JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, July 4, 2010

[JURIST] The US territory of American Samoa [official website; DOI backgrounder] on Saturday concluded a constitutional convention [official website] in which delegates considered proposed changes [text, PDF] to the territory's 1967 constitution [text] that would shift authority from the federal government to local officials by removing much of the authority of the US Department of the Interior (DOI) [official website] over territorial affairs. Specific changes would remove the DOI's ability to override vetoes of the American Samoan governor and remove its ability to reject amendments to the constitution. Delegates rejected a proposal [RNZI report] to transfer the authority to appoint members to the High Court from the DOI to the governor, however. The proposed constitutional changes would additionally create a right to jury trials and set the number of representatives in the territorial legislature, known as the Fono [official website]. The American Samoan government would also have the right to opt out of federal laws [RNZI report] deemed harmful to the territory and would be allowed to require that all members of the Fono be of Samoan ancestry [Samoa News report]. American Samoa's non-voting delegate to the US Congress, Eni Faleomavaega (D) [official website] opposed both proposals, describing them as unconstitutional under the US constitution. The changes will be put to American Samoan voters in November, and must also be approved by the DOI and Congress before taking effect.

The constitutional convention was called [order, PDF] by Governor Togiola Tulafono (D) [official website] earlier this month. Also in June, Faleomavaega called for a referendum on the political status of the territory, echoing a statement by Tulafono calling for greater autonomy for the territory [RNZI reports]. In explaining the need for greater local governance, Tulafono expressed the worry that local laws favoring those of Samoan decent may come to be challenged in the US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] and cited the harmful effects of federal minimum wage laws that were applied to the territory in 2007. American Samoa has been a US territory since 1900, when the leaders of the three islands that comprise the unorganized and unincorporated south Pacific territory signed the Deeds of Cession [text, PDF]. The nearly 70,000 residents of the territory are US nationals, a status that is not recognized as US citizenship, and remain exempt from most federal laws and provisions of the US Constitution [text].

[JURIST] A Syrian military court Sunday sentenced lawyer and activist Haitham Maleh [profile] to three years in prison for campaigning against the emergency rule under which Syria has been governed since 1963 [Amnesty International report]. Defense lawyers for Maleh said he was charged with "weakening national morale" [Reuters report]. The 78-year old former judge was put on trial in October 2009 sparking criticism from the US government [press release] and several human rights groups. In June the US government reiterated its disapproval [Reuters report] of Syria's increased crackdown on political dissidents and called for the release of several political prisoners, including Maleh. Lawyers for Maleh called the judgment "tragic" and fear that due to his age and poor health he will not survive his sentence. Maleh was held as a political prisoner for six years in the 1980s and was banned from leaving Syria. In 2006 he was awarded the Dutch Geuzen Medal, which is named after the Nazi resistance fighters, for serving as a political activist over the past several decades.

Over the past several years, Syria has increased its prosecution of political dissidents, drawing strong criticism from the international community. In October 2008 a Damascus criminal court sentenced twelve dissidents [JURIST report] accused of inciting sectarian strife to two and a half years in prison. They were found guilty on charges [Amnesty International report] of weakening national sentiment, broadcasting false or exaggerated news that could affect the morale of the country, joining an organization formed with the purpose of changing the financial or social status of the state, and inciting sectarian strife. In January 2008 the Syrian government arrested [JURIST report] former parliamentarian and dissident Riyad Sayf, a prominent member of the "Damascus Declaration" group which in 2005 issued a declaration urging Syria to embark on democratic transition and improve relations with Lebanon. In 2007 a Syrian court sentenced writer and activist Michel Kilo [JURIST report] to a prison term of three years for "speaking false news, weakening national feeling and inciting sectarian sentiments." Kilo was arrested in May 2005 along with nine other Syrians shortly after signing the so-called Beirut-Damascus Declaration of 12 May, which calls for the normalization of relations between Syria and Lebanon, a properly demarcated border, the release of political prisoners, and an exchange of ambassadors.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] released a redacted opinion [opinion, PDF] Thursday holding that evidence against Algerian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Belkacem Bensaya must be reviewed to determine if he was "part of" al Qaeda [JURIST archive]. The three-judge panel overturned the district court ruling, which held that Bensaya's imprisonment by the US government was legal because evidence showed he was an al Qaeda supporter and that it was unnecessary to determine if the government could also prove that he was part of al Qaeda. Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg, writing the opinion for the panel, held that there appeared to be no direct evidence linking Bensaya to al Qaeda, and that the government's authority under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) [text, PDF] only extends to the detention of individuals who are "functionally part of" a terrorist organization. Ginsburg also stated that "the evidence upon which the district court relied in concluding Bensayah 'supported' Al-Qaeda is insufficient...to show he was part of that organization." If the government, upon remand to the district court, cannot provide a preponderance of evidence that Bensaya was part of al-Qaeda, then his indefinite detention would be deemed illegal under AUMF and he should be granted habeas corpus relief. Bensaya was captured in Bosnia in 2001 along with five other Bosnian-Algerian nationals. The men were accused of planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight against US forces and were sent to Guantanamo Bay in January 2002.

Bensayah was the only one of the six petitioners from the 2008 Boumediene v. Bush [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] decision who was not granted habeas relief after the Supreme Court remanded the case for further review of evidence. Under Boumediene federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees who have been classified as "enemy combatants." In May the DC Circuit ruled in Al Maqaleh v. Gates that Boumediene was narrowly tailored to detainees being held at Guantanamo and that detainees held at Bagram Air Force Base [official website; JURIST news archive] in Afghanistan cannot bring habeas corpus challenges in US courts.