[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website; JURIST news archive] Friday refused to move [ruling, PDF] the trial of suspected war criminal Ildephonse Hategekimana [TrialWatch profile] to the Rwandan domestic courts. The request had been made by the prosecutor's office and the Rwandan government, but was objected to by Hategekimana's defense and human rights groups filing amicus briefs on his behalf. According to Rule 11 [backgrounder] of the ICTR Rules of Procedure and Evidence [PDF text], the court may refer a case to another court with jurisdiction over the accused provided that the host country is willing and prepared to accept them, they can receive a fair trial, and they will not face the death penalty or other overly-harsh punishments upon conviction. Refusing the request, the Court wrote:

The Chamber notes that Rwanda has made significant progress in rebuilding to its criminal justice system, which was crippled as a result of the events of 1994. Nonetheless, some obstacles to referral of Mr. Hategekimana's case remain. The Chamber:

(i) is not satisfied that Rwanda's legal framework criminalizes command responsibility;
(ii) is not satisfied that Rwanda can ensure Mr. Hategekimana's right to obtain the attendance and examination of witness on his behalf under the same conditions as the witnesses against him; and
(iii) considers it possible that, pursuant to Rwandan law, Mr. Hategekimana may face life imprisonment in isolation without adequate safeguards in violation of his right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Friday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a petition brought by US terrorism detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive], who sought review of his unlawful enemy combatant classification. The court agreed with the arguments [JURIST report] of US Department of Justice lawyers and held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear Khadr's appeal, since the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text, PDF] only permits it to review final judgments of military commissions. The court also held that public interest in fair military commissions did not justify the court's review of Khadr's determination as an unlawful enemy combatant prior to a final judgment. AP has more.

On Thursday a US military judge at Guantanamo Bay set October 8 [JURIST report] as the date for Khadr's military commission trial. Khadr, who is 21, faces life imprisonment for crimes allegedly committed six years ago while he was fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. In April, Khadr's military judge, Col. Peter Brownback, ruled [PDF text] that Khadr was not a child soldier when he was captured in Afghanistan. Khadr's lawyers had moved for dismissal [JURIST report], alleging a violation of the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [text], which gives special protection to children under 18 who are involved in armed conflicts. Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled enemy combatants can challenge their detention in federal courts [JURIST report], a decision that puts the future of the commission process into doubt.

[JURIST] Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan [appointment release] testified Friday that he was unaware of any criminal wrongdoing [hearing materials] by administration officials who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame [JURIST news archive]. Appearing before the US House Judiciary Committee [official website], McClellan said that he was unaware of any attempts by administration officials to cover up the leak, but that unwarranted secrecy and attempts to avoid accountability were to blame for lingering questions. McClellan said he regretted the false information that he unwittingly relayed to media regarding the scandal. AP has more.

In December 2007, the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to provide them with transcripts [JURIST report] of interviews with President Bush and other administration officials that were conducted during a criminal investigation into the leak. The White House has consistently refused to turn over information [JURIST report] relating to the investigation claiming immunity from the Freedom of Information Act [text]. In June of 2007, Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison for perjury and other offenses related to the investigation before his sentence was commuted by President Bush in commuted his sentence [JURIST reports] in July of that year.

[JURIST] China has released more than 1,000 protesters detained by authorities during March demonstrations in Tibet [BBC backgrounder] Friday, according to comments attributed to a Chinese official by state press agency Xinhua. Speaking at a press conference on the Olympic Flame's visit to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, Chinese official Palma Trily said that 1,157 people detained in March have been released, while 116 more are still in custody, and 42 have been charged with crimes in connection with the demonstrations. Reporters from major world news services are on a state-guided visit to Tibet [Xinhua report] to cover the Olympic torch relay. The announcement of the prisoners' release comes two days after the release of an Amnesty International (AI) report [text; JURIST report] highlighting the plight of the detainees and calling on China to free all detainees who engaged in peaceful protest. The report also criticized [AI press release] China for severely censoring media reports on Tibet, blocking international journalists and independent human rights observers from entering the region, and physically abusing detained activists. Reuters has more. BBC has additional coverage.

Rights groups have criticized China for ongoing human rights violations [Human Rights Watch materials] targeted at Tibetans, and many call for the total independence [advocacy website] of the currently "semi-autonomous" region. In March, police in China detained 953 people [JURIST report], of whom 403 have been formally arrested, in connection with protests against Chinese rule in Tibet. In April, a Chinese court sentenced 30 people to prison for their roles in the protests. Chinese officials have blamed the exiled Dalai Lama [personal website] for organizing the protests.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Friday passed [roll call] a compromise version of a bill [HR 6304 materials] amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] and including a controversial provision granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The bill also grants the FISA court [governing provisions] authority to review a wider range of wiretapping orders, would prohibit the executive branch from overriding the court's authority, and orders the Department of Justice [official website] and other agencies to issue a report on the country's use of wiretapping orders. Earlier versions of the bill without the immunity provisions had also passed in the House, but President Bush has promised to veto [JURIST reports] any version of the bill without the language. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week and has already approved similar legislation including the immunity clause [JURIST report]. AP has more.

Many members of the House, which voted 293-129 in favor of the amendment, praised the compromise [press release] for providing new privacy protections and holding the executive branch more accountable for its surveillance program. Senate Judiciary Committee member Arlen Spector (R-PA) [official website] said he still would not vote for the bill [press release] because of the provisions, and the American Civil Liberties Union [official website] had even broader criticisms of the bill [press release], saying it still allowed for massive surveillance of international communications without proper review.

[JURIST] The European Council [official website] agreed [meeting report, PDF] at a Friday meeting of government leaders in Brussels to reconvene in October to discuss the future of the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. Last week, Irish voters rejected the Treaty [JURIST report] with 53.4 percent voting against it, raising serious concerns that the Treaty, which sets out guidelines for EU reform, will fail to gain full ratification in the EU. In a press release Friday, the Slovenian President of the EU called [press release] the Council meeting "very constructive," and said that he "sensed a very positive mood and a high level of solidarity" concerning the Treaty's prospects. Reuters has more. The Economist has additional coverage.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek [personal website] expressed doubt [BBC report] that his parliament would ratify the Treaty once the country's constitutional court declares that it conforms with the Czech constitution. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official profile] made similar comments, saying that the UK would not ratify the Treaty of Lisbon [BBC report] until the High Court rules on lawsuit which aims to force a referendum on the Treaty. In March, the House of Commons voted 311-248 against [JURIST report] putting ratification of the Treaty to a public referendum vote. The Treaty must be ratified by all 27 EU member states before it can take effect, though each country may choose the method of ratification. Leaders from the 27 countries that make up the European Union signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] last December, and fourteen countries have ratified the document [JURIST archive]. In 2005, an earlier draft for a European constitution [JURIST news archive] also failed when voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Court of Appeal of Quebec [official website] ruled [decision, in French; summary release] Thursday that a national law which regulates the use of human embryos and bans human cloning encroaches upon provincial authority. The court held that regulatory provisions included in the Assisted Human Reproduction Act [statute materials] fell within provincial authority to generally regulate health and medical research and were beyond the scope of the federal government's claimed interest in defining criminal activity. The court emphasized that the criminalization of practices such as human cloning, the sale of embryos, and the use of in vitro embryos for any purpose other than human reproduction were clearly within the federal government's authority [Constitution Act of 1867 text].

If the impugned provisions were to be validated on the basis of the federal jurisdiction over Criminal Law, it would follow, according to the Court, that very few, if any, cutting edge medical activities would escape the possibleintervention by Parliament. There is a risk, according to the Court, that withdrawing the practice of assisted human reproduction from the head of jurisdiction of health to include it in that of Criminal Law would amount to a Trojan Horse and would reduce substantially the jurisdiction of the provinces. Hence, such jurisdiction in health is not limited to building and managing hospitals, clinics and laboratories; it extends to setting standards for these activities taking place in each province, including the clinical and research activities related to assisted human reproduction, the patient-physician relationship, the supervision of professional orders, the consent to care, etc.

[JURIST] European nations are among the worst violators of refugee rights [country list] because of the countries' strict border policies and their treatment of refugee seekers, according to a report [materials] released by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) [official website] on Thursday. The 60 main refugee host countries were graded [grade report, PDF; report grading policy, PDF] based on their adherence to the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees [text], specifically evaluating refugee policies on physical protection, detention and access to courts, labor, and freedom of movement. The report criticized France and Britain [JURIST asylum reports] for returning asylum seekers to their home countries, and graded Russia as one of the worst refugee rights violators because of its "Byzantine system of rules and regulations that made it virtually impossible for asylum seekers to obtain legal refugee status." Five Asian countries, including Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as Iraq and the African nations of Sudan and Kenya, were also named the worst violators of refugee rights. AFP has more.

USCRI released the report a day before the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) World Refugee Day [press release], designed to highlight the "need and right to protection that refugees deserve." Of the countries included in the USCRI report, Benin, Brazil and Mali earned the highest score in each of the four categories. The United States earned low scores for its refugee policies on physical protection and access to courts, which the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF) [official website] also criticized [text; JURIST report] in early 2007.

[JURIST] A German court convicted an Iraqi man for disseminating terrorist materials online in an attempt to recruit members for al-Qaeda [JURIST news archive] on Thursday. The man, Ibrahim Rashid, an Iraqi political refugee of Kurdish descent, was convicted on 22 counts of recruiting for a non-German terrorist organization. He was arrested in 2006 and detained until his trial in the German city of Celle. Rashid is the first person to be convicted under a German law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive] that bans recruitment for terrorist groups. Rashid's defense lawyer had urged the court to acquit his client, arguing that convicting him could lead to unintended political abuse of the law. AFP has more. Deutsche-Welle has local coverage.

Thursday's conviction comes amid controversy over German anti-terrorism laws dealing with technology and the Internet. In February, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned [JURIST report] a 2006 state law that authorized intelligence agents to search personal computers, networks and Internet communications of terrorism suspects. In September 2007, German Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries proposed [JURIST report] new laws criminalizing the preparation of acts of terrorism, including the posting of bomb-making instructions on the Internet.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report [HRW materials; press release] Friday urging South Africa [JURIST news archive] to grant temporary asylum and work permits to Zimbabweans who have fled to the country. The group said that the South African Department of Home Affairs [official website] has mischaracterized the refugees fleeing "political repression and economic deprivation," as ordinary migrants and that massive government deportation efforts are in violation of international law. It calls on the government to legitimize the status of Zimbabweans in the country and to allow new refugees to enter legally:

The choice the South African government faces is difficult and stark. Either it continues to breach its fundamental obligations under international law and ignores the reality of the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Zimbabweans on its territory. To do this means allowing many to be mistreated by police, abused and exploited by employers, while many others are removed haphazardly, arbitrarily, expensively, and ineffectively to Zimbabwe (most returning back over the border within days or weeks)... Or the government can choose to regularize [the refugees'] stay.

A new system has been put in place in order to improve the refugee determination processes. The new Asylum Registration System links all offices electronically to prevent duplication of applications and enhance turn around times. We have also appointed almost 200 staff members, including new managers, to beef up capacity in all 5 Asylum determination offices.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] Thursday condemned the use of sexual violence [Resolution 1820 text and materials] against civilians as a war tactic, saying that it can be "a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide." The resolution, adopted unanimously after a debate on women, peace and security [press release], demands that warring parties immediately stop using sexual violence because it violates human rights and threatens international security by prolonging conflicts. Those accused of sexual violence should never be immune from prosecution, and UN member states must

comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice.

[JURIST] Several Bolivian opposition groups have said that the nation's new constitution is illegitimate, alleging that supporters of Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website, in Spanish; BBC profile] used legal loopholes to rush its approval. An International Crisis Group [official website] report [PDF text; ICG press release] released Thursday said the opposition may react to the constitutional reform attempts through violence. The opposition consists mainly of Unidad Nacional (UN), Poder Democratico y Social (PODEMOS), and Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) [official websites, in Spanish], who say the approval vote was mostly restricted to those in Morales' Movement Toward Socialism Party (MAS) [party website, in Spanish]. The government has said that the constitution was approved by a majority of elected delegates. UPI has more.

Bolivia's current constitution [text, in Spanish] prohibits a president from seeking election to consecutive terms. The new constitution, which gained preliminary approval by the Constitutional Assembly [JURIST report] in November 2007, allows the president to seek election to two consecutive five-year terms, gives the president more power over natural resources, and consolidates Bolivia's legislature. In March, Bolivia's National Electoral Court [official website] blocked a scheduled May 4 referendum [JURIST report] on the new constitution after finding that it failed to satisfy a constitutional provision requiring a national vote to be held within 90 days of congressional approval of new legislation. The referendum had been narrowly approved [JURIST report] in the National Congress [official website, in Spanish] earlier in the month.