[JURIST] Nigerian police officials said Wednesday that 49 people, predominately Muslims, will be charged with murder following the recent killing of Christian villagers near the city of Jos. Reports have varied [BBC report] as to the number of people killed in the weekend attack, but police now put the number at 109. The attacks were apparently in retaliation [AP report] for the January violence between Muslims and Christians which left more than 300, mostly Muslims, dead. The city of Jos is located in an area of central Nigeria, which divides the predominately Muslim northern part of the country from the primarily Christian south. Authorities have indicated that the area is being patrolled by security forces to prevent further violence. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called on the Nigerian government to prosecute those responsible [JURIST report] for the violence.

Last month, HRW urged [JURIST report] acting President Goodluck Jonathan [BBC profile] to to "tackle the culture of impunity" in Nigeria. While HRW has called on Jonathan directly, other rights groups have petitioned international authorities to take action to prevent recurring rights abuses. Earlier in February, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) [advocacy website] called for [JURIST report] an International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] investigation into the violence that took place in Jos in January. The ICC is considering [JURIST report] the petition.

[JURIST] The Afghan government should retract a law granting amnesty [press release] for war crimes and human rights abuses committed prior to December 2001, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said Wednesday. The National Stability and Reconciliation Law was originally passed by the Afghan Parliament [official website] in 2007, but did not take effect until it was recently published in the official gazette. HRW claims that the law protects alleged war criminals and human rights abusers, many of whom remain in positions of power within the government. The group says the law will also grant future immunity to people involved in current fighting in Afghanistan if they agree to reconciliation with the government. Supporters of the law note that criminal claims may still be brought by individuals, but HRW disputes this claim saying the court system is "barely functioning in much of the country, corruption is rampant, and there is no witness protection system." Afghan President Hamid Karzai [official profile; JURIST news archive] had previously indicated he would not sign [Reuters report] the act into law.

In 2007, Karzai signed a bill [JURIST report] granting amnesty to groups that allegedly committed war crimes. The 2007 resolution barred the state from independently prosecuting individuals for war crimes absent accusation from an alleged victim. A previous version of the same bill drew popular support [JURIST reports], but Karzai refused to sign the bill in the original form.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] held a hearing [materials; video] Wednesday on the effects of the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [opinion, PDF], which eased restrictions [JURIST report] on political campaign spending by corporations. The hearing, entitled "We the People? Corporate Spending in American Elections after Citizens United," did not focus on any specific bill, but rather on general legislative efforts [JURIST report] to limit the ruling's effects. Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] said [testimony] that the "Citizens United decision turns the idea of Government of, by and for the people on its head." Witness Bradley Smith, law professor and chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics [advocacy website], countered [testimony, PDF] that "the Court's decision in Citizens United is one of the most clearly correct decisions of the Court's term," and that "Congress need not 'fix' this sound decision."

In January, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission [Cornell LII backgrounder] to ease restrictions on political campaign spending by corporations. The court was asked to consider Section 203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act [text, PDF], which prohibited corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech defined as an "electioneering communication" or for speech expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate. President Barack Obama sharply criticized [JURIST report] the decision in his State of the Union Address [transcript] in January. Obama warned of the increased potential for powerful interest groups, both foreign and domestic, to wield excessive influence over American elections and called for bipartisan support of legislation to counteract the decision. The decision has caused a deep partisan divide [CNN report] over the topic, with Democratic officials largely opposing the decision, and Republican officials mostly in support.

[JURIST] The Italian Senate [official website, in Italian] on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill [materials, in Italian] that would allow cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], to postpone criminal proceedings against them on the grounds that they would interfere with official duties. The legislation, passed by a vote of 169-126 [Corriere della Sera report, in Italian] with three members abstaining, will allow officials to suspend trials against them for up to 18 months by claiming a "legitimate impediment" to appearing in court. Critics contend that the legislation is specifically designed to protect Berlusconi from the prosecutions he faces, while supporters claim that it will modernize the country's judicial system and allow elected officials to perform their duties.

The bill was approved [JURIST report] by the Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Italian] last month. In January, hundreds of Italy's judges walked out of their courtrooms to protest the passage of legislation that placed strict time limits [JURIST reports] on the trial and appeals process. That bill was also criticized as being tailored for Berlusiconi's benefit and would result in the automatic dismissal of two pending cases against him. Later that month, it was reported that Berlusconi could also face a third trial based on information that surfaced recently. Berlusconi currently faces a corruption trial and a tax fraud trial, both of which have been postponed. The leader has been previously acquitted of false accounting and bribery, and has had other charges against him dropped [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Myanmar's military junta announced the implementation of another election law on Wednesday that establishes procedures for the country's first election in 20 years. The Political Parties Registration Law prevents [IANS report] political prisoners from participating in the election and also makes it illegal for members of religious orders, insurgent groups, and foreigners to join political parties. The most notable ramification of the new law is that it would prevent pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] from participating in the election unless she is released from prison. The new law would also prevent Suu Kyi from remaining as the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) [party website] if the party wishes to participate in the election. The NLD has not committed [AFP report] to taking part in the polls, claiming that the 2008 constitution is unfair because it bans Suu Kyi from taking part in the polls and reserves a quarter of parliamentary seats for the military. An election date has not been set.

The Political Parties Registration Law is one of the five laws being enacted by the military junta in anticipation of the election. On Tuesday, the junta unveiled [JURIST report] the Union Election Commission Law, which states that the military government will appoint a five-member commission that will supervise and have the final say on all electoral matters. In February, UN High Representative for Human Rights Tomas Ojea Quintana [official profile] expressed great disappointment [JURIST report] during his visit to Myanmar, stating that without certain action the elections "will not be credible." Also in February, Myanmar's Supreme Court dismissed [JURIST report] the latest appeal by Suu Kyi against the extension of her house arrest. Suu Kyi, who has been in prison or under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, will be released in November [JURIST report] according to a government official, likely after the elections have taken place.

[JURIST] An Iranian court on Tuesday began the trial of 12 Iranian prison officials accused of torturing three prisoners to death, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) [official website, in Persian]. The three victims, identified as Mohsen Rouholamini, Mohammad Kamrani, and Amir Javadifar, were arrested for their involvement in the protests following the June 12 presidential election [JURIST news archive]. The names of the defendants are unknown because the presiding judge has prevented [Tehran Times report] any trial information from being disclosed. The 12 Kahrizak prison officials were charged [JURIST report] with murder in December. The Iranian government acknowledged [JURIST report] in August that the detainees had been tortured, yet initially claimed that the three men had died from meningitis.

Observers have accused the Iranian government of conducting the trial as a mere political move. In January, an Iranian parliamentary inquiry found [JURIST report] that Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was responsible for the deaths. The report alleged that Mortazavi, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing the Kahrizak prison, ordered that the prisoners be transferred to Kahrizak, where they were tortured and beaten to death. Last month, the US government and EU issued a joint statement [JURIST report] condemning the human rights violations following the presidential election. In December, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] labeled [JURIST report] the human rights violations committed by the Iranian government following the election among the worst of the past 20 years.

[JURIST] An international group of human rights lawyers on Tuesday petitioned [text, PDF; press release, PDF] the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention [official website] to condemn to the detention of Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], missing for more than a year. The group is seeking a declaration that Gao's detention is a violation of international law. According to the petition, Gao's detention violates both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) [texts]:

Mr. Gao's current predicament is merely the culmination of a pattern and practice by which the Chinese government has consistently and clearly violated Article 19 of both the Universal Declaration and the ICCPR. Without an arrest warrant to attest otherwise, we can only assume that Mr. Gao's current detention is related to his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government's human rights record relating to religious freedom. Detaining Mr. Gao as punishment for or to prevent his defense of persecuted religious groups is a violation of Article 19(2).