[JURIST] Legal arguments began in Colchester, England, Monday in the court-martrial trial of four British soldiers accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in May 2003. The four soldiers are accused of forcing Ahmed Kareem, one of four Iraqi prisoners captured on suspicion of looting, into a canal where he drowned. The trial, presided over by a seven-member military panel, is expected to last six weeks.

This case is the second publicized trial of British soldiers charged in an Iraqi civilian death. In November 2005, charges against seven solders for the murder [JURIST report] of an Iraqi civilian in southern Iraq were dropped [JURIST report] after it was determined that the main Iraqi witnesses lacked credibility. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] President Bush Monday rejected the option of deportation for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the US, asking Congress to keep in mind “that we are talking about human beings, decent human beings” as it prepared to take up the immigration reform [JURIST news archive] issue again after a two week recess. In a speech [text] to the Orange County Business Council in Irvine, California, the President said:

Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic. It's just not going to work. You can hear people out there hollering it's going to work. It's not going to work. It just -- and so therefore, what do we do with people who are here?

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday heard oral arguments in Brigham County v. Stewart [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], a case in which the Court will clarify the type of emergency situation required to justify a warrantless entry made by police without knocking and announcing their presence. Four police officers in Brigham County, Utah, entered a home without a warrant screaming “Police!” when they observed a violent situation unfolding between household members through a window. They had tried to get the attention of the occupants before entering to no avail. Four adults arrested were all charged with misdemeanors – disorderly conduct, intoxication, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In argument, the court seemed to shy away from setting the standard police can use during emergencies to enter homes without warrant, and instead focused on the noise as a justification for the warrantless entry made without knocking. Several justices seemed likely to reverse the 2005 Utah Supreme Court ruling [text] that had granted a motion to suppress, with Justice Souter asking, “Isn’t there something bizarre about saying reasonableness requires a totally futile gesture?” and Justice Scalia remarking, “Why isn’t screaming, ‘Police,’ enough?” Defense counsel argued that police needed a warrant to enter the party and should still be required to make their presence known outside of the house. The Department of Justice supports the warrantless entry and argued that police officers do not have to be “spectators to escalating violence.” AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge in Boston Monday dismissed [ruling, PDF] a suit filed in 2004 by twelve members of the US armed forces [JURIST report] represented by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) [advocacy website] challenging the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy [Wikipedia backgrounder; SLDN timeline, PDF] requiring them to keep their sexual orientation secret or face discharge. The case was one of first impression for the US First Circuit [official website], but Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. [official profile] rejected the argument that the military policy violates the First Amendment [text] by denying service members their right to privacy, free speech, and equal protection under the law: “The fact that one might speak about one’s conduct, or one’s propensity or intention to engage in certain conduct, does not mean that a governmental regulation pertaining to the conduct is also an impermissible restriction on speaking about it.”

The Bush administration argued [JURIST report] that Congress’ approval of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was based on a recognition that the military requires policies not appropriate in civilian society and that the policy “rationally furthers the government’s interest in maintaining unit cohesion, reducing sexual tensions and promoting personal privacy.” The SLDN has not made a final decision whether to appeal the dismissal to the First Circuit but is reviewing all possible responses [press release]. Lawmakers in February 2005 cited a Government Accountability Office report [text, PDF] to criticize the policy [JURIST report] and its negative effect on recruitment and retention of military personnel. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” has been upheld by appeals courts in several other jurisdictions. AP has more.

[JURIST] Kenneth Lay [personal website; Houston Chronicle profile], former CEO and founder of Enron [corporate website; JURIST news archive], told a jury Monday that the collapse of the company in 2001 has caused him "hurt and destruction and pain" on a level that compares, he said, to “absolutely nothing in my life.” Lay and another former Enron CEO, Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile], have been charged [indictment, PDF] with multiple counts of fraud and criminal conspiracy for providing investors with false and misleading financial information from 1999 up until Enron filed bankruptcy in late 2001.

Skilling testified [JURIST report] in his own defense earlier this month, spending eight days on the stand [JURIST report] and vowing to "fight those charges until the day I die." He also told jurors that former employees who testified against himself and Lay did so only to cut deals with the prosecution. AP has more.

[JURIST] Forty-nine leftist Philippines politicians, including six current lawmakers and former Senator Gregorio Honasan [Wikipedia profile], face charges of rebellion for allegedly conspiring with the Communist Party of the Philippines [Philippine Revolution profile] to kill and replace President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [official website], officials announced Monday. According to Senior State Prosecutor Emmanual Velasco, the accused "established a tactical alliance" and conspired since 1990 to rebel against the government, culminating in a coup plot in February which led to Arroyo's controversial state of emergency declaration [JURIST report].

The accused lawmakers have denied the charges and contested the treatment of the case by the Philippines Justice Department [official website] as failing to conform to procedural requirements of the law. They also claim to have filed a motion to suspend proceedings Monday. AP has more. The Manila Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The jury in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] began deliberations Monday on whether to spare his life or to execute him for conspiring in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 [JURIST news archive]. At the close of arguments at his sentencing trial in a courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, government prosecutors told jurors they could "put an end to his hatred and venom" by electing to have Moussaoui executed. The defense maintained that Moussaoui is mentally ill [JURIST report] and that executing him would only allow Moussaoui to serve his ultimate purpose - to join the Sept. 11 hijackers in a glorified afterlife as Islamic martyrs.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to six conspiracy charges [indictment] last year. The jury has already determined that Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] and now must decide whether he deserves it. Review the special verdict form [PDF] that the jury foreman will fill out. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepal's King Gyanendra [official website; BBC profile] on Monday reinstated the Nepal House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament dissolved by the then prime minister in 2002, saying that the assembly would convene on Friday. In a televised address [transcript], Gyanendra said:

Convinced that the source of State Authority and Sovereignty of the Kingdom of Nepal is inherent in the people of Nepal and cognizant of the spirit of the ongoing people's movement as well as to resolve the on-going violent conflict and other problems facing the country according to the road map of the agitating Seven Party Alliance, we, through this Proclamation, reinstate the House of Representatives which was dissolved on 22 May 2002 on the advice of the then Prime Minister in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990. We call upon the Seven Party Alliance to bear the responsibility of taking the nation on the path to national unity and prosperity, while ensuring permanent peace and safeguarding multiparty democracy. We also summon the session of the reinstated House of Representatives at the Sansad Bhawan, Singha Durbar at 1 P.M. on Friday, 28 April 2006.

[JURIST] Iraqi prosecutors Monday played in court a taped phone conversation allegedly between Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] and co-defendant Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile], a former vice president, where the two discussed the situation in Dujail. The voice attributed to Ramadan reported the destruction of farmland and palm groves in the village where the former leaders are accused of executing 148 Shiites [JURIST report] in retaliation for an assassination attempt against Hussein. The other voice, allegedly Hussein's, was not clear but seemed to respond with questions about the situation. Prosecutors did not identify the source of the tape.

During the 90-minute session Monday, presiding judge Raouf Abdul Rahman [BBC profile] also read into the record a report affirming last week's authentication [JURIST report] of Hussein's signature on documents connected with the executions. The judge then adjourned the trial until May 15, when the defense will begin to present its case. A US official said Monday that a verdict in the case is expected by early August [AFP report]. BBC News has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: A Farce of Law: The Trial of Saddam Hussein [Curtis Doebbler, member of Hussein's defense team]

[JURIST] Australian prosecutors on Monday accused a Pakistani-born Australian immigrant of planning to bomb one of two targets in Sydney in one of the first cases to be tried under the country's new post 9/11 anti-terrorism laws [text]. Faheem Khalid Lodhi, who immigrated to Australia [JURIST news archive] in 1996, has pleaded not guilty to four charges and is being tried by a jury at the New South Wales Supreme Court [official website]. Prosecutors stated that an October 2003 search of Lodhi's home produced a terrorist manual that indicated the defendant's plans to bomb either an electrical supply system or defense installations in Sydney. Lodhi's defense will begin its case on Wednesday, and the trial is expected to last up to eight weeks. AAP has local coverage. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's international brief, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal [official website] warned the Nepal government [monarchy website] again that international standards governing police actions during times of civil unrest must be observed as part of Nepal's international legal obligations. The statement [text] warned that the use of live rounds and targeted rubber bullets violated the international standards governing police actions during times of civil unrest. The OHCHR also raised concerns about the treatment being received by female protestors at the hands of male police officers. Nepal is in its 19th day of pro-democracy protests. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The South Korean Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office (SPPO) [official website in Korean] questioned Hyundai Motors [corporate website] CEO Chung Mong-koo about his alleged involvement in attempts to bribe government officials, illegally manipulate company financial assets, and unlawfully subsidize the financial losses of affiliate corporations. It is unclear how much Chung knew about the illegal activities, but he issued a public apology on behalf of the company and promised complete cooperation with the SPPO, which has the power to determine who is charged and what possible sentences they would face if convicted. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.
  
  
• Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga confirmed reports released last weekend that the Zimbabwean government [official website] has begun accepting all applications for leasing farm land, regardless of race. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] had implemented a land seizure program at the start of his political administration six years ago that is widely credited as having turned the largest African producer of food into a nation verging on starvation. The final act of his land reform was to declare all farms public property [JURIST report] and grant tenants leases to work the land. The lack of education, equipment, and supplies for black Zimbabwean farmers has resulted in a drastic decrease in Zimbabwe's agricultural output and critics point to the reversal on race requirements for tenancy as proof that Mugabe's plans were ultimately harmful. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.
  
  
• The South African National Prosecuting Authority [official website] announced on Monday that it would fully cooperate with a public probe into allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption within the NPA. A spokesperson told reporters that the NPA would accept whatever outcome the probe finds and implement the suggested changes. Allegations were first laid against NPA chief Marion Sparg in 2004, but this is the first government action to be taken on the issue. Prosecutorial services in South Africa [JURIST news archive] have been criticized as being too involved in politics in Kenya. SAPA has local coverage.

[JURIST] Relatives of Polish victims of the 1940 Katyn massacre [Wikipedia backgrounder] are planning to file a complaint against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights [official website] to compel the government to disclose information about the killings perpetrated by the secret police. The government of Mikhail Gorbachev admitted in 1989 that Stalin had personally ordered the secret police to carry out the slayings. Russia had previously blamed the Nazis for the incident, in which over 20,000 Polish Army reservists were killed in the Katyn Forest in present-day Belarus.

The complaint will be filed by 70 families of the victims in the next few weeks, as the Polish Institute of National Remembrance [official website] has been unable to convince the Russian government [press release] to apply its law on the "rehabilitation of victims of political repressions" to the Katyn victims. Russia's own ten-year investigation of the massacre ended in 2004 with the government classifying its files and terming the incident as a crime whose statute of limitations has expired. The families hope that the ECHR will classify the incident as genocide and compel the Russian government to disclose its information; they are divided as to whether surviving participants should be prosecuted. The Independent has more.

[JURIST] In a report [text; press release] released Monday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [official website] criticized the efforts of countries around the world as ineffective in blocking the flow of people smuggled into countries, many of whom are sexually exploited or forced to work as slaves. The report, which calls for a more unified approach through international cooperation and data sharing with the UN, claims that the vast majority of cases involve women and children with just nine percent involving men. Sexual exploitation is a factor in most cases as well.

In his foreword to the report, UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa wrote that UN states need to improve their efforts to prevent, prosecute and protect those involved in human trafficking:

A main challenge is to reduce demand, whether for cheap goods manufactured in sweatshops, or for under-priced commodities produced by bonded people in farms and mines, or for services provided by sex slaves. Prevention should involve information campaigns to reduce the vulnerability of people to trafficking. If people are aware of the dangers of human trafficking, the chances of avoiding its consequences should be improved.

Another big challenge is to target the criminals who profit from the vulnerability of people trying to escape from poverty, unemployment, hunger and oppression. Traffickers are evil brokers of oppressed people whom they deliver into the hands of exploiters. They capitalize on weak law enforcement and poor international cooperation. I am disappointed by the low rates of convictions for the perpetrators of human trafficking.

Member States need to protect the trafficking victims, taking particular care to address the special needs of women and children. Such assistance is often lacking. Even worse, rescued victims are often re-trafficked because legislators and enforcement officials, despite their best intentions, sometimes produce and have to implement flawed laws that can put these same victims back into the clutches of their exploiters.

[JURIST] A group of prominent physicists has urged President Bush not to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran [JURIST news archive] in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [PDF text], after recent articles in the Washington Post [April 18 report] and the New Yorker [April 10 report] reported the administration's willingness to consider nuclear strikes. The Bush administration has denied the reports [JURIST report].

The protest came in the form of a letter [PDF text] from thirteen of the nation's leading physicists, including five Nobel Laureates. According to the authors:

Using or even merely threatening to use a nuclear weapon preemptively against a nonnuclear adversary tells the 182 non-nuclear-weapon countries signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that their adherence to the treaty offers them no protection against a nuclear attack by a nuclear nation. Many are thus likely to abandon the treaty, and the nuclear non-proliferation framework will be damaged even further than it already has, with disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.

[JURIST] Evidence of prisoner abuse [JURIST news archive] in facilities operated by Iraq's Interior Ministry was discovered by US inspectors as recently as February 2006, according to a report in Monday's Washington Post. According to the article, a handful of prisoners showing the most severe signs of abuse in one prison were moved to receive medical attention while overcrowding was alleviated at two other prisons through prisoner transfers. The majority of those being held, including others showing signs of abuse, were not moved to other detention centers.

In November 2005 US troops found 173 prisoners [JURIST report], many abused, in a secret bunker run by the Interior Ministry and quickly transferred them to a separate prison facility to protect them from further abuse. The incident prompted Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace to say that US troops would work to stop any inhumane treatment they saw in the future. Last month, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Iraq's detention practices may violate international law and expressed concern [JURIST report] over the failure of Coalition forces to publish the results of their investigation into the torture allegations. Amnesty International has said that the country's arbitrary detention practices facilitate prisoner abuse [report text; JURIST report] and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq's bi-monthly human rights report [DOC text] noted that rights violations in Iraq are on the rise [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Software giant Microsoft [corporate website] opened day one of an expected five-day appeals hearing [case docket] before the European Union's Court of First Instance [official website] by claiming that it should be allowed to both protect its intellectual property and enhance its programs. In March 2004, the European Commission concluded a five year investigation [press release], determining that Microsoft had failed [decision text, PDF] to make its server software sufficiently accessible to outside programmers. The Commission also levied a record fine of 497 million euros ($613 million US) against Microsoft and ordered that it share its technical data. Microsoft has instead offered to share its source code [JURIST report], a move that has been viewed with skepticism by the Commission and Microsoft's rivals.

The two main issues in the appeal are whether Microsoft's offer of source code has provided rivals with the support necessary to help them develop Windows-compatible software and whether forcing Microsoft to market a version of Windows without Media Player has curtailed the company's ability to innovate. The company provides information on its compliance with the EU ruling [press release]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] Monday called the use of lethal injections by US authorities "incompetent, negligent, and irresponsible" in a report [text] urging the federal government and the 37 out of 38 death penalty states that use that method of execution to suspend injections pending an assessment of alternatives that do not put prisoners at needless risk of excruciating pain. The report describes the current procedure, introduced three decades ago with what HRW says was little or no scientific research:

As the prisoner lies strapped to a gurney, a series of three drugs is injected into his vein by executioners hidden behind a wall. A massive dose of sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, is injected first, followed by pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes voluntary muscles, but leaves the prisoner fully conscious and able to experience pain. A third drug, potassium chloride, quickly causes cardiac arrest, but the drug is so painful that veterinarian guidelines prohibit its use unless a veterinarian first ensures that the pet to be put down is deeply unconscious. No such precaution is taken for prisoners being executed.