JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, June 27, 2010

[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan interim President Roza Otunbayeva [BBC profile] announced Sunday that voters approved a new constitution [text, DOC, in Russian] that will allow the interim government to establish a legitimate government through parliamentary elections in the fall. Otunbayeva will remain the acting president through 2011 when elections will be held to determine the next president, scheduled to take office in 2012. Under the new constitution, parliamentary elections will be held every five years, while presidential elections will be held every six years. The office of president will be limited to one six-year term. Otunbayeva indicated the results of the referendum are valid [Kabar report] and that the country is now on the path to democracy. The constitution, approved by the interim government [JURIST report] in May, shifts power from the president to the prime minister, defines Kyrgyzstan as a secular state and increases the number of seats in parliament from 90 to 120.

The government of Kyrgyzstan chose to proceed with the elections [JURIST report] despite ongoing ethnic violence [Guardian backgrounder] against the Kyrgyz Uzbek population. Earlier this month, Otunbayeva issued shoot to kill orders [JURIST report] to the nation's military after the reservists were activated and sent to quell the ethnic conflict that has been primarily focused in the southern cities of Osh and Jalal'abad. The cause of the violence is unclear, but UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay [official website] and witnesses have described it as organized. One suggested motivation for the violence was to cause a delay of the referendum by allies of ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev [BBC profile]. The interim government has accused the former president's son of paying USD $10 million to finance the violence. He was arrested in the UK earlier this month, and the interim government has promised to seek his extradition. Despite the on-going violence, voter turnout for the referendum was reported to be about 65-percent.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Friday asked the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] to stay a district court ruling to lift a six-month moratorium on deep water drilling [JURIST reports] issued by the Obama administration in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The district judge issued a preliminary injunction against the moratorium [opinion, PDF] last week saying it was necessary because the ban caused irreparable harm to both the plaintiffs, small oil companies affected by the ban, and the public. In its filing, the DOJ contends that the district judge abused his discretion [Reuters report] in issuing the injunction and that another deepwater spill could overwhelm the ongoing efforts to clean up the spill with catastrophic results. Lawyers for the DOJ argue that the moratorium was put in place so the government could engage in concerted effort [Business Week report] to protect the economic, social and ecological health of the region. US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar [official website] confirmed last week [JURIST report] that the DOJ would appeal the injunction, stating that the ban on deepwater drilling was the "right decision" and is necessary to protect the communities and environment of the Gulf coast. Salazar has also indicated that he will implement a new injunction against deep water drilling that complies with the district court's ruling.

Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama [official website] announced the government's latest plan of action for tackling the oil spill, which includes a $20 billion compensation fund [JURIST reports] subsidized by BP. The newly-established escrow fund [government backgrounder] will be used to indemnify the workers and business owners harmed as a result of the oil spill. The announcement also included a long-term restoration plan and prevention of future disasters [JURIST report] through stronger regulation. Additionally, Obama announced the appointment of Micheal Bromwich [press release], a former federal prosecutor and Inspector General for the Justice Department, as head of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) [official website], which has been plagued with corruption and notorious for its cozy relationship with oil companies. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a result of an oil well blowout that caused an explosion 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf. More than 120 million gallons of oil have leaked already from the rig's broken pipe and has now surpassed the Exxon Valdez [JURIST news archive] as the worst oil spill in US history. The White House is keeping a daily chronology of events [text].

[JURIST] A federal judge on Saturday ordered the release [opinion, PDF] of Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Odaini, who will now be transferred to his homeland of Yemen [JURIST news archives], despite the Obama administration's ban on repatriation to the Arab nation. In January, the administration suspended all transfers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen [JURIST report] citing security concerns. Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled that the US government has illegally detained Odaini for the past eights years and ordered his release, forcing the administration to make an exception to the ban. Kennedy held that the government had failed to show a preponderance of evidence, the lower standard of proof used in to prosecute suspected terrorists, linking Odaini to al Qaeda [JURIST news archive]:

Respondents have kept a young man from Yemen in detention in Cuba from age eighteen to age twenty-six. They have prevented him from seeing his family and denied him the opportunity to complete his studies and embark on a career. The evidence before the Court shows that holding Odaini in custody at such great cost to him has done nothing to make the United States more secure. There is no evidence that Odaini has any connection to Al Qaeda. Consequently, his detention is not authorized by the AUMF. The Court therefore emphatically concludes that Odaini's motion must be granted.

Odaini was a student at a religious institution in Faisalabad, Pakistan, before he was detained in 2002. He had been visiting a nearby guesthouse for the first time when it was raided by US forces. The Obama administration has confirmed that ban on transfers to Yemen is still in place [WP report] and the repatriation of Odaini should not be seen as a representation of the administration's broader policy on Yemeni detainees.

Most of the detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many have been transferred back to the Arab nation. In January, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] upheld the detention [JURIST report] of Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Ghaleb Nassar Al-Bihani [NYT materials], ruling that he can remain in US custody, but, in December, the US government transferred six detainees [JURIST report] back to Yemen. Also in December, a federal judge granted Yemeni detainee Saeed Hatim's petition for habeas corpus, ordering his release [JURIST report]. A few weeks after the Obama administration suspended transfers to Yemen, a Yemeni government official said that Yemen will build a rehabilitation center for Guantanamo detainees. According to the anonymous official, Yemen will begin building [Reuters report] once it receives funding for the $11 million project promised by the US. It is believed the rehabilitation center will be internationally financed and monitored.

[JURIST] UN Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert on Saturday urged the Iraqi government to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [text]. Melkert's statement, which was delivered on the thirteenth annual International Day in Support of Victims of Torture [official website], called for increased monitoring and investigation of torture allegations [CNN report] made by detainees and the prosecution of those responsible. Melkert went on to say that Iraq has made several advances in recognizing human rights violations, but the government's policy implementation still faces several obstacles. The convention was adopted by the UN in 1984 and has been ratified by 147 countries. Iraq remains one of 45 member-countries that have yet to ratify the treaty.

Iraq has faced several obstacles in solidifying the nation's newly-created democratic government, which has been riddled with tension between Shiite Muslims and the Sunni minority. Earlier this month, the Iraqi Supreme Court ratified the final results [JURIST report] of the nation's March 7 parliamentary elections [CEIP backgrounder; JURIST news archive], officially confirming a narrow victory for the secular Iraqiya alliance, led by Iyad Allawi [personal website, in Arabic; Al Jazeera profile]. The victory gave Iraqiya a slim two-seat lead over the Shiite State of Law [official website] coalition of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [official website, in Arabic]. Allawi hopes Iraqiya's victory will be a turning point for bipartisan participation among the religious sects, but his goal of unification may be thwarted, as Maliki's bloc has already announced an alliance with the Shia Iraqi National Alliance, which polled third, to form the largest grouping in parliament.