[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 12-1 vote. The dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Marion Barry [official website]. The legislation was given preliminary approval [JURIST report] last month. The measure must now 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 Maine House of Representatives [official website] approved [JURIST report] a bill [text] that would allow same-sex marriage in the state. The vote follows last week's approval by the Maine Senate [JURIST report]. Also last week, the New Hampshire Senate [official website] voted 13-11 to approve [JURIST report] a bill [HB 436 text] permitting same-sex marriage. The New Hampshire House of Representatives [official website] approved the bill [JURIST report] in March by a vote of 186-179. The two differing versions of the bill must now be reconciled. Last month, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage and the first to do so through a vote of the legislature, joining Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The Maine House of Representatives [official website] voted 89-57 Tuesday in favor of a bill [text] that would allow same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] in the state. The vote follows last week's approval by the Maine Senate [JURIST report]. The proposed legislation now faces one more vote before the Senate and the House before it goes before Governor John Baldacci [official website], who has yet to take a public position [Bangor Daily News report] on the issue.

Last week, the New Hampshire Senate [official website] voted 13-11 to approve [JURIST report] a bill [HB 436 text] permitting same-sex marriage. The New Hampshire House of Representatives [official website] approved the bill [JURIST report] in March by a vote of 186-179. The two differing versions of the bill must now be reconciled. Last month, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage and the first to do so through a vote of the legislature, joining Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] A court in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] on Tuesday ordered back into custody 18 human rights activists, including activist and journalist Jestina Mukoko [advocacy website, JURIST news archive] and freelance journalist Andrison Manyere. Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) [advocacy website], and Manyere is a former aid to Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai [official website]. The indicted activists were accused of planning a coup against President Robert Mugabe [JURIST news archive], but were released on bail [JURIST report] after three months of detention by presidential authorization. However, the court in Harare found that under the Zimbabwe Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [text PDF], the grant of bail is automatically reversed and the activists must remain in custody until their trial in June. Attorneys representing the accused argue the courts disregarded the previous bail agreement, and will petition the High Court for bail [Zimbabwe Times report].

The indictment highlights the tension between Mugabe and Tsvangirai and the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. Mukoko was held without charges from December through March and was allegedly subjected to torture. Mukoko was hospitalized [Zimbabwe Times report] for the treatment of injuries sustained during her detention and remained under medical care after her release from police custody. While in prison, it was reported that Mukoko was forced to ingest poison [JURIST report], an allegation that has sparked a world-wide protest against Zimbabwean police methods. During her detention, Mukoko was denied bail [JURIST report] by Zimbabwean lower courts, but another court ruled that Mukoko could appeal her detention [JURIST report] to the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe under the Zimbabwe Constitution [text, PDF].

[JURIST] The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) [official website] has released [press release; materials] its annual report on worldwide religious freedoms, elevating Iraq and Nigeria to its list of "countries of particular concern" (CPC) and adding six new countries to its "watch list." The other CPC are Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The six new countries on the second level "watch list" are Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela, which join Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, and Indonesia. Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Sri Lanka are "closely monitored." According to the report, released Friday:

Despite the efforts of the Commission, the State Department, and Congress, individuals and communities around the world continue to suffer severe violations of their human rights on account of their religious beliefs or because they hold no beliefs. As it has done with prior administrations, the Commission will continue to engage the President and other U.S. government leaders, providing recommendations and raising public and private concerns about issues affecting respect for freedom of religion or belief. While much has been accomplished in the past decade, the Commission, as well as U.S. international religious freedom policy, still has a great deal to accomplish.

[JURIST] The UK Home Office [official website] on Tuesday published a list [press release] of individuals who are prohibited from entering the country "for fostering extremism or hatred between October 2008 and March 2009." The list names 16 individuals, including religious preachers, white supremacists, gang leaders, and controversial US radio host Michael Savage [personal website]. Six additional individuals whose names were not disclosed have also been banned. UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith [official profile] said:

Coming to the UK is a privilege and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life. Therefore, I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views as I want them to know that they are not welcome here.

The government opposes extremism in all its forms and I am determined to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. This is the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour.

[JURIST] The annual Webby Awards [awards website] in Law and more than 100 other subject categories were announced in New York Tuesday as the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences [profession website] honored excellence in interactive design, creativity, usability, and functionality on the Internet in 2009. Women's advocacy site WomensLaw.org [website] took the judges' Webby, and the People's Voice [website] award, decided by online popular vote, went to legal resource site GetLegal [website]. JURIST has been nominated for a Webby three times in the past four years, and won the Webby People's Voice award in 2006 [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary Alireza Jamshidi said Tuesday that the appeal of US journalist Roxana Saberi [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] will be heard next week. Saberi was convicted [JURIST report] of spying for the US and sentenced to eight years in jail in Evin, an Iranian jail noted for its population of dissidents and political prisoners. Saberi reportedly began a hunger strike [BBC report] on April 21 in protest of her conviction, and her family reports that she has recently been hospitalized and fed intravenously [CNN report], though Jamshidi denied that she was on a hunger strike at all. Reporters in Paris and New York have gone on hunger strikes in solidarity [WashingtonTV report] with Saberi, protesting outside Iran Air offices and the UN respectively.

On Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister vowed that Saberi's appeal would be handled fairly [JURIST report]. Iran's treatment of Saberi has provoked a great deal of international criticism. Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official website] emphasized her disappointment [press release] in Iran's judiciary for their treatment of the case. Also last month, Amnesty International [advocacy website] urged [press release] the necessity of Saberi's release based on the assertion of her position as a "prisoner of conscience," serving as "a pawn to the ongoing political developments between Iran and the USA." Saberi was originally arrested [NYT report] in March after buying a bottle of wine, as alcohol consumption is illegal under Iranian law. Although it was initially believed Saberi would be charged with working without Iranian press credentials, the Iranian government charged her with espionage [JURIST report], accusing her of passing classified information to US intelligence services.

[JURIST] US Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was chosen Monday by Senate Republicans to replace newly-declared Democrat Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) as ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee [official websites]. Sessions will play a key role in questioning President Barack Obama's nominee to replace retiring Justice David Souter [JURIST report] on the US Supreme Court [official website]. Obama did not call Sessions Monday to discuss potential nominees for the post [NYT report], but did call former ranking Republican Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) [official website], who cannot be reappointed because of term limits. Sessions, a conservative senator and former US attorney, was nominated as a federal judge in 1986 by then-president Ronald Reagan, but his confirmation was blocked by the Judiciary Committee [Washington Post report] over allegedly racist remarks.

On Sunday, Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] said in an interview [transcript] with ABC that he hopes to have a replacement for Souter confirmed [JURIST report] by the beginning of the Court's 2009 term in October. Leahy also implied that that he would like to see a nominee who was not a current federal judge. Rumors of Souter's retirement began to circulate late Thursday, and were confirmed by the end of the day Friday. Souter has submitted a letter of resignation [text, PDF], and the Supreme Court has issued a press release [text, DOC] confirming his retirement. The eight other justices also issued statements [text, DOC] about Souter's retirement. Obama interrupted a press briefing [text] Friday to speak about the impending retirement [JURIST report], saying he would, "seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity." Souter, 69, was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-president George H.W. Bush and was seated in October 1990. He previously served on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Souter was viewed as one of the more liberal justices, often siding with Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.

[JURIST] Judge Gladys Kessler of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ordered [text, PDF] Monday the release of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed. Ahmed has been held in Guantanamo for seven years after he was picked up in a al Qaeda safehouse [DOD materials; PDF] in 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan where he had been staying for four months. Though he has tangential connections to al Qaeda and the Taliban, Ahmed was never in Afghanistan and never fought for either organization. Kessler granted Ahmed a writ of habeas corpus and ordered the government to take diplomatic steps to release Ahmed [AP report]. The government must report back on their progress by June 15.

Last week, US Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] said that the US has cleared 30 Guantanamo Bay detainees for release and will begin formally requesting [JURIST report] that European countries accept them within weeks. In March, top officials from the Obama administration met with leaders from the European Union (EU) [official website] to discuss preliminary plans to transfer [JURIST report] Guantanamo Bay detainees to European countries. Individual member states have also indicated their openness to accepting detainees, including Lithuania, Ireland, Germany, and Portugal [JURIST reports]. Other states have expressed reservations about accepting detainees, including Poland and Spain, while Italy [JURIST reports] and the Netherlands [AFP report] have said they will not accept detainees.

[JURIST] The US Department of the Treasury [official website] on Monday announced reforms to the US tax code [press release] to curb overseas tax havens and end tax incentives for companies to create jobs out of the country. In a joint press conference [video] with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner [official profile], President Barack Obama [official website] said [transcript]:

For years, we've talked about ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and giving tax breaks to companies that create jobs here in America. That's what our budget will finally do. We will stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses when they do not pay any American taxes on their profits. And we will use the savings to give tax cuts to companies that are investing in research and development here at home so that we can jump start job creation, foster innovation, and enhance America's competitiveness.

For years, we've talked about shutting down overseas tax havens that let companies set up operations to avoid paying taxes in America. That's what our budget will finally do.