[JURIST] Virginia Governor Mark Warner [official website] on Thursday ordered that DNA evidence from a 1980s rape and murder case be tested to determine whether the man convicted and executed for the crime was innocent. Roger Keith Coleman [advocacy profile] was convicted for the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law and was executed in 1992. Warner ordered the tests because current technology can provide a level of forensic certainty not previously available. This is the first time that a governor has requested genetic testing for someone already executed, and if Coleman is shown to be innocent, it will mark the first time that scientific testing will have exonerated someone already executed. Coleman continually asserted his innocence and death penalty [JURIST news archives] opponents have requested for several years that DNA evidence from the crime scene be tested, but Virginia courts have refused to order the testing. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Senate aides have said that Democrats will force a one-week delay in the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive] to the US Supreme Court. Confirmation hearings are set to begin Monday [JURIST report] and committee chairman Arlen Specter had hoped to hold a vote on whether to approve the nomination on January 17. According to Senate aides, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that Democrats on the committee will invoke their right to delay the vote for one week. AP has more.

[JURIST] The National Council for Human Rights, sponsored by the Egyptian government, on Thursday called for an investigation into the 11 deaths that occurred during the most recent round of parliamentary elections [JURIST news archive] that ended in December. The killings were the result of violence throughout several weeks of elections in Egypt [JURIST news archive]; the elections were marred by various allegations [JURIST report, BBC report], including security forces hindering voters and banning groups who contested the elections. Of particular concern is the ban [JURIST report] preventing the Muslim Brotherhood [Wikipedia backgrounder] from becoming a legal political party despite its win of 88 seats in the parliament, making it Egypt's strongest opposition group. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) [party website], the party of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile, BBC profile], secured three-quarters of the seats in the 454-member parliament. The government is under no obligation to implement the council's recommendations. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Women voters kept from polling stations in Egypt elections
• Egypt court allows monitoring of vote count with cameras
• Egyptian police blocking voters as final round of parliamentary elections begin
• Egypt keeping ban on Muslim Brotherhood despite electoral gains
• Egyptian judges reject parliamentary election results
• Hundreds detained in Egypt parliamentary election runoff
• Over 200 arrested in second round of Egypt parliamentary elections

[JURIST] AP is reporting that law enforcement officials have said that Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] has been transferred from military to civilian custody in order to face terror charges [JURIST report] in Miami. The transfer, previously delayed [JURIST report] by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, was authorized [order, PDF; JURIST report] Wednesday by the US Supreme Court.

[JURIST] Lord Paddy Ashdown [official profile], the EU High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina [official profile] on Thursday confiscated funds from the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) because its founder and wanted war crimes criminal Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile] remains a fugitive. In 2005, the country's main Bosnian Serb party had raised about $121,000 but its assets were frozen and were only to be released if Karadzic was captured and turned over to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague by the end of the year . The funds will be transferred to the State Investigation and Protection Agency and disbursed throughout the budget for various government institutions. SDS officials have called for Karadzic's surrender and are outraged that they would obligated to capture and arrest a war crimes criminal. In December, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website, JURIST news archive] expressed her disappointment [JURIST report] over the failure to arrest Karadzic and Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounders], who have been indicted for genocide and other war crimes. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Florida Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday held that the state's 1999 school voucher law [text] violates the state constitutional requirement of a uniform system of free public schools. The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) [state backgrounder], which was led by Gov. Jeb Bush [official website] and was the country's first statewide school voucher system, allows tax dollars to be spent on students in public school who receive failing grades for two out of four years to attend private or parochial schools on state vouchers. In the Court's 5-2 opinion [PDF text], per Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, the court held that the OSP violates the language under Article IX [text] of the Florida constitution [text] because:

It diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools that are the sole means set out in the Constitution for the state to provide for the education of Florida’s children. This diversion not only reduces money available to the free schools, but also funds private schools that are not "uniform" when compared with each other or the public system. Many standards imposed by law on the public schools are inapplicable to the private schools receiving public monies. In sum, through the OSP the state is fostering plural, nonuniform systems of education in direct violation of the constitutional mandate for a uniform system of free public schools.

[JURIST] A suspected Bosnian Serb war criminal was captured by European Union EUFOR [official website] peacekeeping troops on Thursday in a firefight at the suspect's home. Dragomir Abazovic and his 12-year-old son were shot and injured [Reuters report], while his wife died from bullet wounds after being admitted to the hospital. Abazovic was indicted in 1999 by a local court in Bosnia for crimes he allegedly committed in the Rogatica area during the 1992-1995 ethnic war between Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats. However, Abazovic was not included on the lists of suspects wanted by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive]. EUFOR troops took over from a NATO force in 2004 and features 6,500 soldiers from 22 EU member states and 11 other countries. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-MI) [official website] has said that the Bush administration cannot use recent legislation [press release] in an attempt to dismiss already filed habeas corpus petitions of Guantanamo Bay detainees [JURIST news archive]. The 2006 defense spending bill [text], signed into law last week, contained the so-called Graham-Levin Amendment [JURIST document] limiting habeas jurisdiction for claims by enemy combatants. The Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed notice this week [JURIST report] with federal judges indicating that it would seek to dismiss 186 pending cases based on the new law which strips the courts' jurisdiction to hear the prisoners' cases. Levin, however, disagrees with the administration's attempt to use the legislation retroactively on pending cases since he believes it should only apply to new cases. The new law is worded to "take effect on the date of the enactment" and the DOJ is using the interpretation that this applies to all detainee cases, pending or not yet filed. Levin stated that "the administration is now seeking to end-run the legislative process and achieve a result through the courts that it was unable to obtain in Congress." Thursday's Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official website] issued a warning on Thursday that the US is considering referring Iran [JURIST news archive] to the UN Security Council [official website] if it continues its plans to resume nuclear fuel research. Iran announced on Tuesday that it would resume its research on January 9 but insists that its program will solely be used for domestic energy needs. This development prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website, JURIST news archive] to seek clarification [press release] from Iran on its decision. Concerns that Iran may seek nuclear weapons deepened on Thursday when a delegation from Tehran failed to show up for a meeting [Reuters report] in Vienna with the IAEA to explain their new research program. A spokesman for the IAEA said no explanation was given as to why the delegation did not come to the meeting and no new discussions have been scheduled. The IAEA has previously announced [PDF text] that Iran was in non-compliance [JURIST report] with terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [text] but so far the IAEA has not been willing to refer Iran [JURIST report] to the Council. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A British judge on Thursday said that Haroon Rashid Aswat [Wikipedia profile], a British citizen wanted in the US on suspicion of setting up a terrorist training camp, could be extradited to the United States. Aswat was arrested in August [JURIST report] by Zambian police in connection with the July 7 London bombing attacks [JURIST news archive]. He was later arrested under a US warrant on the suspicion of setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon five years ago. Aswat's extradition must now be approved by UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [official profile], but no immediate word was available from the Home Office after the ruling. Lawyers defending Aswat say they plan to appeal, which could delay his extradition for several months. AFP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Bombing suspect returned to UK, charges considered for those praising attacks
• Zambia ready to turn over London bombings suspect to UK
• Zambia detains wanted British national on terror suspicions

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official profile; JURIST news archive] on Thursday called for the full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law [press release] in the ongoing conflict in Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Last month, Arbour warned [JURIST report] that Nepal could face a full-scale armed conflict if the government failed to extend a ceasefire with Maoist rebels [BBC backgrounder], and her most recent comments follow the end of a four-month unilateral ceasefire [BBC report] by the Maoists. Arbour said that because Nepal is a party to the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] and several international human rights treaties, it must uphold its legal obligations and abide by international human rights laws. She also reminded the Maoists that international laws prohibit violence against civilians and offer special protection for children. Despite these legal obligations, Arbour went on to say that during this conflict "both parties have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law." The UN High Commissioner pledged that the OHCHR office [official website] in Nepal will be monitoring the situation and making regular reports to the Commission on Human Rights [official website]. Nepal News has more.

[JURIST] Three leading Republican senators, John W. Warner (R-VA) [official profile], John McCain (R-AZ) [official profile], and Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC) [official profile], on Wednesday condemned President Bush's statement that he can bypass the newly-passed ban [JURIST report] on torture [JURIST news archive] under his commander in chief powers. The statement [JURIST document] made by Bush when he signed the 2006 defense spending bill [JURIST report] last week, that he can waive the restrictions on the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment against detainees to protect national security, was contained in a "signing statement," or official document in which a president voices his interpretation of a new law. A joint statement [text] issued by Senators Warner and McCain, the lawmakers said:

We believe the President understands Congress’s intent in passing by very large majorities legislation governing the treatment of detainees included in the 2006 Department of Defense Appropriations and Authorization bills. The Congress declined when asked by administration officials to include a presidential waiver of the restrictions included in our legislation. Our Committee intends through strict oversight to monitor the Administration’s implementation of the new law.

[JURIST] Lawyers for former Enron [JURIST news archive] chairman Kenneth Lay [Chronicle profile] and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling [Chronicle profile] on Wednesday afternoon filed a motion to move the location of the trial, where both defendants face charges of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the fall of the energy company. The trial is currently scheduled to begin on January 30 in Houston, but lawyers for the defendants believe that the Houston community is much too biased to properly conduct a fair trial. If US District Judge Sim Lake denies the change of venue motion, the defense has also suggested a delay in the trial date so that a new jury pool can be summoned. This comes after proceedings were postponed for two weeks [JURIST report] last week following a guilty plea by former co-defendant Richard Causey [Chronicle profile]. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Palestinian Election Commission (CEC) [official website, in Arabic], an independent commission that supervises elections in the Palestinian Authority [JURIST news archive], resigned Thursday in protest of the government's decision to allow 60,000 security forces to cast votes in the January 25 parliamentary elections in their barracks instead of in their districts. After receiving the resignation letter, however, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie's cabinet later retracted its decision, and the CEC may reconsider its resignation. CEC President Hanna Nasser said permitting the forces to vote in their barracks would amount to interference and lack of transparency in the election process. President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] has been encouraged by some in his Fatah party [party website, in Arabic] to delay the election, amid fears that Hamas [NPS backgrounder], the militant Islamic group running in the parliamentary elections for the first time, will make substantial gains. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) [official profile], the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee [official website], told President Bush in a letter Wednesday that the White House violated the National Security Act [text] when it withheld information pertaining to the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] from full congressional oversight committees. Harman said the National Security Act requires that intelligence agencies keep the entire House and Senate intelligence committees "fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States," unless it is a highly classified covert action, defined as an operation to influence political, economic or military conditions of another country. Harmon added that the NSA's warrantless surveillance program does not qualify as a covert action. In response to Harman's letter, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the White House believed Congress was appropriately briefed. House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) [official profile] said Harmon had not previously raised concerns about the number of people briefed. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [official website] on Wednesday appealed to Egyptian authorities in an attempt to prevent the deportation of 654 Sudanese refugees whom Cairo authorities say are in the country illegally. Also Wednesday, US-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to stop the deportations [JURIST report], which were announced earlier this week following a violent dispute [UNHCR press release] on December 30 between Egyptian police and approximately 2,5000 Sudanese protesters. An estimated 27 Sudanese were killed [BBC report] during the violence. Both HRW and UNHCR have sent letters [HRW text] urging Egypt not to deport the refugees, with the concern that some of the refugees may face persecution in Sudan if they are forced to return. Reuters has more. AKI has local coverage.

1:55 PM ET - Egypt has agreed to delay the deportations, initially scheduled to begin Thursday, for three days in order to allow the UNHCR access to the refugees. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [official profile] defended his annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine [shrine website] Wednesday, and condemned Chinese and South Korean leaders who refused to meet with him because he commemorates Japanese veterans from World War II. Several of those honored by the shrine were executed for committing war crimes, and Koizumi's visits prompted protests by China and South Korea [JURIST news archives], both victims of Japan's war-time aggression. Koizumi said it was up to Beijing and Seoul to resume top-level relations with Japan [JURIST news archive], adding "I do not understand why foreign governments interfere with a spiritual issue and try to turn it into a diplomatic issue." South Korea's foreign minister responded, saying "The key to the South Korea-Japan problem and maintaining cooperative relationships among nations in the region is for Japan's government to try to win trust and respect from related countries with a correct stance on the perception of history." Last September, Japan's Osaka High Court ruled [JURIST report] that the Prime Minister's visits violate constitutional provisions for the separation of church and state, but an October decision upheld [JURIST report] a lower court ruling [JURIST report] to dismiss a lawsuit against Koizumi. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Japan PM visits war shrine despite court ruling
• Japan court affirms decision to dismiss war shrine lawsuit against PM
• Japan court rules PM shrine visits unconstitutional
• Japan court dismisses war shrine lawsuit against PM
• Japan court refuses to stop PM visit to war shrine
• Japan court rules PM's visits to war shrine unconstitutional

[JURIST] A federal judge Wednesday rejected the US government's argument that revealing the names of hundreds of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees violates their privacy, and remanded the case for further consideration on whether to actually release the names. The lawsuit was filed against the US Department of Defense [official website] under the Freedom of Information Act [text] by the Associated Press (AP) [media website] in an attempt to make public government documents related to military hearings for Guantanamo Bay detainees. The government has revealed the transcripts of 558 tribunals, but has declined to reveal facts about the detainees' identities, citing fear of retaliation by terrorist groups. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff denied the Department of Defense's motion, saying the government failed to provide "anything but thin and conclusory speculation to support its claims of possible retaliation." The AP's general counsel Dave Tomlin was pleased with the decision, saying, "Many of these detainees are begging for the world to know where they are...The court was right to reject the government's pose as guardian of privacy rights when what it's really guarding is its own secrecy." AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Federal judge says Pentagon must act to reveal names of Gitmo detainees
• Judge says Gitmo detainees must be asked for permission to release names
• AP: Documents detail Gitmo detainees' claims of abuses and inaction