensure that our laws protect both.

needlessly and improperly interfere with the appropriate constitutional role of both the Judicial and Executive branches in state secrets cases; would alter decades of settled case law; and would likely result in the harmful disclosure of national security information that would not be disclosed under current doctrine.

[JURIST] US Army Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales [advocacy website] was acquitted by a military jury on Friday of charges connected to the 2007 killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian near the city of Kirkuk [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. Corrales was cleared of all charges [JURIST report] against him, including premeditated murder, wrongful solicitation of another soldier to shoot an unarmed, wounded Iraqi, and planting an AK-47 rifle next to the victim after the shooting. His court-martial [JURIST report] began in Hawaii earlier this week, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges [AP report]. AP has more.

In February, US Army Specialist Christopher P. Shore was convicted of aggravated assault [JURIST report] in the incident, but acquitted on third-degree murder charges. During his Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder; KHNL report] last year, Shore's lawyer painted Corrales as sadistic and out of control. Shore testified that when Corrales ordered him to shoot the unarmed Iraqi civilian, he intentionally missed.