[JURIST] Five federal judges experienced with surveillance requests appeared [hearing notice] Tuesday before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in support of committee chairman Arlen Specter's proposal [JURIST report] to require the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret panel established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text], to conduct regular reviews of the National Security Administration's warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The five, all former members of the FISA court, said they were unfamiliar with the latest NSA program, but insisted that the court has struck the correct balance between civil liberties and national security concerns since its establishment and would continue to do so. Specter's proposed bill would also require the NSA to obtain a judicial warrant under FISA before conducting any domestic surveillance.

A group of Republican Senators led by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) have introduced a competing bill [JURIST report; PDF text] that would permit warrantless wiretapping for 45 days before court approval is required. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) has also introduced a resolution to censure President Bush [JURIST report] over the program, which will be the focus of Judiciary Committee hearing [JURIST report] Friday. Read Judiciary Committee Ranking Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy's statement at today's hearing. AP has more.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] announced [press release] Tuesday that the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] has dropped its appeal of a September District Court order [opinion text, PDF] requiring it to publicly release more photographs showing detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison, pursuant to an ACLU request [ACLU FOIA materials] under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [DOJ materials]. A supposedly-full portfolio of 279 photographs and 19 videos from the military's internal investigation were published [JURIST report] last week in a Salon.com report [text], which may have prompted the Pentagon to withdraw its legal action. DOD lawyers had previously argued that releasing the images could instigate a terrorist attack on US soil and would incite violence against US troops stationed in Iraq.

The DOD has now agreed [stipulation and order of dismissal of appeal, PDF], subject to judicial approval, to identify the 73 photographs and three videotapes at issue in the ACLU litigation, and the ACLU will release any of those photographs that have not already been published by Salon.com. Other materials obtained through the ACLU's FOIA requests can be found here. AP has more.

[JURIST] Court-appointed lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] rested the case of their headstrong and sometimes fractious client in federal court Tuesday by reading recorded statements from five al Qaeda leaders to show that contrary to Moussaoui's own testimony [JURIST report], he was not in fact slated to participate in the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Instead, the attorneys sought to portray Moussaoui as a "loose cannon" not permitted by his superiors to be a 9/11 hijacker, with one al-Qaeda operative testifying that Moussaoui broke security rules, disagreed with internal plans, and suggested fantastic fundraising schemes, including kidnapping Chinese businessmen for ransom. Bin Laden aide Sayf al-Adl said that Moussaoui was "a confirmed jihadist but was absolutely not going to take part in the Sept. 11, 2001, mission," a statement confirmed by several other witnesses.

As Moussaoui has already pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to 6 terrorist conspiracy charges [indictment], the sentencing trial currently underway will only decide whether he receives life in prison or the death penalty. To achieve the death penalty, prosecutors must show that if Moussaoui had revealed information to the FBI at the time of his arrest in August of 2001, the 9/11 attacks may have been prevented. Defense lawyers have argued that the administration already had ample information suggesting the possibility of such an attack, and on Tuesday, one defense lawyer read excerpts from the 9/11 commission report [text] that mentioned 12 security reports filed from 1994 to 2001 "suggesting that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons." Closing arguments in the sentencing trial are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Miami federal judge presiding over the trial of terror suspect Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] Tuesday placed tight restrictions on disclosure of evidence containing classified material. US District Judge Marcia Cooke's order under the Classified Information Procedures Act [text] is primarily intended to prevent the public from gaining access to US national security secrets - including interrogations evidence, FBI investigations and information from foreign governments - but also could prevent disclosure of material to the defense.

Padilla, notorious in the media as the "dirty bomber," was recently denied bail [JURIST report] as a flight risk. He was charged [PDF] in November 2005 with conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. He was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January of this year. He previously spent 3 1/2 in military custody as an uncharged "enemy combatant." AP has more.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] ruled [opinion pdf text] Tuesday that Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) [official profile] violated s. 2511 of US Code Title 18 [text] by disclosing an illegally obtained tape to reporters in 1996. The majority found that McDermott violated the rights of Representative John Boehner (R-OH) [official profile] who was heard on the taped phone call involving former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and ordered McDermott to pay Boehner over $700,000 in damages and legal costs. The tape was recorded over a police scanner by a couple in Florida. The court said, "Because there was no genuine dispute that Representative McDermott knew the Martins had illegally intercepted the conversation, he did not lawfully obtain the tape from them."

In dissent, Judge David Sentelle said McDermott had a first Amendment right to disclose the tape, a view expressed by McDermott's lawyer who said that a ruling against McDermott would significantly affect reporters and newsmakers. Eighteen news organizations had echoed this concern by filing a brief supporting McDermott. McDermott has released a statement on the appeals court ruling, invoking the dissent and insisting that

The American people have a right to know when their government's leaders are plotting to deceive them, and that is exactly what was happening during a telephone call in 1996 involving Republican House leaders, including then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Rep. John Boehner.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, Judge Saundra Armstrong of the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] has ruled that the US Bureau of Reclamation [official website] must leave more water in the Klamath River basin to ensure survival of the threatened Coho salmon [ESA listing status]. The river runs from northern California to the Oregon coast and has been the source of controversy between farmers that want water for irrigation and those that want to protect the salmon. Last October, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] remanded the case [JURIST report] to Judge Armstrong to allocate more water for the salmon. The Los Angeles Times has more.

In other environmental law news...

• The UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [official website] announced [press release] the new Climate Change Programme [PDF text] Tuesday. The plan [backgrounder] includes both the measures and policies currently in place to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the priorities for future regulations. The London Evening Standard has more.
  
  
• The Brazil Ministry of the Environment [official website, in Portuguese] announced late Sunday night that a large section of the Amazon rainforest will be declared a protected zone over the next three years. Approximately 84,000 square miles is slated for the designation. AP has more.
  
  
• The Seattle Washington city council [official website] enacted [press release] new rules Monday to help restore urban streams and wetlands. The ordinance [text], which could go into effect as early as May 9, includes such measures as restricting pesticide use, requiring tree and plant replacement within 100 feet of lake and marine shorelines, and the "daylighting" of certain streams in the city. Daylighting is the practice of exposing streams that had been previously buried in underground pipes. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more.

[JURIST] Most of the eight US Supreme Court [official website] justices hearing oral arguments Tuesday in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs] appeared skeptical of the Bush administration's contention that special military tribunals established by the President [Military Order text] not adhering to either standard US military procedure or the Geneva Convention [text] can be used to prosecute suspected terrorists as war criminals. Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profile], a former driver for Osama bin Laden, was the first Guantanamo Bay prisoner to challenge his trial before a military commission [JURIST news archive] rather than in front of an ordinary military court. Hamdan's lawyer argued that the commission system is unfair because it allows President Bush's military subordinates to determine who will act as judge and jury and also decide which crimes will be prosecuted.

During Tuesday's oral arguments in the case, the justices also criticized Congress for its recent decision in the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document] to take away federal court authority to hear habeas claims brought by Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prisoners. Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter all sharply challenged any potential barrier to their review of Hamdan's case. Meanwhile, Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito defended the government's argument that Hamdan is not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention because he was not part of a uniformed enemy. Chief Justice John Roberts did not take part in Tuesday's sitting as he had previously ruled on the case in favor of the government while sitting as a judge on the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The Los Angeles Times has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A delegation of Algerian officials made the country's first visit to the US military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in mid-March to evaluate the conditions of 26 Algerian citizens being held there, according to a report [text, in French] published Tuesday in Algeria's El Watan [media website, in French] newspaper. Representatives of the Algerian ministries of defense, foreign affairs and justice made up the group; they were allowed to speak with the detainees in private, and one of the visiting officials told the newspaper the detainees had complained of inhumane treatment. The report states that US figures show 29 or 30 Algerians being held at Guantanamo, suggesting that the delegation may not have been able to contact all the detainees it sought. The 26 were all recruited in the 1990s and spent time in London before fanning out to Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the countries where they were ultimately captured.

Algeria [JURIST news archive] is currently negotiating with the US to repatriate the 26 prisoners to their home country, but discussions are expected to take some time. Military-to-military exchanges between the two countries began last year and US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in February that he hopes to increase counter-terrorism cooperation with the Algerian government. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Tuesday dismissed three counts against former Enron [corporate website; JURIST news archive] CEO Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile] and one count against company founder Kenneth Lay [Houston Chronicle profile], shortly after the prosecution rested in the fraud and conspiracy case [indictment, PDF; DOJ Enron trial materials] against the pair. According to Skilling's attorney, US District Judge Sim Lake dismissed one count of wire fraud and two counts of securities fraud against Skilling, giving him 28 remaining counts, and also dropped one securities fraud count against Lay, leaving him with six counts. The dismissed charges involve crimes that allegedly occurred in the first quarter of 2000, for which prosecutors did not present evidence. AP has more.

Prosecutors Tuesday ended nearly nine weeks of testimony including that of 13 former executives, some of whom have already pleaded guilty or settled the charges against them. The government used tapes of conference calls with Wall Street analysts, videos of employee meetings, and testimony by witnesses to argue that Skilling and Lay continually lied about the financial stability of the fallen company. The defense is scheduled to begin its case on Monday and both Skilling and Lay, who have denied any wrongdoing, are expected to testify. AP has more.

[JURIST] Transit workers, postal staff, teachers and media employees went on strike and more than a million people demonstrated across France [JURIST news archive] Tuesday as part of escalating protests against the First Employment Contract (CPE) [FAQ, in French; official backgrounder, in English; JURIST news archive], a contentious labor law passed by the French parliament earlier this month that allows employers to fire workers under 26 years old without cause during the first two years of employment. The French Interior Ministry said more than 1,000,000 people marched to show their opposition to the law, while unions organizing the protests claimed as many as 3,000,000 people demonstrated. In Paris, police scuffled with demonstrators at the end of a rally there, leading to more than a hundred arrests.

The First Employment Contract has triggered a string of protests by many who fear the law will increase unemployment among younger workers. Many have called for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official profile, in English] to cancel the legislation before it takes effect at the beginning of April. Talks between de Villepin and union leaders broke down [JURIST report] over the weekend. Supporters have argued the law will give employers more control under France's traditionally tight job security laws. The Guardian has more. Le Monde has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Mississippi Legislature [official website] failed to reach a compromise on an abortion ban bill [text] before a Monday night deadline, preventing it from becoming law during the current legislative session. The proposed bill would have prohibited most abortions in the state, making exceptions only for victims of rape or incest, or to save the woman's life; Governor Haley Barbour [official site] had already promised to sign it [LifeNews.com report]. The bill was approved [JURIST report] earlier this month by the House Public Health Committee [list of committee members here], but the Senate wanted to include language that would protect the state's existing informed consent law if the abortion ban were ever challenged in court. The Senate also wanted to require doctors to perform an ultrasound before an abortion, but dropped this request after meeting opposition from the House.

Ten minutes before the deadline, House Public Health Committee Chairman D. Stephen Holland [official site] presented a House proposal to prevent the bill from taking effect until and unless the US Supreme Court [official website] overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade [text] ruling. The Senate refused to sign the bill, and the House refused to sign the Senate proposal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Chinese Ministry of Health [official website, in Chinese] announced Tuesday that it will ban the sale of human organs in an effort to stem a rising black market trade [Independent report] for organs of executed prisoners. The Ministry announced stricter regulations taking effect July 1 that will require written consent from organ donors and will limit the number of hospitals at which transplants are performed. Cases brought under the new regulation will be handled by an ethics committee.

Although the regulations lack binding legal effect, the World Health Organization [official website; China backgrounder] said it was a step in the right direction. The organ trade in China largely focused on executed prisoners [2001 US State Dept. testimony], with rights groups estimating that between 5,000 and 12,000 prisoners are executed each year. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US House International Relations Committee [official website] chairman Rep. Henry Hyde [official website] indicated Monday that he would support a revised version of the UN Reform Act [text] in an attempt to gain Senate support for the legislation. Hyde said he would work with committee member Rep. Tom Lantos [official website] on a bill that would tie US funding for the UN to an assessment by the US secretary of state of the status of UN reform [JURIST news archive]. Lantos' proposal changes what would have been an automatic withdrawal of US funding if UN reform efforts stalled.

Last year, Hyde pushed for a bill that would put pressure on the UN to implement reforms despite opposition from the Bush administration [JURIST report]. The legislation won House approval [JURIST report], but failed to garner enough support in the Senate. The UN approved some reforms at its annual summit in September 2005, but members failed to agree on reforms for several key issues. VOA has more.

[JURIST] The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) [advocacy website] on Monday asked the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] to declassify a district judge's ruling on possible warrantless wiretaps used by the government in a high-profile terrorism case. Earlier this month, District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy issued a secret ruling [JURIST report] in which he rejected a defense motion to dismiss charges based on possible evidence from wiretaps that may have been illegal. The designation of the ruling as secret means that neither the defendant, the defense lawyers nor the public can read the judge's reasoning for rejecting the motion. Defense lawyers had argued that the evidence may have been obtained as part of the government's controversial domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] by the National Security Agency.

The government has charged two Albany mosque members [JURIST report] with money laundering and supporting terrorism following a year-long sting operation. Although terrorism charges against the two were later dropped [JURIST report], the prosecutors have pursued the money laundering charges. Read the NYCLU news release on its appeal and its memorandum in support [PDF] of its petition to the appeals court for a writ of mandamus. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nikolai Lozovik, Secretary for the Belarus Central Election Commission [official website], announced Tuesday that the third-term inauguration of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] will be delayed. Lukashenko's landslide reelection earlier this month triggered claims of widespread fraud and prompted massive street protests [BBC report] along with scathing criticism [report, PDF] from the European Union and the United States [White House press conference]. Lozovik gave no explanation for the postponement, simply stating that the Lukashenko administration will be setting a new date. Reuters has more.

Meanwhile Belarus rights activists said Tuesday that 20 out of some 400 protestors held in jail in Minsk had gone on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention. A spokesman said they were in the fifth day of their action against overcrowding and deprivation of water and packages. AP has more.

[JURIST] Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, Jr. [official website] Monday announced an investigation into the American Red Cross [official website] over accusations that some of its volunteers stole money from Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] relief efforts. Foti reportedly opened the investigation after Red Cross officials told Congress that it was reviewing reports of theft. Foti has asked for information from the organization on three volunteers fired by Red Cross. The Attorney General's office has a news release on the investigation, as well as another inquiry [news release] opened into the Humane Society.

The Red Cross announced last week that it was investigating allegations of mismanagement [news release] of funds by volunteers. The organization has been under pressure from Sen. Chuck Grassley [official website; news release] to change its operating procedures to avoid fraud. Federal authorities indicted almost 50 Red Cross employees [JURIST report] late last year on fraud charges for stealing relief funds. AP has more.

[JURIST] Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish] has lauded Monday's approval by the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] of an immigration bill that would provide temporary work visas to undocumented workers in the US and that rejected a House proposal to make the "unlawful presence" of undocumented aliens a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Fox credited huge marches by Mexicans [JURIST report] and other protestors in the US as a major contributor to the favorable vote, saying it moves the Mexican government closer to its goal of legalization for all Mexican migrants in the US.

US Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza [official profile] has nonetheless warned Mexican citizens in a letter [text] that the Senate Judiciary Committee proposal still must be passed by Congress and said the debate is likely to be "heated and at times contentious." Other parts of the bill propose increased border patrol efforts and the construction of a fence along 700 of the 2,000 miles of US-Mexican border. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] sentencing trial were left in a quandary Monday after hearing conflicting testimony from Moussaoui and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed [Wikipedia profile], the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Taking the stand in his own defense, Moussaoui said he was part of the Sept. 11 plot and planned to fly a fifth plane into the White House [JURIST report] along with "shoe bomber" Richard Reid [BBC profile]. Subsequently, however, the jury was read written statements by Mohammed, currently in US custody, indicating that the plan was for Moussaoui to participate in a second round of attacks on the US unrelated to Sept. 11.

Moussaoui's testimony came as a surprise since he has previously denied any involvement in the Sept. 11 plot, and his attorneys have suggested that he is seeking the death penalty to achieve "martyrdom." The jury is expected to hear statements Tuesday from another al-Qaida member, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi [Wikipedia profile], suspected of providing money to the terrorist group. AP has more.

[JURIST] The BBC is reporting a statement by the Nigerian government that wanted war crimes suspect Charles Taylor [JURIST news archive], the former Liberian president indicted by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] who it said it would turn over to Liberian authorities [JURIST report], is missing from the villa in the south of country where he has been living in exile since 2003. All the members of his security forces have been arrested. BBC News has more.

JURIST received information Monday from former SCSL Chief of Investigations Alan White that Taylor had already left his villa in Calabar [JURIST report] and could be heading to Equatorial Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Benjamin Yeaten, former director of Liberia's Special Security Service [Global Security backgrounder] under Taylor, spends time. White suggested Nigeria would blame Taylor's departure on Liberia's failure to arrest him in a timely manner.

1:16 PM ET - A statement released by the Nigeria Office of Public Communications says President Olesegun Obasanjo has set up a five-member Panel of Enquiry to look into the circumstances of Taylor's disappearance.

7:05 PM ET - SCSL Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva responded to reports of Taylor's disappearance Tuesday by calling it an "affront to justice", saying that Taylor was a threat to the peace and security of West Africa and urging Nigerian and other leaders to respond immediately and take all necessary steps to bring Taylor to justice. Read de Silva's statement [PDF].

In Washington, the US indicated Tuesday that it regarded the apparent escape of Taylor with what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the "utmost seriousness," with officials suggesting that under the circumstances Wednesday's planned meeting between visiting Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo and President Bush might not go ahead. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday:

It is the responsibility of the Nigerian government to see that [Taylor] is conveyed to the Special Court for Sierra Leone. We expect the government of Nigeria to fulfill this commitment.

[JURIST] Afghanistan's Justice Minister [ministry website, English version] said Tuesday that authorities have released Abdul Rahman [Wikipedia profile], the Afghan man who faced the death penalty [JURIST report] for converting from Islam to Christianity. Sarwar Danish did not provide any legal details, but prosecutors had indicated Monday that Rahman was undergoing a mental examination that could have contributed to the decision to free him. The Afghan government had been seeking a quiet way to let Rahman go after being put under major political pressure from Western nations [JURIST report]. On Sunday an Afghan court sent his case back to prosecutors [JURIST report], saying it was "flawed" and lacked necessary evidence. Afghan clerics and protestors Monday called for Rahman to stand trial [JURIST report] under sharia law [CFR backgrounder], and a chief cleric said last week that the Afghan people would kill the convert if he was released [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

The United Nations [official website] has meanwhile been looking for another country to accept Rahman after he requested asylum [JURIST report] abroad Monday. Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini [official profile], one of the first to call for Rahman's release, said Tuesday that he would ask the Italian cabinet to grant asylum [press release] to the convert. AP has more.