[JURIST] US President George W. Bush issued an executive order [text; press briefing] on Thursday that creates a Transition Coordinating Council to head up transition efforts of executive agencies and the incoming administration in the months leading up to the presidential change early next year. The Council, among other things, will:

assist the major party candidates and the President-elect by making every reasonable effort to facilitate the transition between administrations. This assistance may include, among other things, providing information relevant to facilitating the personnel aspects of a presidential transition and such other information that, in the Council's judgment, is useful and appropriate, as long as providing such information is not otherwise prohibited by law.

[JURIST] Thailand's Court of Appeal Thursday reduced insurrection charges against nine People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) [advocacy website, in Thai] activists following this week's violent clashes between police and PAD protesters [BBC report]. The court dismissed treason charges against the PAD members as groundless, but maintained the lesser charges of inciting public disturbance and illegal assembly. A spokesman for PAD was quoted in media reports as maintaining that he and his colleagues would now turn themselves into the authorities. BBC News has more; China's Xinhua News Agency has additional coverage.

The protests were triggered by opposition to the new Thai government led by Somchai Wongsawat [official profile], who took over as prime minister earlier this month after the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled that then-prime minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] had violated the constitution [JURIST report] by accepting payment for his appearance on a television cooking program. Somchai is the brother-in-law of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in military coup in 2006. Critics claim that Somchai is just a proxy for Thaksin, who remains in exile while being tried in absentia for corruption.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] Thursday adopted a fact-specific test [opinion, PDF] for determining whether a disabled student has been placed in the 'least restrictive environment' as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) [text]. A three-judge panel explicitly endorsed the two-pronged fact-specific test that the Third Circuit adopted in 1993 [Oberti v. Clementon School District decision, DOC], holding:

A court should consider, first, whether education in the regular classroom, with the use of supplemental aids and services, can be achieved satisfactorily for a given child, and, if not, then whether the school has mainstreamed the child to the maximum extent appropriate...

Courts facing these cases must engage in an individualized and fact-specific inquiry into the nature of the student's condition and the school's particular efforts to accommodate it, ever mindful of the IDEA’s purpose of educating children with disabilities, 'to the maximum extent appropriate,' together with their non-disabled peers...Moreover, courts must keep in mind our deferential position with respect to state educational authorities crafting educational policy...Nevertheless our review must be searching, and we must recognize that even when educational authorities act with the best intentions they may sometimes fall short of their obligations under the IDEA, and courts must then act to ensure compliance with Congress’s directives.

[JURIST] Thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from voter rolls against federal voting law, according to a New York Times report [text] published Thursday. The report examined the actions of election officials in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina, and found that the removal of a number of registered voters violated the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) [text]. Under HAVA, states are only allowed to cross-check voter rolls with lists from the federal Social Security Administration [official website] as a last resort. According to the Times, a number of states have used the Social Security list as a first option, leading to a large number of voters being stricken from the more current state voting rolls. HAVA was signed into law by President Bush in 2002, and aims to provide greater protection to voters in the wake of the controversy over the results of the 2000 presidential election that pitted now-president George W. Bush [WH website] against former vice president Al Gore [personal website].

The Times report adds to growing controversy over voting laws and procedures in the run-up to November 2008 voting. Earlier this month, both the Ohio Supreme Court and the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official websites] rejected Republican challenges [JURIST report] to a directive by the Ohio secretary of state that would co-mingle absentee and regular ballots. Last month, voting rights advocates and elections officials expressed fears [JURIST report] that a lawsuit [complaint text, PDF; press release] brought by the Wisconsin Department of Justice [official website] will effectively disenfranchise thousands of voters by causing chaos at the polls in November. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen [official profile] filed suit against the state's Government Accountability Board [official website] on Wednesday, seeking to force the elections agency to cross-check the identities of recently registered voters against names in other state databases, pursuant to HAVA.

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Thursday announced [press release] that the first trial of a former Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] leader is unlikely to take place until next year. The case of Kaing Guek-Eav [TrialWatch backgrounder; court materials], also known as Duch, is expected to be delayed as prosecutors challenge a closing order [JURIST report] issued by the investigation judges. According to a statement released by the court,

[s]uccessfully conducting trials of this significance is a complex process, and the Court recognizes that it can be frustrating for the millions who have been waiting for decades to see justice done. Nevertheless, each step of the legal process must be followed carefully, and conducted in line with the highest standards of justice. This will also ensure the most enduring legacy for the Cambodian Courts.

[JURIST] A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the administration of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] to give its position on providing $250 million this year toward the $8 billion needed to reform the state's prison health care system. US District Judge Thelton Henderson [official profile] of the Northern District of California [official website] said the administration must provide details of when and how the money will be disbursed to the court-appointed prison medical overseer, J. Clark Kelso [official profile]. In August, Kelso asked the court [JURIST report] to force the state to pay $8 billion over five years to improve prison hospitals. Kelso had previously said that the California Senate was unwilling to authorize borrowing money for the project. He appealed to Schwarzenegger to use his emergency powers [JURIST report] to raise the needed funds but has accused the governor of failing to heed a federal order to secure the money. The administration is scheduled to present its response during a hearing on October 27. AP has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has additional coverage.

In January, a federal judge ruled [PDF text; JURIST report] that the health care provided in California prisons does not meet constitutional standards, even though medical services have improved significantly since the court assumed oversight [JURIST report] of the system in 2005. Bringing the system up to standards could take as long as four years, according to officials at California Prison Health Care Services [official website]. Last year, the court created a three-judge panel [JURIST report] to oversee the reduction of California's prison population after finding that overcrowding was preventing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) [official website] from providing adequate mental health care.

[JURIST] The British government on Wednesday froze nearly $4 billion in UK financial assets [Treasury press release; Daily Mail report] held by the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki [corporate website], exercising its powers under the 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act [text]. One of the largest Icelandic banks, Landsbanki has enjoyed significant business from UK customers, including many local councils [BBC News list], through its British subsidiary Heritable Bank [corporate website]. Landsbanki was taken over [IHT report] by the Icelandic government Tuesday. BBC News has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

Iceland has been hit hard by the global financial crisis that has emanated from the US subprime mortgage market. On Friday, the US House of Representatives passed a $700 billion financial rescue bill [JURIST report] intended to limit the effects of the crisis on the US economy and international markets. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reiterated plans [press release] for a new economic stimulus package to "create jobs and address some of the most immediate consequences of the [Bush] Administration's serious mismanagement of our economy." Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) [official website], chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a statement [text] that the committee would continue to investigate regulatory oversight and seek solutions "strengthening the housing sector, developing a second stimulus package, and restructuring the regulation of the financial sector."

[JURIST] A Russian court on Wednesday extended the jail term [defense release] of former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] until February 2009. Khodorkovsky headed the now-bankrupt Yukos Oil Co. [Time backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and was sent to prison by the Russian government in 2005 to serve an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion [JURIST reporst]. The extension follows the court's rejection of Khodorkovsky's July application for parole which he has since challenged [JURIST report]. His parole was denied based in part on alleged violations of prison rules, and on Thursday, Khodorkovsky was sent to solitary confinement [RIA report] after giving a non-permitted interview [text] to Esquire magazine. Lawyers for Khodorkovsky have called the interview a pretext [defense release] for the court to deny his request for parole. RIA Novosti has more.

Khodorkovsky is facing 20 more years in prison if convicted on new charges [press release; Bloomberg report] of theft and money laundering. Prosecutors had first indicted Khodorkovsky on the additional money laundering charges in February 2007. A Russian court had originally ordered that he be transferred to a Moscow prison while the charges were investigated, but that order was later vacated despite a lawsuit by his lawyers [JURIST reports] seeking the move. Khodorkovsky, an opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has always maintained his innocence and insisted that the charges against him are politically motivated, but Russian prosecutors have denied those allegations [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Leaders of both Philippine rebel groups and government militias could be held responsible for the use of child soldiers [GSCR backgrounder] under a new US law, according to a Wednesday statement [AP report] by Human Rights Watch [advocacy website]. The Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008 [text], signed into law [press release] by US President George W. Bush on Friday, provides for up to 20 years in prison for anyone found guilty of the recruitment or use of soldiers under the age of 15, and for up to life in prison if that use is associated with the death of a child. It also allows for the deportation or exclusion of that person from the US, gives the country jurisdiction over them if they are found present in the US, and provides for associated attempt and conspiracy crimes. Leaders for one of the rebel groups, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) [BBC backgrounder] have both denied using child soldiers [ABC report], and have said that the US law has does not affect them. In September, the Philippine government reported finding video recording of MILF rebels training minors [Mindanao Examiner report], and President Gloria Arroyo has planned to file a complaint [GMA report] against the group before the United Nations.

Earlier this week, a Ugandan newspaper report said that it was that senior officers in the Ugandan military [official website] could similarly be held responsible [JURIST report] for the use of child soldiers under the US law. In January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report [text] pushing for the enforcement of sanctions against 13 countries where groups or governments continue to use child soldiers [JURIST news archive] in armed combat. According to the report, child soldiers continue to be used in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Colombia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uganda in violation of international laws that protect children in armed conflict. Ban noted that the use of child soldiers violates in particular the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its 1997 protocols, the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and its optional protocol, and the International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 [texts].

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] late Wednesday issued a temporary stay [order, PDF] of a district court order requiring the federal government to release 17 Uighur detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives]. A three-judge panel wrote:

The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.

[JURIST] German authorities Wednesday transferred custody of Augustin Ngirabatware, a former Rwandan minister suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide [BBC backgrounder], from a facility in Frankfurt to a UN Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania. In Tanzania, Ngirabatware awaits an appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website], where he is facing charges of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, and complicity in genocide. In a press statement [text], the ICTR expressed its "gratitude to the German Government for the arrest, detention and smooth transfer of the accused person to Arusha." AFP has more.

German police arrested Ngirabatware [JURIST report] in September 2007. The former Rwandan Minister of Planning had been a fugitive since 2001, when the ICTR issued a warrant for his arrest. Ngirabatware was one of 18 fugitives wanted by the ICTR. He is accused of providing weapons and support to Hutus during the 1994 slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Rwandans.

[JURIST] US military officers feared for the mental health of alleged terrorism detainees held in isolation in the US, according to documents [ACLU materials; press release] received through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website]. The materials released Wednesday are a collection of heavily redacted e-mail communications between unidentified US military officials involved in the detention of alleged terrorism suspects Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla, and Ali al-Marri [JURIST news archives] at US Navy brigs in Virginia and South Carolina. In one e-mail found in the released documents [materials, PDF], an unidentified US official expressed concern over Hamdi's mental health due to his imprisonment, saying:

I saw the detainee this morning during routine daily rounds and found him to be in low spirits and somewhat depressed. ... He indicated he feels very stressed due to his incarceration and being here now for almost (14) [sic] months, with no news pertaining to his future. ... He went on to indicate that he feels as if he has been forgotten and that no one is working on getting him freed. ... He indicated that he would continue to endure, but he did not leave me with a good impression that he is capable of going on much longer. ... I know I can not give him any false hope, but I fear the rubber band is nearing its breaking point here and not totally confident [sic] I can keep his head in the game much longer. I will continue to monitor his behavior and get the [redacted] onboard [sic], but fear that once this individual decides to go south, there will be little if anything, [sic] I can do to bring him back around. I have directed my staff to pay close attention to his behavior, to pick up their discussions with him and that I will conduct evening rounds in an effort to assure him we are concerned about his state of mind and health and welfare

[JURIST] US State Department legal advisor John B. Bellinger III [official profile; JURIST news archive],told the Guardian newspaper Tuesday that British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan [JURIST news archives] are not detaining suspected insurgents in those countries due to concerns that the soldiers will be liable for their treatment of the detainees [Guardian report] under UK and European human rights law. Bellinger's comments stem from a 2005 appellate court ruling [text; JURIST report] that British soldiers in Iraqi are forbidden to subject Iraqi prisoners to cruel or degrading treatment while in their custody. The Court of Appeal in London determined that the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) [text], which enacted the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) [text, PDF] into UK law, applies to any UK military personnel with control over a detainee. The appellate court ruling arose in the course of the Baha Mousa [JURIST news archive] scandal, in which British soldiers were alleged to have caused the death of an Iraqi detainee.

Bellinger's comments come as controversy develops in the UK over the liability of the British government under UK and European human rights law for alleged later ill treatment of US terrorism detainees first taken into custody by British forces. Last week, the All Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition (APPG) [official website] released a legal opinion [text, PDF; JURIST report] examining UK governmental liability under the ECHR and the HRA. The APPG opinion found that a human rights violation under both the ECHR and the HRA would occur where "an individual in British detention in Iraq is handed over to US military personnel despite substantial grounds for considering that there is a real risk of that person being subjected to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment." The APPG was convened in December 2005 [JURIST report] to call for a formal inquiry into whether the British government violated international law by participating in the CIA extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] program.