[JURIST] Jamal al-Harith, one of four UK citizens released from detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in March, told a Council of Europe investigating panel Friday that he was kept chained in painful positions, fed rotten food, repeatedly beaten, and subjected to psychological torture. The Council is working on a report on allegations of abuse and torture in the US detention facility and will make recommendations to governments concerning the proper European response. The panel intends to publish its report early in 2005. The Independent Record has more.

[JURIST] The government of China (official website in Chinese) announced Friday that it will submit an anti-secession bill to the Chinese parliament later in Decemeber. The text and details of the legislation have not been made public, but the announcement appeared to be aimed at the recent moves towards independence by Taiwan that have worried the Chinese government. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council meanwhile says that Chinese President Hu Jintao will make a statement Monday outlining legislation that will require eventual reunification of Taiwan to the mainland. China considers Taiwan, the seat of the Republic of China government that fled the mainland after the Communist takeover in 1948, to be a province of China, and has repeatedly threatened war if Taiwan were to declare its ormal independence. The US, while not recognizing Taiwan as an independent country, has pledged to defend the tiny island nation should China invade. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on some of Taiwan's recent moves towards independence. The China Post has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in talks Friday with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun that economic sanctions were a possibility against North Korea in the wake of growing Japanese public hostility towards Pyongyang for kidnapping of Japanese citizens in previous decades for use in training programs for its intelligence operatives. Tensions between the two countries rose last month after the return of the supposed ashes of two kidnapped Japanese citizens. DNA testing revealed that the ashes did not, hoewver, belong to the alleged kidnap victims. Koizumi acknowledged that the mistake might have been an honest one, but warned that the Japanese citizenry was becoming dissatisfied with what it sees as North Korea foot-dragging. North Korea said earlier this week that it would consider the imposition of sanctions by Japan a "declaration of war." JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the talks between Japan and North Korea. Yomiuri has more.

[JURIST] Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic tendered his resignation Friday, a day after fresh international sanctions were imposed against Serb police and officials for alleged protection of war crimes fugitives. Mikerevic said his resignation was for the good of Republika Srpska, the Serb-run part of Bosnia created at the end of the former Yugoslav republic's 1992-1995 conflict, and was not ready to accept threats and ultimatums from the international community in violation of Republika Srpska's constitution. International High Representative Paddy Ashdown, in the second such move this year, sacked six Serb police officers and three officials on Thursday for allegedly protecting fugitive war crimes indictees. Ashdown sacked several senior Serb officials earlier this year for their refusal to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 vote Friday that the state's 1994 death penalty law is unconstitutional. The court's ruling focused on a provision stating that when juries weigh aggravating and mitigating factors in determining a sentence, a tie goes to the state. The decision does not indict the death penalty itself, but rather focuses on the technical flaw which could be fixed in the 2005 session of the state legislature. The ruling was made on an appeal from Michael Marsh II, accused of setting a house fire that killed a mother and her child; he and six other inmates on death row will now be resentenced. Read the Supreme Court opinion here. AP has more.

[JURIST] Updating a story published yesterday in JURIST's Paper Chase, new proposed Russian anti-terror legislation that would allow 60-day security clampdowns and that has critics fearing for civil rights easily passed its first reading Friday in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliment. The bill would allow Russian authorities the right to impose 60-day security clampdowns anywhere in the country solely based on suspicion of a terror attack being planned. Critics argue that the law could easily be abused and would allow the government to snuff out public protests or popular discontent in the country. CNN has more.

[JURIST] The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department issued new guidelines on Friday that enforce stricter ethical standards for tax attorneys, accountants, and others offering tax advice. The new standards require those giving advice to rely on all related facts and to examine all relevant federal tax laws before drafting opinion letters that must clearly state whether a taxpayer would be more likely than not to successfully defend a tax transaction if challenged by the IRS. Previously when challenged, individuals often used vague opinion letters to show that they relied on professional advice in making questionable and sometimes illegal tax transactions. Read the IRS press release here. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Bankruptcy Judge Letitia Clark took jurisdiction Thursday of a bankruptcy claim filed Tuesday by Russian oil giant Yukos, issuing a temporary 10-day injunction against the Russian government's sale of any Yukos assets and setting off a legal tug of war with Russian authorities over what law should govern the future of the company. Read the full text of the memorandum opinion here [PDF]. Russian officials said Friday that notwithstanding the US court order they would go ahead with their planned auction of Yuganskneftegaz, the main Yukos production arm, to pay back taxes allegedly due the Russian government. The Russian RIA-Novosti news agency quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry statement as saying that

The verdict prohibits Russian juridical persons particular action authorized by the Russian legislation within the Russian Federation. This, and whatever other decision of a similar kind by a U.S.-based law court, has no legal force in Russia unless approved by a Russian court...

This is, doubtless, a legal matter, and the ministry sees Yukos' point as the company recurs to whatever legal means to come up for its interests, including an appeal to a court based in the United States.

The ministry greets the American court's concern for the law complied with in public interest, whether in the U.S., Russia or anywhere else. It baffles the Foreign Ministry PR, however, to see just why the court made so bold as to evaluate Russian authorities' moves from the viewpoint of the Russian law and within the Russian legal system, as its own verdict says. Such activities are within the prerogative of Russian law courts alone, stresses the ministry.

[JURIST] President Bush signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 [PDF] into law Friday, implementing a series of intelligence reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission and authorizing the broadest re-working of the US intelligence structure since President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act in 1947. The new legislation was approved by the House and Senate earlier this month after the two bodies negotiated a conference compromise that allowed the bill to go forward while severing from it highly controversial provisions on immigration, most of which had been originally introduced by Republican House members. Read a transcript of the President's remarks at this morning's bill signing here, and watch recorded video from the White House. Bloomberg has more. Among other pieces of subordinate legislation the intelligence reform package includes the Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act, which gives the Justice Department expanded powers to investigate and deport aliens who took part in war crimes and human rights abuses in their own countries. AP has more.

[JURIST] An Iraqi official said Friday that former Saddam Hussein Defense Minister, Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad would join Ali Hassan al-Majid - known as "Chemical Ali" - in going before an Iraqi court next week for a hearing in preparation for trial. Ahmad surrendered to US forces in the Mosul area on September 19, 2003. The government of Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has put on a last-minute push on start the trial process for members of the Saddam regime before elections take place next month, although it is not anticipated that Saddam's own trial, which will be much more complex and politically high-profile, will get under way for some time. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Washington Post Friday published details about the existence of a hitherto-secret CIA prison within the Pentagon-run military detention facility for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prison has housed high-value detainees from Pakistan, West Africa, Yemen and other countries whose identities and incarceration have not previously been disclosed, although it is not clear if the prison itself is still in operation. A presidential directive and other authorities given by Bush administration lawyers allow the agency to hold detainees without accounting for them or even disclosing the rules under which they are held. When the CIA brought detainees from US facilities abroad to Guantanamo, however, the military insisted that they had to be treated according to military detention standards and have contact with the Red Cross. The Post has more.

[JURIST] European Union leaders agreed Thursday on a date of October 3, 2005 for the start of official talks with Turkey regarding its potential accession to the European Union. The European Parliament voted for the opening of talks earlier this week. At the same time, however, EU leaders are insisting that Tukey normalize its relations with Cyprus by that time, raising the spectre of political difficulties with Ankara over an extremely sensitive issue. Turkey supports a separate Turkish enclave in the north of the island and does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government in the south. Read the press release on the start of accession talks issued by the EU's Dutch Presidency here. Reuters has more. The EU provides background material on its relations with Turkey.

[JURIST] Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer Thursday threw out on a technicality a challenge filed by voting rights activists claiming that the November 2 vote in that state was invalid because of voting machine errors, double-counting of some ballots and a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority precincts. Moyer ruled that the complaint improperly challenged two separate results - one for President and another for his own re-election race against retired Cleveland Municipal Court judge C. Ellen Connally - where state law authorized the challenge of only one election result per case. It is expected that the plaintiffs will make separate re-filings Friday. Read the full text of Chief Justice Moyer's ruling here [PDF]. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer has more.

[JURIST] Iceland has offered a residency permit to Bobby Fisher, the US chess champion now detained in Japan and wanted for extradition to the US who beat Russian Boris Spassky in a famous international chess match in Reykyavik in 1972. Fischer accepted the offer Friday, although it's still unclear whether he'll be allowed to take it up. Fischer is wanted in the US for illegally playing a re-match against Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1993, when it was under international sanctions. He has been in detention in Japan since July, when he tried to board a plane to the Philippines using an invalid passport. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more. FreeBobbyFischer.net has background coverage and updates.