JURIST - Paper Chase: Saturday, June 16, 2012

[JURIST] Congressman Steve King (R-IA) [official website] said Friday that President Barack Obama's plan to issue an executive order implementing policies of the DREAM Act is unconstitutional and he plans to sue the Obama administration [press release] to delay its implementation. King claims that this executive order would effectively implement a law that was rejected by Congress and, therefore, Obama does not have the power to issue it. Obama spoke [transcript] on Friday following an announcement by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] Secretary Janet Napolitano [official profile] that the department would be exercising "prosecutorial discretion" [JURIST report] by not deporting anyone under the age of 30 who was brought here as a child. Obama defended the executive branch's actions, saying that this is not amnesty, immunity, a path to citizenship or a permanent fix, but a "temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people."

Immigration has been a hot button issue in the US lately, especially with a presidential election coming up in November. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] called for the release [JURIST report] of illegal immigrants being held in an Arizona prison, alleging that the conditions in the prison are unsanitary and in violation of the US Constitution [text]. Earlier this month, a federal judge heard arguments on whether Arizona citizens can join a class action lawsuit challenging Arizona's controversial immigration law. That law is also currently being challenged in the US Supreme Court [official website], where oral arguments [JURIST report] were heard in April.

[JURIST] Newly appointed UN Independent Expert on Human Rights in Sudan, Mashood Adebayo Baderin, said [press release] on Friday, following his first mission to Sudan, that the country still needs to take further steps to ensure its people have adequate human rights. He recognized some steps taken by the government, but mentioned specifically a need for improvement in freedoms of expression and press. He said there is a need for human rights training for "the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, the legislature, the police and non-governmental human rights organizations, amongst others," as well as public awareness and empowerment for the people of Sudan. He also stressed a need for the government to "include the promotion of human rights amongst its priority funding considerations." Baderin will present his findings at the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council in September.

Sudan has a history of human rights issues, and the UN and other human rights groups have continuously called on the country to make improvements. Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called on Sudan to abolish capital punishment [JURIST report] and all corporal punishment after a woman was sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery. Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited South Sudan and praised the country's development [JURIST report], but called on the new government to commit to a policy upholding human rights. In February, HRW called on Sudan to prosecute those responsible [JURIST report] for raiding villages and killing thousands of people when it reported that no progress had been made after the government claimed it would investigate.

[JURIST] A boycott by defense lawyers in the case of hundreds of Turkish military officers accused of plotting a coup against the government in 2003 caused the judge to refer the case on Friday to the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office to break the deadlock. The trial stems from the Balyoz Security Operation Plan [Taraf report, in Turkish; Al Jazeera backgrounder], or "Sledgehammer" plot [JURIST news archive], which included plans to bomb Istanbul mosques and provoke Greece into shooting down a Turkish plane in order to undermine the government. The defense lawyers are boycotting [Reuters report] because of the judge's refusal to allow testimony from an expert witness who could refute the prosecution's evidence allegedly taken from confiscated computer files. Prosecutor Huseyin Kaplan, however, claims the defense is simply "trying to prevent the court from reaching a verdict" because they understand the verdict will be against their clients. The prosecutor's office will now decide whether to return the case to the criminal court in Silivri or to send it to another court. In the mean time, hundreds of defendants remain in jail without a conviction in the trial, which began in 2010 [JURIST report].

The judge's decision to refer the case to the prosecutor's office raised uncertainty about other pending conspiracy trials involving military coups. Last month, Turkish police arrested six former military officials [JURIST report] for involvement in the 1997 coup that caused Turkey's Islamist-led government to resign. In April, Turkey's Ankara 12th High Criminal Court began the trial [JURIST report] of the last two surviving leaders of the 1980 coup that led to three years of military rule. Former President Kenan Evren faces a possible life sentence [JURIST report] in that trial. In 2010, a Turkish court also began the trial [JURIST report] of 33 retired and active naval officers who allegedly planned to overthrow the government and implement military rule.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] on Thursday ordered [order, PDF] that the Attorney General take action to bring the Chief Justice's son, Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar, and real estate businessman, Malik Riaz Hussain, to trial for alleged bribery and unlawful dealings. This order ended the Supreme Court's suo moto case involving the two men, in which Iftikhar was accused of promising favorable rulings in pending cases against Riaz in return for large amounts of money. The case was initiated on June 6, after numerous media outlets reported that Riaz had been blackmailed by Iftikhar, and the Supreme Court issued a suo moto notice to the two men. The Supreme Court noted in its order that any allegations of involvement by the court or Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] were refuted by Riaz's testimony that he never had direct contact with anyone on the Court and he was not given any favorable treatment in the cases against him. It noted, however, that there is still a great public interest in transparency and accountability to be served by bringing the men to trial. The court also noted that nothing in its order is to be construed as a guilty verdict against the men, as official fact-finding and giving of the initial verdict are the job of the trial court, but that the evidence presented does warrant initiation of action against them.

The court initiated contempt of court proceedings [JURIST report] against Hussain earlier this week. Pakistan has a history of corruption that it is trying to get past, which the Supreme Court mentioned in its order as one reason it is important to take legal action against Iftikhar and Riaz. In April, the Supreme Court convicted [JURIST report] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of contempt of court for disobeying a court order to open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. In December, the Supreme Court formed a judicial committee [JURIST report] to investigate a secret memo from an anonymous source in the Pakistani government to a US admiral asking for help in preventing a suspected military coup. Pakistan's former attorney general resigned in 2010 [JURIST report] amid controversy surrounding a court order to investigate the president for corruption. In 2008, corruption charges were dropped [JURIST report] against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto following her assasination.