[JURIST] Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] police have arrested dozens of politicians since Friday in a renewed anti-corruption drive. The drive comes amid an even wider crackdown [Daily Star report] in which authorities have arrested more than 1,600 political activists and suspected criminals. On Sunday, a judge issued arrest warrants [Daily Star report] for electricity supply leaders on charges of corruption, extending the drive through the weekend. The country has sought new ways to handle corruption: late last month, the government approved the creation of a Truth and Accountability Commission [JURIST report] that would allow corrupt officials and businessmen guilty of corruption to avoid jail by confessing and returning money taken. 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. BBC News 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] and was taken to court [Reuters report] on those charges Sunday.

[JURIST] The Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] Sunday cleared former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive] and his younger brother to run in the June 26 by-elections. Sharif was barred [JURIST report] from running in the February 18 national parliamentary elections because of criminal convictions arising out of circumstances surrounding the 1999 coup against him led by then-General and now-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. A local election tribunal was unable to reach a unanimous decision [Daily Times report] Wednesday on whether Sharif could run, and the case was sent to the chief election commissioner. The case had not yet been decided when Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] officials announced Sharif's nomination [Daily Times report] on Friday. On Sunday the commission cleared all objections against Sharif's nomination and allowed him to run. If he wins, he will become the PML-N's leader in the National Assembly. AFP has more.

Sharif and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] leader Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile] have recently disagreed [JURIST report] over proposed constitutional amendments [JURIST report] aimed at limiting executive power and at restoring the judiciary ousted by Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule last year. The PML-N had pushed for the judges to be reinstated without condition and now want judicial reinstatement through a parliamentary resolution, but the PPP has insisted on restrictions on the judges' power and reinstatement through constitutional amendments.

[JURIST] Former attorney general for England and Wales Lord Peter Goldsmith [profile] said Sunday in a Telegraph op-ed that extending the time for which terror suspects can be detained by British police without charge from 28 to 42 days would be an abandonment of the Britain's fundamental principles [op-ed text]. Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website] has continued his support of the controversial proposed anti-terror bill [BBC backgrounder] that would allow for the increased detention time, but the bill has faced serious opposition [JURIST report] from MPs and human rights groups. Goldsmith echoed some of their concerns, writing that giving away critical liberties, such as the right not to be arbitrarily held without charge, destroys societal values and even free societies themselves. Some Labour backbenchers say they might move to have Brown replaced [PA report] over his handling of the 42-day extension and other issues, and the government has recently offered to include more safeguards [BBC report] in the bill, such as requiring police to apply for the extension within 30 days of a major terror incident. The Telegraph has more.

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith [official profile] first proposed a 42-day detention period [JURIST report] in December 2007. The proposal followed statements made in June 2007 by then-UK Home Secretary John Reid calling for longer pre-charge time limits, and a proposal [JURIST reports] was floated last July that would have allowed the extension of the 28-day limit after a declared state of emergency and permitted judges to authorize weekly extensions for up to 56 days subject to parliamentary notification.

[JURIST] US military prosecutors Saturday charged [BBC report] the last British resident detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] with conspiring to commit terrorism, according to British prisoners rights group Reprieve [advocacy website]. Binyam Mohamed [Reprieve profile; JURIST news archive], an Ethiopian who sought refuge in Britain, has denied the charge. Mohamed was originally arrested in Pakistan and turned over to US officials; he claims that in 2002 the US transferred him to Moroccan agents, who tortured him; he was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. In December, in a letter [DOC text] sent by his lawyer to UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he asked the UK government [JURIST report] to ensure that photographic evidence of his alleged torture be preserved. Earlier this month he sued the UK government [Reprieve press release, PDF; JURIST report] for its alleged refusal to turn over evidence needed for his defense, but he has since submitted a plea to the government [Independent report] to use its influence and bring him back to Britain. Mohamed's case will now be referred to the US military's Convening Authority, which must decide within 30 days whether to go forward with the case. Mohamed could face the death penalty if convicted. AFP has more.

For most of 2007, Mohamed was one of five UK residents detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Three of those were released [press release; JURIST report] from US custody in December. A fourth British resident, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, a Saudi Arabian national, was to be returned there but his current status is unclear. Just a day before Mohamed's charging and in the face of continuing criticism of the slow pace of legal proceeding against Guantanamo prisoners, the vast majority of which remain uncharged, US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in remarks to British students at the Oxford Union that legal processes should have been established earlier [AFP report] at the US military prison.

[JURIST] A senior member of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] presented its proposed constitutional amendment package [JURIST report] to its principal coalition partner Sunday. The 62-point package, which anticipates restoring the judiciary deposed by President Pervez Musharraf last November and limiting executive powers, was also submitted to the other parties belonging to the governing coalition, but Law Minister Farooq Naek personally handed it to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Exactly how to restore the judges remains a point of disagreement between the two parties: the PPP and its leader Asif Ali Zardari maintain that it should be accomplished constitutionally, while the PML-N and Sharif hold that it should occur through a parliamentary resolution and an order from the prime minister. The Law Ministry issued a statement Saturday saying that any changes the other party leaders suggest for the package would be incorporated into it. AP has more. Pakistan's Daily Times has local coverage.

A PML-N spokesman said that the party's acceptance of the package turned on the package's backing by the lawyers' movement [New York Times backgrounder], which has planned protests [JURIST report] later this month if the pre-emergency judiciary is not restored. In comments Saturday ousted Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] cautioned lawyers to continue fighting for a restored judiciary and not to succumb to efforts to divide them [Dawn report].