[JURIST] The UN said Friday that it had reached a "broad understanding" [press release] with Pakistan on logistical issues and questions of access to government officials central to a potential investigation into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Thursday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi [official profile] to discuss the possible creation of UN commission. Bhutto was killed in December 2007 at a political rally in Rawalpindi after she returned to the country from exile to lead her party in parliamentary elections. In April, the National Assembly of Pakistan [official website] formally called for a UN probe [JURIST report] into Bhutto's assassination.

Bhutto widower Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile] has repeatedly called for an international probe [JURIST report] into her death and has accused President Pervez Musharraf's regime of involvement in the assassination. The prospect of an international probe into Bhutto's killing has nonetheless garnered some criticism [Guardian report] within Pakistan itself, and the US, supporting Musharraf, has taken the position that a UN investigation is unnecessary. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

In March, Pakistani authorities filed preliminary charges [JURIST report] against top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud [BBC profile] in relation to the killing. Meshud, who is the commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, a group of Islamic militants with links to al Qaeda, has denied any involvement in Bhutto's death.

[JURIST] The Flemish Parliament [official website, in Flemish] approved the new EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive] Friday, finalizing Belgian approval of the document, also known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text]. Jose Manuel Barroso [official profile], the president of the European Commission [official website], congratulated Belgium on its approval of the treaty in a statement [text, PDF] released Friday. According to Barroso's statement, twenty-two European countries have now approved the agreement, which had already received approval from the national government and all other Belgian regions except for Flanders. Reuters has more. FlandersNews has local coverage.

Some EU countries have delayed ratifying the treaty after Irish voters rejected it [JURIST reports] in June. The future of the pact is currently in doubt as it must be approved by all 27 EU states in order to take effect. EU leaders signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] last December, and 14 countries had ratified the document [JURIST news archive] before the Irish rejection. In 2005, an earlier draft European constitution [JURIST news archive] also failed when voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] Friday sentenced [DOJ press release] a former US Department of Defense (DOD) official to almost five years in prison for disclosing national defense information to Chinese agents. Gregg William Bergersen, an analyst at the DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency [official website], pleaded guilty [DOJ press release; JURIST report] to conspiracy for providing classified military information to Tai Kuo, a Louisiana businessman, who in turn gave the information to a Chinese foreign official. Kuo also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and could be sentenced to life in prison. In May, Yu Xin Kang [CICentre materials], a Chinese woman who is a permanent resident of New Orleans, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to charges of aiding and abetting espionage by acting as an intermediary between Kuo and Bergersen. Reuters has more.

In another Chinese espionage case, Dongfan "Greg" Chung, a former Chinese-American engineer at Boeing [corporate website], was arrested in February and charged with stealing corporate trade secrets [PDF indictment] related to aerospace programs and turning them over to China [JURIST news archive]. Chung's and Bergersen's activities were allegedly linked by Chi Mak [CI Centre backgrounder; JURIST report], a Chinese-American engineer sentenced [JURIST report] in March for conspiring to smuggle sensitive naval intelligence data to China.

[JURIST] A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected [opinion, PDF; CREW press release] a Bush administration appeal against a 2007 order [PDF text] requiring that White House visitor logs be released in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text]. The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the appeal because the lower court had only ordered the White House to process a FOIA request rather than to disclose all documents. In 2007, the district court ruled [opinion, PDF] that White House visitor logs were public documents [press release] and are thus subject to FOIA requests. The Bush administration had argued that the logs are presidential property, meaning that they would fall outside the domain of the FOIA. Advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] brought the lawsuit, seeking logs regarding the White House visits of prominent conservative religious figures, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. AP has more.

In October 2006, US District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the Secret Service to release visitor logs [JURIST report] for the personal residence and office of Vice President Dick Cheney. The order was issued following a lawsuit by the Washington Post, which had requested the logs in June while researching White House ties to political lobbyists. The Justice Department filed an appeal against the order [JURIST report] in December 2006.

[JURIST] Members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement [JURIST news archive] rallied Thursday against the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] and party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for failing to reinstate judges deposed after the declaration of emergency [JURIST report] by President Pervez Musharraf [official profile; JURIST news archive] in November 2007. Among the deposed judges are a number of justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website], including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. Speakers at the protest, including prominent lawyers' movement leader Hamid Khan, urged the PPP and the Pakistani government to implement the conditions of the Murree Accord [News backgrounder], and indicated that the movement would not accept judges who had been appointed as a result of the declaration of emergency. From Pakistan, the News has more.

Last week, the reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule and the ouster of the judges [JURIST report]. Days before the judgment, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan [JURIST news archive] strongly criticized US policy on Pakistan [JURIST report], including its refusal to condemn the declaration of emergency rule. In June, members of the lawyers' movement concluded a "long march" protest [JURIST report] from Lahore to Islamabad, calling for the reinstatement of the dismissed judges. Earlier that month, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz called for Musharraf's impeachment [JURIST report] and released a "charge sheet" outlining misuse of presidential authority, including the dismissal of the country's superior court judges.

[JURIST] Singapore's Ministry of Law [official website] Wednesday rejected claims by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) [official website] that the country lacks an independent judiciary and fails to meet international standards of human rights. In its response [press release] to the claims, the Ministry rejected the IBAHRI's call for the country to provide increased protections of the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and to ensure a more politically insulated judiciary. The Ministry said the group was biased in its assessment and that the country had already responded [PDF letter] to such concerns:

Singapore, like nearly all countries, subscribes to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights are interpreted and implemented according to the specific histories, cultures and circumstances of each country. Every society must find and decide the appropriate balance between rights and responsibilities for themselves. Human rights groups in IBAHRI have closed ranks with other Western human rights NGOs to prescribe for Singapore and all new countries, especially China, Western norms of liberal democracy as the only way to bring stability and prosperity. They believe that free market policies cannot succeed without Western liberal democracy, and it is their mission to make other societies adopt the Western model.

[JURIST] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile] misappropriated approximately $100,000 by double-billing different sources for travel and hotel expenses, Israeli police said Friday after questioning the politician. Olmert's travel agency, Rishon Tours, would allegedly ask various state agencies and charities to pay Olmert's travel bills without telling them that other bodies were also being asked to pay the same bills. The new allegations come as part of a continuing investigation into accusations of corruption surrounding Olmert's relationship with US businessman Morris Talansky. State prosecutors say Olmert personally received cash payments [Jerusalem Post report; JURIST report] from Talansky while serving as a minister of industry, trade and labor. In May, police raided Olmert's offices [JURIST report] in search of evidence. Olmert has denied all wrongdoing. AP has more. Ha'aretz has local coverage.

Olmert has been accused of questionable business dealings for the past several years. In April 2007, Olmert was investigated for improperly favoring his supporters [JURIST report] in distributing business grants during his time as trade minister. In January 2007, the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced plans to launch an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations that he promoted the interests of two business associates during the 2005 state sale of Bank Leumi [corporate website]. Throughout these scandals, Olmert has maintained that he is innocent. Law enforcement officials had indicated that the investigation into Olmert revealed evidence that could lead to additional charges [Ha'aretz report].

[JURIST] The Thai Attorney General's Office filed new corruption charges against former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in the country's Supreme Court Friday. The charges relate to a 2003 resolution that reduced fees paid by mobile phone companies to state telecommunications agencies. A company then owned by Thaksin's family saw the greatest benefit from the new payment scheme, leading to claims that Thaksin misused his authority for personal gain. Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup [JURIST report] in 2006, is involved in twenty-four legal actions. On Tuesday, Thaksin went on trial on corruption charges [JURIST report] related to a 2003 land purchase his wife arranged with a government-directed institution despite a ban on officials making business deals with government agencies. AP has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

Also this week, the opposition Democrat party announced it would launch an impeachment bid against current Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] after a series of court decisions against key government officials. On Wednesday, the Thai Constitutional Court [official website, in Thai] dismissed Thai Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsup from office after finding he had violated finance laws by not declaring certain assets held by his wife. On Tuesday, the court had ruled [JURIST report] that a June cabinet communique signed by Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama in support of a World Heritage site on Thailand's border with Cambodia was unconstitutional [PDF press release, in Thai]. Opposition parties moved to seek Noppadon's impeachment, but Noppadon stepped down [Bangkok Post report] Thursday.

[JURIST] Human rights groups and defense lawyers have criticized the refusal of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official profile] to interfere with US proceedings against Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] in light of documents [text, PDF] released Thursday showing that the Canadian government knew Khadr had been mistreated [JURIST report]. Harper spoke Friday of the severity of the criminal charges against Khadr, and called the Guantanamo process necessary to discover the truth. Harper also stressed that the US has assured Canada that the treatment of Khadr is humane. Amnesty International Canada (AI) [advocacy website] said in an open letter [text, PDF] that the treatment revealed by the documents constitutes torture, and that Canadian inaction is indefensible and unjust:

It is shocking to learn that as far back as five years ago Canadian officials knew of the torture and ill-treatment Omar Khadr had experienced but did not intervene on his behalf. Instead at that time, much as today, the government had insisted that they had received assurances from US officials that Mr. Khadr was being well-treated, in a manner consistent with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, and that there was therefore no reason for Canada to intervene. Today's revelations underscore how unreliable and hollow those assurances were.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] announced that next week it will rule on a Mexican petition [press release, PDF] asking to delay the executions of five Mexicans on death row in the US. Mexican authorities allege that US officials denied the five men the chance to speak with Mexican counselor officers in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations [text]. Last month, Mexico asked the ICJ to rule on its request for provisional measures and to clarify a 2004 ruling [ruling and case materials; JURIST report] holding that such executions violated international law. The group of Mexicans includes Jose Ernesto Medellin [ASIL backgrounder; JURIST news archive], who is scheduled to be executed August 5. In May, a Texas court set Medellin's execution date [JURIST report] after the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in March that President George W. Bush did not have the authority to direct state courts to comply with the ICJ's order for new court hearings. Reuters has more.

In 2005, the Mexican Congress voted to remove the death penalty [JURIST report] from the Mexican constitution. While Mexico had not carried out a death sentence in the previous 43 years and regularly refused to hand over suspects to the US who faced a potential death sentence, the practice was still legal in military courts. The same year, the US asked Texas [JURIST report] to rehear the cases of 51 Mexicans sentenced to death in the state after their sentences were deemed improper [ruling and case materials; JURIST report] by the ICJ.

[JURIST] The European Parliament (EP) [official website] voted Thursday to adopt a resolution [text; EP press release] calling on member states to "review and repeal laws and policies that discriminate against the Roma on the basis of race and ethnicity." The EP resolution also calls on the European Commission and EU member states to

enact legislation and policies to support Roma communities while promoting their integration in all fields to launch anti-racism and anti-discrimination programmes in schools, employment and the media and to enhance the exchange of expertise and best practices [sic]

[JURIST] The Italian Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Italian], the country's lower house of parliament, approved legislation [PDF text, in Italian; Draft Law 1442 materials] Thursday that would grant Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and other high-ranking officials immunity from prosecution while in office. Berlusconi's government proposed the legislation, saying the officials needed to operate without fear of politically motivated prosecutions, but opponents have said the law is specifically tailored to suspend Berlusconi's own trial on corruption charges [JURIST news archive]. The Chamber is also considering public safety legislation [PDF text, in Italian; JURIST report] that would suspend trials for non-violent crimes that occurred before 2002. Supporters say that the measure would help fix the congested criminal law system, but opponents say it is politically motivated because it would also suspend some of the charges against Berlusconi. The immunity law passed the Chamber by a wide margin and is also expected to be approved when considered by the Senate. BBC News has more.

Italy has recently faced significant criticism by both advocacy groups and members of the country's judiciary [JURIST reports] for relaxing its anti-corruption measures. The majority of the criticism has been targeted at Berlusconi, who has faced trial on at least six occasions involving charges of false accounting, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and giving false testimony [JURIST reports]. In October 2007, Italy's highest court of appeals upheld Berlusconi's April 2007 acquittal [JURIST reports] on bribery charges. That trial was initially blocked in 2004 by a bill drafted by Berlusconi ally and later defense lawyer Gaetano Pecorella but went ahead after the bill was struck down as unconstitutional. Berlusconi has said he is innocent on all charges and has accused prosecutors of pursuing a political vendetta against him.

[JURIST] Former UK shadow Home Secretary David Davis [party profile], who resigned [statement text; JURIST report] his parliamentary position in protest over an anti-terror bill [materials; BBC Q/A] in June, won a forced by-election Friday with almost 72% of the vote. In his acceptance speech [text], Davis promised to stand for civil liberties and oppose what he termed "draconian" security measures:

Today, the people of Haltemprice and Howden have delivered a stunning message to the government ... as our campaign has reverberated across the country. Four weeks ago as Gordon Brown stooped into the gutter to rig the vote on 42 days, Ministers crowed that 69% of people supported 42 days. Today just 36% support it. Four weeks ago, the government touted public support for a range of other draconian measures. Today, 71% support my stand against the attacks on British liberty. And in the House of Lords, the last Head of MI5 savaged the government's 42 day proposal. It now lies in tatters, robbed of any remaining credibility. Along with this government. And that's after just 3 weeks.

[JURIST] Arab activist Sami Al-Arian [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] was granted bail Thursday by a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website], but it is speculated that he might be detained by immigration officials upon release. The former University of South Florida (USF) [official website] computer science professor allegedly provided supported to terrorist organizations. Judge Leonie Brinkema [official profile] agreed with the motion for bail [PDF text] made by Al-Arian's lawyers earlier this month, finding that he was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. Al-Arian agreed to conditions for his release, such as electronic monitoring, to guarantee his appearance at his criminal contempt hearing scheduled for August. In his blog [post], Al-Arian's lawyer Jonathan Turley said that Brinkema was concerned about government interference with a plea agreement requiring Al-Arian to be deported following completion of his federal prison sentence. Brinkema reportedly said that the plea agreement still applied, preventing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] officials from taking Al-Arian into custody, and that he could not be held indefinitely to prevent his deportation. The Washington Post has more. AP has additional coverage.

Al-Arian was arrested in February 2003 [JURIST report] and indicted [PDF text] on charges of supporting terrorism based on comments he made in the wake of 9/11 and his association with an Islamic think tank at USF in the 1990s. In 2005 he was acquitted [JURIST report] on eight of 17 terrorism charges. The next year he pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to one charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad [CDI backgrounder] in violation of US law and agreed to be deported after serving a 57-month sentence. Al-Arian then refused to testify before grand juries that were investigating a group of Islamic charities, and he was charged with contempt [JURIST report]. Last year an appeals court upheld [JURIST report] the contempt ruling.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; ACLU press release] against leaders of the US intelligence community on Thursday, acting on behalf of rights groups and activists. Filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the action challenges the constitutionality [ACLU backgrounder] of the newly-amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive]. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law [HR 6304 text, PDF; press release] Thursday, allowing wider and less-regulated government monitoring of international communications. Bush said that the law is necessary to help intelligence officials keep the country safe, but critics, including ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, have argued [press release] that it violates the Constitution and erodes privacy rights:

Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires.

[JURIST] The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [PDF opinion]. Thursday that Virginia's method of execution by lethal injection [JURIST news archive] does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Virginia death row inmate Christopher Scott Emmett [advocacy profile] had challenged the procedure, arguing that there is an unacceptable risk that the drugs used in the lethal injection cocktail would cause pain before taking their full effect. The court based its ruling on the US Supreme Court [official website] decision in Baze v. Rees [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], in which the court held Kentucky's use of a three-drug lethal injection cocktail [DPIC backgrounder] does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Judge William Traxler wrote the majority opinion, where he spoke about the similarities between Kentucky's lethal injection method approved in Baze and the method used in Virginia:

Virginia is one of the thirty states that has adopted the three-drug combination discussed in Baze. Although there are some minor variations, the protocol is largely identical to that of Kentucky and, like Kentucky's, includes a number of safeguards designed to ensure that the lethal chemicals are properly administered intravenously in a quick, humane fashion.

Having reviewed the record de novo, we conclude that Virginia's protocol is substantially similar to Kentucky's protocol and that Emmett has failed as a matter of law to demonstrate a substantial or objectively intolerable risk that he will receive an inadequate dose of thiopental, particularly in light of the training and safeguards implemented by Virginia prior to and during the execution process.

[I]t is enough to observe that Virginia is not constitutionally required to eliminate every possibility that pain might occur or every unnecessary risk that may exist. Because Virginia's rapid-flow induction procedure does not present a “substantial” or “objectively intolerable” risk of serious harm to Emmett, its use is a judgment call entrusted to the officials of the Department of Corrections.