[JURIST] Pakistan opposition leader and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Sunday defied a house arrest order to lead a march by opposition activists and members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement [NYT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] against President Asif Ali Zardari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) [party website]. The government had ordered Sharif and many of his supporters to remain in their homes, but Sharif said the order was illegal [Dawn report], and led an estimated crowd of 10,000 in the Lahore protest calling for full reinstatement of judges ousted by Zardari predecessor Pervez Musharraf in November 2007 after his declaration of emergency rule. During the march, protesters reportedly damaged state vehicles used to block roadways [Daily Times report] in the city, and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several high-ranking police officials resigned from their posts [Dawn report] Sunday, protesting tactics used against lawyers' movement members during recent demonstrations and detentions.

Sunday's protest was part of a "long march" to Islamabad which began [JURIST report] last Thursday and which is similar to last year's demonstrations against the Musharraf regime. Late last week, Zardari party spokesmen said that he might consider a compromise [JURIST report] deal with the movement on reinstatement and a recent Supreme Court ruling that barred Sharif [JURIST report] from holding elected office based on a past criminal conviction. Sharif and the PML-N have particularly urged the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. Chaudhry, supported by many members of Pakistan's bar, insists he is still chief justice [JURIST report] under the Pakistani constitution [text].

7:28 PM ET - Late reports from Pakistan Sunday suggested that Zardari was about to reinstate Chaudhry [BBC report], as well as other as-yet-unrestored judges. Reuters is quoting an unnamed government official [Reuters report] as saying that "Chaudhry will be restored, and there will also be a constitutional package."

[JURIST] The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (Tesev) [foundation website, in Turkish] issued a report [text, PDF, in Turkish] Saturday saying that despite recent attempts by the country to broaden property rights for religious minorities, it still falls short of requirements to join the European Union [accession website]. The majority Muslim country had long confiscated the property of non-Muslim religious foundations [HRAA backgrounder], but has in recent years decreased restrictions on minority and foreign property ownership, and in 2008 enacted legislation [AsiaNews report] providing for the return of some of the confiscated property. Despite these improvements, Tesev said that Turkey has not implemented a fair system to handle returns, and still heavily restricts the ability of minority foundations to acquire new property.

Property rights of minorities is one of several issues that Turkey has recently been addressing in efforts to join the EU. In October 2008, the Constitutional Court of Turkey [official website, in Turkish] struck down [text, in Turkish; JURIST report] an amendment to its constitution [text; materials] which would have allowed the wearing of headscarves in universities, after the European Court of Human Rights upheld [JURIST report] the ban. The court also rejected [JURIST report] a 2008 bid to ban [JURIST report] the country's ruling Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website, in Turkish], a decision praised by EU officials.

[JURIST] Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile], empowered by his country's new constitution [PDF text, in Spanish], began redistributing land to indigenous farmers Saturday. In a ceremony on part of the land seized by the government from large owners, Morales turned over about 94,000 acres to Guarani Indians. Morales criticized the treatment of workers on large farms and asked wealthy landowners to embrace equality by voluntarily giving up some of their holdings. The original landowners can appeal the redistribution to the National Agrarian Tribunal [official website].

Bolivia's new constitution went into effect [JURIST report] in February, after being approved [JURIST report] by national referendum in January. The constitution limits single farms to 12,400 acres places economic and social requirements on farms. In October 2008, the Bolivian National Congress ratified [JURIST report] the proposed reforms after Morales agreed not to run for re-election in 2014.

[JURIST] Rights activists in Kenya [JURIST news archive] have faced threats since the release in February of a UN report [text] accusing the government of widespread extrajudicial executions, prompting some to leave the country or go into hiding [AP report], according to AP Saturday. Western Kenya activists have reportedly been followed by intelligence agents and have received harassing phone calls. Job Bwonya of Western Kenya Human Rights Watch [backgrounder] decided to flee to Uganda [JURIST news archive] after government officials demanded that he give them a list of witnesses he arranged to be interviewed for the report. By AP's count, four activists have left the country, and 10 have gone underground.

In his report on on extra-judicial killings in Kenya, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston [official website; JURIST news archive] said killings by the police were "systematic, widespread and carefully planned" and that they were committed with "utter impunity." Earlier this month, Alston called for an independent investigation [JURIST report] into the killings of Kenyan rights activists Oscar Kamau Kingara [advocacy profile] and John Paul Oulu. Last week, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga [official profile, BBC profile] announced that FBI [official website] agents from the US Embassy in Nairobi [official website] would assist in investigating [press release] the killing of the two men.