[JURIST] The US Army announced late Friday that it has charged Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, former head of interrogation operations at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive], with seven violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice [text], including disobeying a superior commissioned officer, dereliction of duty, failure to obey a regulation, false swearing, cruelty and maltreatment and interfering with an investigation. He is the highest-ranking Army officer to face criminal charges as a result of the prisoner abuse scandal. Jordan's lawyer had said Tuesday that the charges against his client were anticipated [JURIST report].

Jordan, who was trained as a civil affairs officer and put in charge of Abu Ghraib's Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center [backgrounder] when it was formed in September 2003, admitted to Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba [Times profile], who investigated the Abu Ghraib abuses, that he was a poor choice to oversee interrogations [NYT report]. The Taguba report [PDF text] recommended that Jordan be relieved from duty and reprimanded for "failing to ensure that Soldiers under his direct control knew, understood, and followed the protections afforded to detainees in the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" and "failing to properly supervise soldiers under his direct authority." In addition, the August 2004 Fay report [PDF text; JURIST report] recommended that Jordan and Col. Thomas Pappas [Wikipedia profile], Jordan's superior, be punished for their roles in the abuse scandal. It was disclosed in January that Army investigators had recommended [LA Times report] Jordan be charged. Army Times has more.

[JURIST] President Bush Friday called on Sudan to resolve the conflict in its troubled Darfur region [JURIST news archive], asking the country's government to act in “full compliance with the international desire for there to be peace.” The President’s remarks came just ahead of a meeting with activists lobbying on behalf of victims in Darfur, as well as demonstrations planned for Sunday in Washington [Save Darfur DC rally website] and 17 other US cities [rally information]. After the meeting Bush declared that "genocide in Sudan is unacceptable" and "must stop", saying the US strongly supported a plan to increase an African Union peacekeeping force through UN action. Read a full transcript of the President's remarks. AFP has more.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution [text; JURIST report] Tuesday imposing sanctions on four Sudanese individuals for acts or abuses committed in Darfur and calling for the conclusion of a peace agreement there by the end of April. On Thursday, President Bush issued an executive order [text] implementing the resolution in the United States by freezing the assets of those named and prohibiting Americans and US companies from having any dealings with them.

[JURIST] The Miami federal judge presiding over the trial of terror suspect Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] on Friday rejected prosecutors' attempts to require Padilla’s defense attorneys to sign a "memorandum of understanding" regarding the security of secret evidence the prosecution intends to use in its case. The memorandum, promulgated by the US Justice Department, would have required all lawyers involved in the trial to never reveal anything classified, and destroy copies of all classified evidence provided. Prosecutors plan to use evidence gained from secret FBI investigations, materials provided to the US government by foreign governments, and the results of military interrogations of Padilla during his three and a half year military custody as an enemy combatant. Padilla was charged [JURIST report] last year with conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists, and was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January of this year.

US District Judge Marcia Cooke thought the memorandum was unnecessary. Defense attorneys for Padilla and co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi have already agreed to follow a court order [JURIST report] under the Classified Information Procedures Act [text] placing tight restrictions on disclosure of evidence containing classified material; violations of the Act can be a crime. In addition, the lawyers have to undergo background checks for a security clearance just to view the evidence in a secure room at the courthouse. The trial is scheduled to begin the week of Sept. 5. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General [official website] reported [text, PDF] Friday that the FBI [official website] did not use the threat of terrorism investigations to intimidate political protesters at the 2004 Democratic and Republican national conventions in Boston and New York, but rather followed up on credible threats of violence, investigating 17 threats, determining that six of them appeared serious. At the Democratic convention in Boston FBI agents subpoenaed three men to appear before a grand jury. The threat involving the three men led to investigations of 33 additional people.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups complained [Washington Post report] that the FBI had tried to manipulate political protesters by threatening terror probes and sued the FBI. The FBI acknowledged that it has thousands of records relating to surveillance of civil rights, environmental and other advocacy groups, but maintains that it has not violated any free speech rights. AP has more.

[JURIST] South Korean prosecutors in Seoul arrested Hyundai Motors Group [corporate website] CEO Chung Mong-koo [Wikipedia backgrounder] Friday on charges of embezzlement, misappropriation and bribery. Prosecution spokesman Kang Chan-woo made the arrest announcement shortly after Seoul District Court Judge Lee Jong-seok issued an arrest warrant. Authorities were concerned because of the “heavy” nature of the allegations and the fear that Chung would destroy evidence. Prosecutor-General Choung Sang-myoung approved Chung’s arrest [JURIST report] Thursday. The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office [official website, in Korean] alleges that Chung used his position [JURIST report] to profit illegally in business deals, pervert the course of justice, and influence elected government officials. Prosecutors will continue to investigate Chung during his detention before issuing an indictment, giving them 20 days to do so under South Korean law.

Prosecutors suspect Chung of embezzling $106 million in company money to create a slush fund and used it through at least two lobbyists to seek favors from the government. The lobbyists have also been arrested on charges of taking bribes from Hyundai in exchange for helping the company win construction permits and other business favors. Prosecutors have also investigated Chung's son, Kia Motors [corporate website] President Chung Eui-sun on related charges, but they have not arrested him. AP has more. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.

[JURIST] The constitutional reform process in Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] appears in disarray after the lower house of the Bosnian parliament [official website] voted earlier this week to reject a set of proposals backed by the US and the European Union and initially agreed to [JURIST report] by Bosnia's eight political parties that would have seen certain governmental functions shift from the country's two constituent republics to the central government. The package failed when it only garnered the endorsement of 26 of the 42 lawmakers, two votes short of the 28 necessary for passage. Critics argued that the proposals would actually reinforce the political divisions of the country and would inappropriately maintain a voting system structured along traditional national lines.

EU and US representatives criticized the vote against the new measures, with the European representative stressing their importance for the chances of Bosnia-Herzegovina joining the Union, and the US ambassador saying that he did not see "any other alternative" to the approved options [US Embassy Sarajevo press statement] already on the table. EUobserver has more. AKI has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] on Friday urged Libyan authorities to release five Bulgarian nurses who are accused of infecting over 400 patients, primarily children, with the HIV virus. The medics have been imprisoned since 1999 and are awaiting the start of their second trial, scheduled to begin in May [JURIST report]. The five Bulgarians, along with a Palestinian doctor, were first convicted in May 2004 and sentenced to death [JURIST reports] for deliberately infecting the children, but the Libyan Supreme Court overturned the convictions [JURIST report] last December and ordered a retrial.

While in Bulgaria Friday, Rice said that "the Bulgarian nurses have been too long in captivity" and called for their release, saying "this is a humanitarian case and it is time for them to come home." Bulgaria and its allies, including the US and the European Union, contend the nurses are innocent and maintain that their confessions were coerced through torture. The six health workers previously argued that the children were infected with the disease prior to treatment by the accused. Nine police officers and one doctor were acquitted [JURIST report] of torturing the health workers [HRW report] last year.
AP has more.

[JURIST] The Administrative Court of Thailand [official website] on Friday called off by-elections [press release, in Thai] scheduled for this weekend because there is a possibility that the results of the April 2 general election [BBC report; Thailand Election Commission website] will be determined to be illegitimate. Earlier this week, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [official profile] urged the country's Supreme Court [government backgrounder] to take an active role in resolving the country's ongoing election crisis [JURIST report] and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court agreed that the judiciary must take a more active role and called a joint meeting [JURIST report] of the three relevant courts in Thailand: the Supreme Court, the Administrative Court, and the Constitutional Court [official website]. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [official profile] called elections three years earlier than expected in an effort to win support for his troubled leadership. Instead, opposition parties boycotted the elections and not all seats were filled, forcing Thaksin to announce he would be stepping down [BBC report] and prompting the by-elections scheduled for this weekend. Under the Thai constitution [text], parliament cannot convene until all seats are filled.

Judges from all three courts said Friday that their rulings on the elections would be consistent. The Constitutional Court is due to hear two election-related cases on Monday. Reuters has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] Alabama Governor Bob Riley [official website] has signed the Rosa Parks Act [JURIST document], legislation that authorizes pardons for Rosa Parks [TIME profile], the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [King Center profile] and other civil rights activists convicted of violating Jim Crow laws in the state. Those seeking a pardon, or family members of those deceased, will have to apply for a pardon, though arrest records of Parks and others will remain at museums where they are on display. Riley signed the legislation last week without making an official announcement and his office only confirmed his signature Thursday. The bill was passed by the Alabama legislature [JURIST report] earlier this month.

Rosa Parks helped trigger the civil rights movement across the US after she was arrested in Montgomery, AL, in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Parks died last year [JURIST report] at the age of 92. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [JURIST news archive] has expressed concern at the human rights situation in Ethiopia [JURIST news archive] after making a brief first-hand assessment in a visit earlier this week and holding talks with government and civil society representatives on how to address human rights challenges in the country. Arbour said prison conditions for detainees - including opposition leaders detained without bail in the wake of protests against the country's May 2005 elections who are now accused of treason and genocide - were "rudimentary" and "harsh", and called the overall situation in the country "worrisome", telling AFP that "It is worrying that at best we are in [a] state of stagnation, especially regarding political and civil rights which are in decline after months and years of hope." Read a UNHCHR press release on Arbour's Ethiopia trip.

Treason charges stand [JURIST report] against 111 Ethiopian opposition leaders, aid workers, and journalists. Violent demonstrations following the May vote led to mass detentions, although over 8,200 protestors have so far been released. Opponents of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have accused him of election fraud. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] An advisor to the Saudi Justice Ministry [official website, in Arabic] has said that Saudi Arabia is in the process of setting up a new state security court to try terror suspects, according to Saudi daily Okaz [media website]. A panel of between five and seven top judges nominated by the justice and interior ministries and ultimately appointed by King Abdullah will sit on the court, which will hear terror cases arising from incidents since May 2003, when suspected al-Qaida suicide bombers killed 34 people [MEMRI summary of Saudi press reaction], including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. The security court, to sit in Riyadh, will be established in the next six months and there will be no appeal from its rulings. Its proceedings will be public except as required by confidentiality.

More than 100 people have been killed in the Kingdom in terrorist attacks in the past three years. UPI has more.

[JURIST] A much-awaited motion promising to hold an election of a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution in Nepal [JURIST news archive] was tabled in the parliament Friday, as the House of Representatives met for the first time in four years. A representative of Nepal's prime minister-designate Girija Prasad Koirala [Wikipedia profile] tabled the motion in the historic session of the parliament which was reinstated on the strength of the 18-day pro-democracy people's movement [JURIST news archive], which saw death of 17 people and thousands injured. The parliament is scheduled to discuss the motion on Sunday and will likely decide in favor of holding elections for the constituent assembly. Analysts say the constituent assembly will decide the fate of the 237-year-old monarchy [official website] in this Himalayan Kingdom. Once the parliament decides to go for an election of the constituent assembly, Nepali people will for the first time in history write their constitution [current text] themselves.

Nepal's royal palace had resisted calls for a reinstatement of parliament and a new constitution from the pro-democracy seven-party alliance and the outlawed Maoist rebels [BBC backgrounder] until King Gyanendra [BBC profile] agreed to meet the demands of the oppositions earlier this week.

As the motion was tabled Friday, thousands of civil society members, professionals, students and human right activists organized a sit-in in front of the entry gate of the parliament in a bid to exert pressure on the parliamentarians to decide to go for the election of the constituent assembly. The mass became angry upon hearing that the parliament did not reach any conclusion on the issue. Analysts say an election of the constituent assembly could open the door to a political solution to the 10-year old Maoist insurgency, which has claimed over 13,000 lives so far. Even the Maoists have said that they could put down their arms and renounce violence once the election of an unconditional constituent assembly is held. The rebels have been demanding the election of the constituent assembly for the last six years.

Kiran Chapagain is a special correspondent for JURIST writing from Nepal. He is an Assistant Senior Reporter for the Kathmandu Post.

[JURIST] Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency [official website], said Friday that Iran [IAEA materials] has enriched uranium in defiance of a March UN Security Council demand [text] that it immediately suspend its nuclear enrichment program [JURIST report]. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [official website; BBC profile] announced earlier this month that the country's scientists had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel [BBC report; JURIST report]. ElBaradei on Friday submitted his report [press release] to the Security Council on Iran's implementation of the safeguards agreement [IAEA materials] associated with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [PDF text]; the text of the report has not yet been made public.

ElBaradei said that Iran has not cooperated with UN inspectors in their efforts to determine the intent behind Iran's nuclear program. Iran has insisted that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful, though Ahmadinejad said Friday that the country does "not give a damn about [UN] resolutions." BBC News has more.

2:54 PM ET - UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry [official profile] said Friday that the UK, France and Germany are negotiating a draft UN Security Council resolution that would demand Iran immediately stop enriching uranium. The resolution would come under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter [text], which allows the use of force to enforce compliance with the resolution. DPA has more.

[JURIST] Two Egyptian judges faced disciplinary hearings at the Egyptian Supreme Court Thursday for their criticisms of parliamentary elections [JURIST report] last year, which they and eight other judges claimed were marred by fraud. The two judges, Hesham el-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekki, are members of the Judge's Club, an 8,000-member group that is pushing for greater judicial independence. They are among several judges who were stripped of judicial immunity [JURIST report] in February and charged with slander for speaking out against the elections. "Our case is not important," stated El-Bastasiwy, "what is important is ... the right of the Egyptian people to have an independent judiciary, democracy, and free elections." He called the disciplinary panel unconstitutional because the defendants were not permitted to have lawyers, as is mandated by Article 67 of the Egyptian Constitution [text]. The hearing was adjourned and postponed until May 11.

President Hosni Mubarak [official profile] has denied that the government is behind the prosecutions, describing the incident as a clash between the Judge's Club and the Supreme Judiciary Council. President Mubarak is currently contemplating extending the country's emergency laws [JURIST report], which prohibit public demonstrations and allow the government to arrest anyone who is deemed to be a threat to state security. Protesters have gathered outside the Judge's Club for the past nine days, and an estimated 2,000 demonstrated outside the hearing Thursday, according to the Movement for Democratic Change, or Kifaya [BBC profile], the group that has organized the manifestations. The group claimed that 16 protesters were arrested and one was beaten Thursday. Al-Ahram Weekly has local coverage. AP has more.

[JURIST] A group of 11 Democrats from the US House of Representatives [official website] plan to file a lawsuit [press release] Friday against the Bush administration seeking to overturn the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 [PDF text; S 1932 bill summary] as unconstitutional because, due to a clerical error, the version of the act signed by President Bush was not passed by both houses of Congress. When Bush signed the legislation [press release; fact sheet] in February, he signed the version of the bill passed by the US Senate, which set the duration of Medicare payments for certain types of medical equipment at 13 months, the figure agreed on by House and Senate negotiators. The House version of the legislation contained a clerical error, setting the relevant time limit at 36 months, but the error was corrected when the bill was transmitted to the president for signature. The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the act is not law are requesting a temporary restraining order to block the act from being implemented.

A similar lawsuit [PDF complaint; JURIST report] was filed last month by consumer protection organization Public Citizen [advocacy website]. Public Citizen has asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to declare the law unconstitutional under the Bicameral Clause [text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jury deliberations in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive, case docket] were put on hold Thursday after a juror called in sick, but are expected to resume Friday at 8:30 AM ET. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema [official profile] considered postponing the deliberations until Monday [LA Times report], calling this "the most sensitive time in the case" and saying that jurors should not be working if they are not "feeling 100 percent."

The deliberations will continue into their fourth day Friday, with the jurors examining aggravating and mitigating factors [special verdict form, PDF], such as the defense's claim that Moussaoui is mentally ill, in determining whether he should be put to death. The jury determined that he was eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] earlier this month. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, Moussaoui will be sentenced to life in prison. USA Today has more.

[JURIST] New Hampshire Governor John Lynch [official profile] signed a bill [text] Thursday giving the state's Secretary of State flexibility in setting the filing period for presidential candidates, responding to the Democratic Party’s efforts to change the 2008 primary calendar and possibly replace New Hampshire as the home of the nation’s first primary [Nashua Telegraph backgrounder]. In a statement in Concord, Lynch said:

In the more than 50-year history of the New Hampshire primary, we have created a strong tradition of giving all candidates a level playing field and of giving all candidates the opportunity to make their cases directly to voters. We have made it possible for the so-called unknown candidates to make their case, without having millions in the bank. In turn, we have demanded much of candidates. We demand that candidates move beyond the rope line and the photo op. We demand that presidential candidates directly answer the hard questions from voters.

The traditions that took New Hampshire 50 years to build cannot simply be re-created in another state. Without New Hampshire, we would end up with campaigns composed of pre-scripted town hall meetings and television advertisements, and where only the best-financed candidates would be able to compete.

That is why New Hampshire's primary should remain first, and why New Hampshire's primary will remain first.

[JURIST Europe] Belarus authorities have sentenced Alexander Milinkevich [official website; Wikipedia profile] and three other opposition leaders to a fifteen-day jail term for attending an illegal demonstration after arresting them [JURIST report] Thursday. At the peaceful rally in Minsk, the capital, Milinkevich called on his supporters to work for a constitutional overthrow of President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile]. About 6,000 people attended the rally, traditionally the biggest one of the year in Belarus [JURIST news archive], held on the 20^th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster [backgrounder]. The arrests brought outrage from leaders worldwide; US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called them “reprehensible,” while the spokeswoman for the European Commission [official website] raised the prospect of new sanctions. The EU has already imposed a travel ban [JURIST report] on Lukashenko and 30 others in his government. The head of the OSCE, of which Belarus is a member, called for the immediate release of those arrested [press release].

Milinkevich came a distant second to Lukashenko in March elections [JURIST report] that were condemned as fraudulent by election observers and Western governments. Since the election, over 1,000 opposition members have been arrested, generally for attending unauthorized demonstrations. AFP has more.

Tatyana Margolin is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.