[JURIST] US troops in Iraq [JURIST news archive] reportedly arrested more than 40 Iraqi Interior Ministry personnel Sunday after the discovery of a secret bunker complex in central Baghdad holding 17 foreign prisoners. In November 2005, some 170 Sunni detainees were found by Americans [JURIST report] at a secret police prison in Baghdad, launching a nationwide investigation into allegations of widespread abuse [JURIST report] occurring at Iraqi-run prisons.

Sunni Arab leaders have accused the Interior Ministry of working with Shi'ite militias who run death squads killing and rounding up minority Sunnis who they claim support the insurgency or who supported the regime of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. Reuters has more.

7:35 PM ET - Iraqi Interior Ministry officials have disputed initial reports of the American raid, saying that only 10 Iraqi policemen were detained briefly and then released after the prisoners were found to have been Sudanese nationals legitimately held for "residency violations" who had not been abused. AP has more.

[JURIST] Newly-disclosed comments by US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made after a speech [recorded video] at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland earlier this month have touched off a furor in the lead-up to Tuesday's oral arguments in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs] on the constitutionality of using military tribunals [JURIST news archive] to try foreign terror suspects. Asked about the constitutional rights of Guantanamo detainees following his March 8 talk [University of Fribourg announcement, in French], Scalia said bluntly that "foreigners, in foreign countries, have no rights under the American Constitution." In reference to detainees receiving civil court trials instead of facing military tribunals, Scalia said of a prisoner, "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy." Newsweek has more.

Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profile], who was captured in Afghanistan after serving as Osama bin Laden's personal driver and is currently held by the US military at its prison in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], Cuba, faces charges [US DOD chargesheet] of conspiracy and terrorism set to be tried by a military commission [JURIST report]. The Bush administration claims it was given power to create military commissions after the September 11 attacks. Lawyers for Hamdan, who has now been held in Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] for four years, believe Hamdan should be tried before an already-established US court and that the US has violated international treaties by denying Hamdan prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions. Knight-Ridder has more.

In 2003 Scalia recused himself [AP report] from a case on the Pledge of Allegiance after making public remarks on it. Chief Justice John Roberts has already recused himself from Hamdan because he ruled on the case while serving as federal appellate judge. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Key organizers of election protests in the Belarus [JURIST archive] capital city of Minsk who were detained by police [JURIST report] will face criminal charges, Belarus Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov [Interior Ministry website] said Sunday. Thousands of citizens gathered Saturday to demonstrate against alleged election fraud in last Sunday's presidential elections [JURIST report] in which incumbent Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] was reelected to a third term. On Friday, police arrested hundreds of demonstrators and shut down an election protest camp [JURIST report] in Minsk's October Square. Xinhua has more.

The European Union [official website] has meanwhile expressed serious concern about the arrests and has demanded the release of opposition politician Aleksander Kozulin. The Austrian EU Presidency said [press release] Saturday it was "appalled by the violence used against demonstrators by the Belarusian authorities." EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner warned the Belarusian government to adhere to the rules of democracy, "If the Belarussian government does not show remorse, visa bans will probably be sharpened. In concrete terms, that means that those responsible will not be able to travel to EU member states. Foreign assets of Belarusian lawmakers could also be frozen." The EU agreed Friday to impose sanctions, such as a visa ban, on several Belarus leaders, including Lukashenko. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] France's Interior Minister and anticipated 2007 French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile, in French; JURIST news archive] has called for a compromise over a new youth labor law - the so-called First Employment Contract (contrat première embauche, CPE) [FAQ, in French; official backgrounder, in English; BBC Q&A] - which among other things allows employers to fire at will employees under age 26 during the first two years of their employment. In a Saturday speech to members of his conservative Union pour un Mouvement Populaire [political party website, in French], Sarkozy expressed understanding for those protesting the law and added, "When young people see [the law] as unjust, it is necessary to remove misunderstandings by organizing the conditions for dialogue and compromise." Read the full text of Sarkozy's speech [in French]. Sarkozy has called for a six-month trial period for the legislation.

Also on Saturday, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official profile, in English; JURIST news archive], who has thusfar taken a hard line on the CPE, met with a few more protest leaders, but most stayed away from new talks while others staged a press conference calling for additional protests on Tuesday.

The CPE has prompted more than two weeks of sometimes violent protests [JURIST news archive] by students and young workers since its passage into law [Senate text, in French] on March 9. Supporters of the legislation say it will reduce youth unemployment while opponents claim it is too great a threat to job security. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] Sunday called on the Nigerian government to immediately detain former Liberian president and accused war criminal Charles Taylor [JURIST news archive] so that he does not disappear before being handed over to the Liberian government to be tried for crimes against humanity [indictment] by the Special Court. On Saturday, the Nigerian government agreed to transfer Taylor to Liberian custody [JURIST report] but did not specify how that would take place.

Current SCSL Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva [official profile, PDF] said in an official statement [PDF]:

The watching world will wish to see Taylor held in Nigerian detention to avoid the possibility of him using his wealth and associates to slip away, with grave consequences to the stability of the region.

[JURIST] More than 500,000 pro-immigration activists took to the streets in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest Congressional efforts to crack down on illegal immigration [protest website]. The protest came in anticipation of Senate debate [JURIST report] on a reform bill sponsored by Majority Leader Bill Frist scheduled to begin Tuesday of this week if the US Senate Judiciary Committee does not complete its deliberations on alternative legislation Monday. The House has already passed [JURIST report] HR 4437 [text, PDF] which would impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, make it a felony to be in the US illegally, and fund the building of fences along one-third of the US-Mexican border. President Bush devoted his weekly radio address [text; recorded audio] Saturday to immigration. Bush said US immigration laws are in need of reform but added, "America does not have to choose between being a welcoming society and being a lawful society." Bush has split with many in the Republican party by supporting a temporary worker program [JURIST report] for some undocumented workers.

There were also pro-immigration protests this weekend in Denver, Charlotte, Dallas, and Sacramento. On April 10 major protests are planned in ten cities in what is being called a "National Day of Action" by organizers. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] Afghan officials said Sunday they were preparing to release a man possibly facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam after a judge sent the case of Abdul Rahman [Wikipedia profile] back to prosecutors, ruling that he lacked enough evidence to proceed. The Afghanistan attorney-general's office indicated that Rahman could be freed while it reviewed the matter. In recent days the Afghan government and courts had come under significant political pressure [JURIST report] from Western governments to clear Rahman, made additionally compelling by President Hamid Karzai's dependence on Western troops [NATO ISAF website] to keep order and suppress ousted Taliban elements still active almost five years after the US invasion of the country in 2001. Several Western representations pointed to provisions in the 2004 Afghanistan Constitution guaranteeing free exercise of religion (Article II: "Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law."). Germany had additionally suggested it would consider dropping or reducing aid.

Rahman had been charged with converting to a "false religion" under Afghanistan's criminal law, which incorporates Islamic Sharia as binding on all Afghan citizens. His case received official notice after his family denounced him as a Christian during a custody hearing concerning his two children. He converted some 16 years ago after working with a Christian aid group in neighboring Pakistan. The prosecution was the first of its kind in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime, and sparked tensions between conservative Islamic elements of society and more moderate groups calling for a non-Islamic judicial system. AP has more.