[JURIST] Invoking a rare procedure, the US Senate held a closed session Tuesday to discuss continuing controversy over the intelligence on alleged weapons of mass destruction used by President Bush leading up to the Iraq war. The main issue raised was the incomplete second phase of an investigation by Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts [official website] into the administration's use of the intelligence. The session resulted in the appointment of a six-member task force to review the work of the Intelligence Committee.

Closed sessions [Congressional backgrounder; PDF] in Congress exclude the public and press and are only held on matters deemed confidential and secret. Members and staff are prohibited from divulging information and transcripts from the proceedings are rarely published. The procedural device, which can be used by either the Senate or the House, is an implied power based on Article I, Section 5 [text] of the US Constitution. The rules for a closed Senate proceeding [official website] require a motion by one Senator, with a second by another; House rules [official website] are similar. Historically [Congressional historical overview; PDF], closed sessions have only been used to discuss impeachment trials, issues of national security, and sensitive communications from the President. The last time the Senate held a closed session was during the impeachment trial deliberations for President Clinton [CNN file story] in 1999. Since 1812, the House has met only five times in a closed session, and all sessions dealt with matters of national security and trade. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments in two cases Tuesday, with newly appointed Chief Justice John Roberts [JURIST news archive] taking an active role in both. Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal [Duke Law backgrounder] involves a religious dispute over the use of hallucinogenic tea used by a small Brazil-based church. While the church maintains that the tea is part of its communion ritual, the Bush administration argues that the tea, which contains an illegal drug called DMT, violates a federal narcotics law and a US treaty which promised to block the importation of DMT. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor seemed skeptical of the government position in exchanges with attorneys, but as she's retiring pending the appointment of a replacement she may not ultimately have a say in the eventual decision. AP has more. The second case, Maryland v. Blake [Duke Law backgrounder], is expected to lay out guidelines for authorities during police interrogations when the suspect talks without waiting for a lawyer. Leeander Jerome Blake, charged with murder, claims he suffered from police abuse when he was tricked into answering questions without his lawyer. In oral argument Tuesday, Justice Anthony Kennedy seemed unpersuaded by Blake's position that improper questioning, once started, could be later corrected. The outcome of this case will clarify how much discretion authorities have to interrogate a suspect who reinitiates questioning without counsel present. AP has more.

[JURIST] Members of the Louisiana Legislature [official website] have been summoned [official announcement] by Governor Kathleen Blanco [official website] for a two-week session [Governor's statement; press conference video] to deal with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] and Hurricane Rita. The special session will start this Sunday and last for two weeks through November 22. Among the 77 topics on the agenda are various tax proposals, borrowing and spending options to manage the $1 billion state budget deficit, and other financial restructuring. For individuals, tax proposals include a one-day statewide sales tax holiday and property tax breaks. For businesses, options to be discussed are placing a limit on the sales taxes that businesses are required to pay on natural gas and electricity and 100 percent tax breaks for businesses who purchase manufacturing machinery and equipment from areas affected by the hurricanes. AP has more.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency [official website] has announced [press release] that is will be awarding over $40 million to over 140 American Indian tribes for environmental protection projects. The tribes [EPA backgrounder], mainly in the Pacific Southwest, will use the money to build water and sewage treatment systems, implement air pollution controls, solid waste management, and watershed monitoring and restoration projects. The grants are authorized under the 1984 American Indian Policy [text], which grants the EPA power to coordinate with American Indian Tribes to implement environmental programs.

In other environmental law news...

• Energy and environmental ministers from 20 countries are meeting today in London to discuss how to best approach climate change issues. The meeting, proposed at the G8 Summit [summit website] last July, is in advance of the next international meeting to formally discuss the Kyoto Protocol [text]. The Financial Times has more.
  
  
• US District Judge John Steele [official website] ruled [PDF text] Monday that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [official website] went too far with a regulation that outlawed all grouper fishing to protect one species, the red grouper. There are 17 different grouper species in the area, including the red. The regulations were set to enact today (Nov. 1) a closed season for recreational grouper fishing in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The closed season for red grouper will remain in effect. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] A same-sex couple on Tuesday petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice [Wikipedia backgrounder] to force the country's Population Registry to recognize their same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive], performed legally in Toronto, Canada in July 2005. Jonathan Herland, a 29-year-old Canadian immigrant to Israel, and Ayal Walerauch, 26, accuse the Registry of “unlawful discrimination” for refusing to register them as married. The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) [official website] submitted the petition, arguing that precedent demands the Registry recognize the marriage if it has been legally recognized abroad regardless of religious considerations. The High Court will hear the petition in two weeks. The petition follows the similar petitions of two other gay Israeli couples [ACRI press release] in March. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] on Tuesday defended the US government's decision to prohibit UN human rights observers from interviewing detainees [JURIST report] on any visit to the prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The UN observers said Monday they would not accept the invitation [JURIST report] unless they could interview the detainees. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture [official website] Manfred Nowak explained in a New York press conference [JURIST video] that interviews with detainees are necessary for an effective fact-finding mission. The US government's limited invitation to UN human rights observers came after nearly three years of UN requests to see the facility. AP has more.

[JURIST] Texas Judge C.W. Duncan ruled Monday afternoon that Rep. Tom DeLay [official website; JURIST news archive] will get a new judge to preside over his trial on money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges [JURIST report]. In granting DeLay's recusal motion [JURIST report], Duncan said that Judge Bob Perkins should be replaced because of his donations to Democratic candidates and causes. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle [official website] has said that Perkins should not be required to recuse himself [Houston Chronicle report] or be disqualified merely for exercising his constitutional right to make political contributions, but DeLay's attorney on Monday argued that Perkins should be removed [AP report] to "protect the integrity" of the judicial system because his campaign donations to democratic groups create an "appearance of bias." AP has more.

[JURIST] An influential Ohio Republican said Tuesday that US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] had a judicial philosophy "clearly within the mainstream" and that he should not be filibustered. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) was a member the bipartisan group of fourteen Senators that fashioned an agreement in May [JURIST report] that headed off the so called "nuclear option" which would have ended the filibustering of judicial nominees in the Senate. Although many Democratic Senators have said that at this point they are reserving judgment on Alito, at least one, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) [official website] said Tuesday that he had not ruled out filibustering the nomination. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US military released 500 prisoners Tuesday from the Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] in observance of Eid ul-Fitr [Wikipedia backgrounder], the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The 500 prisoners, like the 1,000 prisoners released at the beginning of October [JURIST report] at the start of Ramadan, were given a copy of the Koran, $25 and a traditional white shirt. Before the anticipated release [JURIST report], which was requested by the Iraqi government and attended by Deputy Prime Minister Abed Mutlak al-Jibouri and other ministers, an Iraqi-led review board heard the cases of all 1,500 detainees and held that they had not commited serious or violent crimes. According to the US military, the prisoners “confessed to their crimes, renounced violence and pledged to be good citizens of Iraq.” Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] on Tuesday transferred its case against Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac [ICTY case backgrounder] to Croatia, marking the first time a case involving persons already indicted by the ICTY has been transferred to the country. In 2004, ICTY prosecutors charged [PDF indictment; JURIST report] Ademi and Norac, both former officials in the Croatian army, with two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of violations of the laws or customs of war. The charges relate to crimes the two allegedly committed while leading an attack during the Medak Pocket operation in September, 1993. Read the ICTY press release.

[JURIST] The Syrian government on Tuesday sharply criticized a UN resolution [text; JURIST report] ordering Syria to fully cooperate with the international investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive] or face serious diplomatic consequences. In Tuesday's response, the Syrian government characterized the UN resolution as politically motivated. A member of Syria's foreign ministry further asserted that the resolution adopted many of what he felt were biased, subjective assumptions of the report [text; JURIST report] issued last week by the team of UN investigators, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A group of asylum-seekers originating from Asia and Africa has begun a hunger strike in a detention camp in southwest Morocco in an attempt to gain refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [official website], the Moroccan Association of Human Rights [advocacy website, in French] said in a statement late Monday. Of the 247 illegal immigrants held in the military barracks in the city of Ghalmim for the past two weeks, 71 from the Ivory Coast, Congo, India and Bangladesh have gone on hunger strike over the poor conditions in which they are being held. The UNHCR says it has received a "flood" of asylum applications as the immigration crisis in Morocco continues. 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 European Union [JURIST report]. Aljazeera has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Amnesty condemns Spain, Morocco for rights violations against migrants
• Morocco has blocked access to migrants, UN refugee agency says
• Morocco deports illegal immigrants bound for Spain
• Spain deports 73 in ongoing border clash with Morocco
• Spain to expel illegal African immigrants following border assaults

[JURIST] Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien and his chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, must be held accountable for the flawed running of the federal sponsorship program [CBC backgrounder] from 1994 to 2003, said the first report on the scandal [text; Commissioner's statement] from Justice John Gomery, released in Ottawa Tuesday. Gomery also chided several others for their parts in the $332 million scheme, including Chuck Guité, the bureaucrat who used the program to reward friends and ad firms, Jean Corriveau, Chrétien's friend who ran a "kickback scheme" to funnel taxpayers' dollars from the program to his own pocket and Canada's Liberal Party, and former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano, who "chose to perpetuate the irregular manner of directing the sponsorship program." Gomery, however, held Chrétien to be the most culpable as he chose to run the program from his office and had the ability to set the program up in a correct way as to not allow these sorts of misdeeds. Current Canadian prime minister Paul Martin, finance minister in the Chretien cabinet, was exonerated of any wrongdoing. CBC has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Canadian ad exec avoids jail time in sponsorship scandal
• Canadian PM apologizes for corruption scandal, promises election after report
• Canadian judge lifts publication ban on sponsorship scandal testimony
• Former Canadian PM testifies before sponsorship inquiry

[JURIST] The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform [official website], created by President Bush to find simpler and more economically productive methods of taxation, has recommended two different tax plans, both of which would change the way all individuals and businesses pay and file their taxes. In its final report [text] released Tuesday, the panel proposed that most deductions, credits and other tax breaks be eliminated and replaced by a simplified tax rate, eliminating much of the paperwork and equations that baffle taxpayers. However, the amount taxpayers pay under either of the proposed systems would not significantly change from the current system. US Department of Treasury [official website] Secretary John Snow [official profile] called the proposals "bold recommendations" but he did not indicate what ideas the administration would embrace. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a document to be released later this month, the European Commission [official website] will set forth nearly 150 requirements, all of which must met by Turkey within two years, in order for the Mediterranean nation to be accepted into the European Union [official website], the Financial Times reported Tuesday. Chief among the document's requirements will be a mandate to end Turkey's practice of torture, establish freedom of religion and assert civilian control over the military. The Commission will also call on Turkey [EU/Turkey relations backgrounder] to move towards normalization of relations and negotiations with Cyprus [CIA Factbook]. Presently, Turkey does not officially recognize the divided island's government. Turkey's bid for EU membership is a culmination of a more than 40-year effort [Turkish MOFA backgrounder] by Turkish diplomacy to begin the integration process. The Financial Times has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Chirac says Turkey must make major changes for EU membership
• Turkey EU bid threatened by abuse allegations
• Revised Turkish penal code comes into force as part of EU deal
• EU warns Turkey not to recriminalize adultery
• EU sets date for start of talks with Turkey, but Cyprus wrangling looms

[JURIST] Joshua Colangelo-Bryan [attorney profile] an American lawyer for Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Jumah Dossari [Amnesty International case sheet], recently became the first outsider to witness an attempted suicide at the military prison. Human rights advocates say Dossari timed the attempt so that it would be witnessed by someone other than a prison guard as a cry for help meant to reach outside the base. Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a spokesman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo [official website], said Monday there have been 36 suicide attempts by 22 different detainees, but that no detainee had died at the prison. Martin added that hunger strikes and suicide attempts are "consistent with al Qaeda training and reflects the detainees' attempts to elicit media attention and bring pressure on the United States government." More than two dozen detainees are participating in a hunger strike [JURIST news archive] to protest prison conditions and indefinite confinement, requiring force feeding and close monitoring by health professionals. Tuesday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The leading Islamic party in Tajikistan [US State Dept. backgrounder] has criticized the country's recent ban on Islamic headscarves in secular schools [JURIST report]. The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) said the ban was unconstitutional and against the interests of a majority of the country, which is more than 90% Muslim. Education minister Abdudjabor Rakhmonov announced the ban on October 19, saying the hijab and other religious symbols [JURIST news archive] were unacceptable in public schools and in violation of the constitution and education laws. Aljazeera has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Netherlands considering Muslim burka ban
• Australian PM rejects school headscarf ban
• UK court upholds right to wear Muslim dress in schools
• Danish court allows employer to ban headscarves
• Malaysia court upholds expulsion of students for wearing turbans
• German high court: headscarf ban applies to Christian nuns
• French headscarf ban takes effect

[JURIST] The Michigan Court of Appeals Monday complied with a request by state Attorney General Mike Cox [official website] seeking to delay a lower court ruling which allowed public-sector employers to offer domestic partner benefits to employees. In September, a County Circuit judge ruled [PDF decision] that providing the benefits did not conflict with a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The benefits have already been included in contracts with state employees, but have been on hold pending a court decision. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm [official website] is now seeking approval by the state Civil Service Commission to implement the benefits. AP has more. The ACLU of Michigan has additional case documents.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• MI Senate passes resolution to prevent same sex benefits
• MI court hears arguments on domestic partner benefits
• Alaska Supreme Court ends ban on same-sex partner benefits
• Opponents battle CA domestic partners law

[JURIST] Syria [JURIST news archive] has agreed to allow Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], to interview two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile]. The Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Sami al-Khiyami, told the BBC Tuesday that the president's brother and brother-in-law would agree to see the UN commission. Maher al-Assad, the president's brother is the head of Syria's presidential guard, and his brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, is the head of military intelligence. Both men were implicated in Mehlis' interim report [PDF text]. The offer comes a day after a UN resolution [text] demanded cooperation with the Hariri probe [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Magistrates in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] told court officials Monday that they are starving and unable to afford three meals a day, as the country's inflation soars and more than 75% of the population lives below the poverty line. The statement by magistrate Enias Magateto was made in response to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa's urging that magistrates refuse to accept bribes. The country's food shortages is due in part to government seizures of white-owned land [BBC report], Deputy Agriculture Minister Sylvester Nguni has said. The land has been given to people who know little about farming, and Nguni admitted that many of the new owners are doing "nothing" on the farmland [Herald report]. In October, courts just outside Zimbabwe's capital city of Harare were forced to close because of intermittent water shortages and because the prison service had no gasoline to drive defendants to court. The economic and political situation in Zimbabwe has been deteriorating in recent months and the government of President Robert Mugabe has drawn sharp international criticism for harsh reforms and repression, with the government of Australia pressing most recently for him to be charged by the International Criminal Court [JURIST report] for abusing his own people. BBC News has more. Zim Observer has local coverage.

[JURIST] Abdurahman Jafar, vice chairman of the legal affairs committee [website] of the of the Muslim Council of Britain [advocacy website], warned the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights [official website] Monday that the country's anti-terror proposals [JURIST report] may undermine the Muslim community's commitment to combating terrorism. Jafar expressed concern that the toughened laws would have a "really horrific counter-productive effect," and that the bill fails to distinguish between "the issue of illegitimate attacks against peaceful democracies, with legitimate acts of resistance against illegitimate regimes around the world." Last week, the Terrorism Bill 2005-2006 [PDF text] passed its first vote in the House of Commons [JURIST report]. Now it must be considered by a committee of lawmakers, before a final vote in the House of Commons, and votes in the House of Lords. AP has more.

[JURIST] Daniel Martin, a 35-year old Gulf War veteran suffering from memory problems, asthma and anxiety, said Tuesday that he feels "vindicated" by a UK Pensions Appeal Tribunal [official website] ruling [PDF text] that awarded him a disability pension for Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The tribunal said that GWS could be used as an "umbrella term" to cover Martin's ailments. According to the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association (NGVFA) [official website], of the 7,500 veterans who have made a claim for a disability pension, 1,500 have claimed GWS, and only two cases had been heard so far. The ruling will have dramatic implications for hundreds of other Gulf War veterans who are suffering with similar ailments, according to Martin's GWS lawyer Mark McGhee [lawyer profile], who called the decision a "landmark ruling" and "the definitive case on Gulf War Syndrome to date." The ruling differs significantly from Shaun Rusling's 2003 case [backgrounder; judgment], where the Ministry of Defence (MoD) [official website] had the burden of proving that GWS did not exist. In Martin's case, he had the burden to prove that he suffered from GWS. Pressure is now on the MoD to deal with the other pending cases in the same fashion. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] A day after lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks [BBC profile; advocacy website; JURIST news archive], said they have evidence that Hicks suffered sexual abuse and torture [JURIST report] while in US custody, the Australian government has said it will investigate Hicks' accusations. Hicks' father and a former detainee have said [ABC Australia transcript] that he was taken from a US warship and blindfolded, beaten, spat upon, assaulted and sexually abused in two 10-hour beatings by Americans on the way to Cuba. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official profile] said that the Australian Embassy [official website] in Washington will follow up the credibility of these claims after American teams have yet to find any evidence of abuse or torture [JURIST report]. Hicks has been in US military custody at Guantanamo Bay for three-and-a-half years after being captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan. He is accused of fighting for al Qaeda and has pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding the enemy and conspiring to commit war crimes. Hicks' military commission trial is scheduled to start [JURIST report] on November 18. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Mohamed ElBaradei [official profile], Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website], Monday called for the start of negotiations [statement] on the long-stalled Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty [FAS backgrounder], a global treaty banning the further production of nuclear materials such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. ElBaradei, presenting the IAEA's annual report [text] to the UN General Assembly, said he was disappointed that neither the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text] review conference nor the UN's 2005 World Summit [official website] resulted in an agreement on how to promote nuclear disarmament. ElBaradei cited as a top priority his aim to convince North Korea to return to the NPT regime. North Korea [IAEA materials] has pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and declared it has nuclear bombs, but has said it would likely return to the treaty [JURIST report] if the US stops making threats against the country. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Mohamed ElBaradei | Topic: IAEA | Topic: Nuclear Non-proliferation

[JURIST] Paul Volcker, chairman of an independent commission [official website] probing the now defunct UN oil-for-food program [JURIST news archive], blamed lapses at the UN on a "systemic problem" and said he found only "limited" corruption during his testimony [hearing notice and statements] Monday to the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations [official website]. Last week, Volcker's panel issued a report [JURIST video] that showed 2,200 companies made illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion [JURIST report] to Saddam Hussein's government through the program. Volcker denied that there was a "culture of corruption" at the UN and said that the UN's structure must be strengthened so that there are fewer excuses for escaping responsibility. According to Volcker, the secretary-general's job has become too broad, making him unable to focus enough attention on administering the organization. In a report released Sunday, Stuart Bowen, US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction [official website], said that corruption is rampant in Iraq [JURIST report] and must be challenged by developing new anti-corruption agencies. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US military investigating officer Col. Patrick Reinhert on Tuesday recommended a court-martial for Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, a National Guard soldier charged with killing two of his superiors in Iraq [JURIST report]. Col. Reinhert also noted that capital punishment could be an option for Martinez due to aggravating factors. During Martinez's Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder; UCMJ text], Reinhert found "reasonable cause" to believe that Martinez used an anti-personnel mine and three grenades to kill Capt. Philip Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen in a "personal vendetta" against them. The June 7 deaths of Martinez's superiors in an explosion at a base in Tikrit is believed to be first case of an American soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors, although it is the second case during the Iraq war where a soldier has been charged with killing his comrades [JURIST report]. During the military hearings, which began on Monday [JURIST report], Capt. Carl Prober testified that Martinez told him that he did not like Esposito and planned to "frag" him, a military term for killing one's superior. AP has more.