JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, September 4, 2010

[JURIST] Over 100,000 people in 130 cities across France protested Saturday against the security policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy [official website, in French]. The protesters called the expulsion of illegal Roma [JURIST report] and a recent bid to ban the burqa [JURIST report], xenophobic [Le Monde report, in French] and said they make minority groups scapegoats for France's crime problems. The League of Human Rights [advocacy website, in French] released a statement [text, in French] about the protests, saying "Tens of thousands of demonstrators have expressed their refusal of a politics of fear, xenophobia and divisions they cause. The protesters wanted to give a halt to these dangerous tendencies of democracy, for civil peace and the international reputation of France." In a contrasting official statement [text, in French] the head of France's Ministry of Interior [official website, in French] Brice Hortefeux [official profile, in French] called the protests a disappointment for organizers because of low turnout. He added:

Such an eclectic event, which gathered a mosaic of traditional parties, and also small groups of leftists and anarchists, does not reflect policy. Under the pretext of wanting to defend the rights of man, it, in fact, embraces laxity. [...] Under the authority of the President of the Republic, I will continue to work aggressively to roll back all forms of crime and defending the rights of victims, without stigmatizing any community whatsoever.

In August, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination [official website] unveiled a review [press release; JURIST report] of France's compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [text]. The report raised questions about draft legislation that would strip naturalized citizens of citizenship for committing certain crimes and a recent decision to dismantle 300 unauthorized Roma encampments. The UN report was revealed a week after riots by members of the Roma community sparked by the shooting of a young man, resulting in the deployment of 300 troops [DW report]. In the same month, the French National Assembly [official website, in French] approved a bill that making it illegal to wear the Islamic burqa or other full face veils in public. Under the legislation, which still needs approval by the French Senate to become law, women who wear the veil would be required by police to show their face, and, if they refuse, they could be forced to attend citizenship classes or be charged a USD $185 fine. The legislation would also criminalize forcing a woman to cover her face, with a penalty of one year in prison and a fine of USD $18,555.

[JURIST] Canada has allocated $105 million to build new prison cells at four existing prisons in anticipation of a drastic increase in prisoners over the next several years. The Canadian government's plan [National Post report] envisages the creation of 2,700 new spaces at the prisons within three years, in response to an expected 25 percent increase in the number of people incarcerated. According to a Correctional Service of Canada [official website] spokeswoman, the major catalyst [Ottawa Sun report] for the prisoner influx is the Truth in Sentencing Act [materials], which went into force in February 2010. The act amended Canada's Criminal Code [text; PDF], limiting the credit a judge may allow for any time spent in pre-sentencing custody in order to reduce the punishment to be imposed at sentencing.

Prison overcrowding was a problem in Canada even prior to adoption of the Truth in Sentencing Act. In June 2009 Canadian federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers [official profile] reported that the country's prison system was at full capacity [transcript, DOC; JURIST report] and was unable to handle many new prisoners without expanding. Overcrowded prisons have become a problem in other countries as well. In the US, federal judges tentatively ruled [JURIST report] in February that California must reduce its prison population to relieve overcrowding that resulted in inadequate mental and physical health care for inmates. The judges found that a release order was the only appropriate remedy [18 USC § 3626] for the unconstitutional prison conditions. In October, an Arizona federal court ruled [JURIST report] that overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in Maricopa County correctional facilities violated the inmates' constitutional rights, ordering the country sheriff to take appropriate steps to resolve the conditions. In 2007, the UK Ministry of Justice gave authority [JURIST report] to prison governors to grant early release to inmates to relieve overcrowded prisons throughout England and Wales.

[JURIST] The US Court of Military Commission Review [official website] will hear en banc an appeal by former Osama Bin Laden [JURIST news archive] driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] according to media reports. The decision was revealed late Friday in a one-page order [Miami Herald report] given to attorneys working on Hamdan's case. Hamdan was convicted [JURIST report] in August 2008 of providing material support for terrorism [charge sheet, PDF] and sentenced to 66 months of imprisonment, but given credit for 60 months he already spent in US custody. Hamdan's lawyers argue that at the time Hamdan was arrested in 2001, providing material support for terrorism was not a criminal act.

Hamdan was released [JURIST report] to his native country Yemen in November 2008 to serve the last month of his prison sentence and is now living freely there. His release alleviated concerns that arose when government lawyers said he could be held indefinitely [JURIST report]. In October 2008, a US military judge denied [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] a request [motion, PDF] by prosecutors that he reconsider a decision that reduced Hamdan's sentence [JURIST report] from five-and-a-half years to six months because of credit for time already served. Hamdan was initially taken into custody in 2001; in 2006 he successfully challenged President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the commission system as initially construed violated US and international law. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [DOD materials], which established the current military commissions system.