[JURIST] Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) [party website] Saturday were considering offering a compromise deal [Daily Times report]
to opposition factions - including members of the lawyers' movement [NYT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] - currently engaged in crippling anti-government protests and a "long march" [JURIST report] on Islamabad, according to local media reports. Under the terms of the deal, the government would fully reinstate the as-yet-unrestored judges ousted in November 2007 by then-president Pervez Musharraf [JURIST news archive] and would file an appeal [GEO TV report] of a recent Supreme Court ruling that barred [JURIST report] former prime minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] and his brother from holding elected office based on prior criminal convictions arising out of the 1999 military coup that overthrew him.

The current long march, which began amid preemptive arrests and government violence [JURIST report] against opposition members, is similar to last year's lawyers' demonstrations against the Musharraf regime. Continuing turmoil over the country's judiciary split the PML-N and Zardari's PPP, formerly coalition partners [JURIST report]. Sharif and the PML-N have urged the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive], removed after then-president Musharraf declared emergency rule. Chaudhry, supported by many members of Pakistan's bar, insists he is still chief justice [JURIST report] under the Pakistani constitution [text].

[JURIST] The Chinese government released two democracy activists [HRIC press release] Thursday after serving eight years of their ten-year prison sentences, according to US-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) [advocacy website]. The two activists, Yang Zili and Zhang Yonghai, were sentenced [HRIC report] to prison along with two other activists in 2003 for "subversion of state power" [JURIST news archive] and "attempting to overthrow the Communist Party" after publishing online essays advocating political reform and rural democratization. After their release, Yang and Zhang will be subject to a two-year ban [AP report] on unauthorized communication with Western journalists, and prevented from gathering with other dissidents. Yang nonetheless participated in an interview [NYT report] with the New York Times Friday in Beijing, in apparent contravention of the ban. According to HRIC, all four of the dissidents, including the two who remain imprisoned, Xu Wei and Jin Haike, have complained of harsh treatment and intolerable living conditions in Chinese prisons.

China's official Communist Party [official website] has been criticized by rights groups [AI report, PDF; HRIC advocacy website] for its treatment of emerging opposition parties. Several prominent counterrevolutionaries have been imprisoned, including Hu Shigen [PEN profile], who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but released [JURIST report] in August after serving 16 years. In June 2008, the US State Department said in its annual Advancing Freedom and Democracy Reports [text] that China "continued to deny its citizens basic democratic rights, and law enforcement authorities suppressed those perceived to threaten the legitimacy or authority of the Chinese Communist Party," charges which the Chinese government called "denial of reality and utterly groundless." [official statement; JURIST report].

[JURIST] The Sri Lankan government [official website; JURIST news archive] Saturday denied allegations [press release] by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile; JURIST news archive] that recent Sri Lankan military action [BBC backgrounder] against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [group website; JURIST news archive] has caused some 2,800 civilian deaths and may constitute war crimes. Pillay on Friday cited "credible sources" for the stated number of civilian deaths and said, "certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law." Sri Lankan Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarsinghe [official profile] said the numbers were unconfirmed [Reuters report] and expressed dismay that Pillay was relying on numbers corresponding to those on the website TamilNet [advocacy website], which is maintained by the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government has also refused to hold cease-fire negotiations with the LTTE [AP report], as it believes it is close to ending the country's 25 year civil war [BBC timeline] that has resulted in over 70,000 deaths.

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released a report [text, PDF; JURIST report] alleging that both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are guilty of human rights violations. Earlier this year, Pillay condemned [press release; JURIST report] the deteriorating conditions of those trapped in the Vanni region, and called for investigations and prosecutions for the killings and other human rights abuses. HRW has repeatedly accused both sides of violations, and since 2007 has also criticized the government's de facto internment centers and its role in the increase in unlawful killings and other human rights violations [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The government of Switzerland [official website; JURIST news archive] said Friday it will follow standards [press release] set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [official website], adopting a more stringent definition of tax evasion and agreeing to cooperate with other countries in evasion investigations. Unlike many other countries, Switzerland differentiates between tax fraud and tax evasion [NY Times report], and tax evasion is not a crime. While this policy has not changed, by adopting the definition of tax evasion under Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention [text, PDF] Switzerland will henceforward share information "with other countries in individual cases where a specific and justified request has been made." The Swiss government also made clear that by adopting the OECD definition it was not ending bank secrecy. A statement [press release] by the Federal Department of Finance on Saturday said that while the situation for non-resident foreigners has changed, the "decision will have no bearing on legally resident foreigners in Switzerland."

Owners of Swiss bank accounts have traditionally enjoyed great privacy, but Swiss banks have recently released information on certain clients. Earlier this month, UBS [corporate website] closed more than 14,000 accounts [USA Today report} owned by US citizens following a court settlement over accusations it assisted its clients with tax evasion. In 2006, the Swiss Justice Ministry [official website] granted US investigators access to information [JURIST report] about bank accounts of terrorism suspects. Prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] requested the information in a four-year old investigation into money laundering to support terrorist activities. Earlier the same year, the Swiss Supreme Court denied a Russian request [JURIST report] for the transfer of bank documents to Russia [JURIST news archive] which were relevant to an ongoing investigation into Russian oil giant Yukos [corporate website; JURIST news archive].