[JURIST] Colombia's Constitutional Court [official backgrounder in Spanish] Wednesday upheld legislation that would change the country's constitution to allow presidents to serve more than one term, a ruling that could allow Colombian President Alvaro Uribe [official website in Spanish; BBC profile] to seek re-election next May. The amendment was approved last year by legislators. Uribe has sought to extend his crackdown against militants and drug czars during a second term, although he may still be barred [Reuters report] from running in next year's election depending on a second ruling by the Constitutional Court. Uribe has remained popular among Colombians while taking a hardline approach against rebels in the country and helping the country's faltering economy recover, and polls show him winning by a landslide if he runs in the election next May. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Morocco has prevented UN officials from visiting African migrants detained in the country despite repeated requests for access, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [official website] reported Wednesday. The agency has said it fears that Morocco has forced many of the migrants to return to their home countries [JURIST report] in the face of persecution and despite valid asylum claims, although the Moroccan government denied many of the more extreme reports of its treatment of migrants. Morocco faces an increasingly tense immigration situation, as many sub-Saharan Africans use the country's border with the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla as a means to enter the EU [JURIST report]. The UNHCR has sought access to the migrants and called for a guarantee of proper asylum procedures. The UNHCR has a news release on the situation in Morocco. In related news, the European Commission [official website] on Wednesday released a report [news release] on the immigration situation in the Mediterranean, which highlighted the situation in Morocco as a point of concern. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi police on Wednesday arrested a nephew of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] in Tikrit on charges that he has served as a leading financier of the country's insurgency, Iraqi security officials reported. Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim is the son of Saddam's half brother Sabhawi Ibrahim Hasan, who was captured [JURIST report] earlier this year in Syria. Ibrahim reportedly was hiding in Syria, but was forced to leave by authorities, who then reported his location to the US. Ibrahim, who is said to be the second in command of the Iraqi insurgency, allegedly managed Baath Party funds in Syria, Jordan and Yemen and funneled much of it to the insurgency. He is also accused of cooperating with insurgent forces led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The US Treasury Department froze the assets of Ibrahim [JURIST report] and five other sons of Hasan in July, and another son, Ayman, was sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] in September for funding the insurgency. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] moved Wednesday to cut federal funding for projects that seize peoples' homes for private development, continuing a backlash to a recent controversial ruling [JURIST report] by the US Supreme Court [official website]. The amendment to HR 3058 [bill summary], the Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Bill, offered by Sen. Kit Bond [official website] and approved Wednesday by a voice vote, cuts funding under the bill that would be used in any private development projects that require the use of eminent domain. The amendment also requires the Government Accountability Office [official website] to study the use of eminent domain. In Kelo v. New London [PDF opinion; JURIST report], the Court held that private property could be taken by eminent domain for private redevelopments that would benefit communities by providing jobs and economic growth. The ruling has triggered a wave of backlash, with state legislatures responding by stiffening private property rights [JURIST report] and federal legislation being proposed. Bond's office has a news release on the amendment. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Myths and Reality of Eminent Domain | Video: The New Takings Jurisprudence

[JURIST] Spanish High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz on Wednesday issued an international arrest warrant for three US soldiers from the 3rd Infantry, Sgt. Thomas Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, over the death of a Spanish cameraman during the war in Iraq. Pedraz ordered the arrest of the soldiers with the plan of extraditing them to Spain. The three soldiers' tank fired on the Hotel Palestine in Baghdad in 2003, killing Spanish Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso [Guardian report] and Ukrainian Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk. Three other journalists were also injured in the attack. Pedraz said he issued the warrant because US officials had failed to cooperate in an investigation into the incident and did not respond to requests [JURIST report] to question the soldiers. A US investigation into the shooting concluded that the soldiers were justified [Reporters Without Borders report] in firing on the hotel and did not pursue any charges against the soldiers. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the use of force had been justified on review of the incident. Spanish prosecutors are expected to appeal Pedraz's decision on Thursday on the grounds that Pedraz lacked jurisdiction to seek extradition of the soldiers. From Madrid, El Mundo has local coverage [in Spanish]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Texas court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) [official website; campaign website] for his indictment on charges of money laundering [JURIST report] and criminal conspiracy [JURIST report]. The warrant, described by DeLay’s attorney Dick Guerin as a "matter of routine," orders DeLay to appear for booking at the Fort Bend County jail, where he may be fingerprinted and photographed. It is not clear when DeLay will report for booking, but he is scheduled to in court on Friday morning. DeLay’s bond is set at $10,000. AP has more.

[JURIST] New York Times reporter Judith Miller [JURIST news archive] and US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg [official profile] on Wednesday offered differing takes on the need for federal legislation to protect confidentiality of journalists' sources during a Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] hearing [notice and witness list]. Miller, who was jailed for 85 days after refusing to reveal a source for a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity, testified [full transcript] that the committee should move forward on legislation currently pending in the Senate and House that would offer journalists protection from subpoenas by federal law enforcement officials. She claimed that the current situation had caused a chilling effect in the media, arguing that the Cleveland Plain-Dealer decided not to print two stories to avoid such a situation. Rosenberg said [full transcript] that no shield law was needed for reporters because federal subpoenas rarely dealt with confidential sources and that the current system functions effectively. Rosenberg also said that the current situation should not be viewed as an attack on the First Amendment [LII backgrounder]. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter [official website] voiced his support for a federal shield law, arguing that recent events in the case of Valerie Plame had an "obvious chilling effect" on the media. AP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Miller defends decision to be jailed, advocates journalist shield law
• Miller says she can't recall source of Plame info
• Judge lifts contempt order for NYT reporter
• NYT reporter testifying again before grand jury in Plame probe

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] has ruled [PDF text] that the US Bureau of Reclamation [official website] must come up with a new plan to use water from the Klamath River. The river, which runs from northern California to the Oregon coast, has been source of controversy between farmers who want water for irrigation and environmentalists who claim water levels will become too low to support the Coho salmon, a threatened species [listing status] that lives in the river. The court ruled the National Marine Fisheries Service's alternative [PDF text], which would allow for the diversion of water for farmers, was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Endangered Species Act [text]. The Los Angeles Times has more.

In other environmental law news...

• Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney [official website] is considering proposals that would allow power plants within the state to produce more energy by relaxing air pollution regulations [listings]. The move is prompted by fears that blackouts could strike New England this winter leaving people without heat, and because of rising gas prices. The Boston Globe has more.
  
  
• Trenton New Jersey school officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the New Jersey Schools Construction Corp. [corporate website] claiming a partially-built school is being constructed on ground contaminated with carcinogenic pollutants. The building has already cost the state $10 million. The school officials want the building torn down, the contaminated ground removed, and reimbursement for expenses. The Star-Ledger has more.
  
  
• The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection [official website] agreed Tuesday to take over cleanup of the Ringwood mine and landfill [EPA factsheet, PDF] which had been contaminated by sludge from a former Ford [corporate website] paint plant. The state was asked to intervene in the cleanup by the regional US EPA [official regional website] director, who said that negotiations had broken down between local residents, the EPA, and Ford. The EPA and Ford have been cleaning up the site for over 20 years. NorthJersey.com has more.

[JURIST] The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website] said Wednesday that declassified notes, taken by a lawyer during interviews with inmate clients participating in the ongoing hunger strike [JURIST report], describe "brutal treatment" of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military camp in Cuba. The notes, written by Julia Tarver, detail allegations of force-feeding without anesthesia or sedatives via tubes inserted into the stomach through the nose. The striking detainees also alleged that the tubes were re-used and conditions were unsanitary. The CCR claims that over 200 inmates have participated in the hunger strike [CCR report, PDF] since it began in August; the Pentagon says that there are 24 detainees currently on hunger strike. Responding to the hunger strike, lawyers have petitioned [JURIST report; press release] a US District Court in Washington, DC to end the alleged mistreatment and to allow them to make more frequent visits with their clients. From Melbourne, the Herald Sun has more.

[JURIST] Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [indictment, PDF], a Virginia man charged with joining al Qaeda [JURIST report] and plotting to assassinate President Bush, testified Wednesday that he had been beaten and tortured after being arrested in Saudi Arabia. The testimony was offered during a pre-trial hearing to determine whether a confession he made in 2003 was coerced. Abu Ali, who attended college in Saudi Arabia, angrily said Saudi authorities had refused to allow him to contact the US embassy and later whipped him. The US has argued that Abu Ali confessed voluntarily to his involvement in the plot. Both sides presented expert testimony on Tuesday on whether scars on Abu Ali's back could have been caused by torture. If District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee finds that the confession was coerced, he could dismiss the entire case against Abu Ali. AP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Taped confession of Bush assassination plot suspect shown in federal court
• DOJ says US student planned Bush assassination plot
• Federal judge orders al Qaeda suspect to produce evidence in Saudi torture claim
• Federal judge says Bush plot suspect can be examined for signs of torture
• Man accused of plotting Bush assassination pleads not guilty

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Chile on Wednesday stripped former president Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive; BBC profile] of immunity from prosecution for charges of tax fraud connected to $27 million he holds in offshore accounts. The ruling comes a day after Judge Sergio Munoz petitioned the Santiago Court of Appeals to strip Pinochet's immunity [JURIST report] for charges of embezzlement also related to the same accounts. The former president has been stripped of immunity [JURIST report], a privilege extended to all former presidents, in several human rights cases; however, Pinochet, who suffers from diabetes, heart problems, mild dementia and mini strokes, has not yet faced any charges because of his medical condition. His defense is expected to argue that he is too ill to stand trial in this case as well. Pinochet's wife and youngest son have also been charged as accomplices in tax evasion [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Royal Canadian Mounted Police [official website] on Wednesday arrested and charged a Rwandan man living in Toronto with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda [JURIST news archive]. Desire Munyaneza, 39, faces seven charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [text], making him the first person to be charged since the Act was passed in 2000. The RCMP said the arrest was the result of a five-year investigation by its war crimes unit [official website], along with help from the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [JURIST news archive]. Authorities did not indicate what action would be taken against Munyaneza. Under the War Crimes Act, the Canadian government can deny a suspect refugee status, revoke citizenship, prosecute them or extradite them to an international tribunal for prosecution. The RCMP has a news release on the arrest. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] Many Iraqis watched intently Wednesday as the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] opened, but the proceeding drew mixed reviews in Iraq and abroad. Shiite and Kurdish Iraqis welcomed the start of the trial, with many watching on television as the deposed dictator pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges Wednesday. Government, Shiite and Kurdish media praised the opening of legal proceedings [AFP report], touting the process as the "trial of the century." Iran [JURIST news archive], which was at war with Iraq throughout the 1980s during Saddam's rule, also welcomed the start [UPI report] of the trial and demanded that charges be levied for what it viewed as Iraqi attacks on Tehran and Kuwait. Others in the Iraqi and Arab communities took a less favorable view of the tribunal. Many Sunni Muslims in the country questioned its fairness, noting it had been organized with the backing of the US. Other Arabs offered little sympathy for the former ruler, but were similarly skeptical [Reuters report]. The trial adjourned Wednesday until Nov. 28. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Saddam in the Dock: The Challenge of Didactic Justice | Op-ed: Sovereign Immunity for Saddam? Not Likely.

[JURIST] The Association of American Publishers (AAP) [trade website] announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit [press release] against Google for allegedly infringing copyrights as part of Google's Print Library Project [Google backgrounder]. The complaint [PDF] seeks a declaration that the project violates copyright protections and an injunction against continuing the project, which entails scanning book collections from several universities to make them searchable via Google on the Internet. Filed on behalf of McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Books, and John Wiley & Sons, the suit follows extensive discussions between the AAP and Google about the project. In September the Authors Guild [advocacy website] filed a similar lawsuit [JURIST report] related to the project, which Google claims satisfies the fair use doctrine of US copyright law. Google temporarily halted the project [CNET report] in August in order to respond to concerns, but plans to resume work on November 1. CNET has more.

[JURIST] The administration of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt [official website] will continue its legal defense of a state law [text] prohibiting inmates from obtaining abortions unless a woman's life or health is endangered, despite the US Supreme Court's recent decision [JURIST report] allowing the transport of a current inmate to a St. Louis abortion clinic. The state's policy eliminating procedures facilitating inmate access to abortion, including a prohibition of the use of public funds for abortions, came into effect September 5. While the administration could have dropped the suit in response to the Supreme Court's decision, a Blunt spokesman emphasized Tuesday that the decision did not address the merits of the policy in question. The Supreme Court has yet to schedule oral arguments on a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] Attorneys representing undocumented immigrants who have been victims of violent crimes filed a federal suit against the US Department of Homeland Security [official website] Tuesday for the agency's failure to issue U-visas. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 [PDF text], allows the US Citizen and Immigration Services [official website] to issue undocumented immigrants substantially harmed by criminal activity [statutory definition] and who cooperated in the investigation of the crime a U-visa authorizing the holder to stay and work in the US. If the undocumented immigrant then holds the U-visa for three years and meets several other requirements he or she may apply for permanent legal residency in the US. To date, regulations pertaining to the application process have not been published and no U-visas have been issued. However, people who do apply for a U-visa can also obtain "deferred action" status, allowing them to work but not to leave the country. It has not yet been decided whether time spent under "deferred action" status will count towards the three years requirement. The plaintiffs in the current case are nine undocumented immigrants living throughout the southwest, but the attorneys in the case are seeking class action status. AP has more.

[JURIST] According to congressional aides, confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers [JURIST news archives] in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] are set to begin on November 7. The aides have said that committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter [official website] plans an announcement later Wednesday. Republicans hope to have a full Senate confirmation vote by November 24. Senators from both sides of the aisle have been hesitant about Miers, though some are warming to the nomination. Republican Sen. Trent Lott [official website], said Wednesday that he will likely end up supporting Miers [UPI report] despite earlier comments that he was not comfortable with Miers due to his past dealings with her and conservative opposition to the nomination. Judiciary Committee member Sen. Charles Schumer [official website] repeated calls for opposition to the nomination, saying that her responses to a Judiciary Committee questionnaire [JURIST report] were disappointing and unilluminating. Reuters has more.

4:05 PM ET - Senate officials have confirmed the November 7 start date for confirmation hearings on the Miers nomination, but did not commit to finishing the process by the end of November. AFP has more.

4:29 PM ET - Sen. Specter and Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday asked Miers to clarify some of the responses [PDF text] she provided to committee questions. In a letter to Miers [text], the senators asked for supplemental responses to several questions, including queries on Miers' work with constitutional issues and categories of cases Miers could need to recuse herself from due to potential conflicts of interest. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Two Cheers for Harriet Miers | Op-ed: In Praise of Treachery: The Relevance of Prior Judicial Experience

[JURIST] The United Nations [official website] is not taking proper measures to end sexual abuse during peacekeeping missions, according to an independent review report [PDF text; executive summary] released Tuesday. The report, filed by Refugees International, concludes [RI press release] that a "culture that tolerates sexual exploitation and abuse has evolved in UN peacekeeping missions." The Department of Peacekeeping Operations [official website] has been under scrutiny since sexual abuse was reported earlier this year in UN peacekeeping missions in Burundi [JURIST report] and the Congo [JURIST report]. Although the UN Security Council has denounced abuse by UN peacekeepers [JURIST report], the report says that more than strong rhetoric is needed to end the troops' actions. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] An attorney for Jim Ellis, head of Americans for a Republican Majority and an associate of former House majority leader Tom DeLay [official website], said in court documents Tuesday that all charges against Ellis are a result of government misconduct. Ellis, along with John Colyandro, has been charged [JURIST report] with multiple felony violations in the investigation into DeLay's 2002 campaign fundraising activities. Tuesday's motion accused Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle [official website] of abusing the grand jury process, shoring up pretrial publicity and prosecuting Ellis and Colyandro for being Republicans with ties to DeLay. DeLay, Ellis, and Colyandro all face charges for allegedly funneling corporate money into state GOP races through the National Republican Party. In addition to filing motions to dismiss the indictments [JURIST report] against him, Tom DeLay has also subpoenaed Earle [JURIST report] in an effort to show improper grand jury conduct. DeLay's campaign website lists several accusations against Earle, which echo the allegations in Ellis' motion AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [Wikipedia profile; personal website] on Tuesday was cleared of corruption in a 1994 arms purchase case, a week after he was barred from running [JURIST report] in Peru's 2006 presidential election by the country's Constitutional Court [official website]. Fujimori has been banned from office until 2010, though he says he intends to return to Peru to run for president [AP report]. Peru has requested that Fujimori be extradited from Japan, where he is in self-imposed exile, to face more than 20 other criminal charges involving corruption and human rights abuses. Fujimori is accused of being involved with the killing of 25 suspected members of the Shining Path guerrilla group as well as the misuse of public funds. Japan has so far refused Peru's extradition requests. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Two Iraqi Kurds now living in the US, Hassen Ali Abdullah and Khalida Ali, have sued Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] in US federal court, seeking compensation for Kurdish victims of genocidal attacks in 1980s Iraq. The class action suit was filed on behalf of all Kurds who lived in northern Iraq from 1987 to 1989 and any children that have been born to them since 1987. Information about the suit comes as the Hussein's trial on charges stemming from 1982 massacre in Dujail [JURIST report] began in an Iraqi tribunal, though proceedings have been adjourned until November 28 [JURIST report]. The two San Diego residents and their children are seeking unspecified monetary damages from Hussein and one of his senior generals, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali." The defendants say that some of the money would be used to pay for treating alleged exposure to chemical, radiological and biological weapons. The lawsuit is based on the Alien Tort Claims Act [text], which allows citizens of foreign countries to file US lawsuits for human rights abuses that occurred outside the US. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lord Steyn, a recently retired UK senior judge, has said that the UK government had to scrape the bottom of the legal barrel in order to justify its invasion of Iraq. Lord Steyn also agreed with the conclusion of the outgoing chairman of rights group Justice [advocacy website] that none of the government's grounds for intervention were justified. At a Justice debate Tuesday evening, Steyn said that the idea that believing that the Iraq war did not make London and the rest of the world a more dangerous place especially in light of the recent London bombings [JURIST news archive] would be to believe a fairy tale. Earlier this year, the UK government came under pressure [JURIST report] over the details of legal advice [PDF text; JURIST report] it received prior to the 2003 Iraq war. British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith was reported to have warned that the invasion could be ruled illegal [JURIST report], though Goldsmith denied [JURIST reports] that his parliamentary answer [text] on the legality of the invasion had been drawn up in the Prime Minister's office, rather than his own. The Telegraph has more.

[JURIST] The United Kingdom and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday which specifies that foreign nationals deported from the UK to Libya will not be mistreated upon their return. The agreement was signed by Britain's Ambassador to Libya Anthony Layden [official profile] and the Libyan Acting Secretary for European Affairs, Abdulati Ibrahim al-Obidi. Responding to the MOU, Amnesty International [advocacy website] said the government should stop finding ways to work around the international ban on torture [press release], adding that it would be misguided to expect countries that have a known record of torturing people to respect agreements promising not to torture. Another rights group, Liberty UK [advocacy website], criticized the MOU with Libya in light of the UK's 2004 Human Rights Report [text], which expressed 'serious concern' with conditions in Libyan prisons. UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile] says the agreement is a necessary international negotiation tool to fight terrorism. Clarke emphasized the need to balance international obligations to protect the rights of individuals facing torture with the right of people to travel around freely. Earlier this year, in the aftermath of the London bombings [JURIST news archive], the UK negotiated a similar agreement with Jordan [JURIST report] and is working to reach agreements with Lebanon and Algeria. BBC News has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Britain asks UN to support deportation of suspected militants
• UK to challenge European terror suspect deportation ban in court
• Ten UK terror suspects appeal against deportation
• UK rights law may be amended to allow deportation of extremists
• UK negotiating new deportation policy with Jordan

[JURIST] CNN is reporting that Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who is presiding [Reuters report] over the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] before the Iraqi High Criminal Court, formerly known as the Iraqi Special Tribunal [JURIST news archive], has ordered an adjournment of the proceeding until November 28. The order comes at the close of the first session of the trial, where a defiant Hussein initially refused to recognize the court [Reuters report], but then pleaded not guilty [BBC report] to charges of murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment, all stemming from the 1982 massacre in Dujail [JURIST report]. Hussein's lawyers indicated Tuesday that they would ask for a three-month delay [JURIST report] in proceedings so that they could fully prepare their case.

[JURIST] Google [corporate website] will no longer use the "Gmail" name for its UK e-mail service in part of a long-running trademark dispute with small UK financial research company Independent II Research (IIIR). IIIR claims that it launched its "G-MailTM" web based email back in May 2002, nearly two years prior to Google's launch of "GmailTM" and last month threatened to sue Google [CNET report] over the dispute. From Wednesday, new users will get an email address with the suffix "googlemail.com" instead of "gmail.com" although users who already have gmail.com addresses will keep these. Google said that it made the change voluntarily to prevent its users from becoming distracted and confused, emphasizing that it does not believe IIIR "provided sufficient evidence to establish any common law rights" to use the name. IIIR has been asking Google to change its e-mail name since 2004 and will continue to seek the trademark to the Gmail name. The Times has more.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that the use of foreign law in US Supreme Court opinions is "anti-democratic" and "unworkable." In a speech [text] given at George Mason University Law School, Gonzales argued that "Foreign judges and legislators are not accountable to the American people. If our courts rely on a foreign judge's opinion or a foreign legislature's enactment, then that foreign judge or legislature binds us on key constitutional issues." Gonzales acknowledged that as a "practical matter" it "may be impossible for even the most conscientious judge to avoid being arbitrarily selective in the use of foreign law." Earlier this year, in reaching its 5-4 decision to outlaw the death penalty for juvenile killers in Roper v. Simmons [opinion text; JURIST report], the Supreme Court cited foreign sentiment against capital punishment for juveniles. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Roberts answers questions on civil rights, torture, foreign law as precedent
• Senate bill would discourage US courts from citing foreign precedent
• House Judiciary Chair says US sovereignty "imperiled" by Supreme Court reliance on foreign law

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Joining the World Against Juvenile Executions

[JURIST] An argumentative Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] pleaded not guilty Wednesday as he and seven co-defendants from the defunct Baath Party [Wikipedia backgrounder] went on trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website], also known as the Iraqi High Criminal Court. The eight face charges of murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal imprisonment for the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiites in the village of Dujail. If convicted, Hussein faces the death penalty by hanging [Reuters report]. The statutes governing the trial mandate that any sentence would have to be carried out within 30 days of all appeals being exhausted and thus Hussein could be executed before he is tried on other charges such as genocide. As the trial got underway Wednesday, Hussein challenged [recorded video, via BBC] the presiding judge [Reuters report], Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, asking who he was and what the court wanted. Hussein also said he preserved his constitutional rights as the president of Iraq and said that he did recognize or intend to respond to the "so-called court." Hussein's defense team is expected to ask for a three-month adjournment [JURIST report], arguing that the court, set up by Americans, does not have jurisdiction over Hussein. The court is operating under a 1971 criminal law, promulgated under Hussein's leadership, which allows judges to issue a guilty verdict if they are merely "satisfied" by the evidence, a significantly lower standard than the traditional "reasonable doubt" test. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Saddam in the Dock: The Challenge of Didactic Justice | Op-ed: Sovereign Immunity for Saddam? Not Likely.