[JURIST] The government of Bangladesh on Wednesday reinstated a state of emergency banning political demonstrations in the country for two weeks. The ban had recently been lifted after being imposed [JURIST report] in 2007, but was reissued in response to violent protests [BDNews24 report] coordinated by the Jamaat-e-Islami party [party website] after party leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were arrested on corruption charges [Daily Star report; JURIST report] related to a coal mining contract on Monday. The men have since been released on bail [New Nation report]. The Bangladeshi Ministry of Home Affairs [official website], which issued the state of emergency, said the ban on political rallies would be lifted on November 27, but that other state of emergency restrictions would stay in place at least until the country's elections are held on December 18. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

On Tuesday, two Bangladesh cabinet members arrested in 2007 [JURIST report] for other corruption charges were also released on bail [JURIST report]. They were arrested as part of the government's anti-corruption campaign [JURIST news archive] and have ties to the former Bangladeshi prime minister Bengum Khaleda Zia [UN profile]. In May, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) [governing statute, PDF] filed formal corruption and abuse of power charges [JURIST report] against Zia for an alleged kickback related to gas contracts. Bangladesh's current anti-corruption campaign began in February 2007 as eight former Bangladeshi ministers were accused of corruption and 13 other former ministers and senior politicians were arrested in raids on their homes [JURIST reports]. Zia and her son were arrested on suspicion of corruption [JURIST report] in September.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF] Wednesday in two cases. In Pleasant Grove City, UT v. Summum [oral arguments transcript, PDF; merit briefs], the Court considered whether privately donated monuments displayed in public parks qualify as private speech under the First Amendment, requiring municipalities to display monuments from all other donors. Respondent Summum, a small religious sect, requested permission from Pleasant Grove City to erect a monument of the "Seven Aphorisms of Summum" next to a privately donated monument of the Ten Commandments. When this request was denied, Summum filed a suit against the city, alleging a violation of First Amendment Rights. The district court granted summary judgment for Summum, and the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed [opinion, PDF], holding that the park was a traditional public forum and that the Ten Commandments monument constituted the private speech of its donor. At oral argument before the Supreme Court Wednesday, counsel for the city argued that the Ten Commandments monument constitutes government speech because it was "selected by the Government, [is] owned by the Government, controlled by the Government, and [is] displayed on Government property. Counsel for Summum argued that the city's denial of Summum's request violated "the core free speech principle that the Government may not favor one message over another in a public forum."

Also Wednesday, the Court heard arguments in Bell v. Kelly [oral arguments transcript; PDF; merit briefs], in which the Court considered whether the deferential standard in the federal habeas statute [28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), text] should be applied to claims a state court did not consider. Edward Bell was convicted of the 1999 murder of a local Virginia police officer and was sentenced to death. Following a number of failed appeals, Bell sought a federal writ of habeas corpus, which was dismissed by the district court. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed [text, PDF] the decision, and Bell then sought certiorari. Bell contends that his counsel was ineffective during sentencing, an argument he was not able to fully develop because of the fact-finding rules imposed in the lower courts. At oral argument, counsel for petitioner Bell argued that "[t]he State court refused to permit the full development of the evidence. And it...misled the court." Counsel for the respondent argued that there was no new claim, saying "[e]verything that he presented in Federal court was presented to the State court. There is absolutely no difference."

- 11/17/2008: The Supreme Court dismissed [order, PDF] the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.

[JURIST] Former Fijian prime minister Laisenia Qarase [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] said Wednesday that he will seek an appeal of an October decision by the Fijian High Court dismissing his challenge [JURIST report] to the country's 2006 coup. In its decision [text, PDF], the High Court held that Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo [official profile] had the authority to name new leaders after Qarase was ousted by the Fijian military. Qarase originally brought suit [JURIST report] against the government in October 2007, saying that the military coup [JURIST report] was illegal because it had supplanted his democratically elected government. Rejecting Qarase's argument, the court held that Iloilo had acted within the country's constitution [text], characterizing his naming of a new prime minister as an allowable retention of authority until a new prime minister could be elected. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Qarase also called for independent international judges to hear his appeal [ABC report]. AP has more.

In September, Qarase made additional charges that current prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama [BBC profile] and others who participated in the December 2006 military coup [JURIST news archive] had committed treason [Fiji Daily Post report] by ousting Qarase's democratically elected government. Later that month, Qarase tried to make a statement [JURIST report] to police regarding the allegations, but they said they would not investigate the charges. Less than two days after December's coup, a previous interim prime minister installed by the military characterized the coup as "illegal" [JURIST report], but defended it as necessary. Qarase's case was heard by a three-judge panel led by Acting Chief Justice Anthony Gates, who was appointed [press release] after Bainimarama suspended former Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The Uruguayan Senate [official website, in Spanish] passed a bill [press release, in Spanish] Tuesday that partially decriminalizes abortion [JURIST news archive], but it is unlikely the bill has the support needed to override a veto promised by Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez [BBC profile]. According to the draft law, a mother may terminate her pregnancy during the first 12 weeks to prevent risks to her health, birth deformities, economic hardship, or other family problems. The bill passed the House of Representatives [official website, in Spanish] last week and will be sent to the president for signature or veto within the next 10 days. While the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 17-13, 19 votes in the Senate are needed to overcome a veto. BBC News has more.

Last November the Uruguayan senate passed a similar bill [JURIST report] decriminalizing abortion, but the measure did not survive presidential veto. Uruguay is similar to most Latin American countries in having restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is completely illegal in Nicaragua [JURIST report], Chile, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic [HRW reports]. Brazil [HRW report] permits abortion when a mother's life is endangered or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. In countries such as Colombia [JURIST report] and Argentina [HRW report], criminal penalties may be decreased when the mother's life is at risk. Although Mexico City legalized abortion [JURIST report] in some circumstances in April, it is still illegal in the rest of Mexico [HRW report]. Cuba [ISP report] is the only country in the region in which abortion is not illegal.

[JURIST] The German ambassador to Rwanda was given 24 hours on Tuesday to leave the country in response to Sunday's arrest of a Rwandan presidential aide in Germany [JURIST report] in connection with the 1994 assassination of then-president Juvenal Habyarima [NYT report] that touched off the infamous Rwanda genocide [HRW backgrounder]. Rwandan Minister for Foreign Affairs Rosemary Museminali [official profile] said that the expulsion of Christian Clages [embassy website] did not mean that Rwanda had permanently severed ties with Germany. Clages' expulsion, and the recall of Rwandan ambassador to Germany Eugene Richard Gasana, were protests against the arrest of Rose Kabuye [HAF profile], an aide to Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website] and an official in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) [HRW backgrounder]. Kabuye was arrested in Frankfurt under a 2006 European warrant [text, PDF] issued by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière [BBC profile]. Reuters has more. From Kigali, the New Times has local coverage. Deutsche Welle has additional local coverage.

In October, German authorities transferred [JURIST report] 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 where he faces trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website]. In July, German border police arrested [press release; JURIST report] Rwandan war crimes suspect Callixte Mbarushiman as he was preparing to travel to Russia.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled [opinion, PDF] 6-3 Wednesday in Winter v. National Resources Defense Council [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] that the US Navy may continue using sonar as part of military training exercises, despite environmentalists' concerns for the impact this has on whales and other marine life. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority:

We do not discount the importance of plaintiffs’ ecological, scientific, and recreational interests in marine mammals. Those interests, however, are plainly outweighed by the Navy’s need to conduct realistic training exercises to ensure that it is able to neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines.

In light of the likely, substantial harm to the environment, [National Resource Defense Council’s] almost inevitable success on the merits of its claim that [the National Environmental Policy Act] required the Navy to prepare an [Environmental Impact Statement], the history of this litigation, and the public interest, I cannot agree that the mitigation measures the District Court imposed signal an abuse of discretion.

[JURIST] Bolivian officials on Tuesday formally requested that the US issue extradition orders for former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada [official profile, in Spanish; TrialWatch profile] to face genocide charges for his role in October 2003 riots [Amnesty International backgrounder] over corporate exploitation of the country's natural gas resources that left at least 60 dead. The officials have also called for the extradition of de Lozada's former defense and energy ministers under a 1995 extradition treaty with the US [text, PDF]. Sanchez de Lozada resigned amid the unrest and fled Bolivia for the US. The movement to extradite de Lozada [COHA backgrounder] has been spearheaded by the current Bolivian government and family members of those killed in the riots. AP has more. El Diario has local coverage, in Spanish.

The 2003 riots [BBC report] occurred when military forces clashed with predominantly indigenous farmers, coca growers, students, and unionists who protested de Lozada's attempts to open up the country to free trade with the US and to export gas and other natural resources. The protests were led by his former political rival and current Bolivian president Evo Morales [official profile; JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] US Army Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr. will face a court-martial for his alleged role in the killings of four Iraqis in April 2007 [NY Times report], after waiving his right to an Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder] Wednesday. In September, Leahy, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo, and Sgt. John Hatley were charged [JURIST report] with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice on suspicion that the three former members of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry [unit website] blindfolded and shot four Iraqis, then discarded the bodies in a canal near Baghdad. Leahy faces life in prison without parole at his as-yet unscheduled court martial. Hatley has also waived his Article 32 hearing, and Mayo's hearing date has not yet been announced. Leahy and Hatley also face murder and conspiracy charges from a separate incident in January 2007. AP has more.

Four other soldiers from that unit have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killings, and two have agreed in plea deals to testify against Leahy, Mayo, and Hatley. In September, Spc. Belmor Ramos pleaded guilty to conspiracy [JURIST report] and was sentenced to seven months in prison after testifying that he willingly took part in the killings as retribution for earlier deaths of US soldiers. Spc. Steven Ribordy pleaded guilty to accessory to murder charges [JURIST report] and was sentenced to eight months in prison, testifying at his court-martial that he stood at his post and watched as other members of his battalion carried out the killings. Both men were dishonorably discharged. In August, Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham and Sgt. Charles Quigley submitted to Article 32 hearings [AP report] to determine sufficiency of evidence for courts-martial on conspiracy charges. No official determination from those proceedings has been announced.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] on Tuesday urged [press release] Afghan President Hamad Karzai [official website; BBC profile] to put a stop to executions and join nations calling for a death penalty moratorium. The call came after five prisoners were executed over the last four days. Pillay conceded that the prisoners were convicted of serious crimes but expressed her concern about the risk of executing innocent people. AFP has more.

In 2004, the Afghan government implemented a de facto death penalty moratorium that it continued until last October, when it resumed the death penalty [JURIST report] by executing 15 prisoners by firing squad at Pul-e-Charkhi [BBC backgrounder], the country's largest prison. Then-UN rights chief Louise Arbour had urged reinstatement of the ban, but Karzai rejected [JURIST reports] such calls in April, saying that while he prefers life sentences, he will abide by Islamic law's sanctioning of the death penalty for certain crimes, including kidnapping and murder. In December, the UN General Assembly passed [JURIST report] a non-binding worldwide death penalty moratorium [text, PDF], calling on a suspension, rather than a complete abolition, of capital punishment.

[JURIST] Two former Bangladeshi cabinet members, including a former interior minister, were released on bail Tuesday, after being arrested in 2007 [JURIST report] for alleged involvement in a corruption scandal. The two, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Altaf Hossain Choudhury, were released after the Bangladesh Supreme Court [official website] refused to overturn a High Court order granting them bail. Hossain and Choudry were arrested last year as part of the Bangladesh government's anti-corruption campaign [JURIST news archive]. Both have ties to the former Bangladeshi prime minister Bengum Khaleda Zia [UN profile]. From Bangladesh, The Daily Star has more. BDNews24.com has additional coverage.

In May, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) [governing statute] filed formal corruption and abuse of power charges [JURIST report] against Zia for an alleged kickback scheme that awarded lucrative gas contracts to Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd.. Bangladesh's current anti-corruption campaign began in February 2007 as eight former Bangladeshi ministers were accused of corruption and 13 other former ministers and senior politicians were arrested in raids on their homes after Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency in the country and canceled a scheduled national election [JURIST reports]. Zia and her son were arrested on suspicion of corruption [JURIST report] in September. Three additional members of Zia's cabinet were jailed [JURIST report] on Monday.

[JURIST] Russian State Duma [official website, in Russian] officials said Wednesday they would expedite consideration of constitutional amendments submitted [press release] by President Dmitry Medvedev [official profile; JURIST news archive] that would extend presidential and parliamentary terms. The Duma's constitutional committee has recommended that the three required readings of the proposed legislation be done at one time, which would enable the legislation to be passed as early as Friday. The proposed amendments [JURIST report] would increase presidential term length under Article 81(1) [text] of the Russian Constitution [materials] from four to six years and extend Duma members' terms under Article 96(1) [text] from four to five years. A Kremlin statement said that longer terms "will increase the responsibility of the president and the Russian parliament for their respective performances," adding:

Establishing a longer term of office for the President with respect to State Duma deputies speaks to the need to ensure the stable development of the country and the continuity of government policies. The achievement of this goal is rendered more difficult when there is a virtually complete turnover of power at the federal level every four years.

[JURIST] The South Korean government Tuesday established a committee of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) [official website] to investigate alleged human rights abuses in North Korea. The formation of the new committee is expected to become a source of tension between the two countries. The human rights situation in North Korea has recently come under increased international scrutiny, with a draft UN General Assembly resolution condemning North Korea's human rights practices [JURIST report] gaining support from South Korea, Japan, and the European Union. Since assuming office in February 2008, South Korean president Lee Myung Bak [BBC profile] has taken a tougher line on North-South relations than his predecessors, leading to more confrontations with the North Korean government. Reuters has more.

Last month, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea called on [UN News Centre report; JURIST report] the country to take urgent action to improve its rights record. In March, the NHRCK announced an official investigation [JURIST report] into alleged human rights violations by North Korea. North Korea is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Political Rights [text], among other international treaties.

[JURIST] The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) [official website] announced [MOH news release] Tuesday that it has renewed claims and is seeking greater damages against 13 local cigarette importers in an effort to "curb the spreading of some serious health problems caused by cigarette smoking." The lawsuit, filed by MOH last year [MOH news release], seeks $34 billion in compensation, and is the first of its kind in the country. According to the Health Minister on Tuesday, "MOH has incurred great costs for treating the diseases caused by smoking" and the government intends to target local Saudi cigarette importers, as opposed to international tobacco companies, as part of a new government anti-smoking campaign. AP has more.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of actions brought by governments against tobacco companies [JURIST news archive] for health care costs associated with the treatment of tobacco-related diseases. Similar lawsuits have been filed in Nigeria, South Korea, Japan, and Canada [JURIST reports]. The US government, 46 US states, and a number of US territories settled litigation [DOJ backgrounder] against a number of tobacco companies in November 1998 [settlement summary] for damages stemming from tobacco-related health care costs. In 2006, a federal judge ruled [JURIST report] that the tobacco industry was liable for civil racketeering charges filed against the industry by the Department of Justice in 1999.