[JURIST] UN ambassadors from Panama and South Africa Thursday circulated a draft compromise resolution in the UN General Assembly [official website] outlining provisions for a UN Human Rights Council [UN backgrounder] to replace the current 53-member Commission on Human Rights [UN backgrounder]. The draft proposes a 45-member body based in Geneva with 12 members from Africa, 13 from Asia, 5 from Eastern Europe, 8 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 7 from Western Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Still undetermined is whether election to the Council will be by a two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly or a simple majority. The US - a longstanding critic of the Commission and proponent of a Council - backs the two-thirds requirement while countries such as Egypt, China, Russia, and Pakistan prefer the simple majority approach [JURIST report]. Council backers are aiming for adoption of a resolution on the new body by February 15. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei Thursday sought to delay an IAEA vote on a draft resolution offered by Britain, France and Germany and backed by the US that calls for Iran to be reported to the UN Security Council [official website] after Tehran broke IAEA seals [JURIST report] on equipment used to produce enriched uranium. ElBaradei said he wanted a "window of opportunity" to defuse the situation and noted that IAEA board members were not yet agreed on whether to report Iran to the Security Council now or at a future date. Iran claims there is no legal basis for a referral to the Security Council [JURIST report] and has threatened to respond with a resumption of nuclear activity [AP report] and an end to IAEA oversight. ABC Australia has more.

[JURIST] The Oregon Supreme Court [official website] Thursday upheld an award of $79.5 million in punitive damages [opinion] that a jury in 1999 directed Philip Morris USA to pay to relatives of an Oregon man who died of lung cancer from smoking. The same jury set the level of compensatory damages at $821,000. The Oregon high court called the cigarette marketing tactics of Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group, "reprehensible" while Philip Morris vowed to again appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court [official website], which had ordered the Oregon court to reconsider the original award in 2003. Philip Morris claims that the Oregon court's decision conflicts with the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling in State Farm v. Campbell [PDF opinion] which sets guidelines for calculating punitive damages. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In a close vote Thursday, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) [official website] beat out stand-in GOP chief Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) [official website] to win election as GOP House Majority Leader [official website], vowing to move the party away from recent ethics and corruption scandals. Boehner, who beat Blunt 122-109 on a second ballot, said that Republicans would now recommit to "restore the trust between Congress and the American people." Boehner takes over from Rep. Tom DeLay, who formally stepped down [JURIST report] last month while still caught up in a Texas criminal case over campaign finance. One of Boehner's first challenges will be to limit the political fallout from the corruption scandal involving former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive], who pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud charges in January. AP has more.

[JURIST] EU Justice Commissioner and European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini [official website] intervened in the growing Islamic cartoons controversy Thursday, calling newspaper publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad "somewhat imprudent," while acknowledging that freedom of expression was a "'founding principle' of most European nations." In a statement [text] from Brussels, he said:

I can understand the feelings of indignation, frustration and sadness of the Muslim communities over the last few days as they viewed the cartoons published by a Danish newspaper. Such events do not facilitate dialogue between faiths and cultures and provide barriers to the integration process to which the Member States of the Union are committed.... [But] a difference of opinion, even if it is bitter and disrespectful, often feeds into free polemic debate, in which satire plays a full part. We often discuss matters, sometimes passionately or even rudely, not only in our Parliaments or in the press, but in all manner of public arenas. This is the rule now, replacing armed and violent conflict, using words and ideas to create a society bound by the rule of law.

[JURIST] The War Crimes Chamber [OSCE backgrounder] of Bosnia's State Court on Thursday ordered suspected Bosnian Serb war criminal Dragomir Abazovic released from police custody due to a problem with his arrest warrant. Abazovic was arrested [JURIST report] earlier this month by European Union EUFOR [official website] peacekeeping troops in a shootout that led to the killing of Abazovic's wife and the wounding of the war crimes suspect and his son. Abazovic, who remains hospitalized in a Sarajevo medical facility, was indicted in 1999 for crimes he allegedly committed in the Rogatica area during the 1992-1995 ethnic war between Serbs, Bosnian Muslims, and Croats. The court ruled Thursday that Abazovic should be freed because the warrant for his arrest was issued by Sarajevo's Cantonal Court, before the case was referred to the war crimes court in July 2005. Additionally, the warrant was not based on the correct law, the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina [text, DOC]. Reuters has more. FENA has local coverage.

[JURIST] Four advocacy groups on Thursday filed a petition [PDF text] with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] on behalf of Haitian citizens, alleging that the US violated Haitian sovereignty by illegally preventing the flow of financial assistance and military supplies into Haiti in an attempt to destabilize the regime of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile] and eventually kidnapping him on February 29, 2004. The petition also alleges that the Dominican Republic allowed insurgent forces to train in their country, and that the interim Haitian government has engaged in widespread repressive activities. As part of the petition, affidavits [text] were filed by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic [clinic website] at Yale Law School, the TransAfrica Forum [press release], the Institute for Democracy and Justice in Haiti (IDJH) [speech transcript], and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux [IDJH profile] on behalf of Haitian citizens. US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) also urged the IACHR [text] to investigate the coup d'etat in Haiti. The petition alleges violations of international law under several instruments, including the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the OAS Charter, and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. IndyBay has more.

[JURIST] The UK government said Thursday that it will hold a full public consultation [press release] on whether prisoners should be granted the right to vote. The decision comes in response to a European Court of Human Rights [official website] ruling [text; JURIST report] last year that the British ban on voting for prisoners violates the right to free elections protected by the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer [official profile], Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs said that a public consultation on the issue would be the best way to examine the "difficult and complex issues" raised by giving prisoners the right to vote. Under a pilot program, a small number of prisoners were allowed to vote in last year's general election, but there is opposition to extending voting rights for all prisoners. The shadow constitutional affairs secretary, Oliver Heald, said Thursday that a jail sentence inherently involves a loss of certain citizenship rights [press release; EUPolitix.com report], including the right to vote. Politics.co.uk has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] has asked a federal judge considering a shutdown of the BlackBerry [product website] wireless email network to exempt government workers who rely on the technology. The DOJ submitted a list of 138 governmental agencies who rely on the BlackBerry network, including the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI, to be given permission to continue using the network. US District Judge James Spencer is scheduled to hold a hearing on a possible injunction February 24 as part of a patent infringement dispute between BlackBerry operator and owner Research In Motion (RIM) [corporate website] and patent owner NTP, Inc. Meanwhile on Thursday Canadian-owned RIM announced that Britain's patent court has ruled in its favor [Reuters report], declaring invalid the patents owned by InPro, Inc. to the BlackBerry technology, following a similar decision by a German patent court last week. Analysts predict that a US settlement between RIM and NTP could total $1 billion, as the Supreme Court last week declined to review [JURIST report] the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision [PDF text] upholding the trial court's 2003 finding [PDF text] that RIM violated NTP's patent. AP has more.

[JURIST] Efforts to amend the Florida constitution [text] to ban same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] have faltered as supporters of an amendment failed to meet a Wednesday deadline to secure enough signatures to put the issue on the November ballot. The Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage [advocacy website] made a last effort this week to get the required 611,009 signatures, but only ended up turning in about 455,000. The group says it will now focus on putting the issue on the 2008 ballot. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush [official website] has indicated that he will consider meeting with state legislatures to discuss whether state law defining marriage needs to be strengthened. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission [official website] has told Germany and Luxembourg that the Commission is preparing to take legal action [press release] against the countries if they fail to bring national tobacco advertising laws into compliance with an EU directive [PDF text] which bans tobacco advertising in newspapers, on the radio and on the Internet. The Commission sent "reasoned opinions" to the two governments, who now have two months to comply or the Commission will refer the matter to the European Court of Justice [official website]. Deutsche Welle has more.

[JURIST] Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [BBC profile] has denied allegations [press release] from Amnesty International that the government has unlawfully detained thousands of protestors as part of the latest anti-government crackdown. Amnesty has said that thousands of students from the Orono ethnic group have been detained in connection with protests over last year's disputed elections [JURIST report] and that eleven of the detainees face a risk of torture or ill treatment. The Ethiopian Information Ministry [official website] responded by saying that the government has actually arrested a much smaller number on criminal charges for violent acts, and called the thousands of detainees number "misinforming and incredible". Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Ethiopia election protesters challenge court jurisdiction
• Ethiopian election protesters claim lawyers denied them
• Ethiopian election protestors call hunger strike over continued detention
• Ethiopia releases 2,400 election protestors from prison
• Ethiopia ending ban on election protests
• Ethiopia releases 2,600 election demonstrators from prison
• Ethiopia releases 336 prisoners seized during elections unrest
• Rights groups warns of killings, mass arrests in Ethiopia at vote fraud protests

[JURIST] Human rights observers have accused the US of ignoring a deteriorating situation in Russia, including crackdowns on the media and overreach of executive power. Mark Medish, a spokesman for the independent Council on Foreign Relations, told the US Commission on International Religious Freedom [official website; press release] Wednesday that "a democratic government is not a priority" for US-Russian relations and that the Russian government "receives too little engagement and too little criticism generally from this administration". Other commentators complained that while President Bush mentioned the Beslan school hostage crisis [BBC timeline] during the State of the Union address [full text] this week, he neglected to include Russia as a country with problematic human rights conditions. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Bush administration has declined requests from the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] to produce classified legal opinions on the NSA's domestic spying program [JURIST news archive] for a hearing scheduled for Monday [hearing notice; JURIST report]. The Department of Justice has said that the requested documents would add nothing to the debate that has not already been publicly released in defense of the program [JURIST report]. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), however, said on Wednesday that he still had "a lot of questions" about the legality of the program and that the disclosure of the legal opinions was "not a closed matter". Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will be the only witness at the hearing [JURIST report]. The New York Times has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Comment: Arguments for increased government surveillance based on myth | Op-ed: The Real Danger of Presidential Spying

[JURIST] Irwin Cotler [official profile], the outgoing Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, has said that despite some indications from Canada's incoming Conservative party government [JURIST report], he doubts that the country's recently enacted same-sex marriage law [JURIST report] would be repealed. Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper [official profile] has said that the government will allow a free vote in the House of Commons [CTV report] to determine whether MPs want to reopen debate on the issue, and if it is passed, Conservatives have promised to introduce legislation that would "restore the traditional definition of marriage" while respecting existing same-sex marriages. Cotler said that he expected MPs will not vote to revisit the issue. New Democratic Party MP Joe Comartin [CBC News profile],who voted for the bill when it was passed last summer, echoed Cotler's beliefs saying that the issue has been decided both by parliament and the courts. Opponents of same-sex marriage [JURIST report] said there might be more MPs willing to change their votes than currently believed. The Toronto Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] The US House on Wednesday approved a new short-term extension of the USA Patriot Act [PDF text] that will last until March 10. Certain provisions of the law were originally set to expire on December 31, but were extended until February 3 [JURIST report] when Congress failed to reach an agreement [JURIST report] on a long-term extension before Christmas. President Bush has pushed for a permanent reauthorization [JURIST report] but Democratic senators, joined by four Republican senators, have called for the renewal legislation to incorporate greater protections for civil liberties. Negotiations stalled again [JURIST report] last week, prompting the additional one-month extension [JURIST report]. The Senate must approve the new extension and is expected to do so before Friday. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Patriot Act | Op-ed: PATRIOT Games: Terrorism Law and Executive Power

[JURIST] US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday called for a re-examination of antitrust laws after the Committee held a hearing on consolidation in the energy industry [hearing materials]. Specter noted that the Federal Trade Commission [official website] has approved numerous mergers in the oil industry in the past 15 years and voiced concern that this could be detrimental to consumers. In testimony [prepared remarks, PDF; press release] before the committee, FTC Commissioner William Kovacic said that most sections of the industry remain unconcentrated or moderately concentrated and pointed to the growth of independent companies as increasing competition in many areas of the energy industry. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal [official website] testified [press release], however, that "lax federal enforcement of anti-trust laws has led to dangerous monopolistic power concentration in a few [oil] companies." The American Petroleum Institute [advocacy website] disagreed, saying that the FTC had "thoroughly analyzed" all oil company mergers before approving them. Earlier this week, Exxon Mobil reported record earnings [press release] for the fourth quarter of 2005. AP has more.

[JURIST] Both India and Indonesia have rejected a report [PDF text] released Wednesday by human rights groups claiming that relief efforts for the devastating 2004 tsunami [JURIST news archive] were marred by numerous violations [JURIST report] of the rights of survivors. Both governments denied that women and minority groups such as the Dalits, the lowest Hindu class, and the Mokens were being turned away from aid or ignored by government agencies. Ashim Khurana, Joint Secretary of India's National Disaster Management department, said the conclusions of the report, issued by ActionAid International, the People's Movement for Human Rights Education and Habitat International Coalition [advocacy websites], were based on "generalized statements." He declined to respond without specific examples of abuses. In Indonesia, Aburizal Bakrie, chief social welfare minister, said, "The report sounds weird" to anyone who had witnessed the extent of the destruction. Kuntoro Mangjusubroto, head of Indonesia's reconstruction agency in Aceh province, an area where the tsunami left about 170,000 people dead or missing, acknowledged some "holes here and there" in the relief distribution, but emphasized that there had been no human rights abuses against the displaced [Reuters report]. Responding to complaints of women's groups in Aceh that the rights abuses against female survivors in Aceh were being ignored, Kuntoro said the building of female-only bathrooms and rest areas for the displaced was high on his agenda. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Two prosecution witnesses testified Thursday in the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] on crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] before the trial was once again adjourned until February 13 [Reuters report] to allow time for more witnesses to be notified. Neither Hussein nor his seven co-defendants were present Thursday. Hussein and four other defendants continued their boycott of the trial [JURIST report], in protest against Judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile], whom they say "shows them great hostility." The three other defendants were barred from the courtroom for unruly behavior. On Thursday, Hussein's chief lawyer also called for the resignation of two prosecutors, Jaafar al-Moussawi and Munkith al-Fatlawi, asserting they were incapable of being impartial. AP has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Saddam and defense lawyers continue boycott as trial resumes
• Saddam defense calls for judge to be sacked
• Saddam, lawyers to boycott next trial session
• Saddam trial adjourned again after outbursts, walkouts, ejections
• Iraqi court 'dysfunctional', Saddam lawyers say

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's international brief, more than 500 people have been arrested in Nepal for protesting the autocratic rule of King Gyanendra [official profile] on Wednesday, the one year anniversary of the 'Black Day' last February 1 when Gyanendra dismissed the democratic government [JURIST report] and assumed direct control of the country. The arrests were made concurrently with a speech by Gyanendra [JURIST report] that claimed that Nepalese citizens were better off after one year of direct monarchy and still enjoyed all the freedoms ensured to them by the Nepalese Constitution [official text]. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The Israeli High Court of Justice [judicial website] issued a ruling Wednesday in the final chapter of a five year battle to determine whether remarks [indictment texts] made by Knesset Minister Azmi Bishara [advocacy website] which allegedly supported terrorist agencies were made in his official capacity as a legislator, and therefore exempt from prosecution. The HCJ held that Bishara's remarks were made in fulfillment of 'his role as a member of the Knesset,' and that while the statements were a violation of criminal law prohibiting the support of terrorist organizations, Bishara was protected under parliamentary immunity. The Court also ordered the dismissal of all criminal charges related to the statements and noted that the line between praise of a terrorist entity and active support of armed resistance, which would not be covered by parliamentary immunity, was a fine line, but one that had clearly not been crossed in this case. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Israel [JURIST news archive]. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage.
  
  
• The United States, stepping into its role as the president [US mission to UN backgrounder] of the UN Security Council [official website] for the month of February, has announced its intent to push for a UN peacekeeping force to replace the current African Union [official website] force in Darfur [JURIST news archive], Sudan. The US announced that it strongly supports a heightened UN presence in the area amid rising concerns of a new outbreak of violence as peace talks between the Sudan government [official website] and Darfur rebels falter. The Security Council must obtain the assent of all sides to a conflict before it can introduce a peacekeeping force into an area, but once it does, the mandate for the force is defined by the Security Council, not the parties to the dispute. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the United Nations [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

[JURIST Europe] The UK House of Lords [official website] Wednesday narrowly defeated government-proposed amendments to the UK Terrorism Bill [text] that would have given the police more power to control information on websites thought to be related to terrorist groups. Initially, the police were to have full power in deciding whether online information had ties to terrorism. Peers amended that power by requiring the police to obtain permission from judges before informing internet providers of the removal of web pages. The government's defeat on this latest measure mirrors a similar setback last week for a proposal to introduce a new offense for glorifying acts of terrorism [JURIST report]. The British newspaper the Independent opined in its Thursday edition [report] that Prime Minister Tony Blair's 12-point plan to combat terrorism [JURIST report] announced last August in the aftermath of the July London bombings is now "in tatters". 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.

[JURIST Europe] Caricatures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad were reprinted in newspapers on Wednesday in Italy, Germany, France and Spain, sparking a new debate over freedom of expression in Europe and drawing protests from Muslims in Europe and the Middle East. France Soir [media website in French] ran the front page headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God" complete with a color reprint of a cartoon depicting Muhammad, but the managing editor was fired [Islam Online report; Le Monde report in French with photo] later Wednesday. The headline drew a rare rebuke from the French government, which emphasized the importance of freedom of expression but criticized that which hurts individuals' religious beliefs. Depictions of the Muhammad are considered sacrilege in Islam. The cartoons were initially printed [Guardian report] in September 2005 in Jyllands-Posten [media website in Danish], a Danish newspaper. Various protests have ensued from the boycotting of Danish goods to Saudi Arabia withdrawing its ambassador to Copenhagen and Libya closing its embassy [JURIST report]. The Guardian has more.

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

[JURIST Europe] Following a meeting Wednesday with Austrian Interior and Justice ministers, Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center [official website] criticized Austria for being complacent in investigating and prosecuting suspects involved in Nazi war crimes, saying that the country had become a "paradise" for fugitives. The Wiesenthal Centre has launched Operation: Last Chance [official website], an initiative committed to bringing elderly Nazi war criminals to trial before they die, and has to date submitted 83 suspects who are still living in Austria. Zuroff alleges that Austrian officials have failed to pursue the investigations of 77 of the 83 identified suspects. One of the suspects, Millivoj Asner, is a former Croatian police officer thought to have sent hundreds to death camps. He was indicted in September 2005 [OLC press release] by the Croatian government for crimes against humanity but Austria refused to grant extradition since Asner has Austrian citizenship. The Independent has more.

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