[JURIST] The US and coalition forces have released more than 9,000 detainees in Iraq already this year, more than were released in all of 2007, according to a statement [press release] issued Wednesday by the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) [official website]. The MNF-I reported that 9,047 detainees had been released in the year to date, while 8,956 were released in 2007. The statement also indicated that coalition forces have are holding "a steadily decreasing number of individuals determined to be security threat," and have used a "holistic" assessment program to determine the level of danger present by detainees. According to the press release, less than one percent of detainees released since September 2007 have re-entered the detention system. AP has more.

Coalition detention practices have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Moshyar Zebarai [BBC profile] indicated that disagreements between the US and Iraq, including controversy concerning detainees, are still blocking a permanent Status of Forces Agreement [JURIST report] between the two countries. In June, Physicians for Human Rights released a report substantiating claims of abuse and torture [JURIST report] by detainees held in coalition prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives]. In May, a report released by the US Department of Justice found that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were present when "borderline torture" interrogation tactics were used on detainees [JURIST report], including in Iraq.

[JURIST] Former White House advisor Karl Rove [official profile] Wednesday refused to testify before a scheduled Thursday hearing of the US House Judiciary Committee [official website; hearing materials] in defiance of a subpoena. In May, the committee subpoenaed [CNN report] Rove to testify concerning any involvement in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman [official profile; JURIST news archive] on federal corruption charges in 2005. Rove Wednesday sent a letter [PDF text] to committee chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) [official website] indicating that he is exerting executive privilege and would therefore not comply with the subpoena. Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) Thursday rejected [ruling, PDF; press release] Rove's privilege claims:

The courts have made clear that Executive Privilege applies only to discussions involving the President and to communications from or to presidential advisers "in the course of preparing advice for the President." But the White House has maintained that the President never received any advice on, and was not himself involved in, the US Attorney firings and related events.

The presidential communications privilege simply does not come into play here at all.

For all the foregoing reasons, as stated more fully in my written ruling, I hereby rule that Mr. Rove's claims of immunity are not legally valid, and his refusal to comply with the subpoena and appear at this hearing to answer questions cannot be properly justified.

These reasons are without prejudice to one another and to any other defects that may, after further examination, be found to exist in the asserted claims.

[JURIST] South Korean prosecutors indicted two former naval officers on charges of stealing state secrets Thursday. The two men, now working for German submarine manufacturer Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft [corporate website, in German], allegedly obtained classified documents about South Korea's submarine program from a navy captain, who is also under investigation. AFP has more.

Cases involving the alleged theft of state secrets have been prevalent recently. In May, a Chinese woman who is a permanent resident of New Orleans pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to charges of aiding and abetting espionage by passing US national defense information to Chinese agents. In 2006, Ching Cheong [advocacy website], chief China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times [media website], was sentenced to five years in jail by a Chinese court after being convicted on charges of selling state secrets and spying for Taiwan [JURIST report]. Cheong was paroled [JURIST report] in February.

[JURIST] The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) [official website] reached a settlement Thursday with nine Iraqi men who say they were tortured while detained by British troops [JURIST report] in Basra in 2003. A MOD spokesman said the military had agreed to pay £2.83 million in compensation, as well as issue an apology and an admission of liability. The family of Baha Mousa [BBC report; JURIST news archive], a tenth man who died in custody, was also included in the settlement. Seven soldiers faced court-martial [BBC timeline] in connection with Mousa's death. BBC News has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

Of the seven soldiers charged, only one, Corporal David Payne, faced jail time after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] to a charge of inhumane treatment. All other charges were dismissed [JURIST report]. In August 2007, lawyers for the Iraqi plaintiffs accused the Ministry of Defence of withholding evidence [JURIST report]. In March, UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne [official profile] admitted that British soldiers had violated the human rights [JURIST report] of the Basra detainees, saying that the MOD would specifically admit to substantive breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text].

[JURIST] The district court of The Hague ruled Thursday that it does not have jurisdiction to hear a case against the UN for its alleged failure to protect civilians during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Srebrenica survivors who filed the lawsuit alleged that both the Netherlands and the UN were liable for their failure to protect civilians who had fled to the camp after it was declared [resolution, PDF] a "safe area" by the UN Security Council in 1993. The court began considering the case in November before conceding to the UN's claim of immunity [JURIST report; press briefing transcript] under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations [text, PDF].  The ruling does not prevent the related case against the Netherlands from going forward, and a lawyer for the plaintiffs said that they will appeal the UN case ruling as far as the European Court of Human Rights [official website]. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Tom Karremans, commander of the Dutch peacekeepers, testified [JURIST report] in 2005 that Dutch troops could not intervene to protect the refugees because early phases of the massacre had initially been represented as an "evacuation." An independent report [text] by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation [official website] found that Bosnian Muslims had been mistakenly advised by Dutch troops to leave from the Srebrenica enclave, although it absolved the Dutch troops of blame because it said the peacekeepers were outnumbered, lightly armed, insufficiently supplied, denied air support, and under rules of engagement that permitted only self-defense.

[JURIST] The UK Employment Tribunal [official website] Thursday found [judgment, PDF] for a central-London registrar who says she was harassed for refusing to perform same-sex civil unions on religious grounds. Lillian Ladele alleged that her colleagues at the Islington Council [official website] threatened and excluded her in retaliation for her beliefs, and she characterized the tribunal's decision as a victory for religious freedom. The council's Executive Member for Human Resources John Gilbert complained that the decision did not resolve questions over whether registrars could be required to perform civil partnerships. He said the council was considering an appeal. BBC News has more.

The tribunal's decision immediately sparked reaction from gay rights, secular, and religious groups. Gay rights group Stonewall denounced prejudice [Pink News report] among marriage registrars. The National Secular Society condemned the ruling [press release], saying that public officials are required to perform their duties regardless of their personal beliefs, while the Christian Institute, which funded Ladele's representation before the tribunal, praised [press release] the decision as preserving religious liberties.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Wednesday ruled [opinion, PDF] that an Arizona election law requiring that independent presidential candidates register earlier than those affiliated with political parties was unconstitutional. Presidential candidate Ralph Nader [campaign website] had filed a challenge to the deadline, arguing that it violated his rights to free speech under the First Amendment [text]. Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer [official website] had argued that the early registration requirement was necessary to give the state time to print accurate ballots, but the court ruled that the same deadline should be imposed on all candidates. The appellate court also overturned a law that only state residents could circulate nomination petitions, finding that the regulation was not sufficiently narrowly tailored to address the state's ostensible anti-fraud goals. Nader had argued the regulation violated his Fourteenth Amendment [text] right to free association. Brewer said that the state may appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. Capitol Media Services has more.

The case stems from Nader's 2004 presidency bid. Also in 2004, Nader asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court [official website] to restore his name to the state's presidential ballot after the state Commonwealth Court invalidated his nominating petition [JURIST report; opinion and order, PDF]. Nader argued that the Commonwealth Court erred in its decision by ruling that petition signatories needed to be registered voters rather than qualified electors.

[JURIST] French President Nicolas Sarkozy [official website, in French] Thursday told [translated audio, ASF; press release] the European Parliament [official website] that the European Union (EU) should quickly resolve conflicts over the proposed EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text], so the body can move on to other issues. Sarkozy called on member states to ratify the treaty, but joined others in rejecting the possibility [JURIST report] of implementing the accord without ratification by all members. He said he would not support plans to expand EU membership to Croatia or other Balkan states until the agreement was enacted, and that the parliament's 2009 elections would have to be held under the existing Treaty of Nice [treaty materials]. Passage of the new treaty has been stalled since Irish voters rejected it last month [JURIST report] in a national referendum, and Sarkozy has said he plans to go to the country on July 21 to seek a resolution. BBC News has more. RTE has additional coverage.

Leaders from the 27 countries that make up the EU signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] last December, and 14 countries had ratified the document [JURIST archive] before the Irish rejection. Several countries, including the UK and the Netherlands, have continued their ratification processes, but Polish President Lech Kaczynski said signing the treaty would be pointless in light of the rejection, and other leaders have put off further consideration on ratification [JURIST reports] until a meeting scheduled for October.

[JURIST] The Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) [official website] announced Thursday that it will investigate Australian mining company Oceana Gold [corporate website] for possible human rights violations at the site of a planned gold and copper mine in Didipio, Philippines. According to CHR chairwoman Leila M. De Lima [official profile], Oceana Gold has been involved in the destruction of local homes near the mine site, as well as the physical intimidation, assault, and shootings of local residents opposed to construction of the mine. AFP has more. The Philippine Daily Inquirer has local coverage.

Some advocacy groups, including Oxfam Australia [advocacy website], have worked to spread awareness of local opposition to the Didipio mine [Oxfam backgrounder]. Local activists believe that the planned open-air strip mine will cause unnecessary environmental and health risks, as well as destroy traditional farmland and endanger local culture. In September 2007, Oxfam Australia published a report [text, PDF] by their mining ombudsman containing allegations that Oceana Gold and its representatives harassed and intimidated local residents, sought approval for the mining project in inappropriate ways such as through bribes, and sought to circumvent regulatory requirements to gain local consent for the mining project.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] Thursday acquitted [press release; judgment summary] Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski of charges related to the deaths of seven ethnic Albanian civilians, but sentenced his former bodyguard to 12 years in prison. Johan Tarculovski was accused of directing the attack that led to the deaths of civilians in the village of Ljuboten [HRW backgrounder] during a 2001 conflict between local ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Macedonian government security forces. As interior minister, Boskovski was accused of having command and control over the armed forces at the time of the alleged massacre. AP has more.

Boskovski and Tarculovski, the only Macedonians indicted by the ICTY, were surrendered to the ICTY in 2005 after being charged with war crimes [JURIST reports]. Boskovski has also been in prison for charges relating to the murder of seven immigrants while he was the interior minister in 2002. Both went to trial [JURIST report] before the ICTY last year.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] released documents [text, PDF] Wednesday indicating that the Canadian government knew he had been mistreated at the detention center before agents questioned him in 2004. The documents include reports on interviews with Khadr, and were among those the government was compelled to hand over to Khadr's defense following a ruling [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] last month. One of the documents recounts Khadr's treatment before questioning by Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade [official website] intelligence officer Jim Gould over the course of four days in 2004 :

In an effort to make him more amenable and willing to talk, [redacted] has placed Umar on the frequent flyer program: for the three weeks before Mr Gould's visit, Umar has not been permitted more than three hours in any one location. At three hour intervals he is moved to another cell block, thus denying him uninterrupted sleep and a continued change of neighbours. He will soon be placed in isolation for up to three weeks and then he will be interviewed again.

[JURIST] The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website, in Russian] Thursday said [press release, in Russian] the recent acquittal of Bosnian Muslim war crimes suspect Naser Oric [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] shows that the court is politically biased, and it should be closed before the expiration of its mandate in 2010 [JURIST report]. Oric was convicted of war crimes [JURIST report] by the ICTY in June 2006 for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serb prisoners in Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] by military police under his command. The ICTY Appeals Chamber reversed his conviction [judgment summary, JURIST report] last week and said that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Oric knew or had reason to know the police he commanded would commit war crimes. In the statement, Russia said Oric's original sentence was unusually lenient, and that the acquittal showed the court's complete inability to serve as an impartial adjudicator. Reuters has more. RIA Novosti has additional coverage.

The indictment [text] against Oric had alleged that military police under his command beat Serb detainees with metal bars, baseball bats and rifle butts and extracted teeth with pliers. Oric was charged with failing to prevent abuses by military police under his command, and was also charged with responsibility for destruction of Serb villages around Srebrenica. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released immediately following his conviction as he had already been detained for two years. Former ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte appealed the sentence [JURIST report] in July 2006, after having called for an 18-year prison term.

[JURIST] Officials for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced Wednesday that they will revise the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations [text, PDF] to no longer induce waivers of the attorney-client privilege and to limit what sensitive information investigators may gather. The announcement was part of a DOJ oversight hearing [materials] by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and was included in a letter from Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip [official profile] to Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), who have both opposed the current wide prosecutorial discretion in business organization cases. In response, Leahy wrote [press release]:

Filip’s letter appears to be an encouraging development. The proposed policy would ensure that the Department will evaluate corporate cooperation based on the information provided, rather than whether or not a corporation waived the privilege; limits the types of privileged information that may be requested; and makes clear that the Department cannot consider whether a corporation covered employee legal expenses or sanctioned its employees.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] on Wednesday ordered a federal court to hold an evidentiary hearing to consider whether a man sentenced to death for murder might be mentally retarded. After Michael Wayne Hall was convicted of the 1998 killing of a 19-year-old woman, he claimed at state habeas proceedings that he was mentally retarded. While Hall's state habeas claim was pending in Texas, the Supreme Court decided Atkins v. Virginia [text], holding that the execution of mentally retarded individuals is unconstitutional and outlining heightened standards for determining a defendant's developmental status. The Fifth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that Hall is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to prove his contentions because:

[T]he facts before us are a core manifestation of a case where the state fails to provide a full and fair hearing and where such a hearing would bring out facts which, if proven true, support habeas relief...[T]he state court's erroneous factfinding and its refusal to accept more than paper submissions despite the development of a new constitutional standard and a lack of guidance from the state on that standard deprived Hall of a full and fair hearing at the state level...Given the material errors in credibility determinations and factfinding at the state level, we are persuaded that the determination of Hall's claim, caught in the immediate uncertainty following Atkins, was so freighted with a risk of error in factfinding that the failure of the district court below to conduct a meaningful hearing was an abuse of discretion in these unusual and unique circumstances.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] Wednesday affirmed the conviction [JURIST report] of a Pakistani man tried for conspiring to bomb a New York City subway station. On appeal, Shahawar Matin Siraj (Matin) argued that the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure [text] required police to produce reports memorializing oral statements that he made to an undercover police officer. The court rejected [opinion, PDF] Matin's argument, concluding that

[B]y explicitly designating as discoverable only those written memorializations of oral statements made in response to interrogation by a known government agent...Rule 16 implicitly excludes from its scope written memorializations of other oral statements such as those at issue here.