[JURIST] Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] has approved the creation of a so-called Truth and Accountability Commission which would allow corrupt officials and businessmen guilty of corruption to avoid jail by confessing and returning money taken, officials said Monday. The commission would operate under the country's new Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance for five months, and those officials who come forward would still be prohibited from running for political office or holding board positions at any public company, bank, or financial institution for five years. The commission is designed to ease the burden on the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) [governing statute; JURIST news archive] which faces a huge backlog and which government officials say could take decades to prosecute all of the offenders. Plans for the establishment of a "truth commission" were first announced [JURIST report] last October as a way to instill more investor confidence in the country which has experienced a significant decrease in economic growth. AFP has more.

Bangladesh's current anti-corruption crackdown began after President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country and canceled a scheduled national election in January 2007. Eight former Bangladeshi ministers were subsequently accused of corruption and 13 other former ministers and senior politicians were arrested during raids on their homes [JURIST reports]. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [party profile; JURIST news archive] faces corruption charges for receiving illegal kick-backs from both a power-plant construction deal and oil and gas contracts [JURIST reports]. Former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [UN profile] also faces charges related to oil and gas contracts [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Pakistan officials who ignored a Supreme Court [official website] order and went along with President Pervez Musharaff's declaration of emergency rule [PDF text; JURIST report] in November 2007 will be punished regardless of their position, ousted Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] told a rally of lawyers and supporters in Faisalabad Sunday. Chaudhry told the group supporting his reinstatement that the same day Musharraf made his declaration of emergency rule, the Supreme Court had issued an order [JURIST report] intended to counteract the declaration, and that those who disobeyed the Court's ruling were in violation of the country's constitution [text]. Chaudhry did not say what kind of punishment those officials would face, but Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] chief Asif Ali Zardari has said that, at least with regard to the President, his group wants to work with Musharraf rather than impeach him. AP has more. From Pakistan, the Daily Times has local coverage.

Chaudhry's comments come as the PPP is preparing to introduce in parliament a wide-ranging constitutional amendment package [JURIST report] which would forbid the country's President from taking many of the actions Musharraf did last November and would explicitly hold accountable judges who go along with such actions. The new coalition government formed by the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] vowed in February to work together to reinstate Chaudhry and the other ousted judges and establish a fully independent judiciary [JURIST reports]. The government has nonetheless failed to meet several supposed "deadlines" to reinstate the judges, prompting leaders of the country's lawyers' movement to call for mass protests [JURIST report] in mid-June.

[JURIST] Myanmar's draft constitution [JURIST news archive] has been overwhelmingly approved in a national referendum after two rounds of voting with 92 percent of votes cast favoring the proposed charter and 98 percent of the country's 27 million eligible voters turning out, state television reported Monday. Voting concluded [JURIST report] Saturday in the 47 townships hit hardest earlier this month by Cyclone Nargis, a storm which left an estimated 130,000 people dead or missing. The referendum was held in the rest of the country May 10, much to the dismay [JURIST reports] of many members of the international community as well as local opposition and rights activists. Xinhua has more.

Myanmar's military government announced on May 15 that the constitution had been approved [JURIST report] by roughly 90 percent of voters in the referendum's initial round. National League for Democracy and other opposition groups labeled the referendum a "sham" to legalize military rule. The draft constitution reportedly reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military and would also block pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive] from seeking office. Myanmar [JURIST news archive] has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988 and talks on a new national charter have been underway for 14 years. The last general elections in Myanmar were held in 1990. The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, won that election easily, but the ruling military government did not recognize the result and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest.

[JURIST] Egyptian parliamentarians voted 305-103 Monday to extend the country's emergency laws [EOHR backgrounder] for two more years at the behest of the government. The laws, which were first implemented after the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, permit the government and security services to arrest and detain anyone deemed a threat to state security, with detentions renewable every 45 days. The laws also ban demonstrations and allow military courts to try civilians [JURIST report]. In practice, the laws have been used to combat unrest and political opposition to the Mubarak regime.

The latest renewal of the emergency laws comes notwithstanding a December 2006 promise from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official website; BBC profile] to repeal the laws after passage of a new terrorism bill [JURIST report]. In August 2007, Egyptian Judicial Affairs Minister Mufid Shehab said the laws would be lifted by June 2008 [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Security officials in Nepal [JURIST news archive] banned protests and rallies near the royal palace and the residence of King Gyanendra [JURIST news archive] on Monday, in anticipation of Wednesday's expected abolition of the Nepalese monarchy. Nepal's interim parliament voted in December 2007 to abolish the monarchy [JURIST report] of as a part of a plan to bring members of the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists (CPN-M) [party website] back into the country's government. On Wednesday, a 601-member Constituent Assembly, elected in April [JURIST report], will meet to work on drafting a new constitution [JURIST news archive] and is expected to dethrone the King. The move to ban protests at the royal palace and king's residence will affect plans by the CPN-M and other smaller political parties to hold victory rallies at those locations on Wednesday. AP has more.

The establishment of the CPN-M-dominated Constituent Assembly and the abolition of the monarchy were the main parts of a 2006 peace agreement [text; JURIST report] between the CPN-M and the Nepalese government, which marked the end of a 10-year Maoist insurgency [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Mengistu Haile Mariam [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the former Marxist president of Ethiopia [JURIST news archive], was sentenced to death Monday after the Ethiopian Supreme Court allowed Ethiopian prosecutors' appeal of his January 2007 life sentence [JURIST reports] on charges of genocide, homicide, illegal imprisonment, and illegal property seizure. Mengistu and 11 associates convicted [JURIST report] in absentia in 2006 after a twelve-year trial. Eighteen Mengistu aides were also sentenced to death Monday. Prosecutors had argued that the life sentence for Mengistu was not equal to the crimes he committed. No execution date has yet been set because the sentences have to be confirmed by Ethiopia's president. AFP has more.

Mengistu ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 at the head of a Marxist military junta called the Derg [LOC backgrounder] which had overthrown the monarchy of Haile Selassie. Under the Mengistu regime, the Ethipoian government committed numerous human rights violations, including the 1977-1978 "Red Terror" [LOC backgrounder], during which thousands of Mengistu's political opponents were executed. Some 150,000 university students, intellectuals, and politicians are believed to have been killed during Mengistu's rule. Overthrown by rebels in 1991, Mengistu went into exile in Zimbabwe. In December 2006, a Zimbabwean government spokesman said it had no plans to extradite Mengistu [JURIST report], although his future in that country may depend on the outcome of this year's presidential elections [JURIST news archive].