[JURIST] A trial judge in Key West has found Florida's law preventing gay and lesbian [JURIST news archive] people from adopting children to be unconstitutional and has issued an order [PDF text] permitting a foster parent to adopt a 13-year-old boy. Judge David J. Audlin Jr. of the Monroe County Circuit Court [official website] ruled that the 1977 statute [text] violates both the US Constitution and the Florida Constitution [text] because it acts as a bill of attainder intended "to repress gay Floridians as a group" and violates the separation of powers doctrine by precluding judicial discretion. As part of the 67-page final judgment of adoption, released Thursday, Audlin wrote:

The Court finds the foregoing facts to be true: (a) The fact that Petitioner is a gay man is irrelevant to his skills as a parent and his fitness to adopt. Irrespective of Petitioner's sexual orientation, it is in the minor's best interest to be adopted by Petitioner, (b) Floridians who are gay or lesbian are not for that reason inherently incapable of parenting an adopted child, (c) In view of the less restrictive alternative safeguards that exist, there is no need for categorical disqualification of all gays and lesbians in Florida from adoption to ensure that no child is adopted by an inappropriate caregiver, and (d) After having listened to and read the legislative history surrounding the enactment of SB 354, the Court finds that there was no non-punitive purpose for categorically excluding every single gay and lesbian Floridian from adopting children.

[JURIST] Iowa's Attorney General's Office [official website] announced [press release] on Tuesday that it has filed a complaint [PDF text] against meatpacking company Agriprocessors Inc. [corporate website] and its top officials for 9,311 child labor law violations. The alleged violations stem from the company's employment of 32 minors, 25 under the age of 18 and 7 under the age of 16, in conditions prohibited under the state's Child Labor statute [Iowa Code Ch. 92 text]. According to the complaint, the minors were exposed to dangerous chemicals and machinery, worked more hours than allowed, worked during school hours, and were not compensated for overtime work. In the affidavit accompanying the complaint, a government official wrote that the officers knew documents for the children had been forged, and that the company's hiring practices encouraged the falsification. Each violation carries with it a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a fine of $65 to $625. As a result of the accusations, a spokesperson for kosher certification group Orthodox Union on Wednesday said that it will withdraw its endorsement [NYT report] of Agriprocessors products unless the company fires its current CEO. AP has more.

In May, the same Agriprocessors plant was the center of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] sting which resulted in the arrest and sentencing [ICE press release; JURIST report] of 270 undocumented aliens to 5 months in prison each after all plead guilty to the use of false immigration documents. The guilty pleas in those cases have since been criticized for allegedly depriving the workers of due process [JURIST report] both because of the rapid manner in which the pleas were processed and the lack of information provided to the workers about their rights.

[JURIST] Retail chain Walgreens [corporate website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; application for injunction, PDF] Monday in California Superior Court [official website] seeking an injunction and the repeal of an ordinance [PDF text] that prohibits the sale of tobacco at pharmacies in San Francisco [official website]. Walgreens argues that the ban is unconstitutional because it does not apply to grocery stores and large retailers such as Wal-Mart [corporate website, JURIST news archive], which have pharmacies. San Francisco, which last month became the first US city to adopt such a ban [SF Chronicle report], defends the ordinance as appropriate because pharmacies should provide for health care needs rather than enable harmful habits. A preliminary hearing on the injunction is scheduled for September 30, one day before the ordinance is to take effect. The Wall Street Journal has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

Among other recent US developments related to tobacco [JURIST news archive], the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in April overturned [JURIST report] certification of a class action brought by "light" cigarette smokers against cigarette manufacturers. The lawsuit alleged that tobacco companies used deceptive advertising tactics to mislead smokers about growing health concerns over the risks of smoking. Also that month, the US House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a bill [JURIST report] that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] regulatory power over tobacco products. Supporters said the bill would help to inform the public of the risks of smoking and make cigarettes safer. Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court held [JURIST report] that federal law preempts two provisions of a Maine tobacco transport law requiring special inspection of incoming tobacco packages to prevent purchases from unlicensed retailers who might sell to minors.

[JURIST] Human Rights in China (HRIC) [advocacy website] issued a release [text] on Wednesday saying that Chinese police and other officials still employ torture [JURIST news archive] to elicit confessions and intimidate political dissidents despite domestic and international bans. The group said even though various government agencies have issued regulations against the use of torture, they aren't appropriately enforced. It also detailed the treatment of one political prisoner who was allegedly shackled, hung by his arms, and had his genitals electrically shocked during an extended interrogation. HRIC executive director Sharon Hom criticized the country for not effectively stopping the practice:

Many criminal suspects in China, as well as those who seek to defend the rights of others and speak out against injustice – lawyers, environmental activists, petitioners – have become victims of torture... In failing to honor its obligation under international and Chinese law to prevent the use of torture to extract confessions, the Chinese government violates the rights of its citizens and undermines its professed commitment to the rule-of-law.

[JURIST] Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott [official profile] announced [press release] Tuesday that the state has reached a settlement [text, PDF] in a Medicare fraud lawsuit it had brought against drug manufacturer Abbott Laboratories [corporate website]. In the suit [complaint, PDF; press release], Texas had alleged that Abbott Laboratories and other drug manufacturers had inflated drug prices that they reported to the state above what they actually charged drug distributors for the drugs. The state and federally funded Medicaid program would then reimburse the distributors for more than they had paid for the drugs, allegedly giving the manufacturer a competitive advantage, and allowing the distributors to illegally profit from the difference. The $28 million settlement with Abbott Laboratories, which continues to deny any wrongdoing, is one of several the state has either settled [press release] or is still pursuing against other drug manufacturers for similar practices. Bloomberg News has more. The Chicago Tribune has additional coverage.

In February, pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck [corporate website] agreed to pay $671 million to settle claims [press release, PDF; JURIST report] that it defrauded Medicaid and improperly marketed three of its drugs to doctors. That settlement [text, PDF] stemmed from two separate lawsuits filed in Philadelphia and New Orleans. The Philadelphia case alleged that Merck overcharged the federal Medicaid program by failing to disclose that it was offering drugs to hospitals at deep discounts. The New Orleans suit alleged that Merck offered price reductions on the drug Pepcid [product website] if hospitals agreed to use their product rather than that of their competitors. 

[JURIST] The UK Crown Prosecution Service [official website] announced Wednesday that seven Muslim extremists [press release] accused of conspiring to bomb trans-Atlantic flights will be retried because a jury failed to reach verdicts earlier this week. In a prepared statement, Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald [official profile] said:

I have today concluded that the prosecution should apply to retry each of these defendants on every count that the recently discharged jury failed to agree upon. This will include a count that each defendant conspired to detonate improvised explosive devices on transatlantic passenger aircraft.

[JURIST] Serge Brammertz [official profile], the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], told reporters in Serbia Wednesday that he was "cautiously optimistic" [Reuters report] that two major remaining war crimes fugitives would be caught. Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic [ICTY materials, PDF; amended indictment, PDF] and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic [ICTY materials, PDF; indictment, PDF], both Serbian leaders during the Yugoslavian ethnic conflicts of the 1990s, have been in hiding since the end of the conflicts. International pressure for the capture of Mladic and Hadzic has increased since the July arrest [JURIST report] of former Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive]. Last month, Serbian President Boris Tadic [official website] said that his country would fully cooperate with the ICTY [JURIST report] to find and arrest Mladic and Hadzic. AFP has more.

Mladic faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for overseeing the Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] prison massacre and other killings of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, while Hadzic faces crimes against humanity charges for killings of non-Serbs and for abuses in Croatian prison camps. The capture of Karadzic, Mladic, and Hadzic has been a major goal of the ICTY [press release]. Brammertz had long criticized Serbia for its failure to find and capture war crimes suspects hiding in the country, and has vowed to try all war crimes suspects [JURIST reports] before the expiration of the ICTY's mandate in 2010.

[JURIST] A Malaysian court on Wednesday set a September 24 hearing date [Bernama report] for arguments over approval of an application to transfer of sodomy charges [JURIST report] against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to a Malaysian High Court. After the hearing, Anwar characterized the move by Malaysian prosecutors to transfer the proceedings as a "trial by ambush" [New Straits Times report], while his defense lawyers called the transfer issue a delaying tactic. The application seeking the transfer of the case was signed by a Malaysian Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who is being sued by Anwar relating to his 1998 arrest on similar sodomy charges. Anwar pleaded not guilty last month to sodomy charges [JURIST report] based on allegations by a former aide. Anwar has denied the accusations, saying that they are part of a government campaign to upset his political aspirations, including a parliamentary by-election he won [BBC report] last month. Human rights groups have also questioned the timing of the charges. Human Rights Watch Asia [advocacy website] Thursday called for the government to drop the charges [press release], while Amnesty International [advocacy website] described the allegations as "politically motivated" [press release]. Under Malaysian law, sodomy is punishable by 20 years in prison regardless of consent. Anwar filed a lawsuit against his accuser [JURIST report] in late June. From Malaysia, The Star has more. AFP has additional coverage.

The political focus on the sodomy charges intensified last month, when a bill was introduced in the Malaysian parliament that would require all criminal suspects to submit DNA samples [JURIST report]. The proposed legislation was seen as an attempt to intervene in the Anwar case. Malaysian authorities briefly arrested Anwar in July, less than a day after a warrant was issued for his arrest [JURIST reports]. Last week, Anwar released a medical report [PDF text and explanation; JURIST report] that he said refuted the sodomy allegations. 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. Last month the Federal Court of Malaysia ruled he could challenge the constitutionality [JURIST report] of his original dismissal from office.

[JURIST] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [official profile] said Wednesday that a peace plan [press release; implementation plan, PDF] approved on Monday between the European Union (EU) [official website, JURIST news archive] and Georgia to allow EU monitors in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia [JURIST news archive] contradicts a deal approved [Hindustan Times report] only hours before by Russia [JURIST news archive]. Lavrov said the deal approved by Russia only allowed the observers, who are members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [official website] to take up positions outside of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The EU attempted to clarify by saying that it had not made an agreement with Russia on whether the observers would enter the breakaway regions, but that it hoped in time the observers would be deployed in any part of the Georgian territory. The US, EU, and many other nations still hold South Ossetia and Abkhazia to be part of Georgia despite Russian recognition [JURIST report] of their status as independent countries. The BBC has more. The Moscow Times has additional coverage.

These events come amidst international court filings by both Georgia and Russia. Attorneys representing the Georgian Republic appeared [JURIST report] before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday seeking emergency orders to stop the alleged killing and mass displacement of citizens in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia argued that Russia is engaged in ethnic cleansing and is violating the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [text] by removing ethnic Georgians from the territories. Russia countered that its military actions have saved lives. Last month Russia instituted its own action [JURIST report] against Georgia in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], alleging that Georgia committed war crimes against ethnic Russians in South Ossetia.

[JURIST] The District Court of the Hague on Wednesday dismissed claims alleging the Dutch government negligently failed to protect civilians during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive]. The relatives of several Bosnian Muslims killed at Srebrenica argued that the Netherlands [JURIST news archive] should be liable for the deaths because Dutch soldiers acting as UN peacekeepers had forced the victims out of a UN-designated "safe area" [resolution, PDF] and turned them over to Bosnian Serbs. The court ruled that the Dutch government was not responsible because the peacekeepers' actions were attributable only to the UN. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said they planned an appeal, although she did not expect it to succeed. A similar class action [JURIST report] remains pending before the court. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage. Radio Netherlands has local coverage.

The dismissed lawsuit, which the Hague district court began hearing in June [JURIST report], is the first civil case against the Dutch government arising from the Srebrenica massacre. In July, the court ruled that the UN was immune from liability [JURIST report]. An independent report [text] found that Dutch troops had mistakenly advised Bosnian Muslims to leave the enclave at Srebrenica, where an estimated 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed. Several of the 161 suspects indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] in connection with the massacre have evaded capture, including Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile] was arrested in Serbia in July but has refused to enter a plea [JURIST reports] before the tribunal.

[JURIST] US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) [official website] officials on Wednesday told Congress [hearing materials] that a 670-mile fence along the US-Mexican border [JURIST news archive] is unlikely to be completed as planned by year's end because of cost increases, technological problems and legal challenges. CPB Commissioner Ralph Basham [official profile] said in prepared testimony [PDF text] before the House Homeland Security Committee [official website] that although 344 miles of fencing had been completed by the end of August, "we face many challenges in achieving our goal." He continued:

As previously noted, escalating construction costs coupled with competition for construction labor, equipment, and materials has resulted in significant fence construction cost increases.

It is also important to note that, cost increases aside, a number of other factors continue to present challenges to achieving our fence construction goals. These include: completing legal actions to acquire private property in Texas, complying with International Boundary and Water Commission requirements along the Rio Grande River, appropriately addressing cultural mitigation issues, and resolving any unforeseen construction challenges that may arise.

[JURIST] A report [B'Tselem press release] released Thursday by B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories [advocacy website] alleges that Israeli security policies have resulted in Palestinians being prevented from accessing land adjacent to settlements in the West Bank. The report, entitled "Access Denied: Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements" [report summary, PDF] describes two main Israeli behaviors against Palestinians in the West Bank, including the use of violence and harassment by settlers and security forces to keep Palestinians away from the settlements, and the building of a secondary fence to create a buffer zone consisting of empty land in a wide swath around the settlements. B'Tselem explained the extent of the report:

[T]he blocking of access surveyed in this report is not to be viewed in isolation, but as part of a body of prohibitions, restrictions, oppressive means, and theft of land imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank, who are under army occupation. Along with this, the closing of land around settlements and blocking of Palestinian access to the land are not minor phenomena, and the resultant harm to Palestinians is great, in particular with respect to farmland, on which many families depend for their livelihood. ... Throughout the report are descriptions how settlers and the defense establishment block Palestinian access to land around settlements. In many cases, the closing is piratical: the authorities know of it but turn a blind eye, or wink, and systematically fail to enforce the law. Such unauthorized closing of land – carried out by settlers, and sometimes also soldiers, in part by placing physical barriers and by violent means – has been going on for more than three decades.