[JURIST] The Washington DC City Council on Tuesday passed emergency temporary legislation [PDF text; press release] to amend the city's long-standing ban on handguns. The amendment is intended to bring the city ordinance more in line with the recent US Supreme Court decision [JURIST report] in District of Columbia v. Heller [Duke Law backgrounder], which found that the ban violated the Second Amendment [text] to the US Constitution. The new rule requires residents to pass a background check, an eye exam, and a ballistics test before being allowed to register a gun. It also restricts ownership to guns that carry less than 12 rounds of ammunition and mandates that guns either have trigger locks or be stored unloaded and unassembled. The new rule will expire in 90 days, after which the council is scheduled to discuss more permanent gun legislation. AP has more. The Washington Post has local coverage.

The Supreme Court ruling was the first that directly addressed the Second Amendment since 1939's US v. Miller [case materials]. In September 2007, Washington DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and DC Attorney General Linda Singer [official profiles] formally appealed a March 2007 federal court ruling which invalidated the District of Columbia's handgun ban [JURIST reports]. The decision affirms the March DC Circuit holding [opinion, PDF] that the city's 30-year-old ban on private possession of handguns was unconstitutionally broad.

[JURIST] The Spanish Justice Ministry Tuesday filed a challenge in Spain's Constitutional Court [official website, in Spanish] to block a planned Basque region referendum on increased autonomy. The referendum, approved by the Basque Parliament last month, will ask citizens whether the Basque government [official website] should begin negotiations for increased regional self-determination and whether it should initiate peace talks with Basque separatist group ETA [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], provided that ETA renounces violence. The planned referendum was officially recorded as law earlier Tuesday. The national government has denounced it as illegal. AFP has more.

ETA has been waging a terrorist campaign in pursuit of an independent Basque state since the 1960s. Recently, the group was implicated in a December 2006 Madrid airport bombing [CNN report] that killed two Ecuadoran men and shattered a 15-month ETA ceasefire. ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in bombings and attacks.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] said [press release] Monday that the US terrorist watchlist [FBI FAQ] is too large, contains inaccuracies, and should include more safeguards to prevent the unnecessary targeting of passengers for additional security screenings. The group estimated that the register now includes more than one million names [ACLU backgrounder], which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said accounts for about 400,000 people [Washington Times report] because of the list's inclusion of aliases. The group said the list was too large to be effective, often resulted in the screening of people with identical or similar names to those on the list, and included the names of deceased people. Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, Barry Steinhardt, commented:

America's new million record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources, treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought, and is a very real impediment in the lives of millions of travelers in this country. It must be fixed without delay.

[JURIST] Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme [personal website, in Dutch] submitted his resignation [press release, in Dutch] Monday night because of his coalition government's inability to successfully divide federal powers between the Flemish- and French-speaking communities. Leterme had set a deadline of July 15 for the four-month-old coalition [founding text, PDF, in Dutch] to agree on constitutional reforms to grant increased autonomy to the two regions. Leterme said that the current federation system of Dutch government [official backgrounder] was incapable of solving the problem, since the wealthier Flemish region wanted even greater autonomy and the Francophone region maintained that the Flemish move was meant to completely separate itself from the rest of the country. Belgium's King Albert II has reportedly rejected the resignation [Deutsche Welle report]. AP has more. Bloomberg has additional coverage.

Dutch nationalist groups have pushed for the prosperous Dutch-speaking region of Flanders [government website, in English] to become more autonomous, which has led to accusations that the province is seeking to break away from the poorer French-speaking province of Wallonia [government website, in French]. Last year, the country faced a constitutional voting-rights disagreement [Reuters report] over similar issues of linguistic regional autonomy after June elections failed to produce a cohesive government. Talks to form a coalition government lasted more than six months, leading to concerns that the regions would separate into different countries.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday upheld [text, PDF] the dismissal of a libel case brought against the New York Times by former US Army biodefense research scientist Dr. Stephen Hatfill [WP profile]. In its ruling, the court agreed with the decision of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that Dr. Hatfill was a "limited public figure" and failed to prove that the New York Times used "actual malice" in publishing columns naming him as a suspect in a federal investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks [GWU backgrounder].  New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff had profiled a suspect in the anthrax investigation, eventually naming Dr. Hatfill as the prime suspect. Dr. Hatfill was also named by then-US Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "person of interest" in the investigation. In its ruling, the court held that:

Because Dr. Hatfill voluntarily thrust himself into the controversy surrounding the threat of bioterrorism and the nation’s lack of preparedness for a bioterrorism attack, we agree with the district court’s finding that he was a "limited-purpose public figure" and therefore was required to show actual malice. And because Dr. Hatfill did not demonstrate actual malice, the district court properly entered judgment in favor of The New York Times Company. We also conclude that Dr. Hatfill did not present evidence sufficient to prove intentional infliction of emotional distress.

[JURIST] An Italian court Monday found 15 police officers and medical staff members guilty of abusing anti-globalization protesters [JURIST report] who were taken into custody during the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa [official website; BBC backgrounder]. The protesters said they were subjected to threats and physical abuse, and were denied food and access to their consulates while being held in a Genoa detention center. The court found the officials guilty of crimes ranging from abuse to inhuman and degrading treatment, but cleared the charges of 30 others. A lawyer for the officials said they plan to appeal the ruling [Adnkronos report], and the protesters are also expected to file a civil suit [Telegraph report] against the government for the mistreatment. The court is still considering a separate case in which police are accused of abuses stemming from the raid on a school where other protesters were staying during the summit. AP has more. Corriere della Sera has local coverage, in Italian.

Immediately after the protests and reports of abuse, Amnesty International (AI) called for a full investigation [press release] into the mistreatment. In July 2006 the group urged the Italian government to institute reforms to prevent future abuses [press release], but said that the government had not done so in the five years since the incident.

[JURIST] The Australian Federal Court ruled [opinion] Tuesday that a law giving police regulatory powers over potentially "annoying" behavior during World Youth Day (WYD) [official website] was unconstitutional and possibly exceeded legislative intent. Section 7(1)(b) of the World Youth Day Amendment Regulation 2008 [text, PDF], designed to amend and supplement Section 58 of the original World Youth Day Act 2006 [text], allowed officials to fine those who failed to comply with police orders up to $5,500 AUD. Activists from the NoToPope Coalition (NTPC) [organization website] who planned to protest some of Pope Benedict XVI's social viewpoints during his WYD visit sued [NTPC press release], saying the law abridged their freedom of communication and overstepped legislative intent. In its opinion, the court agreed that freedoms could only be so limited through clear legislative intent, and wrote that :

[T]he conduct regulated by cl 7(1)(b) so far as it relates to "annoyance" may extend to expressions of opinion which neither disrupt nor interfere with the freedoms of others, nor are objectively offensive in the sense traditionally used in State criminal statutes. Breach of this provision as drafted affects freedom of speech in a way that, in our opinion, is not supported by the statutory power conferred by s 58 properly construed. Moreover there is no intelligible boundary within which the "causes annoyance" limb of s 7 can be read down to save it as a valid expression of the regulating power.

[JURIST] Indonesia [JURIST news archive] on Tuesday formally accepted a joint Indonesian-East-Timorese Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) [official website] finding that Indonesia was responsible for human rights violations following a 1999 referendum in which East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia [BBC backgrounder]. This is the first time that Indonesia has accepted any responsibility for the attacks in East Timor, which it has previously blamed on local militias. In a report obtained by AFP, CTF suggested that perpetrators of the violence be brought before a human rights court. Both Indonesian and East Timorese leaders rejected calls for prosecution, noting that it could hinder the reconciliation process between the two nations, but Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono [official website] promised to implement other recommendations by the CTF. AFP has more. The Los Angeles Times has additional coverage.

Last year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the CTF for violating international humanitarian standards [JURIST report] because it allowed amnesty for some perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda responded [JURIST report] that the government of East Timor had voluntarily agreed to the CTF to resolve past disputes without injuring long-term relations with Indonesia. The East Timorese government has rejected the establishment of an international tribunal to try those responsible for human rights abuses allegedly committed after the 1999 referendum. Ban indicated that UN officials would not testify [press release] before the CTF and that the UN "would not support the work of the CTF and thereby further the possible grant of amnesties." The CTF, established [terms of reference] in 2005 by the East Timorese and Indonesian governments, does not have independent authority to prosecute suspects.

[JURIST] Malaysian authorities have issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] following his failure to appear at a Malaysian police station to give a statement regarding sodomy allegations [JURIST report] made against him by a former aide. According to police, Ibrahim had been scheduled to appear at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters Monday at 2:00 PM to make the statement, but Anwar's lawyer asserted [Anwar blog post] he had been told the deadline would be Wednesday at 2:00 PM. The lawyer indicated that Anwar intends to comply with the government's request, and that he will give a statement Wednesday morning to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Agency [official website]. AP has more. From Malaysia, the Daily Star has local coverage.

Anwar has claimed that the sodomy allegations leveled against him are politically motivated, and filed a lawsuit against his accuser [JURIST report] in late June. Under Malaysian law, sodomy is punishable by 20 years in prison regardless of consent. Anwar was Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister under former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad [BBC profile] until he was fired in 1998 following earlier sodomy charges of which he was initially convicted but later acquitted. He only recently reentered Malaysian politics following the expiration of a ten-year ban [JURIST report] against him for unrelated corruption charges. Earlier this month the Federal Court of Malaysia ruled he could challenge the constitutionality [JURIST report] of his original dismissal from office.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] released an excerpt [video; transcript] Tuesday of a 2003 interrogation of Khadr conducted by Canadian officials, marking the first time Guantanamo interrogation footage has been available to the public. The eight-minute clip is part of seven hours of footage given to lawyers after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled [text; JURIST report] in May that Khadr had the right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text] to see confidential documents and videos compiled by Canadian officials. The video does not show torture, but documents [text, PDF; JURIST report] released last week indicated that the Canadian government knew Khadr had been mistreated at the detention center before agents questioned him. In the video, Khadr, then 16, becomes nonresponsive, and the interrogator responds:

I understand this is stressful, but by using this as a strategy to talk to us, it’s not going to be any more helpful. We have a limited amount of time, and we’ve heard this story before.

[JURIST] Members of the US Senate Republican Conference [official website] Monday called [C-Span video, RM] for an end to delays in considering federal district and circuit court judges nominated by President George W. Bush. Members of the Conference said the delays have lead to chronic under-staffing of federal courts and that some courts have only three quarters of their positions filled, leading to case backlogs and the extensive use of visiting judges. Speaking before the Conference, Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis [faculty profile] said the delays make the confirmation process less transparent and ultimately decreases confidence in the federal court system. McGinnis said the problem was structural rather than partisan, and called for new rules setting concrete timelines to govern the nomination process. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] accused Senate Judiciary Committee [official website; JURIST news archive] Democrats of trying to stall until after the presidential election. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] has said that such delays are common practice in election years and that federal court vacancies have actually decreased during president Bush's term [press releases]. 

Steve Rutkus of the Congressional Research Service [official website] told the Conference that since 1980, under both Republican and Democratic control, the average time for the Senate to take final action on a successful district court nominee has almost tripled [nomination chart]. In November 2007, President Bush criticized the Senate [JURIST report] for taking too long to confirm his nominees to the bench, saying the body had overstepped its mandate to "advise and consent" on nominees and was instead setting out to "search and destroy."