[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday declined to review [order list, PDF] the conviction of former Qwest Communications [corporate website] CEO Joseph Nacchio [JURIST news archive] on charges of insider trading. The Court denied Nacchio's petition for certiorari without comment, ending his appeals process. Nacchio's conviction was overturned [JURIST reports] by a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in March 2008 due to improperly excluded expert testimony, but was reinstated [opinion, PDF] in a February 2009 en banc rehearing requested [JURIST report] by the prosecution.

In August, the Tenth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that Nacchio was incorrectly sentenced to six years in prison due to flawed methodology and remanded the case for resentencing. In April, Nacchio reported to the minimum security prison camp [JURIST report] at FCI Schuylkill [official website], marking an end to nearly two years of appellate proceedings following hisFederal prosecutors indicted Nacchio in December 2005 on 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report]. He and other former Qwest executives still face civil fraud charges [JURIST report] brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] on allegations that Qwest improperly reported approximately $3 billion in revenue that eased its 2000 merger with US West.

[JURIST] Former INTERPOL [official website] president and South African police chief Jackie Selebi [official profile; JURIST news archive] pleaded not guilty [plea explanation, PDF] to corruption charges Monday at the start of his trial in the Johannesburg High Court. Selebi is charged [JURIST report] with receiving $170,000 in bribes from convicted drug smuggler Glenn Agliotti [Guardian profile], who was suspected of killing South African mining magnate Brett Kebble. Selebi claims that charges against him were fabricated in retaliation for his corruption investigation of two members of the South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website], including Vusi Pikoli. Then-president Kgalema Motlanthe fired Pikoli from the NPA in part for his decision to prosecute Selebi. The government denied [Eyewitness News report] Selebi's allegations and announced [Independent report] that it will call several witnesses against Selebi, including Agliotti. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.

Selebi was a close political ally of South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile], and the South African government extended [BBC report] Selebi's contract for an additional year in June 2008, around the time a court established [JURIST report] Selebi's trial date. Selebi was suspended from his police post and forced to resign as INTERPOL president after the NPA announced the impending charges [JURIST reports]. The NPA has alleged that Selebi ignored Agliotti's drug trafficking and warned Agliotti that he had been identified in a murder investigation.

[JURIST] A Canadian court on Friday sentenced a member of the "Toronto 18" [Toronto Star backgrounder; advocacy website] to seven years in prison for his role in the plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Toronto. Ali Mohamed Dirie pleaded guilty [JURIST report] last month to charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. Dirie was given credit [Toronto Star report] for five years already spent in custody and will serve two more years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in one year. Also last week, a third suspect, Saad Gaya, pleaded guilty [Globe and Mail report] to involvement in the plot.

Dirie's sentence comes less than a month after the first member of the group to plead guilty was sentenced [JURIST report] to 14 years in prison for his role in connection with the plot. In May, one of the group's members, the first person convicted under Canada's post-9/11 terrorism law was sentenced to 36 months [JURIST reports] in prison and released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [official website] in consideration of the time he had already served. The "Toronto 18," arrested [JURIST report] in 2006, are accused of planning a series of violent attacks on civilians, public officials, and government buildings. Although little information was released about the minors arrested among the Toronto 18, the charges eventually laid against the 12 adult males included participating in a terrorist group, receiving training from a terrorist group, training terrorists, and importing weapons and ammunition for terrorism.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] officially opened its 2009 term Monday, hearing oral arguments [day call, PDF; merit briefs] in two cases. In Maryland v. Shatzer [oral arguments transcript, PDF; JURIST report], the Court heard arguments on whether the Edwards v. Arizona [opinion text] prohibition against interrogation of a suspect who has invoked the Fifth Amendment right to counsel is inapplicable if, after the suspect asks for counsel, there is a break of more than two years before commencing reinterrogation. The Court of Appeals of Maryland ruled [opinion, PDF] that there was no break in custody and that the Edwards prohibition against interrogation was still applicable. At oral arguments, counsel for the state of Maryland said the state's position is "that a break in custody from custodial interrogation should be the bright line that this Court adopts in order to end the irrebuttable presumption that this Court created in the Edwards case." Counsel for the US government supported Maryland's position, arguing:

This Court has repeatedly made clear that Edwards v. Arizona is a prophylactic rule designed to implement the protections of Miranda v. Arizona, and it does so by operating as an anti-badgering rule. On the facts of this case, I don't think there is any colorable argument that Mr. Shatzer was badgered into waiving his Sixth Amendment rights.

In the last 15 years, this Court ... has repeatedly stressed that a necessary requirement is that the order involved and the issues implicated be important and, particularly, that the issues be so important as to outweigh the values served by the important and usual rule of a final judgment requirement. In our view, the denial of an assertion of attorney-client privilege in an individual case does not rise to that level...

[JURIST] Hamas leaders on Monday condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) for supporting Friday's decision by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] to delay [press release] a vote on resolution [text] adopting the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict [official website]. The postponed resolution would have also condemned Israel for its refusal [JURIST report] to assist in the investigation, which determined [text, PDF; JURIST report] that Israeli and Palestinian forces had likely committed war crimes during last winter's fighting in the Gaza strip. Hamas leaders accused [Haaretz report] PA President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] of committing treason by supporting the delayed vote and said they no longer consider him Palestinian. Hundreds of protesters gathered [Al Jazeera report] in the West Bank city of Ramallah to show their outrage for what they saw as betrayal by Abbas. Syria, also upset with the PA's decision, canceled [Jerusalem Post report] a planned visit by Abbas. Some members of the UNHRC, including the US, had asked the PA to support delaying the vote. The UNHRC will vote on the proposal in March. It is not clear whether Monday's response by Hamas will effect a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party announced [AFP report] in Jordan Monday and set to be signed October 26.

Last week an Israeli newspaper reported that Israel conditioned [JURIST] a proposed mobile phone network in the West Bank on the PA dropping its request that the International Criminal Court investigate Israel for war crimes during Operation Cast Lead [Global Security backgrounder]. The UN commission began its field operations in Gaza in June, entering Gaza through Egypt's Rafah crossing after Israel announced that it would not cooperate with the investigation because it doubted the mission's objectivity, and concluded hearings [JURIST reports] in July. The probe followed a previous report [text, PDF; JURIST report], authored by UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk, which criticized Israel for failing to take adequate precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants in their offensives in the region. Both Israel and the US criticized [DOS briefing] the report, calling the rapporteur's views "anything but fair." In April, an internal Israeli military investigation found that war crimes had not been committed [JURIST report] in the offensive despite individual reports by Israeli soldiers [Haaretz report].

[JURIST] Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan [official profile; JURIST news archive] on Sunday called for constitutional reform in Kenya before the next electoral cycle begins in 18 months. In addition to pressing for constitutional reform, Annan also said there was need for police and judicial reform. Annan's statements came during a trip to Kenya to monitor the progress of the peace deal he helped broker that resulted in a coalition government after the 2007 presidential election [JURIST report], which resulted in violent protests that left about 1,500 dead. Annan's trip comes as the US government has threatened prominent Kenyan officials with travel bans [Daily Nation report] if the pace of reform does not improve. The trip also closely follows an announcement by International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that the ICC will prosecute [JURIST report] the responsible parties for the post-election violence, as the deadline for Kenya to establish an appropriate tribunal has lapsed.

In August, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called for an independent tribunal [JURIST report] with international support and participation because "the Kenyan judiciary lacks independence," and the necessary reforms announced [transcript] by the Kenyan Cabinet [official website] in late July would be insufficient. Also in July, Moreno-Ocampo received and reviewed a sealed envelope sent to the ICC [JURIST reports] by Annan that contained a list of suspects believed to be responsible for the post-election violence. Earlier this year, the Kenyan parliament rejected [JURIST report] the proposed document that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] and opposition leader Raila Odinga [campaign website] agreed to draft [JURIST report] to establish a new Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2009 [text, PDF], along with a Special Tribunal for Kenya Bill, 2009 [text, PDF] that would have set up a special domestic court to try those allegedly responsible for the post-election violence. Tens of thousands of protesters took to Kenya's streets accusing Kibaki of election fraud after early opinion polls suggested rival Odinga was in the lead.