[JURIST] An Iranian court has sentenced 16 former employees of the Central Bank of Iran [official website] to jail and lashes for accepting bribes. According to an Iranian state radio broadcast [Reuters report], the staff members were convicted of accepting cash, foreign currency, and gold in exchange for bank credit. The harsh sentences, including a reported 10 years of jail time, are seen as part of increasing efforts by the Iranian judiciary [official website, in Persian] to control official corruption in Iran.

In January, an Iranian airport customs contractor convicted of corruption was executed [JURIST report] for his crimes. Three other airport customs contractors face the death penalty for similar crimes. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [official profile; BBC profile] has taken a tough stance again corruption and bribery, but, prior to January, no corruption offenders had been executed.

[JURIST] Leyla Zana [NNDB profile], a Kurdish spokesperson and member of the European Union Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) [official website], was sentenced [EUTCC press release] Saturday to 10 years in prison for supporting the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) [BBC profile; FAS backgrounder]. A Turkish court in the city of Diyarbakir ruled that Zana had violated article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code [text, in Turkish] and anti-terror laws in nine speeches she gave between July 2007 and March 2008 in support of the PKK. The court also revoked [Zaman report] her right to vote and run for political office, among other political rights. In response to the sentence, Zana said in a statement to EUTCC Chair Kariane Westrheim:

The case against me is a violation against freedom of thought, and represents a threat to every Kurd in Turkey. The decision of the court is just another way to repress, silence and punish the Kurds. The mentality governing this country is that problems can be resolved by anti democratic and repressive means and that unfair trial can provide political and social peace. But despite all this, our people will claim their legitimate rights, and will continue to struggle for this as long as it takes.

[JURIST] The Montana First Judicial District [Montana courts materials] ruled Friday that terminally ill patients in the state have the right to commit physician-assisted suicide. The case, Baxter v. Montana [complaint, PDF] was brought by a number of terminally-ill Montanans, their doctors, and Compassion & Choices [advocacy website], an organization supporting the legalization of physician assisted suicide. In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that their right to assisted suicide was guaranteed by the Montana Constitution [text; analysis, PDF], specifically under provisions relating to their rights of privacy, individual dignity, due process, equal protection, and the right to seek safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways. In her opinion, Judge Dorothy McCarter held [AP report] that under the Montana Constitution, terminally ill individuals have the right to die with dignity, and have the right to obtain self-administered medications to hasten death if they find their suffering to be unbearable. McCarter also held that physicians prescribing those medications are protected from homicide prosecution by state protection of the patient's right to die.

Last month, voters in Washington state approved a ballot initiative [JURIST report] that will allow terminally ill, legally competent adults to obtain lethal prescriptions without exposing themselves, their physicians, or others to criminal penalties. The Washington measure is modeled on neighboring Oregon's Death with Dignity Act [official materials], enacted in 1997 and upheld [JURIST report] by the US Supreme Court in 2006.