[JURIST] Canada honored four slain RCMP officers Thursday afternoon in a nationally-televised memorial service [RCMP memorial website] attended by Prime Minister Paul Martin, Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson representing the Queen, and 10,000 police officers from Canada, the United States and around the world. Waves of Mounties in their red serge ceremonial uniforms marched through the streets of Edmonton to a huge sports pavilion at the University of Alberta where famous and ordinary Canadians joined to mourn the loss not just of members of a police force, but bearers of a national tradition going back to the nineteenth century and the settlement of the Canadian west. The four officers [RCMP profiles] - Peter Schiemann, 25, Leo Johnston, 32, Anthony Gordon, 28, and Brock Myrol, 29 - were killed last Thursday [JURIST report] in an ambush during a raid on a marijuana growing operation. The gunman committed suicide at the scene. The killings were the greatest loss of life suffered by the elite Canadian police in a single incident since 1885. CBC News has more. CTV News provides a video report on the service.

[JURIST] The US Senate has passed a credit card-company backed bankruptcy bill that will make it harder for many Americans to clear their debts. The vote on passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 [THOMAS bill summary and text] was 74-25 [Senate roll call].

[JURIST] Speaking Thursday at a global anti-terrorism summit in Madrid [summit website] slated to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for terrorism to be outlawed in all its forms, but insisted that the fight against terror must be consistent with the protection of human rights:

...terrorism is a threat to all states and to all peoples, which can strike anytime, anywhere. It is a direct attack on the core values the United Nations stands for: the rule of law; the protection of civilians; mutual respect between people of different faiths and cultures; and peaceful resolution of conflict.

...[W]e cannot compromise on the core values I have listed. In particular, human rights and the rule of law must always be respected. As I see it, terrorism is in itself a direct attack on human rights and the rule of law. If we sacrifice them in our response, we are handing a victory to the terrorists....

I regret to say that international human rights experts, including those of the UN system, are unanimous in finding that many measures which States are currently adopting to counter terrorism infringe on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Human rights law makes ample provision for strong counter-terrorist action, even in the most exceptional circumstances. But compromising human rights cannot serve the struggle against terrorism. On the contrary, it facilitates achievement of the terrorist’s objective — by ceding to him the moral high ground, and provoking tension, hatred and mistrust of government among precisely those parts of the population where he is most likely to find recruits. Upholding human rights is not merely compatible with a successful counter-terrorism strategy. It is an essential element in it.

[JURIST] Chuck McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party [political party website], was sentenced to seven months in prison and $2,000 in fines on Thursday after pleading guilty to jamming Democratic phone lines during the 2002 general election. McGee had pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to conspiring to make anonymous calls with the intent to annoy or harass, admitting that he had paid a Virginia telemarketing company more than $15,000 in a scheme to jam Democratic Party phone lines with computer-generated calls. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin defended his country’s human rights record since the formal dissolution of US occupation last year at a press conference Thursday, reminding critics that Iraq’s treatment of human rights issues is far better than it had been under Saddam Hussein. Iraq has been in a state of emergency since November, which allows for 24-hour courts to issue warrants and gives Prime Minister Iyad Allawi the ability to restrict movement through the country. The Iraqi goverment recently began running a nightly feature of detainees' confessions on state television in an effort to highlight wrongdoing and to show what was being done about it. The interim Iraqi government first came under criticism for its rights record when Human Rights Watch issued a report [HRW text] in January claiming that Iraqi police were abusing detainees, and the concerns were reiterated in the Iraq section of the US State Department's annual report on human rights, released earlier this month. AFP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a judge has rejected a bid by the Florida's Department of Children and Families to intervene in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case. The Department had sought an additional 60-day stay [JURIST report] of the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube so it could investigate allegations of "abuse, neglect or exploitation" by her husband, Michael Schiavo.

[JURIST] A man who committed suicide during a traffic stop Wednesday evening in Wisconsin claimed in a suicide note found by police that he killed the husband and mother [JURIST report] of US District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow [official profile] last week. The man, Bart Ross, had apparently sent a letter to Chicago television station WMAQ in which he described breaking into Lefkow’s home in the early morning of Feb. 28 with the intent to kill her and anyone else in the home. Ross, who left the home before Lefkow returned, claimed that the killings were motivated by Lefkow’s dismissal of his civil case in Sept. 2004, during which Ross challenged doctors, the federal government, and the State of Illinois over injuries he claimed to have suffered as a result of cancer treatments, and lawyers from unsuccessful civil suits he had attempted previously. AP has more.

[JURIST] Just ten days after his resignation [JURIST report] from the post, Omar Karami has been reappointed as prime minister by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a surprising move that has angered opposition leaders. Syrian-backed Karami announced that he wants to form a government of national unity, but opposition politicians announced that will refuse to participate in Karami’s government. Opposition leaders are still calling for an independent investigation into the Feb. 14 assassination of Karami’s predecessor, Rafik Hariri, who had resigned in October in protest of the extension of Lahoud’s term. VOA has more. Locally, the Lebanese Daily Star reports on protestors’ reaction to the move, and provides analysis of the appointment.

[JURIST] US District Judge Jack B. Weinstien Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of Vietnamese that claim American chemical companies committed war crimes by supplying the military with Agent Orange, a chemical agent containing dioxin, a highly toxic substance that causes cancer and birth defects. In a lengthy opinion [text, PDF], Weinstein stated there is no basis for the claims under US or international law. Plaintiffs in the case argued that dioxin was banned by international rules of war. Weistein's ruling says the chemical could not be considered banned poisons under international rules of war, and further states the plaintiffs failed to proved Agent Orange caused their injuries. Over 10,000 US war veterans already receive payments related to Agent Orange. Read the settlement agreement provisions in that case. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say they will appeal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] has urged government officials in Haiti [JURIST Country news archive] to curb human rights violations and expedite the releases of political leaders currently held in prison. In a statement [official text] Wednesday the Council urged the interim Haitian government to calm violence in the area in preparation for elections scheduled for later this year. UN peacekeepers have been in the Caribbean nation since the violent ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in November 2004. The statement released by the council makes reference to former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune [Wikipedia profile], who remains detained without formal charges and has begun a hunger strike; and urges the formation of a compensation program for former military men as part of an integrated disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program [UN overview of DDR programs, PDF]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot [backgrounder] petitioned the Supreme Court Wednesday to hear their case seeking reparations. The case was thrown out of a federal district on the grounds that the two-year statute of limitations had run on the survivors’ claim. Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree [faculty profile], who represents the 101 remaining survivors, argues the statute should start ticking with the 2001 release of an Oklahoma state commission investigation that lead the legislature to apologize for the state's complicity in the riots. Coined the "Black Wall Street", the 30 block area Greenville district in Tulsa was destroyed in the riot that left between 100 and 300 dead and destroyed 1,256 homes. After the commission delivered the report in 2001, Ogletree and a team of lawyers sued the state and the city on behalf of the survivors and descendants. Lawyers for the city and state moved to dismiss the suit, saying the time for filing lawsuits ended in 1923, two years after the riots. In March 2004, US District Court Judge James O. Ellison held the lawsuit should have been brought in the 1960s. An appeals court affirmed Ellison's ruling in September 2004. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] As anticipated [JURIST report], Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee Hwa submitted his resignation Thursday, citing health reasons for leaving his post two years before the expiry of his second 5-year term. He denied claims that the Chinese government had pressured him into leaving office, although Chinese officials had made it clear in recent public meetings that they were displeased with Tung's handling of recent political and administrative problems in the former British colony, which became a special administrative region of China in 1997. Tung had particular problems with a strict new security law which became the focus of mass protests in 2003. Tung's early resignation raises an important constitutional question under the territory's Basic Law [text], as it is unclear whether the mandated election of a new chief executive by an 800-person committee would allow a successor to sit for a full five year term or simply hold office for the remaining two of Tung's administration. Chinese government officials are said to favor the latter interpretation, which gives them more political flexibility. Taking over from Tung in the short term will be his deputy, Donald Tsang [BBC profile], a veteran of the British civil service, who is expected to be the leading candidate in the upcoming vote. Read a transcript of Tung's remarks announcing his resignation [HK government press release]. BBC News has more.

{JURIST] Nepal's foreign minister said Thursday that King Gyanendra would soon lift the civil liberties restrictions imposed last month after he declared a state of emergency [JURIST report], dismissed the government, and seized power himself in a bid to stabilize a country plagued by an ongoing Maoist rebellion. Speaking in the capital Kathmandu, Ramesh Nath Pandey offered no firm timetable for the restoration of rights, however. His statement came a day after Nepalese authorities announced the release of eight people taken into custody under the state of emergency, including a junior foreign minister in the former government. About two dozen other prisoners had been released earlier; several former government leaders remain under house arrest, and hundreds are said to be be still in detention, although the exact number of detainees is unknown. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Confirming earlier US military statements [JURIST report], Iraqi human rights minister Bakhtiar Amin told reporters Thursday that the US will hand over control of Abu Ghraib [JURIST Hot Topic news archive], and three other prisons west of Baghdad to Iraq's interim government. Amin calls the agreement to turn over control of the infamous prison an important sign of Iraq's new sovereignty. Abu Ghraib was the center of a scandal that revealed the mistreatment of Iraqi inmates last April. While the majority of detainees will remain at the prison, an army official stated the US would probably transfer its high security detainees to Camp Cropper, a US facility near Baghdad's airport. No date for the transfers has been set. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The Clear Skies Act of 2005 [THOMAS bill summary], S. 131, stalled in the US Senate Wednesday after a split 9-9 vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee [official website]. Senate rules do not allow a bill to advance to the Senate floor on a split committee vote, so the legislation in its current form would appear to be dead. The proposed act, a revision to the Clear Skies Act of 2003, would phase in tighter caps on emissions of sulfur dioxide beginning in 2010; on nitrogen oxides beginning in 2008; initiate a cap on mercury emissions beginning in 2010; and change air pollution rules for power plants. Critics say the bill would significantly weaken existing air pollution controls. In a speech [official text] delivered shortly before the vote Wednesday, President Bush supported the bill and called it "a necessary step that would reduce air pollution without unduly curbing economic expansion". The decisive vote against the bill was cast by Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee (RI) [Senate profile], who stated the bill failed to address the issue of carbon dioxide emissions believed to be responsible for global warming. The impasse means the initiative is likely to remain bottled up in committee indefinitely. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Chinese Foreign Ministry [official website, English version] spokesman Thursday rejected a US call for China to "reconsider" its proposed anti-secession law allowing for "non-peaceful" reunification of the country as a last resort, labeling Washington's comments "irresponsible" and warning the US not to help any efforts by Taiwan to assert its independence. The new law is expected to be approved by the National People's Congress next Monday. VOA has more. Meanwhile, Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party [political party website in Chinese] has called a mass protest against the law in Taipei on March 26, which its leader say should draw some 500,000 people to the capital. Reuters has more on the planned protest.

[JURIST] A lawyer representing a German-born Turk held at the US terror suspect detention camp at Guanatanamo Bay claimed Wednesday that his client had been subjected to torture, physical abuse and sexual humilation by interrogators. Murat Kurnaz [Amnesty International case sheet], 22, is said to have been captured in Pakistan after travelling there in October 2001. His lawyer denied allegations that he was associated with al Qaeda or the Taliban, and insisted that the US and German governments knew this. Kurnaz's parents have been working to obtain his release [ACLU Guantanamo families profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] A lawsuit filed last week [JURIST report] in New York against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a French a hotel chain in connection with the December 26 tsunami in Southeast Asia has prompted the Thai government to withhold findings of a study into the disaster. A Thai seismologist in charge of the study said Wednesday that it was his duty to prevent the disclosure of any information that might be used in attempt to substantiate allegations that the Thai government did not do all it could to warn of the huge tidal wave after its scientists detected it 75 minutes before impact. The UK's Independent has more. Meanwhile, US critics of the litigation have pointed to it as an instance of meritless legal action launched for the financial gain of attorneys that needs to be curbed, and suggested that lawyers bringing such suits should be liable for any econonmic damage or costs they inflict on others. The lawyer who brought the tsunami suit, controversial New York personal injury attorney Edward Fagan [NYLJ report], says he is not getting paid for his work. The suit as it stands does not seek compensation for damages to survivors or relatives of survivors, although that might come later if the defendants in the case are shown to have breached their responsibilties. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Russian oil company Yukos [corporate website] has taken its recently-dismissed bankruptcy case to US District Court in a bid to hold off creditors long enough for it to appeal. US District Judge Nancy Atlas said Wednesday she would rule on Yukos' case by March 18. The original bankruptcy petition was rejected [memorandum opinion, PDF] last month by a US bankruptcy court in Texas at the instance of a bank consortium that argued that the court had no jurisdiction in the matter. Yukos claimed bankruptcy protection in the US late last year in a last-ditch bid to prevent the Russian government from auctioning off its main oil production arm. The auction went ahead anyway, and the assets were eventually acquired by a company associated with the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague has charged ex-Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, formerly a senior commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, with 37 counts of war crimes.

9:52 AM ET - The ICTY has posted the full text of the indictment, plus a press release. Haradinaj is charged with 17 counts of crimes against humanity (including inhumane acts, destruction of property, unlawful detention, deportation or forcible transfer of civilians, murder, rape) and 20 counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (including cruel treatment, murders and rape). Two of his KLA associates were also charged in the filing.

[JURIST] An investigation of US military interrogation policies and techniques presented to Congress Thursday by former US Navy Inspector-General Vice Adm. Albert T. Church [official profile] has concluded that senior civilian and military leaders did not encourage abuse of prisoners and applied no pressure to go beyond the limits pf permissible interrogation practices. The full text of the report is not yet available, but a 21-page executive summary was obtained by the Associated Press late Wednesday. While appearing to exonerate Pentagon leadership, the report nonetheless says that opportunities to provide early guidance to commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq were not seized, although Church wrote it was unclear whether taking advantage of those opportunities would have prevented later problems. The report also reveals that a new, more restrictive policy on interrogations was adopted by the US commanding general in Iraq on January 27 of this year. Church testifies later today [agenda] before the Senate Armed Services Committee. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US State Department announced Wednesday that the United States has withdrawn from a protocol giving the International Court of Justice [official website] at the Hague authority to decide disputes between states arising from interpretation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations [UN text], recognizing the right of arrested foreign nationals to get help from their consulates abroad. The withdrawal follows an ICJ ruling against the United States [ruling and case materials] last year in a case involving the consular rights of 51 Mexicans on death row in US jails. State Department spokesperson Darla Jordan was quoted in press reports as saying "We are protecting against future International Court of Justice judgments that might similarly interfere in ways we did not anticipate when we joined the optional protocol." Last week President Bush directed state courts to fulfill US obligations under international law and review the cases affected by the ruling [JURIST report]. Despite the withdrawal, the State Department says that the US remains bound by the Vienna Convention itself. The US withdrew from the ICJ's general jurisdiction in 1986 after it delivered an unfavorable ruling on the mining of Nicaragua's harbors, but it still accepts the court's specific jurisdiction under approximately 70 international treaties. AP has more.

[JURIST] The government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair is bracing for a legislative showdown in the House of Lords Thursday as the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Bill returns to the upper chamber for reconsideration. The legislation was amended in key respects by the Lords earlier this week in an effort to ensure greater protection for civil liberties and impose strict time limits on proposed government detention powers [JURIST report]. On Wednesday, the UK Home Secretary and the Prime Minister made a number of additional concessions on the bill which enabled a revised version to pass the House of Commons, but the amended text [UK Parliament Commons amendments and reasons] still falls short of the Lords' demands and some peers have indicated they will "dig in" rather than approve the law. The unelected House of Lords can delay legislation but can ultimately be overruled by the Commons under the Parliament Act. BBC News has more.