[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile; JURIST news archive] Sunday condemned [statement text] what she called Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” against Hamas targets in Gaza and urged the Israeli government to “uphold international humanitarian law principles, especially those relating to proportionality in the use of military force and the prevention of collective punishment and the targeting of civilians.” Pillay's call follows two days of Israeli airstrikes that have killed 270 people and wounded more than 600, including many civilians, according to a UN report [text].

Last week, militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired more than 80 rockets and mortars into southern Israel [AFP report], hitting private residences, public buildings, offices, and other populated areas. The Israeli government responded by filing two letters of complaint [text; second letter text] with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and warned militants that they would pay a "heavy price" [AP report] if attacks continued. Both letters of complaint, sent by Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gabriel Shalev, cited Article 51 [text] of the United Nations Charter, which provides that a Member-State may act in self-defense in the face of an armed attack until the UN Security Council has taken the steps necessary to maintain international peace and security. Member-states invoking Article 51 are nonetheless bound by principles of customary international law, including the principles of necessity and proportionality.

[JURIST] Egyptian Deputy Interior Minister Hamid Rashid [ministry website, in Arabic] Sunday announced the suspension and investigation of 280 police officers alleged to have abused their power and committed human rights violations. In a statement before the Egyptian Parliament, Rashid said as many as 1,164 police officers have already been fired [AP report] for similar reasons.

Egypt has recently come under increased scrutiny [JURIST archive] on human rights issues, with the conduct of Egyptian police and security services being especially criticized. In April, an Egyptian appeals court overturned the jail sentence [JURIST reports] of an Al Jazeera [media website] television reporter convicted for her role in producing a film on police torture. In November 2007 two police officers were sentenced to three years in prison [JURIST report] for sodomizing and beating detainee Emad el-Kabir while videoing the incident on a cell phone. Egyptian bloggers later posted the video on the Internet. In April 2007, Amnesty International released a report [text; JURIST report] criticizing Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps and centers run by State Security Investigations.

[JURIST] The Taiwan High Court [official website] on Sunday overruled a district court decision to release former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] pending his trial on corruption charges, citing risks of flight, collusion and interference with other witnesses. The Taipei district court’s decision to release Chen was originally overruled on December 17 by the High Court. Sunday’s reversal was a response to a second ruling by the district court, on December 25, to release Chen without bail on his own recognizance. The former president was indicted by Taiwanese prosecutors [JURIST report] earlier this month on charges of corruption, including embezzlement, receiving bribes, forgery, and money laundering. His wife, his son and daughter-in-law, three former presidential aides, and eight other associates and family members were also indicted.

Chen has been detained since his November arrest [JURIST report] on suspicion of embezzling money from the state affairs fund. While in prison, Chen later went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized [JURIST reports]. Chen, the former leader of the now-opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) [party website, in Mandarin] who resigned the presidency in May 2008, has maintained his innocence and has said that the investigation of his conduct is a political attack by members of the ruling Kuomintang Party [party website]. Chen spent eight months in prison twenty-one years ago for defaming Nationalist leaders. In September, he was cleared [JURIST report] on more recent defamation charges.

[JURIST] Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski [official profile] expressed reservations Saturday over the prospect of accepting detainees released from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] as part of a US strategy to close the prison. In an interview [excerpts, in Polish] with the Dziennik daily, Sikorski ventured that "the establishment of prisons outside the US legal system was one of the more serious errors of the George W. Bush administration" and said he was “not eager” to take in prisoners from Guantanamo, who “would be quite a challenge” for the Polish prison system due to language and other difficulties. The head of Poland’s Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, Krzysztof Lisek, expressed similar concerns [Polskie Radio report] earlier last week, noting the “cramped conditions in the jails and a notorious lack of places.”

The prospect of closing Guantanamo Bay has raised questions about where to relocate released prisoners. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently ordered the Pentagon [JURIST report] to draft a proposal for closing the facility in anticipation of a possible presidential order. Germany and Portugal [JURIST reports] have both stated a willingness to accept Guantanamo detainees in support of the facility's closure and have urged other countries to do so as well. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has said it will not accept detainees [AFP report] for resettlement and Spain has expressed strong reservations. The United Kingdom and Australia [JURIST report] have said they will consider transfers on a case-by-case basis. French officials Friday suggested a unified European Union stance [JURIST report] on the issue but France has not explicitly expressed a willingness to accept detainees itself. France holds the European Union presidency through December 31.