[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in five cases Friday. In Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the Court will consider whether a decision by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Brent Benjamin [official profile] not to recuse himself from hearing a case against a financial contributor to his campaign violated the Due Process [LII backgrounder] rights of the plaintiff in the case. Opposing review, counsel for A.T. Massey argued [opposition brief, PDF] that Benjamin was not required to recuse himself because the donations were made by an officer of the company rather than the company itself and that they were made before he became a member of the court. The NYU Brennan Center for Justice and American Bar Assosciation [briefs, PDF] were among the groups which filed amicus briefs supporting review by the Court.

In Yeager v. United States [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the Court will consider whether a criminal defendant can face new prosecution for counts on which a jury did not reach a verdict but that are related to other counts of which the defendant has been acquitted. Petitioners in the case argue that the Court should determine whether such prosecution would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause [LII backgrounder] of the Fifth Amendment because federal circuit courts disagreed on the issue. Attorneys for the Justice Department opposed [opposition brief, PDF] the review.

In Abuelhawa v. United States [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the Court will consider whether a defendant who used a cellphone for the misdemeanor purchase of cocaine can be charged with felony for using a "communication facility" to facilitate the distribution of an illegal drug under 21 USC § 843(b) [text]. The defendant argues that the provision should only apply to distributors of the drugs and not who purchase them for personal use. Attorneys for the Justice Department opposed [opposition brief, PDF] the review.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the Court will consider whether a film critical of Senator Hillary Clinton is considered a political advertisement under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 [materials]. The petitioner in the case argues that a Supreme Court ruling on what constitutes "electioneering communications" under the law was not entirely defined by a 2003 Supreme Court decision in McConnell v. FEC [opinion text]. The Federal Election Committee (FEC) opposed [opposition brief, PDF] the review.

In Dean v. United States [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the Court will consider whether the accidental discharge of a firearm during the commission of a felony crime subjects a defendant to a 10-year minimum sentence for the crime. Under 18 USC 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) [text] , the increased sentence attaches when a firearm is discharged, but the defendant argues that there must also be some showing that the discharge was intentional. Attorneys for the Justice Department opposed [opposition brief, PDF] the review, arguing that no such requirement was included in the statute.

[JURIST] Former South African President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Friday asked to be joined as amicus curiae to an appeal by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website] challenging the dismissal of all fraud and corruption charges against Jacob Zuma [BBC news profile; JURIST news archive], head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) [party website]. The South African Constitutional Court [official website] refused [JURIST report] Wednesday to hear Mbeki's appeal. Mbeki had announced earlier Friday that he would appeal this decision to the South African Supreme Court. Charges against Zuma were dismissed because there was evidence of political interference in the decision by the NPA to bring the charges against Zuma. Mbeki contends that that decision violates his constitutional rights because it assumed he was guilty of interfering with an investigation without affording him a hearing on the allegation. From South Africa, the Citizen has more. The Mail and Guardian has additional local coverage.

Zuma defeated Mbeki for the ANC leadership in party elections held in December 2007. He was ousted [JURIST report] as the country’s deputy president in 2005 after an aide was convicted of corruption. He was also charged with rape, but ultimately acquitted and reinstated [JURIST report] as ANC deputy vice president. In late July, the South African Constitutional Court rejected a motion [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] by Zuma to exclude evidence from the corruption trial. Zuma had argued [JURIST report] that evidence seized in 2005 raids by the Directorate of Special Investigations [official backgrounder; BBC report] should be thrown out because the raids violated his rights to privacy and a fair trial. The court upheld the validity of the warrants used in the raids, confirming a November 2007 decision [JURIST report] by the South African Supreme Court of Appeal. The court also held [opinion, PDF; summary] that papers obtained by the Mauritius government [JURIST report] believed to document meetings between Zuma and arms manufacturer Thint were also admissible. Zuma has been facing corruption allegations [BBC timeline] and other charges for several years. He was first charged with corruption in 2005, but those charges were later dismissed [JURIST report] because prosecutors failed to follow proper procedures.

[JURIST] Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez [official website; BBC profile] on Friday vetoed [text, PDF, in Spanish] legislation that would have partially decriminalized abortion [JURIST news archive] in the country. The bill was passed [JURIST report] by Uruguay's Senate [official website, in Spanish] on Tuesday, after the House of Representatives [official website, in Spanish] approved it last week. Under the draft legislation, a mother would have been able to terminate her pregnancy during the first 12 weeks to prevent risks to her health, birth deformities, economic hardship, or other family problems. Vazquez wrote:

There is consensus that abortion is a social evil to be avoided. However, in countries that have liberalized abortion, they have increased. In the United States in the first ten years it tripled, and the figure remains: the custom was installed. The same thing happened in Spain.

[JURIST] The Kenyan government Friday said in response to a report [press release] by the UN Committee on Torture [official website] focusing on post-election violence that occurred in the country in late 2007 and early 2008 that it was taking initiatives to eliminate torture and other inhumane treatment. CAT highlighted cases of gender-based violence and gang rapes by police and other security forces, and discussed police corruption among other rights-related problems. In a statement [text, PDF; UN press release] Kenyan Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs Martha Karua [official profile] said that since 2003 the government has closed torture chambers, amended its criminal laws and made it easier to citizens to report abusive acts. AFP has more.

Last month, a commission established [JURIST report] by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] to review the events following last year's election released a report [JURIST report], recommending the establishment of an international tribunal to try those involved. Kibaki created the commission to ease the domestic and international tension that was a result of the controversial election [JURIST report], including threats from 13 nations to cut off aid to the Kenyan government [JURIST report].

[JURIST] An Italian court on Thursday acquitted [RAI recorded video, in Italian] 16 police officers and convicted 13 officers on charges of violence in raiding a school that protesters of the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa [official website; BBC backgrounder] were using as headquarters. In addition, the court awarded damages to some of the injured protesters. The 13 convicted officers were sentenced to 35 years and seven months, as opposed to the 108 years originally sought by the prosecution. Of the 16 acquittals, three senior officers were high-ranking officials in the anti-terrorism unit and one was in the secret service. The trial has been high-profile in Italy, and is one of three that arose in relation to alleged abuses of authority at the 2001 G8 Summit anti-globalization protests. Reuters has more. RAI has local coverage, in Italian.

On the night of July 21, 2001, police forces conducted a raid on the Diaz school, which was being used as headquarters by some of the protesters. Over the course of the summit as a whole, more than 100 protesters were injured and one was killed. 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. In July of this year, an Italian court found 15 police force members and medical staff guilty [JURIST report] of abusing the protesters, but absolved 30 more.

[JURIST] Switzerland's Federal Department for Foreign Affairs (FDFA) [official website] condemned Israeli destruction of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem [B'Tselem backgrounder] as a violation of international humanitarian law in a statement [press release] Thursday and called on Israel to stop the demolitions. According to the FDFA, Israel is under a duty to protect the civilians in East Jerusalem as it is part of occupied Palestinian territory. A spokesperson for the FDFA added that the demolitions violate the Fourth Geneva Convention [ICRC document] which forbids an occupying power from destroying property in an occupied territory. As a party and the depositary state for the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland has always regarded itself as having special legal obligations [FDFA backgrounder] towards the monitoring of the Conventions and international adherence to them. AP has more. WAFA has additional coverage.

Israel has been strongly criticized by the international community over its settlement and land appropriation activities, particularly in the West Bank. Since 2000 over 1,600 homes have been demolished in the West Bank, including 600 in East Jerusalem. In July, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din [advocacy website] highlighted the lack of investigations and prosecutions [JURIST report] of Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories who commit crimes against Palestinians. In June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] said that Israeli plans to expand settlements [Ha'aretz report] in the West Bank violate international law [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A panel of Scotland's High Court of Justiciary [official website] Friday denied bail [decision text] to convicted Pan Am Flight 103 [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [BBC backgrounder]. The plane was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, killing all 259 on board [victims website], including 180 Americans, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans prior to 9/11. Eleven others on the ground were killed by debris. Al-Megrahi was recently diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, and his lawyers had sought his release on bail as he appeals his conviction. They argued that because of the severity of the illness, he should be released to seek treatment. The High Court recognized the impact his continued incarceration might have on his condition, but said that he was currently not in severe pain, and that his health concerns must be weighed against the severity of the crime of which he has been convicted:

The critical question, as the court sees it, is, against the background of the atrocity of which the applicant stands convicted, whether the applicant's health, present and prospective, is such that the Court should on compassionate grounds now admit him to bail. On balance the Court is not persuaded, on the information before it, that it should. While the disease from which the appellant suffers is incurable and may cause his death, he is not at present suffering material pain or disability. The full services of the National Health Service are available to him, notwithstanding he is in custody. There is, it appears, no immediate prospect of serious deterioration in his condition... While recognising [sic] that the psychological burden of knowledge of an incurable fatal disease may be easier to bear in a family environment than in custody, the Court, having regard to the grave nature of the conviction and taking into account the fact that a reference has been made and the fact that the appeal process is likely to be protracted, is not persuaded that the stage has been reached when early release is appropriate.

[JURIST] A Moroccan criminal court on Thursday convicted [MAP report] Moroccan citizen Said Boujandia of crimes associated with terrorist acts. The Sale Criminal Court sentenced Boujandia to 10 years in a Moroccan prison. Boujandia admitted his association with with a terrorist organization who sought to aid the Taliban, but has denied committing any crime. Boujandia was held in US custody in Guantanamo Bay [Global Security backgrounder; JURIST news archive] from 2001 until May 2008. AP has more. WaBayn has local coverage, in French.

The conviction of Boujandia was the first criminal conviction of a Moroccan citizen connected with the US-led "war on terror." Morocco had previously refused to pursue criminal charges against any citizen for terrorist acts that occurred outside of Morocco, and in May 2007 had released [JURIST report] without criminal charges a former Guantanamo Bay detainee released by the US into Moroccan custody. Recently, Morocco has assumed a more aggressive role in prosecuting alleged terror suspects for acts occurring beyond Morocco's borders. In January of 2008, Moroccan authorities arrested Abdelilah Hriz [JURIST report] a suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings.

[JURIST] The parliament of Algeria [CIA backgrounder] approved a constitutional amendment Wednesday that removed the law limiting the country's president to two terms in office. In a joint vote, both houses of the Algerian parliament, the Council of Nation [official website, in Arabic] and the National People's Assembly, overwhelmingly approved the amendment 500-21 with eight abstaining, which will allow current President Abdelaziz Bouteflika [official website; BBC profile] to seek a third term in 2009. The outcome of the vote was widely predicted as Bouteflika has majority support in parliament. Opposition groups, such as Rally for Culture [advocacy website, in French], have condemned the amendment as similar to a coup, asserting that it is anti-democratic. Bouteflika has not yet confirmed whether he will run for president in 2009. AFP has more. BBC News has additional coverage. El Khabar has local coverage.

Bouteflika was first elected president of the resource-rich north African nation in 1999, during a 13-year civil war between Islamic militants and government forces that left more than 100,000 people dead. He was re-elected in 2004 and earned nationwide praise for his efforts to unify the country with his Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation [JURIST report] which provided amnesty for those involved in the civil war and reparations for families of victims. Bouteflika has spoken about reforming the Algerian constitution [text, translated from Arabic] since he first took office in 1999. While addressing a group of magistrates last month, Bouteflika said the present amendments would promote efficiency and stability [Magharebia report] in the country.

[JURIST] The Center for Public Policy Priorities [advocacy website] said Thursday that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] does not do enough to protect the rights and welfare of minors who have entered the country illegally. In a new report [text, PDF; press release, PDF] the group estimated that 43,000 undocumented, unaccompanied minors are removed from the US each year, and criticized DHS for a lack of consistent policies on removal hearings for and subsequent repatriation of the children. The group said unaccompanied minors in US custody are often mistreated by Border Patrol [official website] officers, not given sufficient access to protective services, denied access to legal counsel or their county's consulate, and are often transported back to their countries of origin in unsafe conditions. The group also said that the children often face unsafe conditions upon repatriation. It called on the US to develop stronger and more consistent policies to protect the minors, both while in the US and once returned to their home countries. AP has more.

The report comes as the US is increasing the number of undocumented aliens that it prosecutes or deports and is receiving other criticism for its treatment of the immigrants. Earlier this month, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website], a branch of DHS, reported [JURIST report] deporting a record 349,041 immigrants during the 2008 fiscal year. In June, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reported that US immigration prosecutions hit record levels [JURIST report] early this year. In July, lawyers and professors testified [hearing materials; JURIST report] before the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary [official website] that the government violated the due process rights of 389 illegal immigrants arrested [JURIST report] in a raid at an Agriprocessors Inc. [corporate website] meatpacking plant in Iowa this past May.

[JURIST] Lawyers providing legal services to at least 100 Chinese children sickened by tainted milk products [BBC report] have decided to continue with a class action lawsuit against government-owned dairy farm Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the focus of recalls following the scandal, according to Thursday media reports. Lawyers providing free legal support for families had said last month [JURIST report] they had been pressured by Chinese officials to stop providing legal services to the families and leave the "political issue" to government authorities. The lawyers have discussed legal options for several weeks, and on Thursday decided to continue with the class action lawsuit, which seeks damages for medical care and trauma and compensation for families with children who have died as a result of the contamination. AP has more.

News of possible milk powder contamination by the chemical melamine first broke in September [Guardian report], following the death of an infant and reports that at least 50 other infants had fallen ill after consuming baby formula, leading to massive recalls [BBC report] of both liquid milk products and milk powders. The death toll soon rose to four, and the number of sick infants in China [JURIST news archive] later ballooned into the tens of thousands. As of Wednesday, nearly 1,300 infants remained hospitalized [China Daily report] as a result of the contamination. So far, police have arrested at least 36 people [AFP report] in connection with the scandal.

[JURIST] The Russian Supreme Court [official site, in Russian] classified northern Africa group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) [CFR backgrounder] as a terrorist organization in a ruling [press release, in Russian] Thursday, prohibiting the organization from conducting activities in Russia. The court ruled after the Russian Prosecutor General [official website] asked the court to ban the organization and put it on a national blacklist of terrorist groups [RFE/RL backgrounder]. RIA Novosti has more.

AQIM, previously called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), is located in Algeria and has claimed responsibility [AP report] for bomb attacks that killed six people in Algeria last year as well as for multiple suicide bombings [Deutsche Welle report] this year.