[JURIST] A panel of the UK High Court of Justice [official website] ruled [judgment, PDF] Friday that Iraqis Faisal Attiyah Nassar al-Saadoon and Khalaf Hussain Mufdhi, suspected in the 2003 deaths of two British soldiers [BBC report], may be transferred to Iraqi custody to face trial. Lawyers for the men had contested their transfer, arguing that it would violate the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the UK Human Rights Act of 1998 [texts], because of alleged bias in Iraqi courts and the possibility that the men may be tortured or executed if they are convicted of the crime. The court found that there was insufficient support for the claims of judicial bias or risk of torture, but found that the men would likely face execution if convicted. It further held that even though the death penalty was against the terms of the ECHR and UK law, broader international law principles obligated the transfer of detainees to Iraqi custody even if they face the penalty, as long as its application is reserved for only the most severe offenses:

The charges against the claimants fall within the category of the “most serious crimes” which would justify, in the terms of [a UN Human Rights Committee] comment, the exceptional measure of the death penalty. It follows that, however repugnant the death penalty may be within our domestic legal system and under the Convention, its imposition would not be contrary to international law. The risk that the claimants may be subject to the death penalty does not, therefore, operate to relieve the United Kingdom of its obligation to transfer the claimants into the custody of the Iraqi court.

[JURIST] Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Thursday urged Indian President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil [official website] to reject [press release] the recently passed Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment of 2008 (UAPA) [legislative materials], which would allow the government to hold terrorism suspects for up to 180 days. The bill, which comes in response to the recent Mumbai terror attacks [BBC backgrounder], was approved [JURIST report] by the lower house of parliament Wednesday and by the upper house Thursday, and must now be signed by Patil before taking effect. AI Asia Pacific Program Deputy Director Madhu Malhotra said, "While we utterly condemn the attacks and recognise that the Indian authorities have a right and duty to take effective measures to ensure the security of the population, security concerns should never be used to jeopardize people's human rights." Proponents of the UAPA have said that there are safeguards in place [Hindustan Times report] to make sure that the new law is not misused.

The attacks in Mumbai, which claimed at least 170 lives, were carried out at ten locations across the city, including the landmark Taj Mahal Palace hotel [hotel website]. In the wake of the attacks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [official website] pushed for tougher anti-terrorism measures [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A Canadian Federal Court [official website] judge ruled Thursday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) [official website] must stop monitoring phone calls between terrorism suspects and their lawyers and must erase any such calls that it accidentally records. Judge Carolyn Layden-Stevenson [official profile] on Thursday morning released a two-page summary of testimony given during a secret hearing Wednesday that revealed that CSIS had been monitoring conversations between suspects and their lawyers. Layden-Stevenson issued an order later Tuesday putting a stop to the practice. A CSIS lawyer said that CSIS would comply with the order [Globe and Mail report] and would stop listening to future conversations between lawyers and clients as soon as the nature of the conversation became apparent.

The issue arose in the case of Mohammad Mahjoub, an Egyptian detainee suspected of ties to al Qaeda who had been held since 2000. Mahjoub was released on bail [CBC report] in April 2007. Leading up to his release, he agreed to have his phone calls monitored so authorities could ensure he was not a threat to national security, but his lawyers did not realize that phone calls between them and their client would be intercepted.

[JURIST] The UN General Assembly [official website] was divided Thursday over the the issue of decriminalizing homosexuality [press release] as 66 nations signed a statement calling for decriminalization, and nearly 60 nations signed an opposing statement. The representative from Argentina, speaking on behalf of primarily European and Latin American countries, including the UK, Germany, and Brazil, read a statement urging states to:

take all the necessary measures, in particular legislative or administrative, to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention.

The ageless cliche that everyone is equal but some are more equal than others is not acceptable. No human being should be denied their human rights simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. No human being should be subject to discrimination, violence, criminal sanctions or abuse simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan National Assembly [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a measure authorizing a national referendum on a constitutional amendment that would abolish presidential term limits [press release, in Spanish]. The amendment would allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to seek re-election in 2012. Also on Thursday, a petition signed by almost five million people [Bloomberg report] endorsing the amendment was given to the National Assembly, while thousands of members of Chavez's United Socialist Party gathered in Caracas to show support. The referendum is ultimately expected to be approved when it is debated again in parliament next month. The opposition has said the referendum is unlawful [AP report] since term limits were voted down [JURIST report] last year.

In 2007 Venezuelans rejected the constitutional reforms [JURIST news archive] proposed by Chavez by a narrow margin of 51 to 49 percent. At that time Chavez, accepting his first electoral defeat, acknowledged that his proposed reforms, which would have allowed him to stand indefinitely for re-election, handpick local leaders under a new political map, create new types of communal property, and to suspend civil liberties during states of emergency, were "quite profound and intense," and noted that he may have been too ambitious in his proposals. Chavez touted the constitutional changes as necessary to advance Venezuela's socialist revolution. Opposition politicians accused Chavez [JURIST report] of using the constitutional reforms to consolidate his power.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [official profile] has ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down [press release] the military prison at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in preparation for a possible order from President-elect Barack Obama [transition website], a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that Gates wants to have a plan in place in the event Obama issues an order shortly after his inauguration to close the facility. Morrell said:

[Gates] has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down [and] what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, while at the same time ensuring that we protect the American people from some very dangerous characters.

The fact that Defense Secretary Gates is finally taking steps to close down Guantanamo and its unconstitutional military commissions is a welcome and encouraging sign that President-elect Obama intends to fulfill his campaign pledge. This is an important first step toward turning the page on eight years of shameful policies that allowed torture and violations of domestic and international law.

[JURIST] An Argentine court Thursday released 14 suspects who are accused of committing human rights violations during the country's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. The court released the men pending bail [Reuters report], saying that the two-year legal deadline for holding them without a conviction had expired. The suspects are said to have committed human rights violations during Argentina's so-called "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Among those to be released on bail were Alfredo Astiz [Trial Watch profile] and Jorge Acosta, who worked at the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA) [BBC backgrounder] where thousands were tortured and killed. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner [official website, in Spanish] deplored the ruling, which the government has said it will appeal [press release, in Spanish].

It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were forcibly kidnapped or "disappeared" during the Argentine government's campaign against suspected dissidents during the country's "Dirty War." In 2005, Argentina's Supreme Court struck down amnesty laws [JURIST report] adopted in the 1980s to protect potential defendants, prompting the government to reopen hundreds of human rights cases. In March, Argentine politician and former police chief Luis Abelardo Patti was arrested for crimes allegedly committed during the period. In May, Juan Evaristo Puthod, a victim of the violent suppression, was kidnapped but later released [JURIST reports] before testifying in a third case. In July, an Argentine court sentenced former general Luciano Benjamin Menendez and four others to life in prison for the 1977 kidnapping, torture, and killing of four political dissidents during the "Dirty War," and in August, a court convicted Mendendez and another former general [JURIST reports] and sentenced them to life terms for kidnapping, torturing, and murdering Peronist politician Guillermo Vargas Aignasse in 1976 during the coup.

[JURIST] International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz [official profile] said Thursday that the tribunal may not be able to meet the UN deadline of 2010 for completing its work. Brammertz said that the July arrest [JURIST report] of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic [ICTY materials; ICTY backgrounder, PDF; JURIST news archive] may make it necessary for the tribunal to remain open until 2012 [AP report]. Brammertz also said that the tribunal has been faced with many staff resignations, including the resignation of many experienced lawyers. Last week Brammertz told the UN Security Council [official website] that the tribunal would need cooperation [UN News Centre report] from former Yugoslavian states as well as the international community to complete its work. He later told reporters that pending appeals could continue through 2012 [press release]. Also last week, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1849 (2008) [press release and text], which will allow the total number of ad litem judges to temporarily exceed the maximum of 12 provided for in the tribunal’s statute, to a maximum of 16 at any one time, returning to a maximum of 12 by February 28, 2009.

Two war crimes suspects, Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic [ICTY materials; ICTY backgrounder, PDF] and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic [ICTY materials; ICTY backgrounder, PDF], remain at large, and their capture is a top priority of the ICTY. In addition, the trial of Karadzic is expected to be one of the most complicated cases the ICTY has handled. Karadzic faces 11 charges [amended indictment, PDF], including genocide, murder, persecution, deportation, and "other inhumane acts," for war crimes allegedly committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Prosecutors filed a motion to amend the indictment [JURIST report] in September, in hopes of simplifying the proceedings. Karadzic was arrested 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 repeatedly refused to enter a plea on the charges, with an ICTY judge eventually entering a not guilty plea [JURIST reports] on his behalf. If the court approves the amended indictment, Karadzic will be asked to enter new pleas.

[JURIST] An Italian court in Milan Thursday sentenced Parmalat SpA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] founder Calisto Tanzi [NNDB profile] to 10 years in prison for his role in the collapse of the Italian dairy giant. Tanzi is the first executive to be sentenced in connection with the €14 billion fraud scheme in 2003 that bankrupted the company. He was convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy and criminal association for allegedly concealing the company's debt. Seven other defendants were acquitted [Corriere Della Sera report, in Italian], including three former Bank of America [corporate website] employees and the former head of Parmalat Venezuela. An eighth corporate defendant, former Parmalat auditor Italaudit, was fined €240,000 and had €455,000 confiscated.

Parmalat filed for insolvency in December 2003 after discovering accounting discrepancies totaling nearly $5 billion in debt. Tanzi was indicted [JURIST report] along with approximately 20 other executives in July 2007. In June 2007, an Italian judge indicted four banks [JURIST report] - Citigroup, UBS, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank - in connection with the fraud. Suits and counter-suits have been filed in both Italy and the US against a number of parties, including Citigroup and Bank of America [JURIST reports]. Bank of America is pursuing a counterclaim [JURIST report] against Parmalat, alleging the company engaged in fraud and is maliciously suing the bank to shift blame. In November 2006, a US district judge directed the companies to seek a settlement [JURIST report], but no settlement has been reached [Reuters report]. In April, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that a $7 billion lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by Parmalat against Citigroup could go forward on a claim that Citigroup aided and abetted former Parmalat executives in misappropriating company money. In May, Parmalat reached a €24 million settlement [JURIST report] with its shareholders.