[JURIST] Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus [official website, in Czech] said Friday that he will raise no further objections [press release, in Czech] to the European Union (EU) reform treaty, known as the Treaty of Lisbon [EU materials; JURIST news archive], after EU leaders reached an agreement on an opt-out clause. At European Council [official website] summit in Brussels, the Council agreed Thursday to add a protocol [text, PDF] to the Lisbon Treaty that will protect Czech citizens from property claims of ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia during WWII. Klaus said, "[s]olutions adopted by the EU Heads of State significantly strengthen the protection of the Czech Republic ahead of a possible breach of the so-called Benes decrees and reduces risks related to the legal security and property rights of Czech citizens." Despite his statement, Klaus cannot sign the treaty until it is approved by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic [official website, in Czech], which last week delayed [press release, in Czech; JURIST report] its judgment until November 3.

The Czech Republic is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified the treaty. The Czech Republic's Chamber of Deputies [official website] approved [JURIST report] the treaty in February, and the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic [official website] voted to approve [JURIST report] the treaty in March. Efforts to ratify the treaty [JURIST news archive] in all 27 EU member states, as required for approval, have faced opposition. Poland and Ireland [JURIST reports] approved the treaty earlier in the month, but only after certain guarantees were made by the EU. Germany ratified [JURIST report] the treaty in September.

[JURIST] An appeals court in China's Xinjiang province on Friday affirmed the convictions of 21 people found guilty of murder and other crimes such as arson and robbery for their roles in July's violent demonstrations in Urumqi [JURIST news archive] that left about 200 people dead and many more injured. The Higher People's Court of Xinjiang upheld the sentences [Xinhua report], including nine death sentences handed down on October 12 and October 15 [JURIST reports], ruling that the sentences were appropriate and supported by sufficient evidence. The Supreme People's Court [official website, in Chinese] is due to review and approve the death sentences before they take effect.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has criticized [JURIST report] the trials for failing to meet Chinese and international fairness and due process standards. The advocacy group claims that the government violated both Chinese law and international standards by failing to announce the trials and closing the proceedings to international journalists and observers. HRW has also claimed that more than 40 Uighur men have disappeared [JURIST report] since being detained by Chinese security forces. Originally 108 were charged [JURIST report] in connection with the riots between Han Chinese and Uighur residents. Residents of the region claim that the majority of the deaths were at the hands of Chinese authorities, but Chinese state-run media reported [Xinhua report] that most of the deaths were due to protesters. The Muslim Uighur population is opposed [BBC backgrounder] to China's restrictive bans on religious practice and says that the recent influx of Han Chinese has disenfranchised non-Chinese-speaking Uighurs.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama signed an executive order [text] Wednesday giving the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) [official website] the authority to report suspected violations of federal law related to intelligence gathering to the US attorney general. The order amends an executive order [text, PDF] signed by former president George W. Bush last February, which allowed the IOB to report suspected violations only to the president, the director of national intelligence, and the agency at which the infraction occurred. White House spokesperson Tommy Vietor said that the order was meant to clarify [NYT report] the IOB's authority and bolster its independence. The order does not restore the IOB's oversight authority over each US intelligence agency's inspector general and general counsel, which was removed [JURIST report] in Bush's executive order. Also on Wednesday, Obama announced [transcript] the appointment of former senators Chuck Hagel (R-NB) and David Boren (D-OK) [professional profiles] to chair the Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), the IOB's parent body charged with providing an independent source of advice to the president on the efficacy of intelligence operations.

The PIAB consists of up to 16 members [official backgrounder] not currently employed by the federal government, who are given top secret security clearances and authority to request detailed information from the nation's 16 intelligence agencies [DNI backgrounder]. The board was created in 1976 by then-president Gerald Ford after the Church Committee [backgrounder] investigations exposed [report text] domestic intelligence abuses. In July 2007, the Washington Post reported [text] that the IOB sent no reports of illegal agency activity to the attorney general during the first five-and-a-half years of Bush's presidency, even though the FBI alerted the board to hundreds of legal violations by its agents after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan National Assembly [official website, in Spanish] on Thursday gave final approval to a bill [text, PDF, in Spanish] banning violent toys and video games. Those who violate the law could face fines and prison terms of three to five years, as well as the confiscation of merchandise. The law stipulates that Venezuelan government will use funds from fines towards educational programs, and that private and public media will have to apply percentages of their programming and publicity to advance the purpose of the law in fostering a culture of non-violence. According to the Patria Para Todos (PPT) [party website, in Spanish], the party that proposed the bill, the law will reduce violence in the country by protecting the development of children who can become predisposed to aggression by playing with such toys. The PPT maintains that the law echoes principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [materials], as well as Articles 43 and 46 in the Venezuelan Constitution [text, PDF] about fostering a culture of non-violence in the country. The law will enter into effect three months after publication in the Official Gazette and will be administered by the Institute for the Defense of People's Access to Goods and Services (INDEPABIS) [official website, in Spanish].

The Venezuelan National Assembly unanimously gave preliminary approval [press release, in Spanish; JURIST report] to the bill in August. Voting on the bill coincided with a study released by the Civil Council for Public Safety and Penal Justice (CCSP) [advocacy website, in Spanish], a Mexican think tank, which reported that Caracas is the second most violent city worldwide. The report received much coverage [El Universal report, in Spanish; El Nacional report] in Venezuelan media. Spokesperson for Civil Watch Association for Security, Defense, and Armed Forces [advocacy website, in Spanish] Rocio San Miguel characterized [BBC report, in Spanish] the law as sterile in light of recent statements by national leaders inciting civilians to be prepared for armed conflict.

[JURIST] Judge Xaviere Simeoni on Friday ordered former French president Jacques Chirac [official profile; BBC profile] to stand trial on charges of embezzlement and misuse of public funds. While serving as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, Chirac allegedly financed the Rally for the Republic (RPR), now renamed as the Union for a Popular Movement [party website, in French], by illegally establishing fake city positions for party members to collect salaries totaling several million dollars. After reviewing the investigation materials, Simeoni found 21 contracts [AFP report] awarded by Chirac to be suspicious, with evidence of wrongdoing. The charges were filed in 2007 [JURIST report] after Chirac's presidency ended and he no longer had judicial immunity. Nine others, including Chirac’s former chief of staff Michel Roussin, and Jean de Gaulle, the grandson of former president Charles de Gualle, were also ordered to stand trial [Le Monde report, in French] for their involvement in the corruption scheme. Following this order, Chirac will be the first former French president to stand trial since the formation of the current Republic in 1958.

Simeoni, who is set to leave office in late October, failed to grant Paris prosecutors' requests [JURIST report] last month that the charges be dropped. In 2007, Chirac's lawyer Jean Veil indicated that judges would likely question Chirac [JURIST report], but emphasized that the Chirac would not answer questions concerning scandals that allegedly occurred during Chirac's tenure as president of France because the French Constitution grants judicial immunity [text, in French] to the president. In July 2007, French investigating magistrates questioned Chirac as a material witness [JURIST report] in their probe of the corruption allegations.

[JURIST] Suspected al Qaeda sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri [JURIST news archive] was sentenced [judgment, PDF] Thursday to eight-and-a-half years in prison for conspiracy to help the terrorist organization, including researching potential targets within the US for chemical weapon attacks. The sentence was less than the 15 years [Chicago Tribune report] sought by federal prosecutors. In handing down the lesser sentence, District Judge Michael Mihm made reference to the conditions under which al-Marri was held [JURIST report] prior to his trial. Mihm also delivered a stern rebuke against interrogation methods used on al-Marri, including the use of threats [Peoria JournalStar report] that his family may be harmed. With credit for time already served as well as previous good-behavior, al-Marri may serve only five or six years of his sentence [Straits Times report].

In May, al-Marri pleaded guilty to the charges [JURIST report] against him as part of a plea arrangement. Al-Marri also agreed not to appeal his sentence, pursue a habeas petition, or oppose his deportation to Qatar or Saudi Arabia after serving his criminal sentence. Al-Marri had previously pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges, after the US Supreme Court granted the government's motion to dismiss [JURIST report] his appeal for habeas corpus relief. Al-Marri was arrested at his home in Peoria, Illinois by civilian authorities in 2001, and was indicted for other crimes. In 2003, then-President George W. Bush declared him an enemy combatant [CNN report] and ordered the attorney general to transfer custody of al-Marri to the defense secretary, claiming inherent authority to hold him indefinitely. Until March, al-Marri was detained on a US Navy brig in South Carolina.

[JURIST] The Arizona Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that data embedded in electronic versions of public records is part of the public record, and thus accessible through a records request. The court ruled in favor of David Lake, a sergeant with the Phoenix police department, who had requested access to public records regarding his job performance. When the physical documents raised Lake's suspicion that they may have been altered, he requested access to the electronic forms to assess creation and editing dates. The city denied Lake's request, and he filed suit. In holding that this electronic, or "metadata," is part of that public record, the court overruled both lower courts and their interpretation of the issue, saying:

The pertinent issue is not whether metadata considered alone is a public record. Instead, the question is whether a "public record" maintained in an electronic format includes not only the information normally visible upon printing the document but also any embedded metadata. ... The metadata in an electronic document is part of the underlying document; it does not stand on its own. When a public officer uses a computer to make a public record, the metadata forms part of the document as much as the words on the page.

[JURIST] The interim government of Honduras and ousted president Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] reached an agreement [press release, in Spanish] Thursday allowing Zelaya to return to power conditioned on Supreme Court approval with a subsequent affirmative vote from the Honduran legislature. According to an interim government press release touting the agreement as the product of the Guaymuras Dialogue, a truth commission will produce a report on the incidents that resulted from the political impasse set off when Zelaya was removed from office [JURIST report] on June 28, identifying those responsible without the option of political amnesty. The agreement further stipulates that the November 29 elections will be recognized, with authority over the police for election purposes transferred [recorded video, in Spanish; El Heraldo report, in Spanish] from the military to the electoral court [official website, in Spanish] in compliance with the constitution. Included in the stipulations was also a request for the international community to drop sanctions against Honduras and send electoral observers. The accord comes a day after Honduras instituted proceedings [press release, PDF] against Brazil in the International Court of Justice [official website] alleging interference in purely domestic affairs by allowing Zelaya and his supporters [JURIST report] to take refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Brazilian authorities have questioned [Estadao de Hoje report, in Portuguese] the legitimacy of the claims raised by a government that is not officially recognized.

The Guaymuras Dialogue began two weeks ago, as the interim government promised to repeal [JURIST report] an executive decree that had suspended several constitutional rights. The restrictions on protests and opposition media were not officially eased [JURIST report] until last week. A delegation from the Organization of American States arrived [JURIST report] last week in Honduras to conduct a three-week investigation on human rights violations that may have occurred since Zelaya's ouster. On the day after the OAS delegation arrived, the Honduran Human Rights Commissioner issued a statement decrying bias in the international community against the situation in Honduras. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International [materials] have circulated reports of human rights violations committed against protesters.

[JURIST] Outstanding arrest warrants are the "biggest obstacle" facing the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website], President Sang-Hyun Song [official profile] told [speech, PDF; press release] the UN General Assembly [official website] Thursday. In particular, Song discussed the case of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [JURIST news archive]. The ICC issued an arrest warrant [JURIST report] for al-Bashir in March for crimes against humanity, but he has not yet been detained. Song stressed that "[i]t is the responsibility of States to arrest and surrender these persons in accordance with their legal obligations." In discussing other problems currently facing the court, Song focused on the lack of prior jurisprudence on which to base ICC decisions. Finally, Song discussed his priorities for the ICC, including advancing ratification of the Rome Statute [text, PDF] by providing information to states seeking ratification. The ICC is set to begin its second trial against Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, in November.

The US remains one of several UN member states that has not ratified the Rome Statute. In August, a Heritage Foundation [advocacy website] study urged US President Barack Obama not to ratify the treaty [JURIST report], claiming that the ICC threatens national sovereignty. The study came in response to media reports that suggested the Obama administration may be considering joining the ICC. Earlier that month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to Kenya that it is a "great regret" [Reuters report] that the US is not a signatory to the ICC. The Rome Statute was approved in 1998, and the ICC was established in 2002. The US signed, but never ratified the treaty. Then-president George W. Bush later "un-signed" the treaty by notifying the UN that the US did not intend to ratify it. As of October 2009, only 110 of the 192 UN member states have ratified the treaty. Other states that have refused to ratify it include China, India, Russia, and the Sudan.