[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] on Friday strongly criticized [press release; UN News Centre report] proposed legislation [text, PDF] in Uganda which would implement harsh punishments for homosexual behavior, including the death penalty in some circumstances. The bill includes provisions which would allow sentences of life imprisonment for people who are be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, and also allows the death penalty [AFP report] in situations of "aggravated homosexuality," which includes the rape of a minor or where an individual carries the AIDS virus. The bill also imposes punishments of up to three years in prison for those who fail to report the identity of a person who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered within 24 hours, including family members. Pillay emphasized what she characterized as "blatantly discriminatory" nature of the bill, and also discussed the international human rights implications of the legislation:

It is extraordinary to find legislation like this being proposed more than 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – as well as many subsequent international laws and standards – made it clear this type of discrimination is unacceptable.

I would like to remind the Ugandan Government of the country’s obligations under international human rights law. Uganda is a party to the core human rights treaties and has generally had a good track record of cooperation with the various international human rights mechanisms. This bill threatens to seriously damage the country's reputation in the international arena.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Friday granted certiorari [order list, DOC] in five cases. In Doe v. Reed [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider whether the First Amendment allows a state to compel the release of identity information about petition signers. The case arose over an order to publish the names of those who signed a Washington state petition to overturn a state law [JURIST report] giving same-sex partners the same rights as married partners. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] that the names should be released, but the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay [JURIST report] in October. The legislation was approved [JURIST report] by Washington voters in November.

In Krupski v. Costa Crociere [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider the appropriate construction of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(1)(C) [text], which permits an amended complaint to "relate back" for statute of limitation purposes when the amendment corrects a mistake concerning the proper party's identity. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that the rule does not apply to substitution of the correct defendant for a related corporation with a similar name where the plaintiff has imputed knowledge of the identity of the added defendant prior to filing suit. The Court has been asked to resolve a circuit split on the issue.

In Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider whether § 502(g)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) [materials] provides a district court discretion to award reasonable attorney's fees only to a prevailing party, and whether a party is entitled to attorney's fees when she persuades a district court that a violation of ERISA has occurred, successfully secures a judicially-ordered remand requiring a redetermination of entitlement to benefits, and subsequently receives the benefits sought on remand. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that § 502(g)(1) provides a district court discretion to award reasonable attorney's fees only to a prevailing party.

In Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider three issues: (1) whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding [opinion, PDF] that National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) [EPA materials] plaintiffs are specially exempt from the requirement of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm to obtain an injunction; (2) whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding that a district court may enter an injunction sought to remedy a NEPA violation without conducting an evidentiary hearing sought by a party to resolve genuinely disputed facts directly relevant to the appropriate scope of the requested injunction; and (3) whether the Ninth Circuit erred when it affirmed a nationwide injunction entered prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Winter v. National Resources Defense Council [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], which sought to remedy a NEPA violation based on only a remote possibility of reparable harm. The case arose over an injunction against the planting of Monsanto's "Roundup Ready alfalfa," pending an environmental impact statement.

In Rent-A-Center, West v. Jackson [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider whether the district court is required in all cases to determine claims that an arbitration agreement subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) [materials] is unconscionable, even when the parties to the contract have clearly and unmistakably assigned this "gateway" issue to the arbitrator for decision. The Ninth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that that the district court was required to determine whether the arbitration agreement was unconscionable.

[JURIST] The corruption trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [official website, in Italian; BBC profile] resumed Friday but was immediately postponed to February 27. Judges for the tenth section of the Milan Tribunal [official website, in Italian] postponed the trial [Corriere della Sera report, in Italian] as requested by Berlusconi's lawyers but refused their request to have earlier proceedings thrown out. Berlusconi is accused of paying his former lawyer David Mills [JURIST news archive] as much as $600,000 to Mills to provide false testimony at two trials in 1997 and 1998 involving Berlusconi's broadcasting company, Mediaset [corporate website, in Italian]. Berlusconi's trial was postponed so that Mills's final appeal of his conviction and sentence will be concluded. Berlusconi's lawyers argued [CP report] that the the Mills case might affect his, and the statute of limitations has been frozen until a new date.

This is the second time the corruption case against Berlusconi has been reopened and then delayed since a law granting him immunity from prosecution was thrown out [JURIST reports] by the Italian Constitutional Court [official website, in Italian] in October. He is also facing a separate trial for tax fraud which was postponed [JURIST report] in November until this month. Berlusconi has faced trial on at least six occasions involving charges of false accounting, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and giving false testimony [JURIST reports]. In October 2007, Berlusconi's April 2007 acquittal on bribery charges was upheld [JURIST reports]. In 2005, Berlusconi was acquitted of corruption charges despite testimony accusing him of giving kickbacks to the late Socialist premier Bettino Craxi [JURIST report].

[JURIST] Chinese lawyers and US-based rights group ChinaAid [advocacy website] on Friday called on [press release] Beijing police to conduct a search for missing Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng [JURIST news archive]. Police reported Thursday that Gao, who has been in police custody since February, went missing in September. Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, stated Thursday that police believe his brother "got lost and went missing while out on a walk." Suspicions abound among rights groups, however, that Gao has been tortured or killed.

Gao drew international attention in September 2007 when he wrote a letter [JURIST report] to the US Congress requesting assistance in improving human rights in China. Gao, who has also defended Christians and coal miners in China, claimed [AP report] that he was tortured after his arrest in 2007. Gao was originally part of the Chinese Communist Party and handled prominent cases involving the outlawed Falun Gong movement [Falun Dafa website], but fell into disfavor with the government in 2006 when he was convicted of subversion [JURIST report] and placed under house arrest. China has long received criticism [JURIST news archive] from watchdog groups for its treatment of rights activists such as Gao.

[JURIST] The Obama administration is considering bringing charges in a Washington, DC, federal court against Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Riduan Isamuddin [BBC profile], the suspected planner of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing [BBC backgrounder], the Associated Press reported [text] Friday. According to the AP, administration officials have begun a security review to determine what measures would need to be taken to pursue the case in federal court, and the move is part of a larger plan to bring other Guantanamo detainees to trial in federal courts in Washington and New York City. Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, is the former military commander of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) and was allegedly the main link between JI and al Qaeda [GlobalSecurity backgrounders] before his catpure in 2003. Former president George W. Bush cited the capture of Isamuddin as a major success in his policies in the war on terror, after the enhanced interrogation of Khaled Shaikh Mohammed [JURIST news archives] uncovered information on Isamuddin's whereabouts. The bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali killed 202 people. In 2008, three men were executed [JURIST report] in Indonesia in connection with the bombings.

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] decided [JURIST report] that Afghan Guantanamo detainee Obaidullah will be prosecuted by a military proceeding, becoming the sixth such recommendation made by the DOJ under the Obama administration. Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] announced [JURIST report] in November that the government will pursue charges against the five suspected 9/11 conspirators in federal court in New York City. These decisions come as part of a larger effort to close the detention facility. Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama [official profile] ordered Guantanamo closed [JURIST report] by January 22, 2010, but he has recently stated that this deadline will not be met, echoing earlier statements [JURIST report] by administration officials.

[JURIST] The Russian State Duma [official website, Russian] on Thursday passed a resolution to ratify [ECHR press release] Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights [text, PDF], making the Russian Federation the last Council of Europe (COE) [official website] member-state to ratify the provision. The ratification passed with 392 votes [results, Russian] out of 450. COE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland called the move [statement] "a significant decision by the State Duma, [that] will be of importance for the whole of Europe. ... By joining the other 46 member states, Russia is sending a strong signal of its commitment to Europe." Protocol 14 envisages reforms to increase efficiency of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website], such as filtering out inadmissible and repetitive cases. Admissibility will be determined by a single judge, but most cases will still be ruled on by three-judge panel. Russia was initially opposed to ratifying the protocol, which it claimed was politically motivated.

In June, the COE harshly criticized Russia's judicial system and called for reform [JURIST report]. In recent years, Russia has had the largest number of cases pending in the ECHR out of any COE member-state. In 2009 [statistics, PDF], Russia had 32,600 cases pending, followed next by Turkey, which had 12,800 cases pending, and in 2008 [statistics, PDF] Russia had 27,250 cases pending, followed next by Turkey, which had 11,100 cases pending. In 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official profile; JURIST news archive] proposed that Russian courts become more transparent [JURIST report] in order to restore faith in the justice system and prevent people from turning to the ECHR.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder [official website] on Thursday testified [hearing materials] before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) that combating financial fraud is a priority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official websites]. When asked whether the reallocation of DOJ staff from financial fraud to terrorism investigations over the past decade had thwarted efforts to fight white collar crime, Holder responded that terrorism investigations were not preventing the DOJ from making financial fraud a "real priority." In prepared remarks [text], Holder said:

[T]he Justice Department is using every tool at our disposal - including new resources, advanced technologies and communications capabilities, and the very best talent we have - to prevent, prosecute and punish these crimes. And by taking dramatic action, our goal is not just to hold accountable those whose conduct may have contributed to the last meltdown, but to deter such future conduct as well.

[JURIST] A Honduran Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] judge on Thursday charged top military personnel with abuse of power for removing former president Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] from the country after he was ousted from power last June. Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera [official profile, in Spanish] issued charges against six military commanders, including armed forces commander Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, air force commander Venancio Cervantes, and naval commander Luis Javier Prince, and ordered them to remain in the country to testify before the court. Prosecutors asked the court to issue charges [JURIST report] last week, arguing that individual military commanders violated the Honduran Constitution [text, in Spanish] when they seized Zelaya and put him on a plane to Costa Rica because the constitution prohibits the forcible removal of a citizen. The charges to do not question the presidential ouster itself. Zelaya has dismissed the charges as a political move [AFP report], claiming the prosecutors share as much responsibility as the military. The abuse of power charges carry a sentence of three to six years in prison.

Zelaya remains in Honduras at the Brazilian embassy. Last month, the Honduran National Congress [official website, in Spanish] voted 111-14 not to reinstate [JURIST report] him. This followed a non-binding advisory opinion from the Supreme Court that Zelaya could not legally return to office [JURIST report]. Zelaya's return to power appears unlikely, as elections were held in November, and Porfirio Lobo is due to be sworn in as president later this month. Zelaya was ousted [JURIST report] in June, following a judicial order [press release, in Spanish] asserting that he had broken Honduran law by attempting to conduct a controversial referendum on constitutional reform [JURIST report], contrary to a Supreme Court ruling. Zelaya, along with the US, the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union, maintain that his removal was a coup, while the interim government of Roberto Micheletti asserts that it was a lawful transition of power.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced [press release] on Thursday that four men have been charged in connection with the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and an attempted attack on a Danish newspaper. The superseding indictment [text, PDF] reiterates the 12 charges against Chicago resident and US citizen David Coleman Headley filed last month [JURIST report] and adds three defendants. Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago resident with Canadian citizenship, is charged with three counts of providing material support to terrorism, one each for his alleged roles in the Denmark plan and Mumbai attacks, and a third for alleged involvement with terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) [CFR backgrounder]. Retired Pakistani military officer Abdur Rehman and Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged terrorist leader believed to have ties to al Qaeda [JURIST news archive], are also named in the indictment. Both face one count of conspiracy and one count of providing material support to terrorism for their alleged participation in the Danish newspaper plot. Headley and Rana are in federal custody, though no date has been set for Rana's arraignment before the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois [official website]. Rehman and Kashmiri remain at-large.

The lone surviving suspected gunman from the Mumbai attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab [NDTV profile], is currently on trial in India after withdrawing his confession [JURIST report] last month. Kasab claims to have met Headley, but only after the attacks when Headley allegedly came to question Kasab in the company of three FBI agents. The judge hearing the trial has removed lawyers representing Kasab on two separate occasions for ethical violations, once in April and again in November [JURIST reports]. A verdict is expected early next year, and, if convicted, Kasab could face the death penalty. The Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan has indicted [JURIST report] seven men accused of planning the attacks, charging them under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act [text]. The men, who allegedly belong to LeT, have pleaded not guilty. Pakistan has postponed the trial [JURIST report] of five others allegedly connected with the 2008 attack, which claimed at least 170 lives at 10 locations across the city.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] on Thursday declined [order] to hear an appeal brought by an anti-abortion advocate who refused to pay taxes on the basis that the money could be used to fund abortion [JURIST news archive]. David Little was convicted in 2007 of tax evasion for failing to file tax returns for 2000, 2001, and 2002. The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick [official website] affirmed the conviction [judgment, PDF] in August. Little's legal argument relied on Section 2(a) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text], which establishes and guarantees everyone in Canada the fundamental freedom of "conscience and religion," as well as Section 15(1) which prohibits discrimination. The appeals court rejected Little's arguments:

The non-filing of annual returns, like the non-payment of taxes, does not qualify as a religious practice nor has it become the tenet of any religious faith. The refusals are simply acts of civil disobedience intended to bring about change in government policy, the law, or both. Admittedly, the refusals may be the product of an informed conscience, but the Charter was not intended to insulate such acts from the rule of law. Otherwise, everyone who disagrees with government policies and the expenditure of public monies in furtherance of those policies would be entitled to abandon their obligation to bear their proportionate share of the national debt while continuing to receive no-cost public benefits such as Medicare.

[JURIST] A judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that a law allowing Washington DC to recognize same-sex marriages [JURIST news archive] performed elsewhere is not subject to a public referendum. Reverend Harry Jackson, along with 39 Republican congressmen [Wasington Post report], urged the court to force the DC Council to allow the public to vote on DC's Jury and Marriage Amendment Act of 2009 (JAMA) [text, PDF; JURIST report]. The judge refused, affirming a November decision [text, PDF; JURIST report] by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics [official website], which held that putting the act to a public vote would violate DC's Human Rights Act [text]. It is unknown whether Jackson will appeal.

Last month, the DC Council gave both its preliminary and final approval [JURIST reports] to the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 [text, PDF], which would allow same-sex marriages to be performed in DC. Mayor Adrian Fenty must still sign the law, and Congress must not act to block it before it goes into effect. If the marriage bill becomes law, DC will become the sixth US jurisdiction to recognize marriage between same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in five US states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] The Communist Party of China (CPC) [Global Security backgrounder] will increase its oversight [China Daily report] of the families of government officials to control corruption, the state-controlled China Daily [media website] reported Wednesday. A communique released Wednesday by the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection [official website, in Chinese], which is in charge of detecting and preventing corruption in the CPC, ordered other CPC organs to carefully monitor officials to make sure they are not accepting bribes or receiving improper gifts, according to the report. The communique also reportedly ordered increased compliance [China Daily report] with a 2006 family reporting regulation requiring senior officials to divulge an array of information about immediate family members, including where they are employed, their investments, and their holdings.

Chinese officials have faced a number of corruption scandals over the last year. Former vice president of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official website, in Chinese] Huang Songyou stood trial [China Daily report] this week on corruption charges [JURIST report], making him the highest ranking judge to face corruption charges since the founding of the People's Republic of China. A verdict has not yet been reached. In November, former judge Wu Xiaoqing, who was awaiting trial on charges that he took bribes, was found dead [JURIST report] in his prison cell, reportedly a result of suicide. In March, SPC Chief Justice Wang Shengjun pledged to eliminate corruption [JURIST report] in the judiciary.

[JURIST] The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) [official website] announced [press release] on Thursday the conviction of seven former Soviet officials, including Joseph Stalin [BBC profile], on genocide charges stemming from the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine [InfoUkes backgrounder]. The court of appeals in Kiev reviewed evidence for two days before determining the officials' guilt, but chose not to pursue [Kyiv Post report] further criminal proceedings because all of the defendants are deceased. The decision follows the conclusion of an SBU investigation that began in May 2009 [press release] and relied heavily on declassified Soviet documents. Speaker of the Russian State Duma [official website, in Russian] Boris Gryzlov [official website, in Russian] responded to the announcement [Interfax report, in Russian], labeling it a politically motivated effort to incite tension between the countries.

Known as Holodomor, which translates to ‘murder by hunger,’ the famine is responsible for an estimated seven to 10 million deaths [BBC report]. Russians contend that the event was a byproduct of unfavorable conditions, though others believe Soviet policies that disrupted the production and distribution of crops are to blame. Ukraine has long sought widespread international recognition of the famine as an act of genocide, though only several nations have done so.