[JURIST] A defense lawyer for ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] said Monday that the Iraqi members of the defense team will attend the next session of the trial set to resume on Tuesday. Earlier this month Hussein, four co-defendants and defense lawyers boycotted trial proceedings [JURIST report] before the Iraqi High Criminal Court - formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] - in protest against new chief judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile, JURIST report]. Defense lawyers have filed a formal motion seeking the disqualification [JURIST report] of Abdel-Rahman. Chief Saddam defense lawyer Khalil Dulaimi said over the weekend that he was petitioning the court [JURIST report] to delay Tuesday's session due to the increasing security concerns in Iraq, but at this point it seems the hearing will go ahead.

Khamis al-Obeidi indicated that foreign lawyers working with the defense team - including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark - will not be in attendance at Tuesday's session because of the latest spate of violence in the country [JURIST report], with attendant curfews, but insisted they will "attend the following sessions". AP has more.

[JURIST] The United Nations Security Council [official website] deadlocked Monday over what sanctions [UN News report] to impose in connection with the ongoing conflict in Sudan's Darfur [JURIST news archive] region. The US, Britain, Denmark and France would like to move ahead with action against individuals they have identified as blocking the regional peace process but China, Russia and Qatar have asked for more time before any action is taken. The Security Council last year voted [Resolution 1591 text] to authorize sanctions against targeted individuals responsible for the three years of violence and destruction in Sudan [BBC report] which has resulted in thousands of deaths and millions of refugees. Although UN experts provided the Council with the names of 17 individuals to sanction, China and Qatar have questioned the evidence experts used to identify the names and have called for a new investigation. Russia is concerned about the peace process since Council meetings took place behind closed doors.

February Council President and US Ambassador John Bolton [official profile] stated [press release] that "The purpose of the targeted sanctions mechanism of resolution 1591 is to apply pressure - and I don't think we should be ashamed to say it - to people who are violating the arms embargo, not contributing to our effort to establish an effective peace process in Darfur and restore the deteriorating security situation." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn [official profile] said Monday that the European Union [official website] will suspend membership negotiations [JURIST report] with Serbia and Montenegro [JURIST news archive] if it did not fully cooperate in apprehending war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile], echoing a formal statement [Austrian Presidency press release] made at the end of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. Mladic faces charges [indictment text] brought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in connection with the execution of over 8,000 Muslim prisoners and civilians at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo [BBC report]. Serbia defense minister Zoran Stankovic [official profile], who many hoped would be the one to capture Mladic, has promised to resign if he does not deliver Mladic by the end of the year.

While Serbian officials say they have identified those individuals who have helped Mladic [JURIST news archive] evade capture, they continue to deny [JURIST report] Serb media reports that Mladic has already been arrested and ICTY officials confirmed that he is still at large [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The last Iraqi daytime curfew [JURIST report] was lifted in Baghdad Monday after five days of sectarian bloodshed, but tensions in the country still threaten to bring civil war. Iraqi officials announced an end to the curfew to let people go back to work, but an overnight curfew remains in force throughout the country. Wide-ranging curfews were imposed by authorities last week in an attempt to subdue a wave of violence that followed the bombing of the Askariya shrine [Telegraph report], one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites.

Since the bombing, Shiite leaders have been urged by the Bush administration not to back out of discussions aimed an including minority Sunnis in a national unity government, after the Sunnis took part in US-backed elections [JURIST news archive] in December for the first time. AP has more.

[JURIST] A last-minute effort [JURIST report] by Miami-based Eller & Co. [corporate website] to block expected UK High Court approval of the $6.8 billion sale of US port operating rights by British company P&O [corporate website] to United Arab Emirates firm DP World [corporate website] was met with derision Monday when P&O lawyers dismissed their legal arguments against the deal as "woefully thin". The proposed transaction has been severely criticized by US politicians animated by security concerns and several lawsuits [JURIST report] have already been brought in the US seeking to block the takeover.

Eller & Co. lawyers told the British court that the sale should not be approved because there was a "real prospect" that the US government would reverse its promise to approve the deal, which is now under a second review [AP report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US vowed Monday to reject a proposal to establish a UN Human Rights Council [JURIST report] presented by UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson [UN profile] last week. In remarks at a brief press conference [text], US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] said the US was "very disappointed" with the proposal and urged Eliasson to either reopen negotiations or delay consideration of the change for months, both options which could provide the US with heavy influence over the outcome. Under a third option available to Eliasson, going ahead with a vote this week as planned, the US would have only one of 191 votes in the General Assembly, and Bolton said that in that scenario the US would vote no.

The US has strongly endorsed [JURIST report] reform of the current 53-member Commission on Human Rights [UN backgrounder], but supports a smaller commission than the 47-member body proposed and wants to remove certain members with poor human rights records. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Federal Court judge Marshall E. Rothstein [official profile; FJA materials], nominated to replace Justice John Major on the Supreme Court of Canada [official website], was questioned by a parliamentary committee in televised hearings [JURIST report] Monday, the first time a nominee to the Canadian high court has faced a US-style confirmation hearing. Rothstein was nominated [press release] by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week, just days after Harper announced that the nominee would face questions from parliament [press release]. Harper has called the televised hearings an "unprecedented step towards the more open and accountable approach to nominations," but critics, including Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin [official profile] say the process could politicize the court [JURIST report].

During Monday's hearing, Rothstein emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary, saying that judges "can have no personal agenda." Rothstein also answered questions about interpreting whether laws violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. Rothstein noted that judges must consider "that the statute that they're dealing with was passed by a democratically elected legislature" and said that in striking down laws that violate the constitution, the court must use the "least intrusive" method.

The parliamentary hearing is for informational purposes only. The prime minister will make the final decision on filling the Supreme Court vacancy, and Harper has promised to do so by Wednesday. From Toronto, Terry Weber of the Globe and Mail has more; the Globe's Dan Cook blogs the hearing here. The CBC offers recorded audio of Rothstein's opening statement. Slaw.ca provides additional resources on Rothstein's nomination.

[JURIST] Several Chinese companies have reportedly donated more than $315,000 to help pay for lawsuits against the Japanese government for war crimes allegedly committed by Japanese troops [Wikipedia backgrounder] during their occupation of part of China during World War II. Representatives of three companies told reporters over the weekend that they planned on donating funds to help victims file suits against the government and related companies.

Hundreds of Chinese war crimes victims have filed suits against Japan since 1995, including victims and families who were harmed by bacterial and chemical weapons, forced laborers [JURIST report], and women who were forced to be sex slaves for the Japanese army [1993 Japanese Foreign Ministry statement]. Company representatives said they would help victims file their lawsuits in China since it is difficult to find justice in Japan; the Japanese government insists that compensation [JURIST report] surrounding these issues was resolved when China and Japan [JURIST news archives] established diplomatic relations in 1972. China Daily has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] refused Monday to entertain a second appeal by convicted murderer Clarence Hill [NCADP advocacy letter] in which his lawyers argued that Florida's system of death by lethal injection amounted to a cruel and unusual punishment. The decision has little practical significance, as Hill's execution has already been stayed pending an appeal that the Supreme Court granted certiorari [JURIST report] to last month. But today's denial of certiorari means Hill's execution will not be prevented on "cruel and unusual" grounds.

Hill's lawyers had argued that the Florida system of execution can cause severe pain. Like other states that authorize lethal injection [DPIC backgrounder], Florida uses a three-drug system to execute criminals; the first of which acts as a painkiller while the second one paralyzes, and finally the third drug causes a fatal heart attack. A 2005 study published [registration required] in the medical journal Lancet [journal website], however, indicated that the painkiller may wear off before the inmate dies. The Florida Supreme Court [official website; opinion, PDF] ruled that such "technical difficulties during executions" could not justify a finding that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. AP has more.

[JURIST] US military judge Lt. Col. Paul McConnell Monday delayed the start of a court-martial trial for an army dog handler accused in an Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. The March 8 trial date for Sgt. Santos Cardona has been pushed back to May 22 to allow the defense more time to prepare. Cardona is charged with dereliction of duty and maltreatment of detainees in connection with his use of unmuzzled dogs [JURIST report] during prisoner interrogations at the Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] in December 2003 and January 2004.

Sgt. Michael Smith also faces court-martial after the two officers were accused of using the dogs in a competition to see who could scare the most prisoners, resulting in the biting of two Iraqi detainees [JURIST report]. Defense attorneys argue that the soldiers' use of the dogs was approved by officials high in the chain of command, and the two were just following orders. If convicted, Cardona faces up to 16 1/2 years in prison, and Smith could receive a sentence of up to 29 1/2 years. AP has more. The US Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner said earlier this month that his committee would look into disparate statements on the use of dogs against prisoners [JURIST report] at Abu Ghraib after former prison commander Maj. General Geoffrey Miller made apparently inconsistent remarks. Citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, Miller has declined to testify [AFP report] in the present case.

[JURIST] Prisoners in Kabul's Policharki Prison [AP backgrounder; IWPR backgrounder; also "Pul-e-Charkhi"] who rioted over the weekend agreed Monday to temporarily end their disturbance and allow injured inmates to be removed for medical care, according to the chief negotiator for the Afghan government. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi also reported an inmate request that the prison authorities help to bury the dead. In exchange for concessions, authorities restored the water, electricity and food which they had cut off from the facility late Sunday and Mojaddedi promised to convey the prisoners' demands, including a retrial for each of them and better living conditions, to the government.

The number of prisoners thought to have been killed in the rioting, which began Sunday when prisoners refused to put on new uniforms, has decreased from seven [JURIST report] to four [BBC report] based upon a report from a human rights official sent there to negotiate Monday. Afghan authorities have insisted that they want to end the siege peacefully, although Deputy Justice Minister Mohammed Qasim Hashimzai vowed that force would be used if necessary. Concern remains high because the wing that houses approximately 70 female prisoners and 70 children living with them is currently under inmate control, and two inmates have reportedly been taken hostage. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge blocked [press release] the Department of Defense [official website] Monday from enacting a merit pay system for its government employees. US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan [official profile] said the proposed National Security Personnel System [official website] would make it unfairly difficult for employees to appeal unfavorable personnel decisions. A lawsuit [press release] challenging the system was filed in November by the American Federation of Government Employees [union website] and nine other federal employee unions to contest the proposed system in which leaders in the Department of Defense would be able to override provisions of collective bargaining agreements and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] would have the flexibility to change workers' assignments.

The system would allow Rumsfeld to transfer civilians to administrative positions held by armed services members, and allow the armed service members to return to military positions. Rumsfeld argued that the changes were needed in order to improve the management of civilian work, but the judge ruled [opinion, PDF; order, PDF] that the system would erode bargaining rights for more than 650,000 government employees. AP has more.

[JURIST] Mexico's "scorched-earth" campaign in the 1960s and 1970s resulted in crimes against humanity, including genocide, torture, executions and disappearances, according to a draft report [text, in Spanish] made public by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The report, commissioned by Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish], was presented to special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo Prieto in December but has not yet been officially released publicly.

The report outlines alleged crimes committed by Mexican military and security forces under three different presidents during the nation's 18-year "dirty war" [National Security Archive backgrounder], including the execution of hundred of citizens and suspected guerrillas, and a campaign to deny food to residents where leftist guerrillas operated. Carrillo has been investigating government rights abuses [JURIST report] committed during the "dirty war" but has been unsuccessful in persuading a court to issue an arrest warrant for former President Luis Echeverria. Hector Tobar of the Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] In a letter [text] sent to President Bush Monday, 17 Democrats from the US House of Representatives called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations that the National Security Agency conducted warrantless surveillance of US citizens in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [text]. The call for presidential action comes one week after the Senate Intelligence Committee [official website] and House Intelligence Committee [official website] both declined to directly probe [JURIST report] the surveillance program [JURIST news archive].

The Bush administration maintains that all questioned surveillance is a legal exercise of executive power, but many members of Congress, including US Sen. Pat Roberts, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, are calling for greater oversight of the program [JURIST report]. Both the Justice Department and Defense Department inspectors general have declined to conduct independent investigations [JURIST report] into the program, but the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility has opened an internal investigation [JURIST report] into the DOJ's role in the domestic surveillance program. AP has more.

[JURIST] Six law professors at Cambridge University have warned that an innocuous-sounding bill now going through Parliament would give UK government ministers the power to abolish jury trials, place citizens under house arrest, and rewrite the law on nationality and immigration, all without Parliamentary consent. In a letter [text] published Sunday in the Times of London, the scholars urged MPs to take another at the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill [text], which has already received a second hearing and could be adopted as early as next month, and "recognize the dangers of what is being proposed before it is too late." In the name of enabling ministers to cut regulations for business, the bill provides in clause 1 that:

A Minister of the Crown may by order make provision for either or both of the following purposes: a) reforming legislation; b) implementing recommendations of any one or more of the United Kingdom Law Commissions, with or without changes

The Government claims that there is nothing to worry about. The powers in the Bill, it says, will not be used for "controversial" matters. But there is nothing in the Bill that restricts its use to "uncontroversial" issues. The minister is asking us to trust him, and, worse, to trust all his colleagues and all their successors. No one should be trusted with such power.

As James Madison gave warning in The Federalist Papers, we should remember when handing out political power that "enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm". This Bill should make one doubt whether they are at the helm now.

[JURIST] Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official profile] has agreed to meet with opposition leaders to discuss constitutional reforms, after the parties threatened to boycott the April elections. Thaksin dissolved Parliament [AP report] on February 24 in response to street protests calling for his removal and set general elections for April 2. One issue on the ballot will be whether to amend the country's nine-year-old constitution [text], a move which Thaksin announced [JURIST report] two weeks ago. Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party has endorsed some changes to the constitution, but opposition parties are calling for expansive reforms, including a reduction of the required votes in parliament to censure the prime minister and a decreased minimum time that election candidates are required to be a member of a particular party before running for office.

Public dissatisfaction with Thaksin, who was re-elected last year, has recently grown, although earlier this month he survived an impeachment attempt [JURIST report] involving his ownership of shares in a telecommunications company that he helped to found. AFP has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] A Serbian who may prove to be a key witness in the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] was arrested in Madrid for the murder of a human rights leader in Kosovo, Spanish police said Monday. Veselin Vukotic and two other men allegedly shot and killed Enver Hadri, an ethnic Albanian and advocate of independence for Kosovo [JURIST news archive], in Belgium in 1990. Hadri was carrying papers that supposedly tied Milosevic to 34 murders when he was killed, and Vukotic was believed to have been acting under orders from the Yugoslav secret service.

Vukotic was arrested at Barajas International Airport in Madrid pursuant to a Belgian warrant, and he is set to appear before the National Court in Madrid. AP has more. El Pais has local coverage [in Spanish].

[JURIST] Public hearings on the merits of a case alleging state-sponsored genocide by Serbia and Montenegro opened Monday at the Hague-based International Court of Justice [official website]. Proceedings technically began in March 1993, when Bosnia filed a claim [application text; ICJ case docket] alleging violations of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide [text] against the former Yugoslavia during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Hearings on the merits were delayed while Serbia challenged the court's jurisdiction, but the court ruled in 1996 that it had jurisdiction to hear the dispute [judgment].

The hearings are expected to run until May 9 [ICJ press release] with a decision by the end of the year. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] also at The Hague has already determined that the massacre of 8,000 Muslims by Serbs at Srebrenica [BBC backgrounder, JURIST news archive] was genocide. Lawyers for Bosnia will use evidence from the ongoing trial of Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] and other ICTY cases. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] has begun circulating a draft version of a bill that would require the federal government to obtain permission before conducting domestic surveillance [JURIST news archive]. The bill, which Specter first mentioned earlier this month [JURIST report], would mandate that the attorney general get a warrant from the special court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) [text] before monitoring the international phone calls and e-mails of US residents. In December, it was revealed that President Bush authorized [JURIST report] the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website] to conduct such surveillance without warrants shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks [JURIST news archive].

Specter's bill would require the Justice Department to provide the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FJC backgrounder] with "a statement of the facts and circumstances" leading the DOJ to believe that at least one party to the communications to be intercepted will have non-US ties, along with a "detailed description of the nature of the information sought." The proposal would also require the administration to provide more information about the NSA program to House and Senate intelligence leaders. The administration has backed an alternative proposal that would specifically exempt the NSA program from FISA. Charles Babington of the Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] An Australian man plans to appeal his conviction for receiving money and a plane ticket from an Osama bin Laden associate, his lawyer said Monday. Joseph Terrence Thomas [advocacy website; ABC TV report] was found guilty by a jury [BBC report] over the weekend for receiving $3,500 from Khaled bin Attash [Wikipedia profile], a senior al Qaeda member, after training with the terrorist group in Afghanistan in 2002. Thomas was also found guilty of carrying a fake passport, but was acquitted on two charges that he willingly provided resources and support to al Qaeda.

Thomas claims he was threatened during an interrogation by American and Pakistani intelligence agents in 2003, and that he was later questioned by Australian police without being given access to a lawyer. His lawyers contend that his trial was being used as an example to show that Australian police are "tough on terrorism" since he was the first convicted under new anti-terror laws passed by Australia in 2002. Thomas will have a pre-sentencing hearing on Thursday in Melbourne. Reuters has more. Anthony Dowsley of the Herald Sun has local coverage.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] has ended a hunger strike to protest his trial after fasting for 11 days, according to his chief lawyer Monday. Khalil Dulaimi [JURIST news archive] met with his client for several hours [JURIST report] over the weekend and learned that US prison officials stepped in, prompting Hussein to stop the hunger strike for health reasons. Dulaimi indicated that the former dictator had lost some weight but gave no specifics on the health complications. Hussein first announced the hunger strike [JURIST report] on February 14, saying that he and his seven co-defendants were striking to protest the way they were brought to court.

Dulaimi also said he was petitioning the court to delay Tuesday's session due to the increasing security concerns in Iraq. Hussein's lawyer said he hoped the court would "appreciate the grave security condition and postpone tomorrow's hearing for the sake of preserving the lives of lawyers, witnesses and everyone concerned." Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST Topic: Saddam Hussein Trial Op-ed: The Iraqi Special Tribunal: One Chance to Get It Right

[JURIST] China [JURIST news archive] will increase the number of public trials for death penalty appeals during the second half of 2006, a legal scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [official website, in Chinese] said Monday. Liu Renwen estimated that China executes approximately 8,000 people per year, giving the country the highest number of executions in the world. The Supreme Court of China [official website, in Chinese] took back its authority to review [JURIST report] death penalty appeals last December after human rights groups criticized the country for arbitrary executions, and the decision is being protested by lower courts which claim they need the authority to control public security. Beijing, Shanghai, and the southern province of Hainan have already begun to hear appeals in open court.

The high court has set up three branch courts to hear the appeals, which is anticipated to reduce the number of carried out executions by 30 percent. Experts say, however, that the court does not have the staffing to review such a large number of death sentences. The Chinese National People's Congress [government backgrounder] begins its annual session on Sunday and is expected to discuss the death penalty issue, but Liu doubted that the legislature would be able to resolve whether the Chinese Supreme Court should handle all death penalty cases. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Police in the Philippines [JURIST news archive] Monday charged 16 people with rebellion for allegedly planning to oust Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo [official website; BBC profile], according to the head of the police legal department. The coup plot involved five members of the Philippines House of Representatives [official website], soldiers, a communist rebel leader, and Philippines Senator Gregorio Honasan [official profile], who participated in other coup attempts during the 1990s. The police say they have gathered electronic materials that indicate an alliance among the suspects. Only two individuals have been detained [JURIST report] so far and have refused to participate in a hearing before a panel of prosecutors. The speaker of the House of Representatives has proposed [press release] putting the five House member implicated under his custody until arrest warrants are issued.

Arroyo declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] on Friday in an attempt to stop the coup plot and to protect the economy [government press release], which prompted 100 protestors to storm the legislature shouting anti-government sentiments. The emergency decree [text of Proclamation 1017] allows warrantless arrests, bans rallies, and permits the president to seize buildings. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines [profession website] has asked the Philippines Supreme Court [official website] to end the decree saying it is unconstitutional and a violation of civil liberties. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's international brief, despite the status of Hamas as a listed terrorist entity, the European Union [official website] has announced plans at a foreign ministers' meeting Monday to attempt to work around a legal ban that prohibits European nations from providing funding to any member of Hamas. Since Hamas' victory in Palestinian elections [JURIST report] in January, the EU and US have all warned that international aid cannot continue unless Hamas renounces its use of force as a political tool, recognizes Israel as a legitimate nation, and conforms to international standards for political parties. Israel has imposed sanctions against Hamas [JURIST report] and has begun withholding import dues reaching nearly $50 million (US) per month. EU ministers said on Sunday however, that they had no desire to see the Palestinian Authority collapse and would undertake efforts to ensure that the government had enough capital resources to meet the needs of its citizens. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Palestinian Authority [JURIST news archive]. Aljazeera has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• Chief Justice Evan Gicheru of the Kenyan Constitutional Court issued Legal Gazette Notice Number 6 of 2006 on Monday which changed court procedure rules in Kenya to ensure that individuals charged with criminal counts of corruption and graft could no longer obtain an automatic stay of trial by appealing to the constitutional court over alleged rights violations. Under the previous system, known as the Chunga Rules, anyone accused of a criminal act could have court proceedings against them stayed by appealing to the Kenyan Constitutional Court for a review of alleged rights violations against them. Gicheru issued the gazette just one week after senior Kenyan officials announced the Chunga Rules were being evaluated for change to ensure that former and current government officials would be unable to tie up the judicial system for years over alleged rights violations in the light of expected arrests and charges [JURIST report] relating to the Goldenberg [BBC report] and Anglo Leasing [Wikipedia backgrounder] scandals. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kenya [JURIST news archive]. Kenya's East African Standard has local coverage.
  
  
• Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian [official website] has announced that he is disbanding a government council that was charged with exploring possible avenues of reunification with mainland China. The announcement is another in a long series of efforts by Chen to make Taiwan [government website] more independent from the People's Republic of China [government website] and is likely to cause severe rebuke from Chinese officials. Chen said the decision came after a meeting of the Taiwanese National Security Council and was due to the military build-up of Chinese forces aimed at Taiwan. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and the UN ceased to recognize Taiwan as an independent nation after severe pressure from China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Taiwan [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.
  
  
• Fox Odoi, Legal Assistant to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni [BBC profile], was arrested Sunday on charges of harassing opposition party voters during the Ugandan presidential elections [JURIST report] last Thursday. Odoi allegedly arrived at a polling location, ordered police to detain several individuals suspected of having voted against Museveni, and had them beaten and undressed while brandishing an assault rifle. Several newspapers ran pictures of Odoi holding an AK-47 with individuals obviously naked lying face down in the background. Odoi protested his innocence and claimed that his position in the government should have led police to merely inform him of the charges instead of arresting him. Museveni has distanced himself from Odoi since the pictures were released, calling for a full investigation. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Uganda [JURIST news archive]. The Ugandan Daily Monitor has local coverage.