[JURIST] French students and union members staged sporadic "victory marches" Tuesday to celebrate the government's withdrawal of the First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) [JURIST news archive] as legislators prepared for a vote on a replacement $180M job training and subsidization package that could come as early as Wednesday [Bloomberg report]. Protest leaders are attempting to keep up pressure [JURIST report] on the government to do away with the entire law on equality of opportunity [PDF] that contained the contested labor contract in Article 8 [JURIST document], but prospects for that may be slim as the latest marches drew but a fraction of the support seen for the anti-CPE campaign, with a mere 41,000 demonstrating across France [Le Monde report] - 2,300 in Paris - as compared to the throngs of between 1 and 3 million [JURIST report] that had gathered in previous weeks to oppose the initial youth jobs law.

The CPE created an age-based exception to traditional French labor regulations by allowing workers who were under 26 years of age at the time of hiring to be fired without cause at any time during the first two years of their employment. It was thought that such an "employment-at-will" provision would encourage hiring and lower France's youth unemployment rate, running at about 22 percent and over 50 percent among immigrant youth in some areas. The measure was signed into law [JURIST report] by President Jacques Chirac earlier this month before its replacement [JURIST report] was dramatically announced Monday in separate statements by Chirac and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. AP has more.

[JURIST] A new photograph of detainees from Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] in Iraq was released by the ACLU Tuesday after having been turned over by the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] pursuant to a federal court order directing compliance with a Freedom of Information Act [DOJ materials] request. The photo [ACLU image] displays two men in orange jumpsuits with their faces blocked to prevent identification.

The DOD, which late last month agreed to release more Abu Ghraib photos [JURIST report] when it dropped its appeal of the September 2005 court order [opinion text, PDF; JURIST report] by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, also authenticated 73 other photographs and three videotapes previously disclosed [JURIST report] by Salon magazine. The government has nonetheless told the court it is holding back another 29 photographs and two videos that involve treatment of detainees at an unspecified location. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate [official website] introduced a proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday that would allow the country's president and state governors to seek a third term in office. Nigeria's constitution [text] currently permits two four-year terms, and if it remains unchanged the upcoming 2007 elections will provide the first handover of power from one civilian president to another as the result of a democratic election. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official website; Wikipedia profile] was elected in 1999 following a 15-year period of dictatorship and opponents to the proposed amendment fear that its passage will lead the nation closer to dictatorship.

Deputy President Ibrahim Mantu [official website], who has led efforts to allow a third term, is being investigated on allegations that has received over $3 million US dollars in connection with the campaign to amend the constitution. Meanwhile, opponents of the amendment and political opposition leaders have been harassed and called a threat to national security. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue [Wikipedia profile] has asked the country's High Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes to conduct an investigation into the finances of all government officials and aides to address allegations of corruption and mismanagement. The audit will cover the two-year interim administration that was appointed after former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide [BBC profile] fled the country [JURIST report] in February 2004 after a three-week revolt.

A group of Haitian judges have been under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes, and Latortue's communications director said Monday that those judges have been suspended while the government probe is completed. The corruption probe is designed to "unveil suspicions of corruption" by all levels of government and will cover anyone who signs checks, including the interim prime minister. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the UK Environment Agency [official website] has been found guilty of polluting the waters of the Barle River, a tributary of the Exe in Devon. The pollution consisted of hazardous chemicals from cement waste that was allowed to flow into the river. The Environment Agency had contracted for the construction of a flow-monitoring station on the river, and it was during its construction that the pollution occurred. The pollution led to the deaths of hundreds of salmon and trout. The case was brought under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act of 1975 by a private landowner with fishing rights downstream from the waste flow. The Exeter Crown Court will determine the appropriate penalty next month. This is the first time that the Environment Agency itself has been found guilty of water pollution. The London Telegraph has more.

In other environmental law news...

• Jim Anderton [official website], head of New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture [official website], has announced that the government is planning to take control of all New Zealand freshwater resources [official backgrounder] within the next year. Regional councils are currently responsible for administering how water rights are controlled and the rules vary around the country. Options for the national plan include tradeable water rights and the metering of all water users. The action is being proposed due to continued arid conditions in some parts of the country and pollution problems in others. The Manawatu Standard has more.
  
  
• Kinder Morgan [corporate website], a Texas-based energy company, agreed [press release] Monday to settle with the US Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration [official website] for problems caused by its Pacific network of petroleum pipelines [corporate asset map]. The company will spend US$90 million over the next five years to improve its 3,900 miles of oil pipelines in the region. Problems with the pipelines include 44 spills and ruptures since 2001, including a 2004 explosion [Contra Costa Times report] in Walnut Creek, California that killed five construction workers. The Contra Costa Times has more.

[JURIST] The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld the dismissal [PDF opinion] of a defamation lawsuit against former US Rep. Cass Ballenger [Wikipedia profile] which was brought by an American Muslim civil rights group. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) [advocacy website] sued Ballenger [JURIST report] for comments he made in a 2003 interview to the Charlotte Observer when he said the group gave money to the Shi'a Islamist group Hezbollah [Wikipedia backgrounder] and said he worried about the location of the CAIR's headquarters because they could "blow-up" the Capitol.

The civil rights group has denied any links to terrorism and sought $2 million in the lawsuit against Ballenger, but last year a federal judge threw out the case saying the suit should instead be against the US government because Ballenger was a federal employee. The judge then threw out the case entirely under the doctrine of sovereign immunity [LII backgrounder], which bars most cases against the US government. AP has more.

[JURIST] JURIST [FAQ] has been nominated for a prestigious Webby Award [awards website] as the best Law website of 2006. Called the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences [profession website], the "Webbies" are the leading international awards honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.

As a nominee for a Webby Award, JURIST is also eligible to win a People's Voice Award. Voting on Webby nominees is open to the public from April 11th to May 5th. To vote for JURIST, go to the "People's Voice" voting site by clicking here. Register (you may need to scroll down), get the password that will be sent to your e-mail account, then log in to the People's Voice site, scroll down to the "Society" grouping and vote in the Law category. The process takes just a couple of minutes. It's easy. The People's Voice site also lets you write and leave a review of JURIST for the information of other voters.

The 10th Annual Webby Awards competition received over 5,500 entries from all 50 US states and over 40 countries worldwide. Also receiving finalist nominations in the Law category [nomination list] this year were three commercial websites - CourtTV, FindLaw and Nolo - plus Justice Learning, a collaborative project between National Public Radio and the New York Times. FindLaw and Nolo have won the Law Webby previously. Past Webby winners in other categories include Amazon.com, eBay, Yahoo!, iTunes, Google, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Salon magazine, Wikipedia, and PBS. Winners will be announced in New York May 9.

Headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law [law school website], JURIST is powered by a team of over 30 law student reporters, editors and web developers [staff list] led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts [profile] who volunteer their time and talent to the project, working with leading legal experts from around the world to provide up-to-the minute legal news, primary source research and analysis as an educational service to the public and the legal community.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile] to release hundreds of political opponents [HRW press release] and reporters who have been arrested in recent months as part of a government crackdown on opposing opinions. The US-based human rights group put their request in a letter [text] released Tuesday, which was sent to Assad saying the Syrian government is stifling freedom of expression and association by its people. HRW said these actions put the Syrian government in violation of its own constitution and other mandates under international law.

International rights groups claim that over 1,500 opposition activists, students and journalists are currently in jail, but Assad has declined to address requests for their release. Amnesty International [advocacy group] released a statement [text] last week saying that the rare detainee who does get to trial faces a court system which promotes a "gross lack of independence and impartiality." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The family of a man convicted for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [BBC report] said they will not pursue clemency on his behalf, allowing the Indonesian government to carry out his death sentence, according to a spokesman for the attorney general Tuesday. Imam Samudra [BBC profile] has indicated that he wishes to die under the belief that it would grant him "martyrdom." The attorney general's spokesman did not say whether an execution date has yet been confirmed.

Victims [JURIST report] of the 2002 bombings and other protestors [JURIST report] have previously called on the government to expedite the executions of those involved in the Bali bombings, but under Indonesian law convicts and their families must be given the opportunity to pursue all avenues for appeal [JURIST report] before such a sentence is carried out. Three men, including Samudra, who were convicted in the bombings refused to seek presidential pardons [JURIST report] against their death sentences last October. AP has more.

[JURIST] A jury on Tuesday awarded $9 million in punitive damages to a New Jersey man who sued pharmaceutical giant Merck [corporate website] on grounds that his prolonged use of the drug Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive] caused him to suffer a heart attack, marking the first suit involving facts of long-term use [JURIST report]. John McDarby took the pain reliever for four years until his heart attack in 2004. Last week, the jury found that Merck knowingly withheld information [JURIST report] from federal regulators by not immediately reporting initial findings that prolonged use of the drug was associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Merck withdrew the drug after a 2004 study indicated that continued use of Vioxx for longer than 18 months could double a patient's risk of heart attack.

McDarby was also awarded $4.5 million last week after the same jury found that Merck also failed to warn doctors and patients of potential dangers of heart attack and stroke [FDA public health advisory] associated with the use of Vioxx. These were the first punitive damages against a pharmaceutical company under New Jersey's 1995 Product Liability Act. Merck currently faces close to 10,000 Vioxx-related lawsuits in federal and state courts. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] A Turkish court on Tuesday dropped criminal charges against four journalists over reports critical of a court opinion [JURIST report] last fall, but the court upheld charges against a fifth journalist. The court dismissed charges against the four because it held that prosecutors failed to file charges within the two months following publication of the stories. The court upheld charges against Radikal columnist Murat Belge. Belge could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge under Turkish Penal Code Article 301 [Amnesty International backgrounder], which criminalizes insulting "state judicial institutions."

The five journalists were accused [JURIST report] of publishing stories critical of a court ruling that would have banned a conference on Turkey's involvement in the alleged genocide of its minority Armenian population under the Ottoman Empire. Similar charges against novelist Orhan Pamuk were dropped [JURIST report] earlier this year. Turkey [JURIST news archive] has been under pressure from the EU to improve its freedom of expression laws as part of its bid for EU membership. AP has more.

[JURIST] Police in Nepal [JURIST news archive] fired on a crowd of pro-democracy protestors [JURIST news archive] Tuesday, injuring at least 12, observers said. Reports said that protestors in Kathmandu marched from an area not covered by a curfew [JURIST report] toward a line of police, who then fired on the demonstrators. It was unclear whether police were using live ammunition or rubber bullets. Protestors have held marches [JURIST report] for the past six days, opposing the rule of King Gyanendra [official website] and often clashing with security forces.

The Nepalese government has come under fire from both the UN and rights groups for its handling of the protests. A representative from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] condemned police violence [news release; eKantipur.com report] and urged the government to temper its crack down on protestors. Amnesty International [advocacy website] said the government was only making the situation worse [news release; eKantipur.com report] with its harsh tactics. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [official profile, DOC] has said that Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] authorities continue to use torture [JURIST news archive], particularly against those who oppose the government, noting that he has evidence of systematic torture by police and security forces in the country. Nowak also criticized Germany for failing to arrest former Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov while he was seeking medical treatment there.

Almatov is suspected of using torture during his tenure, and he oversaw the violent crackdown in Andijan [HRW backgrounder], in which government forces fired on demonstrators and killed as many as 500 protesters. Nowak said that as a party to the UN Convention against Torture [text], Germany is required to detain torture suspects. Nowak has previously called for Almatov's prosecution by German authorities [UN news release; JURIST report]. Radio Free Europe has more.

[JURIST] World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz [official profile] said Tuesday that corruption of its judicial system is one of the largest challenges Indonesia [JURIST news archive] faces in attracting more investment. Wolfowitz said cleaning up the courts would help the country attract foreign investors and ensure economic growth. Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defense secretary, was speaking [transcript] in Jakarta after meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono [BBC profile] and economic ministers about World Bank [official website] loans for the upcoming year and the country's recovery from the tsunami [World Bank backgrounder; JURIST news archive] disaster in the Aceh region. Earlier this year, Wolfowitz promised to target corruption [JURIST report] in governments that deal with bank and within the organization itself.

Indonesia has struggled to reign in corruption in its judicial system, with Transparency International [advocacy website] calling it one of the most corruption-prone countries in the world. Yudhoyono has pledged to fight corruption since being elected in 2004. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A series of speakers in the Arizona State Legislature [official website] offered stinging criticism in floor speeches Monday of demonstrators who marched [JURIST report] in support of a chance for citizenship for illegal immigrants in the US. A group of Republican legislators said the protests were an assault on the "rule of law" and granting amnesty to illegal immigrants would send the wrong message. State Sen. Robert Blendu [official profile] said the marches succeeded in shutting down the state government for part of Monday, while arguing that immigration laws needed to be enforced.

Protests were held around the country Monday calling for a solution to the citizenship issue for illegal immigrants, who are estimated to number 11 million. The issue of immigration reform [JURIST news archive] has remained stalled in Congress, after compromise legislation in the Senate failed last week [JURIST report]. Capitol Media Services has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's international brief, Israel's cabinet has declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [official profile; BBC profile] to be permanently incapacitated [press release], marking the official end of the Sharon administration and opening the way for acting-PM Ehud Olmert to assume control of the administration as interim prime minister. Sharon was still considered the PM following his January stroke, but Israeli constitutional law [official text] prohibits the use of an acting PM for longer than 100 days without a ruling on the permanent capacity of the elected PM to rule. The Israeli Justice Ministry [official website] last week announced the intention to make the declaration [JURIST report] following required medical exams on Monday. The 100 days expires Friday, but the upcoming Passover celebration in Israel moved the relevant tests up to Monday. Sharon, one of the most popular elected officials in Israeli history, even though he had recently left the conservative Likud party to form his own moderate Kadima party [party website] and promised to withdraw from contested Palestinian territories, has been in a coma since early January and is not expected to regain consciousness. AP has more.

In other international legal news ...

• Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US Department of State [official website] issued a statement late Monday that criticized the decision by Nepalese King Gyanendra [BBC profile] to seize control of the government and dismiss elected officials [JURIST report] over fourteen months ago. The statement said the decision "failed in every regard" [press release] and called on Gyanendra to restore democracy to the country and open talks immediately with the political parties allied against the monarchy. Nepal [government website] has been in turmoil recently as police and security forces have cracked down on political protests [JURIST report] against Gyanendra's government. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. eKantipur.com has local coverage.
  
  
• Bernardo Provenzano [Wikipedia profile], the man alleged to be at the head of all organized crime in Italy, has been arrested in a farmhouse in Sicily after eluding police and prosecutors for over 40 years. Provenzano was indicted on minor criminal charges in 1963 and has been a fugitive since then, but has steadily worked his way up the organized crime structure and is alleged to have taken over control of the "families" of crime in 1993 after the arrest and conviction of former mafia boss Salvatore "Toto" Riina. Prosecutors have claimed that the arrest will have a significant impact on future arrests and prosecutions of other organized crime suspects, as well as lowering the ability of the mafia to conduct criminal enterprises. AP has more.

[JURIST] A medical officer in the UK's Royal Air Force [official website] has pleaded not guilty to charges that he failed to comply with a legal order [JURIST report] for refusing to return to Iraq for a third tour of duty. Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith [Wikipedia profile], who has dual British and New Zealand citizenship, refused to go back to Iraq because he felt Britain's participation in the war was illegal [JURIST report] since Iraq had not attacked the UK or one of its allies. Judge Advocate Jack Bayliss is presiding over Kendall-Smith's court-martial [JURIST report], which began Tuesday, and ruled that the doctor should face trial for the five charges against him because the orders were lawful.

Bayliss said that four of the charges were actually related to pre-deployment activities common to any tour of duty, including helmet fitting and pistol and rifle training. The judge advocate also said that the UK military was legally in Iraq under UN resolutions at the time Kendall-Smith refused to deploy. Kendall-Smith's trial is expected to last three days. From the United Kingdom, the Telegraph has local coverage.

[JURIST] Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official website] on Tuesday denied that he received or read [PDF transcript] several cables which were sent by diplomats and trade officials to warn the Australian government that the country's leading wheat exporter was paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's former regime [JURIST report] under the UN's now-defunct oil-for-food program [JURIST news archive]. Downer joined Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile [official website] in denying his knowledge of the conspiracy in which the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) [corporate website] allegedly paid $220 million to Hussein's government between 1997 and 2003 in order to receive grain contracts worth $2.3 billion.

The testimony of Downer and Vaile was taken by government lawyers who have been questioning [JURIST report] government officials, diplomats and AWB executives about their knowledge of the kickbacks as part of the Australian judicial inquiry [Cole Commission website] into the alleged conspiracy. Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] said he would also give a written statement [JURIST report] to the inquiry, but has denied that his government was aware of the scam. AP has more.

[JURIST] The judge overseeing the sentencing trial [case docket] of Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] ruled Monday that only the jury and other individuals present in the courtroom will be able to hear the cockpit tape [JURIST report] of United Airlines Flight 93 [National Park Service website] that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11 [JURIST news archive]. In her order [PDF text], US District Judge Leonie Brinkema wrote that "the privacy rights of the victims and the concerns of family members about public disclosure of the audiotape outweigh any right of the public to have access to the recording." Brinkema made her decision after cautioning prosecutors that the potentially "prejudicial" testimony of many emotional witnesses may be grounds for an appeal. Prosecutors said they would present briefer testimony after receiving the judge's warning.

Jurors found Moussaoui eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] earlier this month and in this phase of the trial, the jury will decide whether capital punishment should be imposed. While prosecutors have been offering the testimony of those affected by 9/11, Moussaoui's defense team plans to assert that he has schizophrenia and suffered through an impoverished childhood in an attempt to avoid his execution in favor of life in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] A judge in Spain charged 29 individuals Tuesday for their involvement in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings [JURIST news archive]. Judge Juan del Olmo charged five men with all 191 deaths in the bombings and 1,755 attempted murders, while 24 others were charged as accomplices. Over 100 suspects have been arrested throughout the investigation into the 10 simultaneous bombings, which allegedly were carried out by Islamic radicals, and most of those charged are of Moroccan descent. The trial is expected to begin in early 2007 and will last approximately one year. The indictments, 1500 pages in total, are available in four parts: part 1 [PDF], part 2 [PDF], part 3 [PDF], and part 4 [PDF].

A trial began [JURIST report] earlier this year in Italy for suspected Madrid bombings mastermind Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed [CBC profile] who allegedly helped to orchestrate [JURIST report] the Madrid attacks and later sought to recruit more extremists in Milan, Italy. A trial also began [JURIST report] last November for 13 alleged members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group [CDI profile] who were charged with conspiracy in the 2004 Spain bombings. BBC News has more. From Spain, El Mundo has local coverage.