[JURIST] Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark [JURIST news archive], currently a defense lawyer for Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], Friday accused witnesses of false testimony, claiming they had read their testimonies from pre-written statements. Only two of the nine witnesses [JURIST news archive] that have testified thus far have stood in open court, while the rest have testified from behind a curtain with their voices computer-modified. The identities of the witnesses have not been disclosed for security purposes after defense lawyers were murdered [JURIST report] in October, but Clark said the inability to confront the witnesses is a serious flaw in Iraq’s justice system. Clark also questioned the motives behind the testimony, claiming that the possibility of pressing for monetary compensation in a criminal court gave them improper motives and “corrupts the trial itself.” The trial has been adjourned until December 21 [JURIST report], after the December 15 Iraqi elections. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] said Friday that it is in “intense dialogue” with US authorities to visit all detainees held by the US in the war on terror. The US State Department [official website] confirmed [JURIST report] Thursday that the ICRC does not have access to all detainees, although it is allowed to visit everyone held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The ICRC is particularly concerned with detainees possibly held in secret locations [JURIST report] in violation of the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] after human rights groups accused the CIA of running undisclosed prisons [JURIST report] and secretly transporting detainees through Europe. Jakob Kellenberger, president of the ICRC, fears that secret detention will lead to torture in the undisclosed prisons. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) [official website] announced Friday that a soldier arrested in May 2004 [JURIST report] in connection with fake photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse published in the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper will not face charges. The crown prosecution service felt that there was insufficient evidence and an unrealistic prospect of convicting Private Stuart Mackenzie for obtaining property by deception. Military court martial proceedings [JURIST report] that had been started against Mackenzie were suspended earlier this year. The photos that appeared to depict British troops abusing an Iraqi detainee sparked immediate doubts about their authenticity and the Royal Military Police [official website] quickly launched an investigation. The Daily Mirror published a front-page apology and fired editor Piers Morgan [JURIST report] in May 2004 after the fakery was revealed. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] on Friday decided [decision text; press release] that they will not issue subpoenas for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website] and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder [BBC profile] ordering them to testify as witnesses in the Slobodan Milosevic trial [JURIST news archive] as the former Yugoslav president had requested. Milosevic wanted the two leaders to testify that he was a peacemaker in the Kosovo conflict to help defend against charges [ICTY case backgrounder] of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Balkans in the 1990s. Milosevic has also asked for other high profile witness [JURIST report], including Bill Clinton and retired US general Wesley Clark, who were leaders during NATO's 1999 bombing campaign to stop Serbian repression in Kosovo. Lawyers appointed to help Milosevic conduct his defense told the ICTY that both Blair and Schroeder possess necessary information regarding the Kosovo charges. The court determined, however, that calling Blair and Schroeder as witnesses was not warranted in the case. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [advocacy profile; JURIST news archive] announced Friday that they have filed a second appeal [JURIST report] to overturn Khodorkovsky's conviction on tax evasion and fraud charges [JURIST report]. Khodorkovsky, former head of oil company Yukos, and his business partner Platon Lebedev were sentenced to nine years in prison [JURIST report], though the sentence was reduced to eight [JURIST report] after their first appeal in September. Khodorkovsky's lawyers are asking that the sentence be overturned and the case be closed. Khodorkovsky's defense website has a press release and an overview of the Russian appeals process. MosNews has more.

[JURIST] Eyewitness reports are showing that Rigoberto Alpizar [Wikipedia profile], who was shot and killed onboard a plane [MSNBC report] at the Miami International Airport Wednesday, never claimed to have a bomb [TIME report]. Federal officials say they opened fire after Alpizar disobeyed their warnings to stop, reached into his backpack, and said he had a bomb. Passengers, however, who never perceived Alpizar as a threat, are now saying that were more afraid of air marshals during the incident than the reportedly mentally unstable Alpizar. Parallels are being drawn this US shooting and that of Jean Charles de Menezes [BBC report], the Brazilian man mistakenly shot by London police [JURIST report] at a London subway station days after the London bombings [JURIST news archive] last July. In the de Menezes case, it was announced Friday that officers involved in the shooting could face charges [BBC report]. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been investigating the incident [JURIST report] and will "likely" forward its final report to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration. AP has more.

[JURIST] In order to comply with Thursday's judgment [PDF text; JURIST report] from the UK Law Lords banning the use of evidence obtained through torture, judges on Britain's Special Immigration Appeals Court (SIAC) will hold hearings early next year to determine whether evidence used in as many as 30 terrorism cases was obtained by torture. The SIAC hears appeals of deportation orders [backgrounder] when the decision to remove someone from the UK involves national security or other sensitive information. UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile], has said that orders to detain terror suspects do not rely on "coerced evidence" though human rights activists disagree. There have been allegations that torture was involved in obtaining evidence used during the ricin trial [JURIST report] earlier this year. In that case, a group of Algerians faced charges for plotting to spread ricin and other poisons in Britain. One defendant was convicted, though four others were acquitted and now face deportation proceedings. Another terror suspect whose case will be reviewed by the SIAC is Mohammed Meguerba, an Algerian arrested in 2002 on terrorism charges. Meguerba's lawyers claim he was tortured while in detention in Algeria and that this led to his alleged confession; Algerian officials have denied this accusation. Under the Law Lords ruling, the government will only have to prove that it is more likely than not that evidence is not a product of torture, rather than the "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Cambodia and the United Nations moved closer to beginning genocide trials for Khmer Rouge leaders with an announcement Friday that the UN-backed tribunal will begin setting up offices next month. A list of Cambodian and international candidates to serve as judges and prosecutors will be unveiled later in December. No former leader of the communist Khmer Rouge [Wikipedia backgrounder] regime, considered responsible for the genocide of the "killing fields" in Cambodia [Yale CGP backgrounder] after taking power in the 1970s, has ever faced trial. Funding for the trial had been an issue for Cambodia, one of Asia's poorest nations. International support was needed [JURIST report] to help get proceedings started. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Cambodia requests more funding for Khmer Rouge tribunal
• Cambodia accepts Japanese offer to help fund Khmer Rouge trials
• Cambodian PM opposes private funds for Khmer Rouge genocide trial
• Cambodian opposition calls for public contributions to Khmer Rouge trials fund
• Cambodians urge speedy Khmer Rouge genocide trials
• Cambodian group calls for evidence against Khmer Rouge regime
• UN pledges put Khmer Rouge war crimes court on track
• Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal approved by Cambodian parliament

[JURIST] Khaled el-Masri [ACLU profile], a German man at the heart of an ACLU lawsuit against the CIA alleging wrongful imprisonment [JURIST report], may have been targeted as a result of information Germany shared with the US, according to a German security official [Berliner Zeitung report, in German]. In the complaint [PDF text], El-Masri alleged that he was kidnapped in Macedonia and taken to Afghanistan, where he was held for five months until his release on direct orders from Condoleezza Rice [JURIST report]. He says he was subjected to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation tactics. President Bush on Tuesday again denied [JURIST report] that the US government sends terrorism suspects abroad to be tortured. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] announced six arrests [press release] on Thursday in connection with a series of ecoterrorism attacks in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001. Four arsons and the destruction of a transmission tower owned by the Bonneville Power Administration [official website], a government power agency, were the basis for the charges. The Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attacks. No one was hurt in any of the attacks, but the economic consequences were high; the 2001 fire at a plywood factory caused $500,000 in damages. In February, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified [JURIST report] before a Senate committee that animal rights groups and environmental extremists pose a domestic terror threat and in May, another FBI official testified that violent environmental and animal rights groups are the nation's top domestic terror threat [testimony transcript; JURIST report]. Friday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Reversing a ruling [JURIST report] made by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health [official website], Governor Mitt Romney [official website] said Thursday that even private hospitals must provide emergency contraception pills to rape victims. The DPH had said that church-run and other private hospitals could opt out of a new law requiring them to provide the pills [text]. Romney vetoed the law [JURIST report] in July, but the state legislature voted to override it [JURIST report]. Romney said his reversal of the DPH comes in response to legal advice that the new law trumps a prior one stating that private hospitals cannot be forced to provide abortions or contraception. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] Republicans in Congress will look to give final approval to an extension of the Patriot Act [JURIST news archive] powers next week, but criticism from both parties may lead to a filibuster or even defeat of the measure in the Senate. House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise [JURIST report; conference report, PDF] Thursday about the provisions of the bill, but Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid [official website] said he would oppose it. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) [official website], the only senator to vote against the original Patriot Act in September 2001, promised [statement] to do "everything he could, including a filibuster" to stop the new measure. Others stopped short of talking of a filibuster, but in a statement Feingold was joined by two Democrats and three Republicans in announcing opposition [text] to the proposal. AP has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has said that Poland housed the main CIA secret detention facility [JURIST report] in Europe, with approximately 100 detainees. The accusations, published in the Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza [media website in Polish], are based on information gathered from CIA sources and other documents obtained by the human rights group. The Polish facilities, according to HRW, were closed [JURIST report] shortly after the existence of such detention facilities was first published in November. HRW has previously said that Romania also hosted a CIA detention facility [JURIST report] but now says that Romanian facilities were used mostly to transport prisoners. Both Poland and Romania have repeatedly denied the allegations [JURIST report] that CIA facilities existed in the countries. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley [official profile] said Thursday that the city has fired 60 police officers and suspended 25 more for failing to show up for duty during Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. Riley, who was sworn into office on Nov. 28, stated that cleaning the police department's image was a top priority. During the hurricane many officers were stranded and unable to communicate with bosses, others are accused of abandoning their posts. Police officials have completed 42 of 228 disciplinary hearings [JURIST report] of officers accused of abandoning their posts. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• New Orleans Police Department fires 45 officers for desertion during Katrina
• New Orleans police department investigating officer involvement in post-Katrina looting
• New Orleans police chief resigns as tribunal for missing officers announced

[JURIST] A New York appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed a same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] in New York City. Earlier this year, New York City Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan had ruled [PDF opinion; JURIST report] in favor of five gay couples complaining that the state's domestic relations law violated their equal protection and due process rights under the New York constitution [text]. Ling-Cohan said that the words "husband," "wife," "groom" and "bride," as they appear in the domestic relations law, should be defined to apply equally to men and women. The appeals court overturned this ruling Thursday in a 4-1 decision [text], saying that Ling-Cohan's decision "was an act that exceeded the court's constitutional mandate and usurped that of the Legislature." The court said it is not up to judges to redefine terms that are given clear meaning in a statute. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website], chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that he has started a formal inquiry into the Justice Department's handling of the Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] case. Padilla, a US citizen, had been held without charge for over three years as an enemy combatant on suspicion that he had been planning to explode a "dirty bomb". Padilla was charged [JURIST report] on Nov. 22 with being part of a North American al Qaeda terror cell. Specter has asked the Justice Department to explain why Padilla was indicted on different charges than those which were used to justify his detention as an enemy combatant. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in September ruled [PDF text; JURIST report] that Padilla could be detained without charges indefinitely; that ruling had been appealed [PDF cert. petition; JURIST report] to the US Supreme Court and the Court was deciding whether to take the case when Padilla was indicted. Specter has not yet decided whether to hold a judiciary committee hearing on the matter. Reuters has more.

[JURIST Europe] Opposition activists and human rights groups have condemned the restrictive amendments [JURIST report] to Belarus' Criminal Code that were passed unanimously [official press release in Russian] by the country's upper house of parliament. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [official website] also expressed concern [press release]. The amendments criminalize activities such as the "discrediting" of Belarus, participating in mass demonstrations, and financing political opposition parties, as well as an anti-terrorism provision. Parliament justified the amendments as necessary to prevent a "color revolution" from occurring in Belarus similar to the ones experienced by Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan [JURIST reports] in the past year. The changes won't take effect until signed into law by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko [Wikipedia profile]. Radio Free Europe has more.

Tatyana Margolin is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST Europe] The trial of the five main suspects in the failed July 21 London bombings [JURIST news archive] will begin in September 2006. The five Londoners, Hussein Osman, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, and Ramzi Mohamed, are being detained in Belmarsh Prison [HM Prison profile] in London. During a Thursday hearing at the Old Bailey, the five suspects appeared - via a video link - and denied explosives and conspiracy to murder charges. Four of the five men also face attempted murder charges. Osman was seen in the video sitting in a separate section while the other four were seated together. BBC News has local coverage.

Angela Onikepe is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.