In 2008, el-Masri petitioned [ACLU materials; JURIST report] the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] to open an investigation of human rights violations by the US, alleging that he was tortured by the CIA. In 2007, the US Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] without comment el-Masri's petition for certiorari, ostensibly supporting the Bush administration's contention that allowing el-Masri's federal lawsuit to proceed would require the revelation of state secrets. Also in 2007, the German Justice Ministry said that it would not press a formal request [JURIST report] to extradite the 13 CIA agents suspected of participating in el-Masri's alleged rendition after the Bush administration informed them it would not comply with a such a request despite a 2006 German investigation that concluded there was no evidence to disprove el-Masri's allegations.

In January of this year, Zimbabwe's high court rejected [JURIST report] evidence from a key witness in Bennett's trial, ruling that statements the state intended to use to impeach Peter Michael Hitschmann's testimony were not freely made by Hitschmann and were invalid as evidence. Bennett's trial began in November after delays in October to allow his counsel to develop a defense. Bennett was originally arrested on weapons charges in February 2009, and was released [JURIST reports] on bail the following month. He was then re-arrested on the same charges in October, only to be released on bail again. Treason charges against him were dropped in favor of the terrorism and other charges. Bennett was originally sought for questioning [JURIST report] in relation to similar allegations in 2006 but had obtained asylum [IOL report] in South Africa.

Conduct thorough and impartial investigations into alleged violations of international humanitarian law during the fighting of December 2008-January 2009 in Gaza. Make the investigation findings public and prosecute those responsible for war crimes in trials respecting international standards.

Last month, HRW accused [JURIST report] both Israel and Hamas [JURIST news archives] of failing to conduct meaningful, credible investigations into accusations of war crimes during the Gaza conflict. In a 62-page report [text, PDF], HRW described the alleged law of war violations committed during the combat, along with the deficient responses from both sides. In February, HRW criticized [JURIST report] Israel for failing to demonstrate that it would conduct a thorough and impartial investigation of the alleged war crimes. Just prior to that, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] said that it was unclear whether Israel and Palestine have fully met UN demands [JURIST reports] to set up a commission to investigate war crimes that may occurred during the conflict.

In March, Apple filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against HTC in US District Court for the District of Delaware [official website] alleging that several of HTC's products infringe 10 patents owned by Apple. Apple also filed a complaint [text, PDF] against HTC with the ITC claiming infringement of 10 other Apple patents, seeking to bar the importation of infringing devices. Apple has recently been involved in numerous legal actions over alleged patent infringement. In October, Finnish telecommunications company Nokia [corporate website] filed suit [JURIST report] against Apple alleging that Apple infringed 10 of its patents since the first iPhone was released in 2007. The patents cover wireless data transmission, speech coding, and security/encryption.

As set out in the Indictment, Ratko Mladic together with Radovan Karadzic was a key member of an overarching joint criminal enterprise the objective of which was the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Croats from the territory in Bosnia and Hezegovina that Bosnian Serbs claimed for themselves. To achieve this aim, Ratko Mladic, acted in concert with others to commit crimes in different locations and at different times as alleged in the indictment.

The effort to capture and prosecute the participants involved in war crimes remains strong in Eastern Europe. Last week, EU police officers arrested [JURIST report] suspected war criminal Sabit Geci in Kosovo. Geci is accused of being a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive], which allegedly tortured prisoners at an Albanian prison during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. In April, the ICTY resumed [JURIST report] the war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [case materials; JURIST news archive]. In August 2008, Serbian President Boris Tadic [official website] said that his country would fully cooperate with the ICTY [JURIST report] to find Mladic and arrest him. Mladic faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for overseeing the Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] prison massacre and other killings of Bosnian Muslims and Croats.

Kazakhstan has come under increased scrutiny as the first former Soviet republic to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [official website], a role it assumed at the beginning of 2010. In March, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] published a report criticizing the government [JURIST report] for failing to curb torture. In February, Kazakh non-governmental organizations asked [submission, PDF] the UN Human Rights Council [official website] to address instances of torture and the use of unlawful evidence obtained through torture during trial. In August, Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] condemned a Kazakh high court decision upholding the conviction [JURIST report] of a journalist charged with publishing state secrets. In December 2009, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] said that the former Soviet nation is falling short [JURIST report] on reforms promised in advance of their assumption of the OSCE chairmanship.

Congress determined that the health care system in the United States is in crisis, spawning public expense and private tragedy. After decades of failed attempts, Congress enacted comprehensive health care reform to deal with this overwhelming national problem. The minimum coverage provision is vital to that comprehensive scheme. Enjoining it would thwart this reform and reignite the crisis that the elected branches of government acted to forestall.

The Obama administration is also facing health care lawsuits in Virginia and Florida, filed by numerous state attorneys general. Last month, Georgia joined 18 other states [JURIST report] in a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] filed [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida [official website]. The 18 other states involved in the suit are Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada, and Arizona. Seven more states are set to join the lawsuit [WP report] Friday. Meanwhile, Virginia has filed a separate lawsuit after that state's legislature passed a bill barring mandatory individual health coverage [JURIST report].