[JURIST] Two law deans, one a former Navy Judge Advocate General and the other a former senior State Department official in the Clinton administration, testified late Thursday at Senate confirmation hearings for US Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales that the permissive approach to torture and the concomitantly narrow approach to the Geneva Conventions adopted by the Bush administration under Gonzales' guidance amounted to bad policy and bad law. Admiral John Hutson (USN ret.), now Dean and President of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord New Hampshire, said that the interrogation policy set out by Gonzales in January 2002 was short-sighted and dangerous to US military personnel. Yale Law School dean Harold Koh, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1998-2001, said that the 2002 so-called Bybee memo for Gonzales on torture constituted a profound reversal of a previous zero-tolerance policy and was the worst piece of legal analysis from the Justice Department he had ever seen. Admiral Hutson's oral testimony this afternoon is largely reflected in the text of his JURIST Forum op-ed of today entitled Against Gonzales. The full text of his written testimony is available exclusively on JURIST here. Dean Koh's written testimony is not yet available. AP has more on Gonzales' portion of today's hearing, previously covered in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

[JURIST] Military lawyers for an Australian detainee held at Guantanamo Bay Cuba have said in court papers that their client, originally detained by the US in Pakistan in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, was later tranfered to US authorities in Egypt who subjected him to torture by beating, electric shock, and near-drowning. Mamdouh Habib, 46, was born in Egypt, but later became a resident of Sydney. His lawyers claimed that after being captured near the Afghan border he was sent to Egypt with the knowledge and expectation that we would be tortured there. He was later removed to Baghram air base in Afghanistan and then sent to Guantanamo. The Australian TV program Dateline highlighted Habib's case and his alleged torture in a program broadcast in July 2004, during which lawyer and former Qatari Justice Minister Dr Najeeb al-Naumi talked about what he had been told had happened to Habib:

REPORTER: Tell me more specifically what you were told from your sources about what happened to Mamdouh Habib in Egypt.

DR HAJEEB AL-NAUMI: Well, he was in fact tortured. He was interrogated in a way which a human cannot stand up.

REPORTER: And you know this absolutely?

DR HAJEEB AL-NAUMI: Yes. We were told that he - they rang the bell that he will die and somebody had to help him.

REPORTER: And again, did your sources tell you what kinds of things he was saying in Egypt to his torturers, to his interrogators?

DR HAJEEB AL-NAUMI: My sources did not say exactly what dialogue but they say that he accepted to sign anything.

REPORTER: So he was talking lots?

DR HAJEEB AL-NAUMI: Yes - "Whatever you want, I will sign. I'm not involved. I'm not Egyptian. I'm Egyptian by background but I'm Australian." But he was really beaten, he was really tortured.

REPORTER: Do you think...

DR HAJEEB AL-NAUMI: They tried to use different ways of treating him in the beginning but in the end of that they thought he was lying and that's why they were very tough.

Read the full Dateline transcript here. The court papers were filed in November but only released Wednesday. The Washington Post has more. Habib has also claimed that an Australian consular official was present in Pakistan when was abused while being put on a flight to Egypt; the Australian Attorney General Thursday denied that any Australian official witnessed any abuse. Friday's Australian has more. Complaints that US authorities have transferred prisoners and terror suspects to foreign locations where they could and would be tortured have recently been made in several contexts, most notably perhaps in the case of Canadian Maher Arar, who in September 2002 was stopped in transit on his way home from Tunisia and sent to Syria, where he was tortured.

[JURIST] Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales faced almost six hours of Senate grilling Thursday during his portion of a day-long confirmation hearing that was by turns effusive, gruff, and scathing. Democratic Senators challenged the nominee on his handling of a wide range of legal issues as White House Counsel and counsel to then-Texas governor George W. Bush, from torture and the Geneva Conventions to civil liberties and executions. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a former military lawyer, also criticized policies that Gonzales had been associated with, suggesting that his narrow construction of the Geneva Conventions was not in the interests of US military personnel who might be captured during conflict. "Getting cute with the law", Graham suggested, "dramatically undermined the war effort" and weakened the nation by making it "become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be." When Gonzales objected, Graham countered "When you start looking at torture statutes and you look at ways around the spirit of the law, you're losing the moral high ground. ... I do believe that we've lost our way." AP has more on Gonzales testimony and responses to questions. The Washington Post is building a full transcript of today's confirmation hearing here.

[JURIST] A US bankruptcy judge in Texas Thursday set February 16 as the start date for two days of oral arguments on the dismissal of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing made in December by Russian oil firm Yukos in a last-ditch bid to avoid Russian government auction of its assets to satisfy unpaid tax bills. Russian authorities subsequently refused to recognize the US court's jurisdiction and auctioned off Yukos' main production asset last month for $9.4 billion. Deutsche Bank, one of a consortium of banks that had intended to fund a bid to buy Yukos subsidiary Yugansk, has asked the court to dismiss Yukos' bankruptcy claim for lack of jurisdiction. Yukos has posted materials on its bankruptcy filing on a special website here. Reuters has more. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• Deutsche Bank wants Yukos US bankruptcy claim dismissed
• Russian state oil firm buys Yukos production arm as Putin defends deal again
• Yukos seeks US court action against subsidiary purchaser

[JURIST] In a highly unusual move, ten former WorldCom (now MCI) directors have agreed to pay $18 million of a $54 million class-action settlement from their own pockets. The agreement is part of a settlement reached Wednesday with plaintiffs led by the New York State Common Retirement Fund who lost billions in the accounting fraud scandal that hit the company in 2002. The settlement still has to be approved by US District Judge Denise Cote, who is overseeing civil suits related to WorldCom's accounting fraud. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland Thursday appealed to warring groups in the tsunami affected areas of South Asia to respect ceasefires, suspend their conflicts and stop reported acts of "banditry" that in a few instances he said have involved violence, attempted kidnapping and the hijacking of relief assets. Egeland observed that the northern Aceh province of Indonesia in particular was "full of small arms" and many groups. In Sri Lanka, aid agencies have complained that Tamil Tiger revels have seized relief supplies sent to northern Sri Lanka and have redirected them to their own uses. The rebels say that Sri Lanka government authorities have been hampering delivery of the supplies. Egeland said that "if there is conflict, everything is paralyzed." Watch Under-Secretary England's tsunami relief briefing from earlier this afternoon in JURIST's Monitor here; the Toronto Globe & Mail has a background story here.

[JURIST] Following up on a report this morning in JURIST's Paper Chase, Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have halted Congress' formal certification of the electoral college results and have forced a two-hour debate on problems encountered in the Ohio presidential vote after a challenge. This is only the second time since 1877 that such a challenge has been brought forward. The Democratic challange was presented on the House floor during the joint vote-counting session by Ohio Democrat Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Watch the House debate live here and the Senate debate live here.

5:30 PM ET - As expected, the challengers in the House and Senate have been voted down after debate (the House vote was 31-367 and the Senate vote was 1-74); and the final electoral vote giving President Bush an official victory has been approved. The certified count for the Office of President of the United States, George W. Bush--286; John. F. Kerry--251; John Edwards 1; and for the Office of Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney--286; John Edwards--252.

[JURIST] Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Thursday that he has extended for a further 30 days the country's emergency law approved in July but only implemented in November. The extension carries the National Safety Law - authorizing the imposition of curfews, the closing of borders and airports and the detention of suspected insurgents without normal process - through the scheduled January 30 date for elections to Iraq's National Assembly. Allawi reconfirmed that date earlier this week after senior ministers had publicly floated the idea of a postponement in light of the deteriorating security situation in the country. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for suspected "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla have asked a South Carolina federal judge to hear their claim for a writ of habeas corpus or release Padilla, currently being held in the US Naval Weapons Station brig in Charleston. A brief filed Wednesday said that the claims made against Padilla, who has been held for three years without being charged, are untrue and based on allegations by unreliable witnesses. US District Judge Henry Floyd has said that he will ruling on Padilla's case in the next 30-45 days. The US District Court for the District of South Carolina provides materials on the Padilla case here; the latest filing has not yet been added. Human Rights First has additional documents on the case here. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Ukrainian Supreme Court has rejected losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych's appeal of last month's presidential revote.

12:45 PM ET - BBC News now has a full story here.

[JURIST] Continuing his campaign for tort reform, President Bush meets with lawmakers Thursday to discuss shifting many class-action suits from state to federal courts a day after delivering a speech in Illinois on capping damage awards for medical malpractice. The administration and its Congressional supporters emphasize the costs of so called "junk lawsuits" to business and the economy, while lawyers groups opposed to the proposed changes say the costs of legal action have been exaggerated (for example, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America asserted in a Wednesday press release that Bush is faking the crisis) and that the reforms could limit victims access to justice. The White House provides a fact sheet on "The High Costs of Lawsuit Abuse" here. Bush's latest speech on medical liability reform is available here; the White provides background on medical liability issues here. AP has more.

2:30 PM ET - President Bush made this statement after his meeting with lawmakers.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a federal bankruptcy judge in Alexandria, Virginia, has canceled a collective bargaining agreement between US Airways and its machinists union (part of the International Association of Machinists), providing hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings to the struggling air carrier, but forcing pay cuts for union workers ranging from 6 percent to 35 percent and the potential loss of thousands of union jobs. US Airways provides background information on its ongoing restructuring here.

11:10 AM ET - Reuters now has more.

[JURIST] Israel's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody would not be eligible to vote in Paletinian elections scheduled for January 9. Chief Justice Aharon Barak said that Israel would not have time at this stage to prepare for including the prisoners in existing voting procedures. The ruling is not yet available online. The Jerusalem Post provides local coverage. Reuters has more.

12:43 PM ET - Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs Hisham Abd al-Raziq has condemned the ruling as illegal and simply a reflection of Israeli government policy: "It's a fundamental right for all Palestinians to participate in this election. This decision violates Palestinian human rights, but we will work to guarantee the participation of all prisoners in the parliamentary elections." Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, President Bush's nominee for Attorney General, explicitly told the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning that "torture and abuse would not be tolerated" under his leadership of the Justice Department, that the Geneva Conventions would be honored "wherever they apply", and that the US generally would abide by all (orally emphasizing the word) its legal obligations under treaty. He said that, contrary to press reports based on a January 2002 draft memo he considered, he considered the Conventions "neither obsolete nor quaint", and that he was "sickened" by photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. His specific references to torture, the Geneva Conventions and Abu Ghraib came a day after publication of a draft version of his remarks which, as noted in JURIST's Paper Chase Wednesday afternoon, had omitted any reference to these areas, likely to be the focus of close questioning by Judiciary Committee members later today.

JURIST is providing extended front page coverage of the Gonzales confirmation hearing today, including an exclusive pre-testimony op-ed Against Gonzales by Admiral John Hutson (USN Ret.), former Navy Judge Advocate General, now Dean and President of Franklin Piece Law Center, Concord, New Hampshire.

12:15 PM ET - Some written materials from today's confirmation hearing are now available online. Read ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy's statement here.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Democrats will force debate in both the House and Senate on the Ohio election returns before formally certifying President Bush's re-election today. This is only the second time since 1877 that pre-certification debates have been forced. The debates, which will disrupt what would have been a routine joint session of Congress scheduled to begin at 1 PM ET, became necessary after Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) signed on to a challenge originally put forward by Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan). JURIST wil carry the debates live (see the Live Webcasts section of JURIST's home page). AP has more.

[JURIST] The Texas 1st Court of Appeals has overturned Andrea Yates' capital murder convictions in the drownings of her children, ruling that false testimony by a state expert witness could have affected the judgment of the jury. Read the full text of the opinion here. The Houston Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court announced Wednesday that Chief Justice William Rehnquist has returned to the court to work part-time, but it is as yet uncertain when or if he will actually return to the bench when the Court resumes hearing cases Monday. Rehnquist, 80, is undergoing cancer treatment and has already canceled a two-week course he was scheduled to teach in February at the University of Arizona College of Law (read a UA press release on the 2004 offering of the course). Friday January 7 marks the 33rd anniversary of Rehnquist's appointment to the high court. USA Today has more.