[JURIST] Russian human rights group the SOVA Center [advocacy website] announced Thursday that the number of Russian hate crimes rose slightly in 2008 over 2007 levels, with 97 people killed and 525 wounded. According to the deputy head of SOVA Galina Kozhevnikova higher conviction rates for hate crimes [AP report] prevented the numbers of hate crimes from rising any higher. The release of the SOVA Center report comes just days after Kozhevnikova received an e-mailed death threat from a neo-Nazi group. In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website] called on Russian authorities to launch an immediate investigation [CPJ press release] into the threats. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released a report [HRW press release] outlining the dangers faced by Russian migrant workers in a climate of rising xenophobia.

Last January, the SOVA Center reported a 13 percent rise in hate crimes from 2007 to 2008 [JURIST report]. Kozhevnikova criticized Russian authorities at the time for not responding to the increase in violence, saying that many hate crimes were only prosecuted as incidents of hooliganism, which would carry a lighter sentence than hate crimes. In June 2007, Human Rights First [advocacy website] reported that hate crimes are on the rise throughout Europe [JURIST report], after conducting a study examining recent hate crimes in France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. That study found a "proliferation of violent hate crimes directed against ethnic, religious and national minorities" in Russia especially.

[JURIST] The November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] were partially planned in Pakistan, according to statements made Thursday at a news conference by A. Rehman Malik [official profile], the Advisor on Interior Affairs for the Pakistan Ministry of the Interior [official website]. According to Malik, the perpetrators traveled by ship [NYT report] from southern Pakistan to Mumbai, where they launched the attack from inflatable boats using outboard engines purchased in Karachi, Pakistan. Malik also announced that most of the suspects in the attack had been arrested [AP report], but more evidence was needed from Indian authorities for further convictions. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs [official website] said in a press release [text] Wednesday that the Indian government "...expect[s] that the Government of Pakistan take credible steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan."

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) [ADL backgrounder], the Pakistani group blamed for the attacks, denied [AFP report] that a senior member had confessed to the Pakistani government [Wall Street Journal report] about the group's involvement. In December, Pakistani officials said they would not hand over [JURIST report] to India any Pakistani citizens arrested in connection with the attacks, insisting instead on a joint investigation with Indian officials. Early in December, Pakistani police raided a militant camp [JURIST report] and arrested Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the head of LeT, along with several other individuals believed to be responsible for the attacks. Days after the attacks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened a meeting [JURIST report] of all political parties in order to gather national support for a plan to strengthen security in the country. 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].

[JURIST] The US Court of Federal Claims [official website] on Thursday rejected arguments made in three test cases against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [official website; HHS statement] by families alleging that their children's autism was caused by a combination of common childhood vaccines. Due to the case volume and complexity of the so-called Omnibus Autism Proceeding [court backgrounder, PDF; HRSA backgrounder], the court ordered separate trials based on three distinct theories of liability under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program [HRSA backgrounder], and in 2007 court-appointed special masters began hearing three test cases for each theory. Thursday's judgments roundly rejected the first theory of liability, that the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella combination vaccine (MMR) [CDC backgrounder] vaccines and thimerosal-containing vaccines [FDA backgrounder] can combine to cause autism. In Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services [opinion, PDF], a special master held that the evidence presented was "overwhelmingly contrary to the petitioners’ contentions" and that the Cedillo family failed to demonstrate that the vaccinations at issue played any role in the child's autism. In Hazlehurst v. Secretary of Health and Human Services [opinion, PDF], the special master held that the combination of the thimerosal-containing vaccines and the MMR vaccine are not causal factors in the development of autism, and could not have contributed to the development of autism. In Snyder v. Secretary of Health and Human Services [opinion, PDF], a third special master held that the Vowell family failed to show by a preponderance of evidence that their child's autism was caused or significantly aggravated by a vaccine, adding that it was "abundantly clear that petitioners’ theories of causation were speculative and unpersuasive." All plaintiffs have indicated that they will appeal the decisions. Special masters will continue to hear three cases on a second theory of liability - that thimerosal-containing vaccines alone can cause autism - with judgments expected this summer. Cases testing the final theory of HHS liability - that MMR vaccines alone can cause autism - have been dropped.

Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, has been at the center of several health debates. In 2005, HHS officials said that state laws prohibiting thimerosal could impede efforts [JURIST report] to fight an avian flu pandemic should an outbreak occur. Most doctors believe thimerosal is safe, saying it does not affect the body in the same manner as mercury found in pollutants, but several groups claim that use of the preservative can be linked to neurological diseases including autism. Creation of mercury-free vaccines requires packaging individual doses, which is expected to pose a major problem if large batches of the vaccine need to be rushed in the event of an avian flu pandemic. Doctors partially attribute recent outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases [Bloomberg report] in the US to an increasing reluctance among parents to expose children to vaccines.

[JURIST] Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Vygaudas Usackas [official profile] said Wednesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] will begin talks with the US about the possibility of accepting prisoners from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Lithuanian Defense Minister Rasa Jukneviciene expects to discuss the matter with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates [official profiles] during her first diplomatic visit [press release] to the US since the new administration took office. In a speech [text] Thursday to the German Society for Foreign Policy, Usackas expressed the need for Europeans to "extend[] a helping hand to the Americans on the closure of Guantanamo." The US Embassy in Lithuania welcomed Usackas's statements, saying they looked forward to working with the Lithuanian government on plans for closing the prison.

Last week, the European Parliament [official website] voted 542-55, with 51 abstentions, to adopt a resolution [materials; JURIST report] calling for member states to accept low-risk prisoners who cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of persecution. Details regarding which prisoners may be transferred to which countries are as yet undetermined. Last month, Council of the European Union Secretary-General Javier Solana [official website] indicated that several EU member states would likely be willing to accept [press release, PDF; JURIST report] some former prisoners, though acceptance may be conditioned on the US providing careful background checks to prove that the detainees pose no danger to the host country. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner [official profile] has noted that legal obstacles facing the transfer of the detainees would be different for each host country, and that their acceptance would be determined on a case-by case basis.

[JURIST] A report [text, PDF] issued Wednesday by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] commended China's developmental progress, while urging the nation to share best practices in poverty reduction and to improve the national standard of living. The report follows China's evaluation under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) [official website] process adopted by the UN in 2006, which aims to review the human rights records of every UN member country by 2011. Although supporting the majority of recommendations submitted by reviewing nations, China rejected suggestions that it abolish or reduce its application of the death penalty, ensure religious freedom, eliminate administrative detention in labor camps, and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text]. Speaking at a Thursday press conference [transcript, in Mandarin], Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu said that

the overwhelming majority of countries submitted a positive evaluation of China's human rights policies and achievements, but also continue to support China's national conditions suitable to their own development path. A small number of countries will be considered to have made an attempt to politicize the work of the Chinese side and make unjustified accusations that were refuted in most countries.

[JURIST] The Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang on Thursday declared bankrupt Sanlu Group [Research and Markets profile], the Chinese dairy company at the center of the contaminated milk scandal [JURIST news archive] that killed six and sickened 300,000. As a result of a court order to compensate families [JURIST report] whose children were sickened by the tainted milk, the company borrowed money, causing its debt to surpass its assets [Xinhua report]. The court order found that because the company had failed to repay debts owed to its 274 creditors, it met the conditions for bankruptcy.

The company's former chairwoman was sentenced to life imprisonment [JURIST report] last month for her involvement in the scandal. She has since appealed the sentence [JURIST report], claiming that it was not she who decided to sell milk with higher levels of melamine [FDA backgrounder], but a board member tabbed by New Zealand dairy firm Fonterra, which held a large share in Sanlu Group. More than 17 defendants have faced criminal charges in connection with the contamination. Also last month, lawyers for the families of 213 Chinese children sickened or killed by the contaminated milk petitioned [JURIST report] the Supreme People's Court [official website, in Mandarin], China's highest court, to hear a class action lawsuit against 22 dairy companies involved in the contamination, seeking more than $5 million in damages.

[JURIST] FBI Deputy Director John Pistole [official profile] said Wednesday the FBI is looking at shifting a number of agents from national security and counterterrorism activities to investigations involving financial fraud, during a hearing [materials; video] before the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. Pistole said [prepared testimony] there are currently more than 1600 ongoing mortgage fraud investigations, along with more than 530 corporate fraud investigations, 38 of which are "directly related to the current financial crisis." While Pistole said the number of special agents working on fraud cases increased to 180 in 2008 from 120 in 2007, he compared the numbers to the savings and loans crisis of the late 1980s, during which about 1,000 agents were assigned.

As of September, the FBI was investigating [JURIST report] Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and AIG [corporate websites], along with 22 other financial institutions, for possible mortgage fraud [FBI backgrounder]. In June, the FBI announced that more than 400 people had been indicted [press release; JURIST report] in connection to what has been termed the US "sub-prime mortgage collapse." The vast majority of the indictments involved fraud related to individual mortgages, with the FBI focusing on lending fraud, foreclosure rescue scams and mortgage-related bankruptcy schemes, which account for more than $1 billion in losses.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugolavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday indefinitely suspended [decision, PDF, in French; ICTY press release] the trial of Volislav Seselj [ICTY materials; JURIST news archive] over fears that witnesses were being intimidated. Seselj, leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) [party website, in Serbian], is charged [indictment, PDF] with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, and is accused of establishing rogue paramilitary units affiliated with the SRS, which are believed to have massacred and otherwise persecuted Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan conflict. The 2-1 ruling came in response to a motion filed by prosecutors last month, in which they argued [court transcripts] there was "clear and convincing evidence that going forward will compromise the integrity and fairness of the proceedings." Chief Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti dissented because the prosecution has only a limited amount of evidence [AP report] left to present.

Last month the ICTY charged [text, PDF; JURIST report] Seselj with contempt of court after it was alleged that he authored a book revealing pertinent information about several key witnesses. It was the second contempt charge brought in the ICTY's trial of Seselj. In September, key witness Ljubisa Petkovic [ICTY materials, PDF] was found guilty of contempt [judgment summary; JURIST report] for refusing to testify against Seselj. In August, the ICTY suspended [press release; JURIST report] Seselj's trial pending an appellate ruling on whether the defendant could represent himself. The ICTY had previously stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself [JURIST report] after he failed to appear in court, despite an earlier appeals court ruling that he could represent himself [JURIST report] provided he did not engage in courtroom behavior that "substantially obstruct[ed] the proper and expeditious proceedings in his case."

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] denied [opinion, PDF] Tuesday a petition by two Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees to stop the force-feeding imposed on them during their hunger strike, ruling that the court lacks jurisdiction over the matter. The petitioners, Mohammed Ali Abdullah Bawazir and Omar Khamis Bin Hamdoon, further alleged that their Eighth Amendment [text] rights were being violated because military personnel had begun to administer the feedings rather than medical personnel, and detainees on hunger strike were being denied further medical care until they abandoned the strike. In her memorandum opinion, Judge Gladys Kessler determined that the court lacked jurisdiction under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text, PDF], which governs detainees' right to habeas corpus, finding that this aspect of the act was unaffected by the US Supreme Court's ruling in Boumediene v. Bush [opinion, PDF; JURIST report]. Kessler also determined that petitioners would most likely be unable to prove that they were treated with deliberate indifference even if the court did not lack jurisdiction.

Last month, the US military announced that the Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has increased to 42 detainees [JURIST report]. Hunger strikes have been an issue at Guantanamo Bay for several years. In January 2007, the number of detainees on strike more than doubled [JURIST report] as the detention center's fifth anniversary approached. In September 2005, the number of detainees on strike [JURIST report] was at least 128. After instituting the force-feeding measures [JURIST report] the number of detainees on strike dwindled to just three or four.

[JURIST] Officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] announced Thursday that the ICC has not issued an arrest warrant [press release] for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], refuting Wednesday reports [NYT report] that the warrant had been issued. The Wednesday reports, allegedly based on statements by an anonymous UN diplomat, said that the ICC had reached a decision on the July 2008 request [JURIST report] by chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] to issue an arrest warrant against Bashir. The ICC stressed that any announcement of a decision to issue an arrest warrant would come in "the normal way of a press release and publication on the Court’s website."

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon made statements [press conference transcript, JURIST report] emphasizing the independent nature of the ICC as a judiciary organization, and stressing that Bashir should "fully cooperate with whatever decisions the ICC makes." Sudan and the African Union [JURIST reports] have both asked the UN Security Council to delay war crime charges against Bashir for one year by invoking Article 16 of the Rome Statute [text], citing fears that an arrest warrant would disrupt the Sudanese peace process.

[JURIST] Information redacted from a British High Court decision [text, PDF; JURIST report] released last week has been withheld from US President Barack Obama [official website] and may hold key information about British involvement in the alleged torture of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Binyam Mohamed [Reprieve profile, JURIST news archive], according to a letter [text, PDF] sent by Mohamed's lawyer to Obama. The letter, sent Monday by Reprieve [advocacy website] director Clive Stafford Smith [Reprieve profile], was accompanied by an attachment purporting to demonstrate the extent to which the information presented to Obama by the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] has been censored. According to Smith, the censored information would reveal the "truly medieval ways" in which Mohamed was tortured and reflect "specific admissions by his abusers." Smith urged Obama to order the DOD to disclose the evidence, which may have been withheld in order to protect the president politically [Guardian report]. On Tuesday, the two British judges who authored last week's decision agreed to reopen the case after Mohamed's lawyers challenged the order that the torture evidence remain classified. UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband [official profile], who has denied claims [JURIST report] that US pressure led to the censoring of released information in Mohamed's case, confirmed Wednesday that British diplomats have been given permission to visit him in Guantanamo. The delegation, to be accompanied by a British police doctor, is to prepare for Mohamed's return to Britain pending review by the Obama administration.

At issue in Mohamad's case were several paragraphs describing the conditions and circumstances of his imprisonment, redacted from the High Court's judgment in its August 2008 ruling [JURIST report] that the UK Foreign Office must turn over evidence essential to Mohamed's defense. Mohamed asserts that after he was arrested in Pakistan and turned over to US officials, he was then transferred to Moroccan agents who tortured him. He was later transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. In December, he asked the UK government [letter, DOC; JURIST report] to ensure that photographic evidence of his alleged torture be preserved.