[JURIST] Former US Army [official website] Pfc. Kimberly Rivera [advocacy profile] who fled the US for Canada after serving in Iraq announced Wednesday that the Canadian government [official website] had ordered her deportation. She, along with her husband and children, had sought asylum on humanitarian grounds to avoid a second tour in Iraq. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney [official profile] defended [Toronto Star report] the practice of deporting military deserters, distinguishing between draft dodgers and people who join the military voluntarily and later defect. Rivera, the first female US soldier to flee to Canada, could face a court-martial and up to five years in prison [AP report] upon her return to the US.

Canada's House of Commons in June passed a non-binding resolution [Globe and Mail report] to grant US military deserters asylum, which the Conservative party minority government has ignored. In September, the Canadian Federal Court granted [JURIST report] a last-minute stay of removal for US Army deserter Jeremy Hinzman, after hearing about errors in the assessment of hardships he and his family would face in the US. In August, a US military judge in Colorado sentenced US Army Pfc. Robin Long, who had been denied asylum [JURIST reports] in Canada, to 15 months in prison, dishonorable discharge and demotion after Long pleaded guilty to desertion with intent to remain away permanently. In November 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear [JURIST report] the appeals of two US military deserters who sought refugee status within the country.

[JURIST] Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] on Wednesday directed the attorney general and information minister to review a controversial media bill [press release] that gives power to a communication commission to regulate broadcasting with threats of fines or incarceration. The Communications Amendment Bill of 2008 [text, PDF], which was signed into law [JURIST report] by Kibaki on Friday, allows the minister of information to control aspects of broadcast content. Kibaki was acting in response to a letter from the chairman of the Media Owners Association (MOA) of Kenya objecting to the new legislation. Attorney General Amos Wako [official website] on Thursday asked the MOA of Kenya to hand in suggestions and comments [The Standard report] by Tuesday.

The MOA has been outspoken [KBC report] on the passage of this bill. The MOA believes that the legislation will curtail freedoms that are important in maintaining the development of the nation. Press freedom has been a long-standing issue in Kenya. Last year, Kibaki stressed the importance of a free press when he refused to sign [JURIST report] a bill that would have required journalists to disclose confidential sources.

[JURIST] Turkish police on Wednesday arrested approximately 40 people, including three retired generals, in an investigation of an alleged plot to overthrow the government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website]. Police searched [Hurriyet report] the home of the country's former top prosecutor, Sabih Kanadoglu. Police also arrested the former head of the police anti-terror unit, a journalist, and a professor in the continued probe of the Ergenekon [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] group, in which dozens of suspects are already on trial. On Thursday, Gen. Ilker Basbug, the army's top officer, met [Hurriyet report] with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile] in response to the arrest of the former generals.

In October, the High Criminal Court in Istanbul began the trial [JURIST report] of 86 defendants in the coup investigation. The accused are said to belong to the secular Ergenekon group, believed responsible for bombing the headquarters of the newspaper Cumhuriyet [media website, in Turkish], assassinating Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink [BBC obituary], and planning other attacks to provoke a military coup to topple the AKP. Among those on trial are journalists, intellectuals, and Turkish Workers' Party [party website, in Turkish] leader Dogu Perincek [JURIST report]. Critics allege that the AKP has improperly investigated secular groups as part of a drive to impose Islamic principles [Ha'aretz report] on the country in violation of the its secular constitution.

[JURIST] US President-elect Barack Obama [transition website] will appoint Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein [professional profile] as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs [official website], according to reports Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post [texts]. Sunstein will be responsible for governmental regulations [HLS press release] and will deal with issues including changes to the financial services industry, the development of universal healthcare, and efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions. Sunstein previously taught at the University of Chicago Law School and served as a clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

On Monday, Obama named four former Clinton-era attorneys to high-level posts [press release; JURIST report] within the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website], including Dean of Harvard Law School Elena Kagan [professional profile; HLS press release] as Solicitor General. Last month, Obama officially announced that he was nominating former DOJ official Eric Holder [professional profile; JURIST report] as the next US attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, Holder will be the first African American to lead the DOJ. Holder served as Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton Administration and led Obama’s VP selection team during the election. Holder's confirmation hearings [JURIST report] are scheduled to begin next week.

[JURIST] A Spanish court on Thursday began the trial of three Basque leaders accused of meeting illegally with members of the Batasuna party to negotiate a ceasefire with the illegal Basque separatist group ETA [BBC backgrounders]. Basque President Juan Jose Ibarretxe [official profile] and two senior members of the Basque branch of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's party met with Batasuna party members in July and April 2006 and in January 2007. They were charged [JURIST report] in connection with the meetings in October 2007. The trial will proceed despite prosecutors' calls for the charges to be dropped, and the men are not expected to be convicted. Ibarretxe has said that he welcomes the trial as an opportunity to prove his innocence [El Pais report, in Spanish].

The Batasuna party is alleged to be a front for ETA, which has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in bombings and attacks since the 1960s. Spain's Supreme Court declared Batasuna illegal [Independent report] in 2003. In September, the court banned [JURIST report] the Basque Nationalist Action Party (ANV) from taking part in political activities because of its alleged ties to Batasuna.

[JURIST] The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [official website] on Thursday announced that it will open an investigation into the UK business operations [press release] of US financier Bernard Madoff [JURIST news archive] to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed in the UK. The focus will be on victims in the UK, and the SFO has asked that anyone involved with Madoff's UK businesses come forward to assist in the investigation. SFO director Richard Alderman [official profile] said:

This is a good example of the SFO's new, faster, approach to tackling fraud. The public say they want us to take early action and this is what we are doing. We will work closely with other law enforcement agencies to discover the truth behind the collapse of these huge financial structures. And we again ask for help from ex-employees and others.

[JURIST] The US Army [official website] on Wednesday announced that Sgt. John Hatley will be court-martialed for his alleged role in the killings of four Iraqi citizens [NYT report] in April 2007. Hatley, along with soldiers Sgt. Michael Leahy, Jr. and Sgt. 1st Class John Mayo, was charged [JURIST report] in September with premeditated murder, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Hatley is also charged with conspiracy for a separate incident that occurred in January 2007, although the details surrounding that incident have yet to be released. The date for the court-martial hearing has not been announced.

This announcement is the latest in a series of court-martial hearings for those soldiers connected with the April 2007 incident. A court-martial for Leahy was announced [JURIST report] in November, but there has been no announcement concerning Mayo's court-martial. Spc. Belmor Ramos pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges [JURIST report] and Spc. Steven Ribordy pleaded guilty to accessory to murder charges [JURIST report]. Both men agreed to testify against Leahy, Mayo ,and Hatley. All of the soldiers were members of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry [unit website], and the crime is believed to be a retributive act for casualties suffered by the unit.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] Tuesday ruled [opinion; PDF] that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] had overstepped its interpretive authority by classifying certain pesticides as exempt from a permitting process allowing for their discharge into water. Eleven environmental and industry interest groups brought suit against the EPA, appealing the final rule that the EPA had created, which barred the dumping of certain pesticides into water. The EPA rule was grounded in an interpretation of the Clean Water Act [text, PDF] which the EPA found to exclude these pesticides from the permitting process which would allow for their limited discharge into water, even though these pesticides were already deemed to be safe under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) [text]. The court of appeals rejected the EPA's interpretation:

The EPA defends the Final Rule by arguing that the terms of the Clean Water Act are ambiguous and that the Final Rule is a reasonable construction of the Clean Water Act entitled to deference from this Court. We cannot agree. The Clean Water Act is not ambiguous. Further, it is a fundamental precept of this Court that we interpret unambiguous expressions of Congressional will as written.

[JURIST] The Chinese government on Wednesday warned that pressing war crimes charges against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] would have "disastrous" consequences on the implementation of a peace process in Darfur [JURIST archive]. Citing fears that an indictment would limit Bashir's legitimacy in negotiations and that Sudan may evict UN peacekeepers in retaliation, Liu Guijin, the Chinese Special Representative on the Darfur Issue, has been meeting with other members [Reuters report] of the UN Security Council [official website] to garner support for an Article 16 [text, PDF] resolution to delay the prosecution for at least a year. China said it had no plans to propose the postponement of the trial, saying instead that a motion from one of the Security Council's African members would be more appropriate. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] and the Save Darfur Coalition, have alleged [HRW report; Save Darfur backgrounder] that China's reluctance to pursue prosecution is motivated by their economic interests in Sudan.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [offical profile] applied for an arrest warrant for Bashir [JURIST report] in July, charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The warrant was condemned [JURIST report] by the Arab League [official website, in Arabic] and criticized [JURIST report] by South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile]. In December, ICC judges gave Moreno-Ocampo until January 26 to provide supplemental information about a September 2007 attack [BBC report] on an African Union [official website] base in Haskanita. The events at the ICC were preceded by a Security Council statement in June urging Sudan to work with the ICC [JURIST report] to "put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur." Sudan is not a party to the ICC, but must cooperate to fulfill its obligations under Council Resolution 1593 [text], which established jurisdiction over the Darfur situation. Hundreds of thousands of people have allegedly been killed in Darfur by Sudanese military and janjaweed [Slate backgrounder] militia forces.

[JURIST] Taiwan's High Court [official website] on Thursday rejected the appeal of former president Chen Shui-bian [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] protesting the court's previous decision to detain him [JURIST report] while he awaits trial on corruption charges [JURIST report]. Chen's detention was ordered last month after the High Court overruled [JURIST report] a decision by a Taiwanese district court to release Chen on his own recognizance. The High Court had previously rejected a decision by the district court to release Chen without bail, citing risks of flight, collusion and interference with other witnesses. Chen's lawyers argued that the detention was improper because Chen had not violated the terms of his release as granted by the district court, and that the detention was politically motivated [Taiwan News report]. Although his appeals are now exhausted, Chen said he would ask for a constitutional ruling [Taipei Times report] on his detention from the Council of Grand Justices [official website]. The High Court also rejected Chen's request to appoint a new presiding judge for the case. His trial is scheduled to begin on January 19.

The former president was indicted last month by Taiwanese prosecutors on charges 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 have also been 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.