[JURIST] US blogger and attorney Gopalan Nair [personal blog; law firm profile] was sentenced to three months in jail Wednesday for insulting a Singaporean judge. Justice Kan Ting Chiu of the Singaporean High Court [official website] told Nair that he had "scandalized" the nation's judiciary by accusing a judge of "prostituting herself" [blog entry] in a defamation case brought by former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew [official profile] against the Singapore Democratic Party. Nair, who pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges earlier this month, said he had no regrets about what he had written. Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] on Thursday condemned the sentence [press release] as "disproportionate." The group said Nair plans to appeal by Saturday, when he is scheduled to begin serving his sentence. AFP has more. The Straits Times has local coverage.

Under a provision of the Singaporean Penal Code [text], insulting a public servant conducting a judicial proceeding is punishable by up to one year in prison, a $5,000 fine or both. Nair faces another trial on a charge of insulting a second judge. He is also appealing a conviction [Straits Times report] on charges of disorderly conduct and using abusive words toward police officers. Before becoming a US citizen, Nair was a Singaporean opposition politician. In July, a report by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) concluded [JURIST report] that Singapore [JURIST news archive] lacks an independent judiciary and fails to meet international standards of human rights by heavily regulating international and domestic press and enforcing extreme defamation laws.

[JURIST] The High Court of Uganda [official website] will not try soldiers from the Ugandan People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) if they are accused of human rights abuses, according to Wednesday statements by Justice Dan Akiiki-Kiiza [official profile], the head of the Court's War Crimes Division. The head justice insisted that the mandate of the court is restricted to the prosecution of members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [JURIST news archive] and that the present Juba Peace Agreement, though unsigned, restricts the court to prosecuting only those crimes listed in the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments [official documents]. On Tuesday, the chief negotiator for the LRA, David Nyekorach Matsanga, said rebel leader Joseph Kony [BBC profile] had agreed to sign the Juba Peace Agreement between his movement and the Ugandan government despite the ICC's outstanding arrest warrants for him and three other LRA leaders. Dropping the arrest warrants had been a major sticking point in the negotiations and a condition to the consent of the War Crimes Division. The Monitor has more.

Critics of the War Crimes Division, including international human rights organization Amnesty International [advocacy website], have accused both the the ICC and the Ugandan special court of unfairly concentrating on only one side of the 22-year conflict by failing to prosecute members of the UPDF. Simon Oyet, a legislator from the war-affected Gulu region, cautioned [The Monitor report] that by "only hold[ing] one side accountable...some UPDF soldiers, known to have tortured and murdered hundreds of people in my region, go free." To date, Ugandan military personnel accused of abuses during the conflict are subject to military tribunals, which have been criticized both for their lack of transparency and lack of an appeals process.

[JURIST] Russian president Dmitry Medvedev [official website] Wednesday signed [statement; press release] military defense agreements with Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia [JURIST news archive] despite heavy international criticism. Medvedev said that Russia now recognized the regions as independent countries since its conflict with Georgia [NYT report], and that his country planned to permanently station troops in the regions. In an attempt to preempt criticism of the agreement, Medvedev argued that the deals were of a nature sanctioned by the UN Charter [Chp. VII text]:

The key task now is to ensure Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s security. The agreements we have signed contain provisions enabling our countries to take the necessary joint measures to remove threats to peace and respond to acts aggression. We will provide each other will all necessary support, including military support. The treaties provide for this in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter proclaiming the right to individual or collective self-defence.

I want to take this opportunity here and now to stress that any repeat aggression by Georgia (and revanchist feelings are visible there, unfortunately, and the state is continuing its militarisation) would lead to a regional catastrophe. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that we will not allow another military adventure. There should be no illusions on this count. [sic]

[JURIST] The Iraqi Parliament [official website] Wednesday failed to agree on a controversial provincial election bill in light of new disagreements over procedure. Kurdish legislators had strongly opposed the bill's proposal to establish a provincial council in Kirkuk [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] made up of equal numbers of Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmeni representatives. A UN proposal would have compromised by allowing elections in the rest of the country to proceed without the region, but that proposal was objected to by other groups which sought stricter deadlines and greater independence for the committee that would have made a final determination on control of Kirkuk.  Earlier this month, Iraqi law makers reached an agreement to temporarily divide control of Kirkuk [JURIST report] among the city's ethnic groups, but observers have expressed concern that delays in a permanent agreement may push elections past the end of the year.  AP has more.

In July, Kurdish parliamentarians staged a walkout [JURIST report], delaying a vote on the proposed provincial election bill that they said was unconstitutional. The bill passed despite the boycott, but Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [official website, in Arabic; BBC profile] and the two other members of the Iraqi Presidency Council later refused to sign it [JURIST report] because it had been passed by an incomplete parliament. In February, Iraq's Presidency Council rejected an earlier draft provincial elections law [JURIST report] that detailed the relationship between Iraq's central and local governments, sending the legislation back to parliament. The draft law was part of a package of legislation approved [JURIST report] by the parliament earlier that month that also included the 2008 budget and an amnesty bill [JURIST report] that will lead to the release of roughly 5,000 prisoners.

[JURIST] US Army Specialist Belmor Ramos pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy for his involvement in the killings of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners [NY Times report] west of Baghdad in 2007. In his confession, Ramos said he willingly took part in the killings as retribution for earlier deaths of US soldiers. As part of a plea agreement, Ramos was sentenced to seven months in prison, a term reduced from what a prosecutor in the case said would have otherwise been closer to 40 years. Ramos is also scheduled to have his rank reduced and to be dishonorable discharged from the army, but his lawyer is appealing those penalties. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

On Wednesday, three other US soldiers were charged [JURIST report] with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice for their parts in the killings.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Thailand delayed a ruling Wednesday regarding corruption charges against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his wife Pojamarn Shinawatra [JURIST news archive]. The couple are being tried in absentia [JURIST report] over a controversial purchase of government land at a below-market price which occurred while Thaksin was in office. The Supreme Court also issued new arrest warrants for the two, who fled to the UK last month and refused to return to Thailand due to alleged judicial bias [JURIST reports]. According to reports, the Supreme Court announced that the verdict would be delayed until October 21 because the couple failed to appear before the court. Reuters has more. The Nation has local coverage.

Last month, Thai prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to seize over $2 billion [JURIST report] from the Shinawatras' frozen accounts and holdings. The Constitutional Court of Thailand [official website, in Thai] rejected [JURIST report] Thaksin's challenge that the commission bringing charges against him is governed by a statute which violates the right to individual liberty. In July, the Thai Attorney General's Office filed corruption charges [JURIST report] against Thaksin for his role in a 2003 resolution reducing fees paid by mobile phone companies to state telecommunications agencies. In April, Pojamarn pleaded not guilty to charges [JURIST reports] stemming from a 2003 agreement with the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund [official website] to purchase land said to be worth three times more than the $26 million she paid for it. Lawyers for Thaksin have been jailed [JURIST report] for attempting to bribe court officials in one of Thaksin's cases, and current Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] is facing possible impeachment proceedings [JURIST report] due in part to his party's close association with Thaksin.

[JURIST] Pakistani lawyers Thursday boycotted legal proceedings in the country and continued to hold protests calling for the restoration of all judges ousted [JURIST report] by former President Pervez Musharraf [JURIST news archive] last November. According to local reports, some proceedings did go ahead [APP report] at the reconstituted Pakistani Supreme Court [official website], but many other courts, including the Lahore High Court [official website] were effectively closed [APP report] by the boycott. Also Tuesday, the Lahore district bar canceled the membership [News report] of Pakistan's new attorney general [JURIST report], Sardar Latif Khosa, for his lack of support for the reinstatements. Particularly contentious is the reinstatement of former supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive], which was ruled out [JURIST report] by law minister Farooq Naek in August. GEO Pakistan has more.

Last week, three judges who had been forced off the Supreme Court were reinstated [APP report; JURIST report] following clashes between lawyers and police [JURIST report] during a demonstration in Islamabad. Critics describe the recent reappointment [JURIST report] of some ousted judges as evidence of a "conspiracy" to undermine support for total reinstatement. The judges' dismissals contributed to Musharraf's resignation and the failure to completely reinstate them precipitated collapse of the coalition government [JURIST report] last month.

[JURIST] New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg [official profile; official website] announced Wednesday that his administration had reached a settlement [press release] in a long-standing lawsuit over homeless families' right to use shelters throughout the city. The main lawsuit, McCain v. Koch [NY Times report], was initially filed in 1983 by the Legal Aid Society [official website]. As that lawsuit progressed through the court system other complaints were filed, prompting the city to declare a right to shelter [Coalition for the Homeless report, PDF] which was enforced through the court system. The new agreement announced Wednesday is supported by many rights groups, including the Coalition for the Homeless [official website], and will allow the City to resume complete control in setting its policy for dealing with an estimated 9,000 homeless families, which include 14,000 children. Bloomberg also spoke highly of the agreement:

Today is a historic day for homeless children and their families in this City. We have been able to reach a break-through settlement of 25 years of litigation that will benefit all the people of this City by ensuring that homeless families with children will be treated appropriately and in accordance with legal requirements to which we have all now agreed," said The Legal Aid Society Attorney-in-Chief Steven Banks who worked on the litigation with the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

[JURIST] Three US Army [official website] soldiers were charged with murder Wednesday for their alleged roles in the killings of four Iraqis in April 2007 [NY Times report]. Sgt 1st Class Joseph Mayo, Sgt John Hatley, and Sgt Michael Leahy Jr, who were formerly part of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry [unit website], were all charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice. The men are accused of blindfolding and shooting the Iraqis, then discarding the bodies in a canal near Baghdad. It is said the killings were committed as revenge for the January 2007 deaths of two US soldiers. Four other soldiers from that unit have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killings. The CBC has more. VOA has additional coverage.

Similar charges are pending in several other actions against US military personnel accused of wrongdoing during their service in Iraq. Eight US Marines were charged in connection with the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. In June, a military judge dropped charges against battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani [JURIST news archive] after Chessani faced court-martial [JURIST report] for dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order based on allegations that he failed to properly investigate the Haditha shootings. Chessani was the highest ranking of the eight Marines initially charged in connection to the Haditha incident, and charges [text] have since been dropped against all but one. The court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich [defense website], leader of the squad implicated in the killings, was postponed indefinitely [JURIST report] in March. Also in June, US Marine Corps 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson [defense website; JURIST news archive] was cleared on all counts, including charges that he ordered a subordinate officer to delete photographic evidence [JURIST reports] of the killings.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld [opinion, PDF; Reuters report] as constitutional an Arizona law which revokes the business licenses of employers who hire illegal immigrants. Pro-immigration, business, and civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] had challenged the Legal Arizona Workers Act [text, PDF], arguing that it violated employers’ due process rights by denying them the chance to contest allegations before the revocation of their licenses, and that the law was preempted by federal immigration laws. Lawyers for the state contended that while federal hiring regulations prevent states from imposing civil or criminal penalties against businesses for illegal hirings, states may still use their licensing procedures to punish violators. The Ninth Circuit held that the law

can and should be reasonably interpreted to allow employers, before any license can be adversely affected, to present evidence to rebut the presumption that an employee is unauthorized.

[JURIST] A bill [PDF text; S. 3406 materials] overwriting judicial interpretations which have narrowed protections under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) [official website] awaits President Bush's signature following passage by the US House of Representatives [official website] on Wednesday. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which was approved by a voice vote, purports to "restore the intent and protections" of the landmark civil rights legislation. The bill expressly overrules holdings by the US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] in two major ADA cases: Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc. (1999) [text], which directs courts to consider "mitigating measures" such as medication when determining whether an individual is disabled, and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams (2002) [text], which requires strict interpretation of the ADA's definition of a disability. US Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) [official website], a prime sponsor of the bill, said in remarks [text] on the House floor:

The bill we pass today will restore the full meaning of equal protection under the law and all the promises that our Nation has to offer. As Members are well-aware by now, the Supreme Court has slowly chipped away at the broad protections of the ADA and has created a new set of barriers for disabled Americans. The Court's rulings currently exclude millions of disabled Americans from the ADA's protections—the very citizens that Congress expressly sought to include within the scope of the Act in 1990.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] voted Wednesday to open an impeachment investigation of US District Judge Thomas Porteous [official profile] of the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website], who is accused of perjury and accepting bribes from lawyers. The committee unanimously approved a resolution [PDF text] creating a task force to conduct the inquiry, which is the first of a sitting federal judge in nearly 20 years. The resolution authorizes the task force to take affidavits and depositions, issue subpoenas and hire staff. In a press release [text], committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) [official profile] said:

We take it very seriously when the governing body of the Judiciary sends us a referral for impeachment. Upon review, we believe this matter merits a full investigation.

[JURIST] FBI Director Robert Mueller [official profile] on Wednesday defended proposed investigation guidelines [JURIST report] before the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] as a "necessary step" in fighting terrorism. Opponents have argued [JURIST report] that the changes could allow inappropriate racial and ethnic profiling and would permit agents to open terror investigations without evidence of any crime having been committed. Appearing at a committee hearing [materials] on FBI oversight, Mueller testified in a prepared statement [text] that

[t]he new guidelines will replace five separate sets of guidelines with a single set of rules to govern the domestic activities of our employees. The new guidelines set consistent rules that apply across all operational programs, whether criminal or national security. They will give us the ability to be more proactive and the flexibility to address complex threats that do not fall solely under one program. They will eliminate inconsistencies that have the potential to cause confusion and create compliance traps for our employees.

The new guidelines are not designed to give, and do not give, the FBI any broad new authorities. The vast majority of the authorities outlined in the guidelines are not new, but techniques that were permissible under certain circumstances for criminal matters will now also be available for national security matters, and vice versa.

Allowing the FBI authority to use a vast array of intrusive investigative techniques with little or no predicate facts or evidence raises concerns and may potentially lead to the kinds of abuses we have seen with national security letters and with other vast grants of authority with minimal checks in the past.

[JURIST] Prosecutors told the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] Wednesday that they plan to revise the charges against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive] by Monday. Appearing in the war crimes tribunal's Trial Chamber, prosecutor Alan Tieger said he would seek court permission to amend an indictment [text] issued in 2000. He did not specify whether charges would be added to or removed from the 11 pending counts, which include genocide, murder, persecution, deportation and "other inhumane acts." Also at the hearing, Karadzic reiterated his desire to represent himself, as well as his claim [JURIST report] that Richard Holbrooke [PBS profile], former US ambassador to the UN, had promised him immunity conditioned upon removing himself from public life. Judge Iain Bonomy [official profile] said the court, in ruling on Karadzic's motions [JURIST report] related to that defense, would consider whether such an agreement could bind an international court. If the court approves the amended indictment, Karadzic will be asked to enter new pleas. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Also on Wednesday, Serbian media reported that Karazdic would testify [B92 report] as part of an appeal brought by Momcilo Krajisnik [ICTY backgrounder], who was sentenced [judgment, PDF; JURIST report] to 27 years in prison for crimes similar to those of which Karadzic is accused. Karadzic was arrested [JURIST report] in July after evading capture for nearly 13 years. He was originally indicted in 1995 but had been in hiding under an assumed identity as an alternative medicine practitioner [BBC report]. He is accused of involvement in the Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] massacre and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Croats during ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. On Monday, former Bosnian army commander Rasim Delic was convicted [JURIST report] of cruel treatment by the ICTY Trial Chamber and sentenced to three years in prison.