[JURIST] JPMorgan Chase [corporate website] agreed Tuesday to settle with investors by paying $2.2 billion to cover claims that shareholders were misled about Enron Corportation revenue because JPMorgan hid the company's debt. The announcement follows Citigroup's decision to settle [JURIST report] an Enron-related class-action lawsuit against them for $2 billion earlier this week. JPMorgan officials refused to say the settlement meant they were admitting any wrongdoing in the alleged fraudulent activities related to the Enron scandal. This settlement marks the largest for JPMorgan, which paid $2 billion earlier this year to settle with WorldCom shareholders [JURIST report]. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Sgt. Kevin Benderman [defense website], a US Army soldier from Georgia who faces charges because he refused orders to redeploy to Iraq [JURIST report] in January, will also be court-martialed for accepting $2,922 in bonuses and tax breaks typically reserved for soldiers serving in combat. An Army investigator urged that the larceny charges be dropped after he discovered that the increased pay was due to an accounting mistake. Nonetheless, charges were filed and Benderman's potential penalty rises from seven years to 17 with the additional allegations. Benderman's attorney says the charges are an "outrage". Benderman has said he became morally opposed to the war after his first tour of duty in Iraq. A trial date has not yet been set. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement Tuesday that 5,000 Rwandan refugees who fled to the Songore camp in Burundi to escape the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder] had been involuntarily returned to Rwanda on Sunday and Monday. Burundian authorities had declared the refugees "illegal immigrants" [JURIST report] over the weekend. UN officials alleged that the government actions violated the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1974 Organization of African Unity [official website] convention. In Geneva, UNHCR chief spokesman Ron Redmond said the UN refugee agency was not permitted [press release] to communicate with or access the refugees in Songore. The UN report conflicts with that of Burundi Interior Minister Jean Marie Ngendahayo, who said the refugees voluntarily repatriated to their home country. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The opening of the Sudanese domestic tribunal created [JURIST report] to try 160 alleged Darfur war criminals [Wikipedia backgrounder] that was originally set for Tuesday [JURIST report] has now been delayed until Wednesday, according to court chairman Mahmud Saeed Abkem. No reasons were given for the delay but Abkem said the hearings would be "public and open." Sudan Justice Minister Ali Mohammed Yassin said Monday that the tribunal would replace the efforts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] in The Hague, which has begun its own investigation [press release] into the crimes, and Sudan President Omar al-Bashir [Wikipedia profile] has promised to keep any Sudanese citizen from international prosecution. However, Jan Pronk [biography], special Sudan representative for UN Secretary Kofi Annan [official biography], has insisted the Sudan tribunal will not circumvent the ICC. Sudan's two rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement [official website] and the Justice and Equality Movement [official website] - continue to criticize the tribunal, saying it is not qualified to handle the charges. Amnesty International jas said the tribunal "lacks credibility" [press release] and "may just be a tactic by the Sudanese government to avoid prosecution before the ICC." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday’s corporations and securities law news, the SEC [official website] announced today that it had reached an agreement with Ford Motor Credit Company [corporate website] over illegal marketing of the “Ford Money Market Account.” The agreement includes $700,000 in fines, an agreement to cease and desist the marketing practices, and a series of remedial reforms. The SEC charged Ford with misleading customers by not disclosing that the account was not a money market but instead involved the purchase of unsecured corporate debt and was not backed by the FDIC [official website]. Read the SEC press release. Dow Jones has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• Viacom [corporate website], the third-largest media corporation in the United States, has announced plans to split into two separate entities in 2006. The first, which will retain the Viacom [Wikipedia profile] name, will comprise the MTV cable networks, Paramount movie studio, and the acquisitions portion of the company. The other, which will be called CBS Corp., will be composed of CBS, UPN, and Viacom’s other broadcast television and radio units. Viacom’s Chairman, Sumner Redstone [Wikipedia profile], announced the planned split and expects it to be tax-free. See the Viacom press release. Bloomberg has more.
  

• BancWest [corporate website] has purchased Commercial Federal Bank [corporate website]. The merger will make BancWest, the American subsidiary of French BNC Paribas [corporate website], the third-largest bank in the western United States. See the BancWest press release. See the BNC Paribas press release. MarketWatch has more.
  

• Lattice Semiconductors announced that it has placed its CEO, Cyrus Y. Tsui, and vice-president, Rodney F. Sloss, on administrative leave. The move comes as the SEC begins a probe of Lattice’s bookkeeping and executive compensation. Lattice, which has named an acting CEO and vice-president, is also conducting an internal audit. See Lattice’s biography page for Tsui and Sloss. See the Lattice press release. MarketWatch has more.

[JURIST] US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official website] said in a Pentagon news conference [RP video] Tuesday that the US government had gone to great length and enormous expense to ensure that terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay were well-treated and that there was no reason to consider closing the military detention center despite increasing pressure from some politicians and human rights groups [JURIST report]. Rumsfeld indicated there is no better alternative to the facility, which he insisted was needed to detain terrorist suspects until the war on terror is over. He added that the US military had learned valuable information from the Gitmo detainees. Bloomberg has more. At the instance of Chairman Arlen Specter the US Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold hearings on US treatment of detainees in Washington on Wednesday [agenda].

8:35 PM ET - Rumsfeld said:

Allegations of abuse at Guantanamo, as at any other U.S. military facility, have been thoroughly investigated. Any wrongdoing is -- wrongdoers are being held accountable. The U.S. military has instituted numerous reforms of the conduct of detainee operations, with a renewed emphasis on standards and training.

The U.S. military has also gone to unprecedented lengths to respect the religious sensibilities of these enemies of civil society, including the issuance of detailed regulations governing the handling of the Koran and arranging schedules for detainees around the five daily calls for prayer required by the Muslim faith. In fact, at Guantanamo, the military spends more per meal for detainees to meet their religious dietary requirements than it spends per rations for U.S. troops.

Since September 11th, the military has released tens of thousands of detainees, including some 200 from Guantanamo. Regrettably, we now know that some of those detainees that were released from Guantanamo have again taken up arms against the United States and our allies, and are again -- were again attempting to kill innocent men, women and children. The U.S. government will continue to transfer others to their countries of origin after negotiating appropriate agreements to ensure their humane and -- humane treatment.

The United States government, let alone the U.S. military, does not want to be in the position of holding suspected terrorists any longer than is absolutely necessary. But as long as there remains a need to keep terrorists from striking again, a facility will continue to be needed. The U.S. taxpayers have invested over $100 million in military construction in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and it is spending something like an average of $90 (million) to $95 million a year to operate that facility to its highest standards.

The real problem is not Guantanamo Bay. The problem is that, to a large extent, we are in unexplored territory with this unconventional and complex struggle against extremism. Traditional doctrines covering criminals and military prisoners do not apply well enough.

[JURIST] Colombian President Alvaro Uribe [official website, in Spanish] announced Tuesday that his administration is planning to draft a bill which would effectively disband the right-wing paramilitary fighters supported by umbrella group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) [ICT backgrounder]. The US recently criticized the Colombian government for its leniency towards the paramilitary groups, which were created in the 1980s to attack leftist opposition rebels that had clashed with the Colombian government since 1964. Colombia responded to the US criticism in hopes of receiving money to help with the demobilization process [AP report]. The legislation, entitled the Justice and Peace Bill, could be approved as early as Thursday and would provide guidelines for thousands of AUC fighters to disarm and return to society. It would also ensure that those convicted AUC members who committed the worst crimes would serve jail terms, although many would be at reduced sentences. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's states brief, the Supreme Court of Ohio heard arguments today in a case concerning the visitation rights of grandparents. Since the 2002 US Supreme Court decsion in Troxel v. Granville [PDF opinion] Ohio courts have issued conflicting rulings on the state's custody law. The grandparents are appealing the decision of the Court of Appeals Ninth Judicial District [PDF text] that found in favor of the father. NewsNet5 has more.

In other state legal news ...

• Illinois Governor Rod. R. Blagojevich [official website] has signed a new law which will require over 200 prison inmates to submit DNA samples [government press release]. The law [text] requires inmates sentenced to life in prison or death to provide a DNA sample. Since 2002 every felon in the state has been required to give a DNA sample after sentencing and before being released from the state's custody. The 2002 legislation did not address the DNA collection of prison inmates sentenced to life in prison or death before 2002. The new law will close that loophole and may provide help in solving open criminal cases. The Chicago Sun-Times has more.
  
  
• The Colorado Supreme Court [official website], has ruled that the medical condition of insulin-induced hypoglycemia may constitute an affirmative defense of involuntary intoxication depending on the circumstances. The Supreme Court found that a man convicted of attempted second degree murder and first degree assault should have been allowed to raise the condition as an affirmative defense if he could show he met the conditions of involuntary intoxication under Colorado law. If his attorneys can now show he met the required conditions, the man, a diabetic, will receive a new trial. While this decision is a first in Colorado, courts in Washington and Texas have ruled that insulin-induced hypoglycemia may be used as a defense. Read the opinion here. The Denver Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] A New Jersey appellate court Tuesday ruled against seven same-sex couples who had argued that they were entitled to marry under the state constitution [text]. The court ruling [PDF text] upheld a lower court decision that had concluded that state legislators must first change marriage laws [JURIST report] in New Jersey before same-sex marriages would be allowed. AP has more.

[JURIST] Financial filings released Tuesday show that Bill and Hillary Clinton have finally paid off the legal bills incurred during Whitewater [Washington Post backgrounder] and the impeachment scandal. Lucrative book contracts and numerous speaking arrangements helped settle their debt, the result of assembling a costly legal defense team that was built up during the six years an independent counsel [Special Committee to Investigate Whitewater report, PDF text] investigated then-President Bill Clinton. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US federal court judge Tuesday renewed for a fouth time a restraining order [JURIST report] prohibiting former UN Oil-for Food Independent Committee Inquiry [IIC website] investigator Robert Parton from releasing confidential documents to the two US congressional committees that had subpoenaed the documents [JURIST report]. Parton took the boxes of documents after resigning from the inquiry committee [JURIST report] in April because he felt it was not sufficiently investigating UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's responsibility for problems with the UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website]. Inquiry Committee head and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker [Wikipedia profile] filed suit on behalf of the UN saying that Parton violated a confidentiality agreement and the document's release may harm the inquiry's investigation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, the Argentine Supreme Court [judicial website in Spanish] has struck down the nation's two amnesty laws preventing former military and government officials from being investigated and prosecuted for alleged crimes and human rights abuses during the 1970s and '80s military dictatorship and the anti-leftist campaign called the Dirty War [Wikipedia backgrounder]. By a 7-1 margin with one judge abstaining, the Supreme Court ruled that the amnesty laws violated Argentina's constitution and allowed the continued prosecution of former police officer Julio Simon, the first individual tried that would normally have amnesty since the Argentine Congress [official website in Spanish] decided to scrap the laws in 2003. Under Argentine jurisprudence, the decision will serve as precedent for all future cases involving Dirty War defendents. AP is reporting that more than 3,000 current military officers could be implicated in the decision. Human rights groups are already hailing the decision [HRW press release]. Argentina's La Nacion has local coverage in Spanish.

In other international legal news ...

• Less than two hours after their release from government detention, 48 Nepalese journalists staged a sit-in protest at the Kathmandu District Administration Office to reiterate their call for a removal of the severe press restrictions in place in Nepal [government website] since King Gyanendra [official profile] issued a state of emergency declaration [JURIST report] on 1 February. The 48 journalists had been arrested and detained Monday during a peacefull demonstration that police officials claimed was in an area of the capital city that had been designated off-limits for protests. Nearly two hundred journalists have been arrested and released in a series of protests over free speech rights in the past month. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Kantipur Online has local coverage.
  
  
• A new provision of the South Korean Nationality Law [South Korean National Assembly backgrounder] approved Tuesday by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the South Korean National Assembly [government website] will "restrict economic activity" of any Korean that gave up their passport ahead of the Nationality Law, will ban the surrender of a Korean passport until the completion of mandatory military service, and will lower the level of national health care a surrenderer is entitled to. Over 20,000 Koreans have given up their passports since the Nationality act was introduced. Representative Choi Jae-cheon of the ruling Uri Party [official website] expressed concern that the amendment to the Nationality Law, backed by the opposition alliance in the Korean National Assembly, is unconstitutional on grounds of inequality and excessive restriction, but said that the South Korean Constitution [official text] did allow for 'rational punishment.' JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of South Korea [JURIST news archive]. Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.
  
  
• Newly-reelected Director General Mohamed ElBaradei [official profile] of the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] has urged Iranian officials to allow UN nuclear inspectors to return to the nuclear facility at Parchin. Speaking to the IAEA Board of Directors, ElBaradei expressed concern that during their first and only visit to Parchin, IAEA inspectors were denied access to key areas of the facility and has called on Iran to allow inspectors to return to check for compliance with the UN mandate to refrain from the production of nuclear weapons materials. The United States has alleged repeatedly that Iran is conducting a covert nuclear weapons program, a charge that Iran has continually and vehemently denied. IAEA resolutions and statements are non-binding and can only be given enforcement power through the UN Security Council. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Iran [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] A Romanian court Tuesday freed the militant leader of the Mineworkers Confederation of Romania, a man who led the 1991 miners' riot that overthrew Romania's first post-communist government. Miron Cozma [Open World Conference of Workers backgrounder] had served seven years of his eighteen year jail sentence when former President Ion Iliescu [Wikipedia profile, in Romanian] granted him a pardon last December, which he retracted two days later [BBC report] due to public outrage. Cozma had appealed Iliescu's retraction, winning in what the ruling centrists called a surprising decision, especially due to the 15 year anniversary of similar miners' riots which occurred from June 13 to 15 in 1990. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The chairman of the Kyrgyzstan Supreme Court said Tuesday that the court was getting back to work on Tuesday after a month of disruptions cause by protests [JURIST report] and occupation of their courthouse in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. Supporters of defeated political candidates from elections earlier in the year had occupied the building to demonstrate against court decisions that they felt were unfair. The protests caused a huge backlog of cases. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Tuesday confirmed former Senate Legal Counsel Thomas Griffith [DOJ biography] to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by a vote of 73-24 [roll call]. President Bush had originally chosen Miguel Estrada [DOJ biography] for the seat, but the Senate Democrats had objected to his nomination and he eventually withdrew [CNN report]. Griffith was originally blocked by Senate Democrats as well, but was promised a vote in the filibuster compromise [NRO text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ten Kuwaiti legislators signed a request Tuesday to put Sunday's appointment [AP report] of Massouma al-Mubarak as the first female Cabinet minister in Kuwait up for debate in parliament, claiming it to be unconstitutional [AP report]. The move comes a month after Kuwait granted women the right to vote and run for office [JURIST report]. The legislators claim that Kuwaiti law limits appointments to eligible voters, and that al-Mubarak is not currently registered as the extended franchise is not yet in effect. Al-Mubarak said constitutional scholars had already ruled registration was not a requirement and accused the legistlators of looking for any reason to exclude her. Her appointment had pleased activists [AKI report] but riled conservatives.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, formerly a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, said Monday in an interview that the Canadian high court will likely have to revisit a 2002 deportation ruling that may conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text], banning the deportation of suspects to countries where they face a real risk of torture. Three years ago the high court ruled in Suresh v. Canada [text] that such deportations could nonetheless take place in "exceptional circumstances." The ruling did not define such circumstances and it has yet to be tested. Canada has been under pressure from human rights groups and the UN committee on torture to revisit the decision. Arbor was party to the ruling and refused to call the decision a mistake, but said that the legal approach many countries adopted following the September 11 attacks is "evolving," and stated "the more distance we now have from September 11, the more I hope we'll be able to have a rational, cool-headed judgment on what is required and what is appropriate." Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] After a referendum to liberalize Italy's fertility laws failed [JURIST report] on Monday, church leaders and Italian politicians are sending some conflicting signals about the legal future of abortion in the country, which legalized abortion in 1978 and strongly supported choice in a 1981 referendum. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, chairman of the Italian bishops' conference which encouraged Catholic voters to boycott the fertility poll, said Tuesday while the church remains opposed to abortion, "we don't want to change the law." [Reuters report] But Regional Affairs Minister Enrico La Loggia said while the law won't be changed right away, he wouldn't "rule out a opening a reflection" [Ireland Online report] on the issue eventually.

[JURIST] The House of Assembly and Senate of Swaziland [government website] have approved a new constitution [link to PDF]. King Mswati III [BBC profile] must now approve the document, which fuses centuries-old traditions and Western democratic principles. The constitution is a product of eight years of consultations and includes a detailed bill of rights including the right to life, liberty and equality before the law. It provides for freedom of expression and assembly, but bars political parties from contesting elections. The king, as head of state, will still appoint the prime minister, Cabinet members, key judges and some legislators. The constitution has come under criticism from pro-democracy groups and been rejected by the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civil Organizations [advocacy website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Ulamas Council, the conference of Islamic clergy in Afghanistan, passed a resolution on Tuesday demanding an apology from the US for incidents of abuse of the Koran at Guantanamo. While the Newsweek story that initially sparked deadly rioting in that country and outrage elsewhere in the Muslim world was later retracted [JURIST report], the Pentagon has confirmed that incidents involving "mishandling" of the Koran did occur [JURIST report]. US military officials have said that no court martials [JURIST report] are likely to result from the abuses, but the clerics want perpetrators to be handed over to a Muslim country for trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] A new report [PDF] released Monday by the US Justice Department Inspector General [official site] says the government's terrorism suspect watch list co-ordinated by the new Terrorism Screening Center [US DOJ press release] is missing some names [AP report], based on incomplete and inaccurate information [The Register report], and mischaracterizes the danger posed [NYT report] by nearly 32,000 suspects who are not designated as targets of significant security action. The report praised the government for its efforts, however, calling the database a "significant achievement", that had improved since its inception. The FBI says that 38 of the 40 recommendations are being addressed, with the remaining two already adopted, and disputed the 32,000 number, saying that all terrorism suspects are considered dangerous but they still cannot be arrested without a warrant or evidence against them. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A senior European Union official called for a break in EU expansion Monday, addressing the media days before EU leaders will meet to discuss fallout from rejections of the EU Constitution in France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report]. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner [official website] stated that people needed time to "digest" the bloc's largest expansion, the addition of 10 countries in 2004. The comments have been interpreted as most immediately addressing Turkey's membership bid, scheduled to open negotiations in October [JURIST report]. Romania and Bulgaria are also scheduled to join in 2007, with several states in the Western Balkans and possibly Ukraine and Georgia attempting accession as well. Observers of the failed referenda in France and Holland have suggested that voters in both countries were hesitant about the EU constitution in part because of fears that their economies or populations would be hurt by an influx of goods or people from less well-off eastern European states. AP has more.

[JURIST] After a businessman he was connected with was convicted of corruption and fraud [JURIST report], South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [profile] was fired Tuesday by President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile]. Zuma had appeared ready to one day become president, and Mbeki cautioned that he should be presumed innocent, but he said that circumstances dictated his release [BBC report]. The leader of South Africa's opposition party praised the move as "principle over politics". From South Africa, Finance 24 has more.

[JURIST] Shirin Ebadi [Wikipedia profile], a human-rights lawyer who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, spoke out Monday against the introduction of special Islamic tribunals in Canada. A Muslim group in Ontario proposed setting up the tribunals to settle family disputes among members of the Islamic community there. Ebadi complained [Globe and Mail report] that traditional Muslim law is open to broad interpretation, and feared injustices would result. In response, Quebec has already preemptively banned such courts [Globe and Mail report], a move supported [Daily Times (Pakistan) report] by the Canadian Council of Muslim Women [advocacy website]. Ontario has yet to decide whether to establish them.

[JURIST] The UN East Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation Against Violence [conference website] began in Bangkok Tuesday with a call for a ban on corporal punishment [press release, PDF] of children. The conference is part of the UN Secretary General's study on violence against children [PDF]. Paulo Pinheiro, an independent expert speaking for the study, called the problem "too common, and yet, too hidden" [speech, PDF]. The conference is the sixth of nine called for by the study. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] The UN war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia called for the arrest of three men responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [Wikipedia profile] of Bosnian Muslims in an address to the UN Security Council [press release] Monday. Carla del Ponte [BBC profile] outlined the successes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] to date, but emphasized the need for increased cooperation by local governemnts with the Serbian government, NATO and European forces to bring the remaining fugitives to justice. Del Ponte commended Serbia for a recent change in attitude illustrated by increased access to documents and witnesses and the transfer of 14 accused since December 2004. She said, however, that there are currently seven fugitives "within reach of Serbian authorities" including Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; JURIST report], Ratko Mladic [BBC profile] and Zdravko Tolimir [ICTY charges], "the three accused most responsible for Srebreneca." AP has more.