[JURIST] Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Salih said Sunday that the transitional national assembly chosen in the January 30 elections [JURIST Hot Topic news archive] and responsible for drafting a permanent constituton for Iraq replacing the current Transitional Administrative Law [text] would meet for the first time March 16. The 275-member assembly, dominated by the 140-member United Iraqi Alliance, a grouping which had the backing of Shiite religious leaders, will choose a president and two vice-presidents, who will in turn select a new prime minister to replace interim prime minister Iyad Allawi. The Alliance candidate for the prime ministership is Ibrahim Jaafari [BBC profile], currently the spokesman for the Islamic Daawa party [official website in Arabic], but the Alliance will have to form a coalition with other groups to get him selected, as it lacks the two-thirds majority necessary to push through its nominees for the other posts. Some Alliance members, as well as members of other political groups, have already expressed frustration over the fact that negotiations to form a new government have not yet been completed. Salih indicated that if an agreement on a government is not reached by March 16, negotiations would continue within the assembly. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] More recently-declassified notes of some Guantanamo detainees' conversations with their defense attorneys include allegations that US personnel at the camp repeatedly mocked Islam, made disparaging remarks, and took religiously-abusive actions such as that of a prison barber in cutting the shape of a cross into a detainee's hair. The latest revelations are consistent with previous reports about interrogation practices purposefully violative of Muslim moral and religious principles [JURIST report]. Official Defense Department statements have hitherto highlighted a respectful posture towards Islam at the camp, including the provision of Muslim chaplains [US State Department report], issuance of Korans, prayer rugs, and religiously correct meals [2002 US DOD report]. A US Southern Command spokesman has said that there has been no change of policy. AP has more.

[JURIST] An Israeli cabinet minister has called for the Palestinian Authority to reverse a decision publicized Thursday [BBC report] to reintroduce capital punishment and to immediately stay the scheduled execution of accused collaborators with Israel [PCHR news release on two death sentences handed down December 2004]. The call by Natan Sharansky [Knesset profile], Israel's minister for Jerusalem and diaspora affairs, came in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appealing for him to intercede with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Several executions are due to be carried out by the end of March; human rights groups say that Palestinian courts have sentenced 68 offenders to death since 1994 [Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group list], but only nine had actually been executed, the last in 2002. Since the outbreak of the intifada in 2001, militants have assassinated dozens of suspected collaborators without trial. AFP has more. The Jerusalem Post provides local coverage. Palestinian Report provides background on the Palestinian death penalty debate.

[JURIST] Some 60 European survivors and relatives of victims of the December 26 South Asia tsunami [JURIST Hot Topic news archive] led by controversial personal injury lawyer Edward Fagan [NYLJ report] formally filed suit in New York Friday against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; Indian Ocean tsunami warnings timeline) and French-owned hotel chain Sofitel [corporate website; tsunami-related news and updates]. The action, anticipated in February [JURIST report] is believed to be the first major legal claim advanced in connection with the disaster, which claimed over 200,000 lives. The complaint accuses the defendants of failing to provide adequate warning of the tidal and failing to repatriate victims bodies in timely manner. No compensation is sought, but the plaintiffs ask for proof that the parties discharged their legal responsibilities. Sofitel, which owns an "Accor" hotel in Khao Lak, Thailand, has said that "The allegations concerning Accor are completely unfounded"; a count provided by Accor on March 1 reported that 300 out of a total 466 guests at the Accor property at Khao Lak survived the tsunami, which also left 54 of Accor's 395 local employees dead or missing. AAP has more.

[JURIST] Italian prosecutors have questioned Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was wounded late Friday by US forces [JURIST report] after she was released by her kidnappers at the end of a month-long hostage ordeal. An Italian security agent was killed in the incident. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi angrily summoned the US ambassador immediately after the shooting to demand an explanation; President Bush called him afterwards to say that the events were under investigation. Sgrena, who works for the left-wing Italian newspaper Il Manifesto [newspaper website; background materials on the Sgrena kidnapping in English], said in interviews from an Italian military hospital on Saturday and in a Sunday Il Manifesto article entitled La mia verita ("My truth") that contrary to initial reports, the car in which she was a passenger did not speed through any checkpoints and that she may have been targeted by the Americans on purpose [BBC report] because of Italy's willingness to negotiate with hostage-takers. In this case the Italian government has not admitted the payment of any ransom, but Italian newspapers and one government minister have speculated unofficially that a large ransom may have been paid [Reuters report]. It is not yet clear if or when Sgrena or Italian authorities will take formal legal action against US authorities or prsonnel. Bloomberg has more.