[JURIST] Members of the Niger opposition party said Saturday that police had detained 30 former opposition lawmakers, allegedly at the behest of Niger President Mamadou Tandja [BBC profile]. The 30 former member of parliament were arrested on charges of embezzlement [AFP report], but are likely being targeted for their opposition to Tandja's dissolution of parliament [BBC report] and new constitution [JURIST report], which permits him to run for office for an indefinite number of terms. The arrested politicians, who are being held without bail, refuse to recognize Tandja's expansion of his powers. Tandja's term in office is currently slated to end [Voice of America report] on December 22.

The opposition already pledged [JURIST report] to oppose Tandja's new constitution. Among the new constitution's changes is the abolition of a presidential two-term limit, allowing Tandja to remain in office for three more years [AFP report] and to run in any subsequent elections, allowing the president to appoint one third of the members [CBC report] of a newly-created Senate, and establishing a media-monitoring position that would have the authority to jail reporters thought to present a threat to the country. In the lead-up to the election, CDFR had encouraged a popular boycott of the referendum on constitutional grounds, forming the basis for its dismissal of official electoral statistics. In June, opposition leader Bazoum Mohamed of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) [party website] accused Tandja of committing a coup d'etat [JURIST report] by annulling the West African country's Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court ruled in May that plans to hold a referendum on allowing a third term were unconstitutional. Tandja responded to the ruling by dissolving parliament and assuming emergency powers.

[JURIST] Pakistan's rule of law is stymied by long traditions of lawlessness and dictatorship, says the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute [official site] in a new report [text, PDF press release]. The report, published Thursday, stems from observations and more than 100 interviews conducted with all Pakistani individuals who have some stake in the court system there, from judges to defendants, over the course of two weeks in March and April. Though the report praises Pakistani lawyers for their part in restoring Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] to his post, it raises many concerns about the lack of judicial oversight for judges, protection of them and their families, and the Islamisation of Pakistani law, particularly by location. The report further elucidates thirty-five recommendations for implementation, saying:

The justice system must no longer be regarded as subordinate to political expediency. Expectations are high that the judiciary in particular, and the legal profession in general, will take a leading role in restoring the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Pakistan. There are no simple means of solving the many challenges facing the justice system. Purely cosmetic changes will no longer be sufficient to ensure that fundamental rights are not only implemented but truly respected in Pakistan.

[JURIST] Media workers and reformists are urging Iran's new prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolat-Abadi [PressTV report] to remove bans placed on newspapers and to free journalists who were imprisoned during the term of his predecessor, Saeed Mortazavi [JURIST news archive], according to a letter posted Saturday on the website of leading reform party Mosharekat [party website, in Persian]. The letter was accompanied by more than 300 signatures of support. Mortasavi is believed to have closed down around 120 news publications and has overseen the trials of more than 100 individuals out of more than 4,000 who were arrested during recent political protests [JURIST news archive]. It is not entirely clear how many journalists are currently being held, but a source told Reuters that there may be as many 38 still in custody [Reuters report].

Last week Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani [profile] removed [JURIST report] Mortazavi from office, for reasons which are still unclear. Larijani, who himself was appointed early last month [JURIST report] amid protests over the disputed re-election [JURIST news archive] of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [official profile; JURIST news archive], chose Dolat-Abadi, a former provincial judiciary head, as Tehran's new prosecutor general.

[JURIST] Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) [official website] said Saturday that it is doing its job faithfully and impartially in an attempt to reassure the Afghan public amid allegations of voter fraud in the recent presidential election [JURIST news archive]. The remarks are mainly in response to complaints by Abdullah Abdullah [BBC profile], the central challenger to current President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The IEC also announced Sunday that it has invalidated [AP report] the results of 447 polling stations because of claims of fraud. While it is not clear how many votes are included in those rejections, the latest election results [IEC poll returns] released Sunday indicate Karzai is in the lead with 48.6 percent. Karzai would need to obtain at least 50 percent of the vote in order to avoid a runoff with the second place candidate. The preliminary results of the election are to be released on September 7, and the final results of the election are scheduled to be certified by September 17.

Soon after the election was held last month Abdullah alleged widespread voter fraud [JURIST report] in the presidential election. Abdullah said his campaign has filed more than 100 complaints [Washington Post report] with the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) [official website] alleging ballot stuffing, inflated vote counts, and intimidation at the polls by Karzai supporters. Election observers also reported at least two instances of voters fingers, marked with indelible ink to avoid voter fraud, being cut off by Taliban insurgents [Los Angeles Times report]. The Free & Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) [official website] said the amputations took place in the southern Kandahar province, which has been plagued by violence. In preliminary findings [text, PDF; press release, PDF] released last month, the European Union Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan [official website] found that while the holding of the election was a victory for Afghan people, the process was marred with voter intimidation and security problems.