[JURIST] Spain's conservative Popular Party [official website in Spanish] Friday filed a constitutional challenge against a law passed earlier this year which legalizes gay marriage [JURIST report] and allows homosexual couples to adopt children. The party filed the case in Spain's Constitutional Court [official website in Spanish], saying that the new law "denaturalizes the fundamental institution of marriage." Since it was passed, dozens of gay couples have married and several others, including high-ranking public officials, have applied for marriage licenses. Popular Party head Mariano Rajoy [BBC profile] said the party had presented a civil union alternative to marriage when the measure was passed. Spain is the third European nation to have legalized gay marriage, following Belgium and Holland. EFE has more.

[JURIST] Attorneys for former WorldCom [MCI/WorldCom website] CEO Bernard Ebbers [JURIST news archive] have filed a brief urging the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn fraud and conspiracy convictions against Ebbers [JURIST report] saying his trial earlier this year was "fundamentally flawed," and arguing that his 25-year prison sentence [JURIST report] is "unreasonable and legally erroneous." The 96-page brief said the lower court made critical mistakes during the trial by not giving prospective defense witnesses governmental immunity to testify on Ebbers' behalf, and by wrongly instructing the jury that they could convict Ebbers based on his "conscious avoidance" of knowledge about the corporation's fraudulent activities. Ebbers' attorneys argued, "These errors greatly hindered Ebbers' ability to present a defense, unfairly lowered the government's burden of proof and offered the jury a compromise path to conviction." The government's reply brief is due on October 28. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] and Russia's Memorial Human Rights Center [advocacy website, English version] Friday accused Russian authorities of arbitrary and prolonged detentions of civilians, torture, and forced confessions [AI press release]. Amnesty International has released a new report [PDF] claiming that Russia is utilizing its own "war on terror" to commit the human rights abuses, alleging that between 3,000 and 5,000 kidnappings have taken place since 1999. It is urging UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose country currently holds the presidency of the European Union [official website], to call upon Russian President Vladimir Putin at the upcoming EU-Russia summit [summit information] to put a stop to the abuses and confirm the commitment of the Russian Federation [official website in Russian] to comply with international human rights standards. From Russia, MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] Joseph Serugendo, the former technical director of a Rwandan radio station that promoted the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder], pleaded not guilty Friday to five counts [indictment, PDF] of genocide and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website]. ICTR prosecutors allege that Serugendo "planned, instigated, ordered, committed or aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of ... crimes" that were part of the 1994 genocide which lead to the killing of over 500,000 members of Rwanda's Tutsi ethnic minority. Serugendo, who is also said to be a leader of the Interahamwe militia, was arrested in Gabon earlier this month and transferred to the ICTR [JURIST report] earlier this week. A trial date for Serugendo has not yet been set. Read the ICTR press release on Serugendo's not guilty plea. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings [official profile] has announced that No Child Left Behind [official website] yearly academic accountability standards will be eased for schools affected by Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] and Hurricane Rita. Spellings said that schools in the five "major disaster" states - Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama - could delay compliance under the education act without requesting a waiver if they were greatly damaged or closed due to the hurricanes. Other schools not showing closures or major damages would be responsible for complying with NCLB testing requirements, including schools which are accommodating displaced students, but Spellings said they could request a waiver if displaced students' test scores prevent them from meeting the annual standards. Spellings' decision was prompted in part due to pressure by the National Education Association [union website], the nation's largest teachers union, and school advocates are also pushing for waivers to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act [HUD backgrounder] which prevents schools from segregating the homeless and mandates schools to pay for student busing services. The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth [advocacy website; McKinney-Vento implementation materials] contends that proposed waivers to the law would be discriminatory. Friday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] A US music industry trade group has filed another 750 lawsuits [RIAA press release] against individuals who allegedly used on-line file sharing networks to trade copyrighted songs illegally. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) [official website], representing labels such as Vivendi Universal [corporate website] and Sony/BMG [corporate website], is suing 64 individuals at universities who allegedly swapped music using the high speed Internet2 [consortium website] network which connects schools nationwide, including Columbia University, Boston University, and the University of California, Berkeley. RIAA claims the remaining defendants used internet networks, including eDonkey and LimeWire, to download and share copyrighted music files. The recording industry has sued approximately 14,800 computer users to date [JURIST news archive], resulting in 3,400 settled cases which have averaged between $4,000 and $5,000. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• US file-sharing companies seek agreement with recording industry
• Recording industry to sue college students on Internet2
• UK music industry claims victory in file-sharing settlements
• European music uploaders targeted in new wave of legal action
• RIAA initiates more lawsuits against music swappers

[JURIST] The Hong Kong government [official website] Friday appealed a high court ruling [decision text, in English] last month that said a criminal law preventing consenting males under the age of 21 from having sex was a violation of human rights [JURIST report]. The criminal law allowed lesbians and heterosexuals to engage in sex from the age of 16, but prohibited sex between consenting males, who faced potential life sentences if caught and convicted. The case had been brought by a 20-year old male and the high court said the law was "an arbitrary interference in his private life," discriminatory against homosexual males, and was inconsistent with Hong Kong's Basic Law [text and background] and Bill of Rights [text]. The plaintiff's lawyer said he was surprised by the government's appeal. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Jack Kevorkian [BBC profile] has said that he would not assist people in committing suicide if released on parole, but said that he would campaign to legalize assisted suicide. The former doctor is serving 10-25 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction for giving a patient with Lou Gehrig's disease an injection of drugs that killed him in 1998. In an interview [transcript] with MSNBC, Kevorkian said, "I have said publicly and officially that I will not perform that act again when I get out. What I'll do is what I should have done earlier, is pursue this from a legal standpoint by campaigning to get the laws changed." The ex-doctor will not be eligible for parole until 2007. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next Wednesday in Gonzales v. Oregon [Duke Law backgrounder], where the government is appealing [JURIST report] a 9th Circuit decision [PDF opinion; JURIST report] upholding Oregon's Death with Dignity Act [text], which allows assisted suicide. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's states brief, as Connecticut becomes the second state to offer same-sex couples civil unions [JURIST report] October 1, town clerks are saying they are ready, but some employers may not be prepared. While only a few town clerks offices plan to be open tomorrow and there is no way of knowing how many of the state's approximately 7,400 same-sex couples will seek a civil union, Sandra Hutton, president of the Connecticut Town Clerk's Association [official website], said, "We're ready. We have the proper documentation. We won't have any problems at all." As for employers, employee benefits attorney Bruce Barth stated, "I think employers are going to start getting requests (for benefits) as soon as Monday. And they're not prepared." Connecticut will also recognize civil unions [JURIST report] from Vermont beginning tomorrow. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• The Florida Supreme Court has extended [PDF text] the deadline for state prison inmates to challenge their convictions through DNA testing until July 1, 2006. The state's highest court will also consider whether to eliminate the deadline completely, as urged by the Florida Bar Association, and the issue is also likely to be addressed by future legislation. Michelle Fontaine, assistant director of the Florida Innocence Initiative [advocacy website] in Tallahassee said, "We have always wanted there to be unfettered time for individuals to file these claims," but some opponents of the extension cite the costs of storing evidence and the clogging of state labs. In 2001, the Legislature gave inmates 2 years to have the evidence used against them tested for DNA, and during a subsequent 2 year Florida Supreme Court extension [JURIST report], Wilton Dedge and Luis Diaz, after serving 22 and 26 years respectively, were exonerated. The St. Petersburg Times has local coverage.
  
  
• The Arkansas Supreme Court [official website] has heard oral arguments on whether a 1997 amendment to the city fuel tax exemption law, which exempts "a city bordering a state line which is in the main channel of the Mississippi (River)" from a 1973 amendment prohibiting the law's application to areas annexed to border cities, is unconstitutional. An attorney for the state Department of Finance and Administration [official website] argued that the amendment helps poor border cities and that a lower court judge erred when he nullified only the unconstitutional language of the law instead of the entire statute and substituted "river" for "the Mississippi." The border city fuel tax exemption provides that in certain border areas the gasoline tax can not be more than 1 cent per gallon above the gasoline tax in the bordering state. The Arkansas News Bureau has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Osaka High Court ruled on Friday that visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [official website, English version] to a Shinto shrine for war dead [official website, English] violate Japan's constitutional provisions for separation of church and state. The visits are also controversial because China and South Korea consider the shrine a monument to Japanese militarism during the early 20th century. The ruling seems to conflict with Thursday's dismissal by a Tokyo court of a suit seeking damages for the visits [JURIST report], in which the court held that the visits were private acts. Still, it doesn't prevent Koizumi from making the visits, and Japanese legal and political experts say it likely won't influence his decisions. Koizumi last visited in January 2004 and has not announced whether or not he will return this year. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, the South Sudan legislature has been inaugurated, marking a key step in the development of a functioning government for the now autonomous southern region of Sudan. In accordance with the January 9 Comprehensive Peace Agreements [JURIST report], South Sudan will create an independent government that will work together with the main Sudanese government [official website] in the capital city of Khartoum until 2011, when South Sudan will hold a national referendum to decide whether to remain in Sudan or become an independent nation. The legislature was sworn-in in Juba, the operating capitol of South Sudan. The legislature's primary responsibility in its early stages will be the ratification of the newly-drafted Sudan Constitution [JURIST report] that delineates the power-sharing agreement reached in the January CPA. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• Zimbabwean Minister of State Security and Lands Reform Didymus Mutasa told reporters Thursday that under the new amendments to Zimbabwe's constitution [JURIST report], the government was planning to seize all arable farm land in the country and then redistribute the rights to work the land "irrespective of race." Under the new, controversial power, the government not only evicts the previous tenants of the farm land in question, it also seized title to the land permanently, effectively outlawing the private ownership of farm land. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] has been accused by various NGOs and rights groups as using the practice of kicking white farmers off of land they own as a means to incite racial division and maintain political power. In one of the first public criticisms of the government plan, Governor Gideon Gono of the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank [official website] called the evictions, often accomplished by mobs carrying a variety of weapons as opposed to official police personnel, criminal, and called on the government to stop the evictions. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has local coverage.
  
  
• Two employees of the Kenya Times [media website] have been charged with breaking Kenyan press laws by publishing a story entitled "Coups in Africa do not occur out of nothing" in last week's Sunday edition. Senior editor Onyango Omollo and writer David Ochami were arrested Friday and charged under laws that prohibit Kenyan journalists from publishing 'alarming stories' that may cause fear and panic in the public in newspapers. The two men pleaded not guilty to the charges and are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on October 14 and trial on November 8. If convicted, the two men could be sentenced to jail for up to two years. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's East African Standard has local coverage.

[JURIST] Algeria's proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation [AP key points] was approved by over 97 percent of the vote in Thursday's referendum [JURIST report] as part of an effort to end a 13-year civil war in the country [CIA Factbook backgrounder]. Nationwide voter turnout topped 80 percent, but was skewed by some regions having near total participation and others hardly any in response to calls for a boycott. Some denounced the plan's broad amnesty for Islamic extremists and said while it did not exempt war criminals, it would make their prosecution more difficult. The plan does not grant amnesty to anyone involved in rape, massacres, or public bombings, but doesn't specify how to make that determination. Anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 people were killed during the conflict; the plan provides for reparations for families of victims. AP has more.

[JURIST] Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro announced Friday the approval of three new arrest warrants in connection for purported CIA operatives with the kidnapping of a radical Muslim in 2003 [Washington Post report] in Milan. A total of 22 purported CIA operatives are now sought by Italian police. Italy may request extradition [JURIST report] for those accused, but US cooperation in such a request is not likely. The US embassy in Rome [official website] on Friday reaffirmed their position of not commenting on the case. The incident has strained relations with Italy [JURIST report] and created suspicion that the US took cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, to Egypt so that he could be tortured, a tactic called "extraordinary rendition". AP has more.

[JURIST] Sen. John Warner (R-VA) [official website], chairman of the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, said Thursday that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] has promised to give "immediate consideration" to concerns about the increased detentions [JURIST report] and accidental shootings of journalists covering the conflict in Iraq. Representatives from Reuters and the Committee to Protect Journalists [advocacy website, press release] have complained to Warner [Reuters report] about "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq." Gen. George Casey [Washington Post report], the top US commander in Iraq, also said the concerns would be taken "very seriously" and promised to work with local journalists when he returned to Iraq. At least 66 journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since the invasion began in March 2003. At least seven journalists have been detained this year, with four still in custody. Reuters has called for Rumsfeld to resolve the problem in a way that balances the security interests of US forces in Iraq with "the equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website, JURIST news archive] was ordered on Thursday to appear in a Texas court on October 21 for his initial appearance in connection with charges that he violated Texas election law [JURIST report]. DeLay is accused [indictment text, PDF] of conspiring to use corporate donations to support candidates for the Texas legislature; state law allows corporate donations to be used only for administrative expenses. Indictments were earlier issued against associates of DeLay [JURIST report]. DeLay attacked the indictment in interviews Thursday, saying that he thought prosecutors were convinced that he had not participated in any wrongdoing and categorized the indictment as politically motivated. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle [official website] denied any such motivation and pointed out that he has prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans. AP has more.

[JURIST] US military officials said Thursday in testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee that they are confident that Iraq will vote to approve the draft constitution [English translation; JURIST news archive] in the upcoming October 15 referendum, but warned that approval is "critically important" to avoid a descent into anarchy. Under Iraq's Transitional Administrative Law [text], a majority must vote in favor of the charter, but if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's provinces reject the draft, the constitution will be defeated. Those monitoring the situation in Iraq have indicated that there has been a massive effort to encourage Sunni Arabs to register to vote while Sunni leaders are campaigning for a rejection of the charter. Pentagon officials are predicting that the constitution will fail in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, but that only one other province will reject the constitution by a two-thirds majority. Sunni leaders, meanwhile, repeated Thursday their pledge to vote 'no' [Reuters report] and rejected efforts by US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad [official profile] to broker a last-minute deal to ease Sunni concerns about the draft [JURIST document]. Earlier this week, the International Crisis Group, issued a report [PDF text] criticizing Iraq's constitutional process for deepening the country's political fractures and expediting Iraq's violent break up. Friday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] US Army Reserve Colonel Janis Karpinski [JURIST news archive], former US commander of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive], said Friday that the US military has done little to ensure that abuses first exposed by the Abu Ghraib photos are not continuing in US-run facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. In an interview [recorded audio] with BBC's Today program, Karpinski also welcomed Thursday's federal court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] that the government must release additional photographs and videotapes that depict detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. Karpinski said that the release, which has been delayed for at least 20 days, will allow the "opportunity to get a more balanced view and certainly a fair assessment of where the blame belongs." Karpinski, who was relieved of her command [JURIST report] over the Abu Ghraib scandal and subsequently demoted for dereliction of duty [JURIST report], has consistently said that she was the only high-ranking officer that was dealt with harshly and that others implicated in the scandal "walked." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Government officials in the United Kingdom are rethinking plans to enact a new law [JURIST report; draft text, PDF] that would criminalize the act of "glorifying terrorism." In an interview [recorded audio] Thursday with BBC's Today program, Prime Minister Tony Blair noted that because the proposed law needed to strike a balance between security and civil rights, it needed to be "very clear and very right." Other government ministers have admitted privately the current language of the law is still too broad. Apart from his reservations regarding the disputed law, Blair reasserted his support for legislation that would authorize deporting foreign Islamic extremists [JURIST report]. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] will soon issue arrest warrants for leaders of the Uganda rebel group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [BBC backgrounder], according to statements from a UN official Thursday. The LRA leaders, who have taken refuge in Congo, have been accused of raping and maiming children over the past two decades. Some diplomats believe ICC could issue the warrants, the first-ever to be issued by the ICC, as early as next week. Reuters has more.