[JURIST] Alleged Mumbai terror attack [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] suspect Mohammed Ajmal Kasab pleaded not guilty Wednesday in an Indian court to 86 charges stemming from his participation in the November 2008 attack. Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was formally charged [BBC report] at a special court in Mumbai in front of Judge M.L. Tahiliyani, where he denied any involvement in the attacks. Indian authorities have accused Kasab of attacking commuters at the Mumbai central train station during the attack. The charges against Kasab [Times of India report] include "waging war against India," which is punishable by death, "causing terror," destabilization of the government, murder, kidnapping, robbery, and the smuggling of illegal weapons and explosives. Two Indian defendants linked to the Islamic extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] also pleaded not guilty [AFP report] to conspiracy charges related to the charges against Kasab.

Last month, Tahiliyani removed a defense lawyer [JURIST report] from Kasab's case, citing a conflict of interest. Kasab first appeared [JURIST report] before Tahiliyani via video in March. In February, Pakistan officials conceded [JURIST report] that the attacks were partially planned in their country. Pakistan also stated that 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. One scholar suggested that an international tribunal be formed [JURIST op-ed] to prosecute persons involved in Mumbai attacks in order to avoid further complications to the already unstable relationship between Pakistan and India. 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.

[JURIST] Iranian authorities issued stays of execution [AFP report] Wednesday for two teens sentenced to death for crimes committed as juveniles. The two individuals facing the death penalty, Amir Khaleqi and Safar Angooti, were scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning after being convicted of murder committed while the were under the age of 18. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called on Iran to halt the executions [AI press release] Tuesday. According to reports [Guardian report], Khaleqi was convicted of killing a man while drunk at the age of 16, while Angooti was convicted of killing a rival suitor at the age of 17. The lawyer for the two condemned inmates, Mohammad Mostafai, told AFP that he believes the executions will be stayed for a month.

Wednesday's stays of execution come as various rights groups criticized Iran [JURIST report] for the Friday execution of a 23-year-old woman, Delara Darabi, convicted of murder while a juvenile. Darabi was the second person this year to be executed for a crime allegedly committed while she was a minor. As there were seven such executions last year, and as there are reportedly approximately 130 juvenile convicts currently on death row [HRW reports] in Iran, the country has received a great deal of criticism [JURIST report] for failing to adhere to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [text], to which Iran is a party. Last October, Iran banned the execution of minors for drug related crimes [JURIST report]. In both September [JURIST report] of last year and in June of 2007, HRW called for Iran to stop using the death penalty for juveniles [JURIST report; HRW press release] convicted of serious crimes.

[JURIST] Maine Governor John Baldacci [official website] on Wednesday signed into law [press release] a bill [materials] that will allow same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] to be performed in the state, making Maine the fifth state to allow same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, the Maine House of Representatives [official website] voted 89-57 in favor of the legislation, which followed last week's approval by the Maine Senate [JURIST reports]. The legislation got final approval by the legislature Wednesday before going before the governor. Baldacci said:

In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions. I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage. Article I in the Maine Constitution states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of that person’s civil rights or be discriminated against." This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of Church and State. It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government.

[JURIST] A Spanish judge has said that he will ask the US if it plans to prosecute six US officials for allegedly contributing to torture at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report] before deciding whether to open an investigation in Spain. Judge Eloy Velasco of Spain's Audiencia Nacional on Monday requested [text, TIFF, in Spanish] information from the US about potential charges against six former government lawyers, including David Addington, John Yoo, and former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, for their role in creating the legal definition of torture adopted by the administration of former US president George W. Bush. Velasco is considering whether to admit a complaint [text, PDF, in Spanish] under Spain's universal jurisdiction [AI backgrounder] statute, which gives Spain jurisdiction over foreign torture, terrorism, and war crimes only if the case is not subject to the legal system of the country involved. Velasco said that the nationality and location of the suspects and the ability to gather more complete evidence make the US a better venue [El Pais report, in Spanish] for the prosecution, but suggested that he would be willing to exercise universal jurisdiction if the US did not investigate the claims.

Velasco took over [JURIST report] the case from Judge Baltasar Garzon [BBC profile; JURST news archive], who opened a separate investigation [JURIST report] in April related to detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay. Also in April, Spanish Attorney General Candido Conde Pumpido [official profile, in Spanish], responding to a request [JURIST report] from Garzon, said that he would not recommend trying any of the named defendants. In February, Spain announced that it is considering legislation to limit [JURIST report] the the scope of universal jurisdiction to those cases that have a substantial link to the country or its citizens.

[JURIST] A court in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] on Wednesday released on bail 15 human rights activists, including activist and journalist Jestina Mukoko [advocacy website, JURIST news archive], who had been ordered back into custody [JURIST report] Tuesday. Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) [advocacy website]. The indicted activists were accused of planning a coup against President Robert Mugabe [JURIST news archive], but were released on bail [JURIST report] in March after three months of detention by presidential authorization. However, the court in Harare found Tuesday 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. The activists were released [AFP report] Wednesday after the judge reversed her Tuesday ruling on the orders of Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai [official website]. Three other activists ordered into custody Tuesday were denied bail [AP report].

The indictment highlights the tension between Mugabe and Tsvangirai as well as 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] A German court on Wednesday rejected an emergency suit filed by accused Nazi prison guard John Demjanjuk [NNDB profile; JURIST news archive] seeking to block his deportation from the US. Demjanjuk faces deportation to Germany, where in March a Munich district court charged [JURIST report] him with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his alleged involvement at the Sobibor [Death Camps backgrounder] concentration camp. The Berlin court ruled [AP report] Wednesday that the decision whether to stay deportation is one for US courts. Also Wednesday, lawyers for Demjanjuk filed an appeal [stay application, PDF] with the US Supreme Court [official website], seeking to overturn last week's decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] to deny a stay of deportation [order, PDF]. The Sixth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that deporting him to Germany at age 89 would constitute torture.

Demjanjuk has fought a lengthy legal battle over his alleged involvement with Nazi death camps during World War II. In 2008, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari in Demjanjuk v. Mukasey [order, PDF; JURIST report], ending the appeals process for his deportation order. Demjanjuk was appealing a 2005 ruling [JURIST report] by then-US Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy which ordered his deportation. Demjanjuk had previously lost his appeal to the BIA. Additionally, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied Demjanjuk's petition for review [text, PDF] in January 2008. In 1988, Demjanjuk was convicted and sentenced to death by an Israeli court which found that he was a notorious guard from Treblinka nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible." The sentence was vacated by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993, and Demjanjuk returned to the US.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [official profile] said Wednesday that the US is considering sending Yemeni Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation as part of the efforts to close the prison facility. Gates told reporters [Reuters report] in Saudi Arabia that while no official decisions have been made, he has been impressed with the country's rehabilitation program. Gates spoke after meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. Many of the 241 inmates still at Guantanamo are Yemeni nationals who were captured after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The US is reluctant to return the detainees to Yemen for fear that they would rejoin terrorist groups.

In January, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] said that the US would not change its policy [JURIST report] on the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Saudi Arabia, despite reports that two former prisoners have joined al Qaeda in Yemen. A US counterterrorism official had confirmed that two of the nine alumni of the Saudi rehabilitation program who were arrested [NYT report] were in fact former Guantanamo prisoners, but this revelation was unlikely to affect the new policy of transferring detainees to Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation. The Saudi program, an effort to deprogram Islamic extremism, was designed with input from psychiatrists, sociologists, and Muslim clerics. The Saudi Minister of Interior [official website] reports that 218 men have completed the program, with only nine being arrested again.

[JURIST] A Greek court ruled Tuesday that same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] performed in the country are invalid. Two same-sex couples were married last year [Reuters report] by a local mayor on a small Aegean island, as the 1982 Greek civil marriage law [text, PDF, in Greek; backgrounder] simply saying that marriages must be between two "persons" without specifying that one party must be a man and the other a woman. A local prosecutor had petitioned the court in Rhodes to have the marriages declared void, and the court granted the prosecutor's request, finding that Greek law does not explicitly permit [Kathimerini report] same-sex marriage. The lawyer for the couples said they plan to appeal within the Greek judicial system and then to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website], if necessary.

After the couples were married last June, the Greek Minister of Justice quickly condemned the marriages as legally "non-existent" [JURIST report]. The ceremonies united the couples despite preliminary warnings from top Greek prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas that such marriages are not permissible under Article 21 of the Greek Constitution [text] and that charges would be brought if the mayor allowed the wedding. Earlier last year, the Ministry of Justice established a group [JURIST report] to investigate recognizing same-sex marriages after the Greek National Commission for Human Rights [official website, in Greek] proposed legislation to allow same-sex marriage, but no further action has been taken in Greece on the national level. The influential Greek Orthodox Church [official website, in Greek] is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

[JURIST] The Appeals Chamber for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Tuesday increased the sentence [judgment, PDF; judgment summary, PDF] of Veselin Sljivancanin [BBC profile; ICTY materials] from five to 17 years. Sljivancanin was convicted of aiding and abetting the killings of over 200 Croatian prisoners of war near Vukovar [BBC backgrounder; ICTY backgrounder, PDF] in 1991. Prosecutors appealed the sentences [JURIST report] imposed on Mile Mrksic and Sljivancanin as grossly inadequate for the crimes committed. Both Mrksic and Sljivancanin appealed the convictions, alleging that the evidence was insufficient to support the decisions against them. The ruling also upheld the sentence of Mrksic [BBC report].

Then-chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [official profile] had expressed immediate disapproval of the verdicts for being too lenient. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader [official website] also criticized [JURIST report] the ICTY for the judgments and addressed [press release] the UN General Assembly to call for justice for the Vukovar massacre. In addition, Croatian President Stipe Mesic, known to be a supporter of the ICTY, said that his own confidence in the ICTY has been eroded. In December 2006, the Serbian Supreme Court ordered a retrial in the case of 14 former members of Serb militias who were originally convicted [JURIST reports] of war crimes for their roles in the Vukovar massacre. The Serbian judicial proceedings, which opened in March 2004 [JURIST report], have been seen as a test of Serbia's domestic war crimes process.