JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, February 17, 2013

[JURIST] A White House [official website] draft immigration reform [JURIST backgrounder] proposal would allow immigrants to become legal permanent residents in eight years, USA Today reported [text] on Saturday. The plan reportedly would also increase security funding, require business owners to check the immigration status of new hires within four years, and create a new "Lawful Prospective Immigrant" visa program. If approved for the new visa, immigrants could also apply for the same status for spouses and children who live outside the US. Approved immigrants would be allowed to reside legally in the US for four years, to obtain work and to leave the country for brief time periods. They would also be given a new identification demonstrating their legal status and could apply for legal permanent residence within eight years, which would further allow them to apply for citizenship. Immigrants with certain criminal offenses could be disqualified from the program. Senator Marco Rubio [official website] criticized [text] the draft and stated that it would be "dead on arrival" if it were actually proposed before Congress. President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough [official profile], confirmed [NYT report] that the administration privately drafted an immigration bill in the event that Congress ultimately fails to agree on their own version, but said the White House is continuing to work with a bipartisan group of senators to draft reform legislation. The White House has declined to confirm USA Today's report of the details of the plan.

Immigration reform has been a recent focus for the US government. In January a bipartisan group of eight senators, including Rubio, released [JURIST report] a framework [text, PDF] of comprehensive immigration reform legislation that they plan to introduce by March. The framework focuses on four "pillars" that the legislation will include: creating a path to citizenship for current unauthorized immigrants, contingent upon securing the borders; reforming the immigration system to ease the way for immigrants who will bolster the US economy or are a part of an existing US family and have been waiting for citizenship; creating a new employment verification system to check immigration status; and allowing immigrants to legally immigrate to the US for low-skilled labor, only if it is available and American workers have refused the work. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated [press release] that "[T]he President welcomes the efforts by the bipartisan group in the Senate to put forward principles on the need for comprehensive immigration reform—principles that mirror the President's blueprint."

[JURIST] Seven retired military officers were sentenced on Friday to life in prison for various human rights abuses committed during the "Dirty War" [GlobalSecurity backgrounder, JURIST news archive] in Argentina from 1976-1983. News of the sentences was released in a statement [AFP report] by the Center of Judicial Information, an office affiliated with the Argentina Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish], on Saturday. The seven officers were found guilty on charges of kidnapping, torture and homicide for their treatment of 69 prisoners who were held at a navy base in Mar del Plata, south of Buenos Aires. Four members of the navy were also sentenced to 25, 14, 12 and three years in prison, and two top police prefects were sentenced to 14 and 10 years for related human rights abuses. The case was originally brought against 16 people by the relatives of victims and human rights groups, but two of the defendants died and another was absolved for health reasons while awaiting trial.

The "Dirty War" was a seven-year military dictatorship, under which many government opponents as well as ordinary citizens were "disappeared" and taken to government facilities to be tortured and eventually killed. In December an Argentine court sentenced former Interior Minister Jaime Smart to life in prison [JURIST report] for murder and detention of citizens. Smart was the first civilian minister to be convicted of crimes during the "Dirty War," but other civilians and police officers had been previously convicted. Two of Argentina's former dictators were also convicted in July of kidnapping children [JURIST report] during the war and sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison. One of the dictators, Jorge Rafeal Videla, had already been sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] in 2010 for crimes against humanity during the war.

[JURIST] The Bangladesh parliament [official website] on Sunday approved amendments to the country's war crimes laws to allow prosecutors to appeal sentences given to defendants convicted of war crimes. These amendments are a response to protests [JURIST report] that ensued after Abdul Quader Mollah, leader of the Islamist Jamatt-e-Islami (JI) [party website], was given a life sentence [JURIST report] for war crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War (BLW). The protesters believed a life sentence was too lenient and that Mollah, who was convicted of charges including murder, rape and torture, should have been given the death penalty. Previously, only defendants had the right to appeal sentences they believed were too harsh. The law passed by parliament on Sunday will be effective retroactively [AP report] to July 2009, allowing prosecutors to appeal Mollah's sentence.

These amendments have been criticized by Human Rights Watch [advocacy website], which said last week that they threaten the legitimacy [JURIST report] of the country's war crimes tribunal. UN officials also expressed concern earlier this month over a death sentence [JURIST reports] handed down by the same Bangladesh court to Abul Kalam Azad, another member of JI. Azad was convicted of murder, rape, destruction of property, theft and threatening witnesses during the BLW. The second International Crimes Tribunal [Facebook page], which convicted and sentenced Mollah and Azad, in Bangladesh was established in 2010 [JURIST report] to investigate and prosecute crimes committed during the BLW.