[JURIST] US military judge Colonel Patrick Parrish ruled Tuesday that Pentagon officials lacked the authority to dismiss Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler [JURIST news archive] as defense counsel for Canadian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials, JURIST news archive]. Chief defense counsel Colonel Peter Masciola reassigned Kuebler [JURIST report] earlier this month after Kuebler filed a formal complaint alleging that Masciola had a conflict of interest in overseeing the case. Parrish ruled that, under the rules of military tribunals, only a judge could remove a lawyer [AP report] under such circumstances. Kuebler further alleges that he was barred from accessing files and resources that he needed to work on Khadr's defense. Kuebler continues to maintain that Khadr should be sent back to Canada.

Kuebler has long criticized Masciola's handling of the case and in February stated that he had prompted the investigation [JURIST report] of the defense team's ethics based on Masciola's leadership. Khadr's defense team had presented a plan to return him [JURIST report] to Canada, a proposal supported by opposition members [open letter, PDF] of the Canadian House of Commons. Khadr has allegedly admitted to throwing a hand grenade [JURIST report] that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, and was charged [JURIST report] in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying.

[JURIST] The Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court in China sentenced two Tibetans to death on Wednesday for their involvement in the March 2008 Lhasa riots [advocacy backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The two men were found guilty [Xinhua report] of starting fires that led to several deaths. Three other men received delayed death sentences or life imprisonment for their roles in the riots. Together the five men started fires that caused the deaths of seven people and damaged five places of business. This is the first time death sentences have been imposed in relation to the riots. Chinese media is reporting that 76 people have been sentenced [AP report] and more than 950 are being detained for their involvement in the demonstration.

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] accused [JURIST report] the Chinese government of failing to account for all of the individual that were arrested, detained and on trial as a result of their involvement in the demonstrations. In February, Tibet regional People's Congress announced [JURIST report] that Tibetan courts had convicted 76 people involved in the riots. In November 2008, the UN Committee Against Torture [official website] recommended [press release; JURIST report] that China ensure prompt access to an independent lawyer, independent medical care, and the right to lodge confidential complaints for all persons detained in connection with the March 2008 riots.

[JURIST] The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday sentenced former Revolutionary Union Front (RUF) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] commanders Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao to jail terms of 52, 40, and 25 years, respectively. The three men were each found guilty [JURIST report] in February of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the country's civil war. Together, the men were convicted of a total of 46 charges, and sentenced to terms [Reuters report] totaling 1,360 years in prison, but were allowed to serve the terms concurrently. Sesay, Kallon and Augustine are the first three former RUF leaders to be tried [trial backgrounder] by the SCSL, and it is not yet clear if their sentences will be appealed.

The Sierra Leone civil war [UNAMSIL backgrounder] ended in 2002 after 11 years, during which the RUF allegedly killed and mutilated civilians, forcibly recruited child soldiers, and forced many from their homes as villages were burned and destroyed. In 2002, the UN and Sierra Leone jointly established [text, PDF] the SCSL to try the leaders believed to be responsible. In October 2007, the SCSL sentenced two former leaders [JURIST report] of the Civil Defense Forces to serve six to eight years for "murder, cruel treatment, pillage, and collective punishment." In July 2007, three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council were sentenced to 45 years imprisonment [JURIST report] on counts of rape, murder, mutilation, pillage, and abducting children to force them to work as soldiers and diamond laborers.

[JURIST] Human rights activists in Russia are being attacked with greater frequency, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin [official profile] said Wednesday in an interview with Vesti television [media website, in Russian]. Lukin was responding [Interfax report] to the recent beating [AI press release] of Lev Ponomarev, leader of advocacy group For Human Rights. Lukin said that even though it wasn't clear whether the attack was politically motivated, it tied into a theme of political intolerance in the country.

In January, prominent Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot dead [JURIST report] by a masked gunman in Moscow. In February, Russian human rights group SOVA Center [advocacy website] announced the number of Russian hate crimes rose slightly [JURIST report] in 2008 over 2007 levels, with 97 people killed and 525 wounded. In May, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official profile] stressed the importance of rights and freedoms [JURIST report] at the outset of his inauguration address [text; recorded video, in Russian].

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that a female Muslim police officer is not entitled to wear a religious headscarf [JURIST news archive] while on duty. Officer Kimberlie Webb of the Philadelphia Police Department was appealing the ruling [opinion, PDF] of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania [official website] entering summary judgment against her assertions of religious and sex discrimination. The appeals court held that despite having established a prima facie case of religious discrimination, Webb's claim fails because it would unduly burden the city's interest in "maintaining the Philadelphia Police Department uniform as a symbol of neutral government authority, free from expressions of personal religion, bent or bias." The court refused to examine the sex discrimination allegation because Webb failed to submit a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) [official website] prior to filing the claim in federal court as required by law. Webb also introduced constitutional claims for the first time on appeal. The court refused to examine the new constitutional claims, as a new claim can never be introduced on appeal unless failure of an appellate court to hear the new claim would severely undercut justice.

Religious headscarves have become controversial in several Western countries recently, as lawmakers struggle to balance an individuals' rights to practice their religion with public policy and security concerns. In December, a Muslim woman in the US state of Georgia was arrested and ordered to serve 10 days in jail [JURIST report] for contempt of court after she refused to remove her headscarf, or hijab, upon entering a security checkpoint in an Atlanta courtroom. That same month the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] unanimously ruled [JURIST report] that there was no human rights violation when a French school expelled two students for refusing to remove their headscarves. In May, a US federal judge dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST reports] filed by a Muslim woman against a judge who asked her to remove her niqab in court. In September 2007, Canadian chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand resisted calls by Canadian lawmakers [JURIST report] to invoke his discretionary powers to require women to remove traditional Muslim niqabs or burqas when voting in elections in the province of Quebec.

[JURIST] The conviction [JURIST report] of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday was met with widespread approval from the current Peruvian government and human rights organizations. Peruvian Prime Minister Yehuda Simon [official website, in Spanish] said that the verdict highlighted the country's judicial autonomy [press release, in Spanish]. Amnesty International [advocacy website] trial observer Javier Zuniga expressed [press release] the hope that the trial and conviction are "just the first of many trials in both Latin America and throughout the world," characterizing the conviction as a "crucial milestone in the struggle against impunity." Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] senior Americas researcher Maria McFarland, also observing the trial, declared [press release] that "the Peruvian court has shown the world that even former heads of state cannot expect to get away with serious crimes," and said that the conviction is part of the global trend towards accountability. The Washington Office on Latin America [advocacy website] also applauded [press release] the independence and impartiality of the court. In Peru, the Association for Human Rights (APRODEH) [advocacy website, in Spanish] expressed satisfaction with the conviction [press release, in Spanish] and characterized it as the product of the persistent struggle of the victims' family members pushing the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases over the past 17 years. In contrast, the pro-Fujimori political coalition Fuerza 2011 [party website, in Spanish] on Monday issued preemptive remarks [YouTube video] by Fujimori's daughter Keiko Fujimori, declaring that unless Fujimori was absolved, the trial would prove to be a vindictive show put on by the very people who believed in terrorism as a political means. Keiko Fujimori also said that she believes the condemnation will only strengthen popular support [Comercio report, in Spanish] for the coalition in the 2011 presidential elections.

Fujimori, who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, was convicted on charges of approving the November 1991 killing of 15 people in Lima's Barrios Altos neighborhood [backgrounder] and the July 1992 kidnapping and murder of 10 people [MIT backgrounder] from Lima's La Cantuta University. He has since announced that he will appeal the decision. Also on Tuesday, the US National Security Archives [official website] posted declassified documents [press release and materials] that were used during the trial as evidence, and which came from US officials reporting on the rise of government sponsored death squads in Peru.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that US courts cannot prevent the government from transferring detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to foreign countries on the grounds that detainees may face prosecution or torture in the foreign country. The three-judge panel found it had jurisdiction to hear the habeas corpus claims brought by nine Uighur [JURIST news archive] Muslim detainees under Boumediene v. Bush [opinion, PDF; JURIST report]. Relying heavily on the US Supreme Court opinion Munaf v. Geren [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], the court then overturned a DC District Court decision [JURIST report] that would have required the government to give a 30-day notice before sending detainees to foreign nations, ruling that the executive branch has broad authority to order transfers. The court noted that the US government has in place policies against sending detainees to countries that may torture them and concluded "the district court may not question the Government’s determination that a potential recipient country is not likely to torture a detainee."

On Monday seventeen Uighur detainees filed a petition for certiorari [JURIST report] with the Supreme Court, asking the Court to grant their release. US Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in March that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] would consider accepting [JURIST report] in the US the 17 Uighur detainees who have been cleared for release. The DOJ has declined to repatriate the Uighurs despite Chinese demands [JURIST report] because they could face torture upon their return. In March, Holder and other top officials from the Obama administration met with leaders [JURIST report] from the European Union (EU) [official website] to discuss plans to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay. The US government has determined that the Uighurs are not unlawful enemy combatants [10 USC § 948a text; JURIST news archive], but have been linked with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) [CFR backgrounder], a militant group that calls for separation from China and has been a US-designated terrorist group since 2002.

[JURIST] The government of Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday it is working with the UN to organize war crimes [JURIST news archive] prosecutions for alleged violations stemming from the country's 1971 War of Independence [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] against Pakistan [JURIST news archive] and is considering trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Rights group Amnesty International [advocacy website] welcomed the move [press release], which will bring war crimes experts Louis Bickford, Priscilla Hayner, Bogdan Ivanisevic, and Alexander Mayer-Rieckh [professional profiles] — all from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) [official website] — to the government's assistance. UNDP Resident Coordinator Renata Lok Dessallien has discussed proceeding [Daily Star report] under Bangladesh's International Crimes (Tribunal) Act 1973 [text, PDF] with Law Minister Shafique Ahmed [official profile]. State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Tajul Islam said the government would turn to the ICC [Sindh Today report] to prosecute Pakistani military personnel. Any investigation will involve requests for documents from both Pakistan and the US, which supported Pakistan in the conflict.

In March 2008, hundreds of Bangladeshi veterans issued a call for war crimes trials [JURIST report] against those Bangladeshis who assisted Pakistani forces in the war. According to government records, around three million people were killed during the war. Bangladesh has never held trials for war crimes, as earlier governments have said trials would harm national unity. The Bangladeshi government has identified 1,779 war criminals from the 1971 war.

[JURIST] Justice Ian MacDonnell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [official website] ruled [judgment, PDF] Tuesday that officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official website], Canada's federal police force and the country's largest law enforcement entity, can form unions. MacDonnell's ruling struck down a portion of the RCMP Regulations [1988, SOR/88-361 text] that established a labor representation scheme that infringed on officers' right to freedom of association. The ruling also struck down a section of the regulations that the court held violated the RCMP members' right to freedom of speech. In upholding the right to form a union, MacDonnell wrote:

If the submission of the respondent is that a collective bargaining process in which employees are not permitted to be represented by an association of their own choosing is constitutionally acceptable, I reject it. The Supreme Court of Canada was clear in BC Health Services that what is protected under ss. 2(d) [of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms] is "the capacity of members of labour unions to engage, in association, in collective bargaining on fundamental workplace issues." The majority stated that "[this] means that employees have the right to unite, to present demands to... employers collectively and to engage in discussions in an attempt to achieve workplace-related goals." The majority also referred to Justice Bastarache's observation, in Dunmore, that "the law must recognize that certain union activities [such as] making collective representations to an employer... may be central to freedom of association even though they are inconceivable on the individual level". [sic] In my view, those passages make it clear that the right to form a labour association and the right to a process of collective bargaining are not disconnected rights, and that the latter right is an emanation of the former.

[JURIST] A federal appeals court in Baghdad on Tuesday reduced the sentence for the Iraqi journalist accused of throwing his shoe at former US president George W. Bush [JURIST news archive] from three years to one year. Lawyers for Muntadar al-Zaidi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] based their appeal on an Iraqi law that provides a maximum two-year sentence for the public insult of a foreign head of state. This appeal followed last month's sentencing [JURIST report] by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) [establishment order, PDF] on charges of assault, which carries with it a longer sentence than insult. The court's decision to reduce the sentence was based in part on the fact that al-Zaidi had no prior criminal record [Al Jazeera report].

The shoe-throwing incident occurred at a December 14 joint news conference [transcript] at which Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [text, PDF; CFR backgrounder] governing the future US military presence in the country. Al-Zaidi, who had allegedly suffered brutality first hand in Iraq having been kidnapped and released by Shiite militiamen in 2007 [Washington Post report], testified to a three-judge panel that his actions were meant to restore Iraqi citizens' pride.

[JURIST] The Council of the District of Columbia [official website] voted Tuesday to recognize same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] performed outside of Washington, DC. The bill, proposed by DC Councilman Phil Mendelson [official website], was approved by a 12-0 vote. A number of council members applauded the vote, citing its historic nature, and hinting at forthcoming legislation [Washington Post report] that would allow same-sex marriages to be performed in DC. Gay and lesbian rights group the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) [advocacy website] applauded [press release] the council's vote, calling it, "another positive step toward equality." There will be a final vote on the proposed legislation next month, and then the measure must be approved by the mayor and then by Congress under the Home Rule Act [text, PDF].

The DC Council's vote comes on the same day that the Vermont Legislature voted to legalize same-sex marriage [JURIST report]. While Washington, DC will now recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, Vermont becomes the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa [JURIST reports], and the first state to do so through a vote of the legislature. California had allowed [JURIST news archive] same-sex marriages until November 2008, when Proposition 8 passed 52-48. Vermont became the first state to offer civil unions to same-sex couples when then-Governor Howard Dean signed H.B.847 [text] into law in April 2000.