[JURIST] A federal judge Thursday dismissed [order, PDF] a highly-publicized lawsuit [materials] brought by the ACLU against CIA Director George Tenet and other agency officials and employees on behalf of Khalid El-Masri [JURIST news archive], a German national who alleges [el-Masri statement] that he was kidnapped in Macedonia in 2003 in an instance of extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive], held by the CIA in Afghanistan where he was subjected to inhumane conditions and coercive interrogation, and finally released in 2004 and dropped off in Albania without ever being charged. Government attorneys argued [JURIST report] last week before US District Judge T.S. Ellis that the suit could jeopardize US national security interests by exposing CIA methods and activities to the general public, and presented a classified affidavit [public version, PDF text] by former CIA director Porter Goss asserting the executive privilege of the president to protect US state and military secrets. In his decision, Ellis acknowledged that dismissing the suit "deprives el-Masri of an American judicial forum for vindicating his claims", but insisted that "el-Masri's private interests must give way to the national interest...".

The US Supreme Court established the state secrets privilege in the 1953 case United States v. Reynolds [opinion text]. The government invoked the privilege [News Media & The Law commentary] in only four cases between 1953 and 1976, but it has been invoked more than 20 times since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and at least five times in the past year, counting the el-Masri case. El-Masri, a father of five, had sought $75,000 in damages, which his lawyer had suggested could be dropped in exchange for a personal apology from Tenet. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] General Michael Hayden [official profile] defended the legality of the NSA's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] Thursday and said that the program was a critical tool in tracking down terrorists, in testimony during his confirmation hearing [full transcript, PDF] before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence [official website] on his nomination as CIA director. Though Hayden, who headed the NSA from 1999-2005, answered questions on the NSA's warrantless wiretaps of certain domestic communications, he refused to answer questions during the public hearing about reports that the NSA has collected millions of phone records [JURIST report] from US phone companies.

Hayden said Thursday that he initially had reservations about the domestic surveillance program's legality [Chicago Tribune report], but that he became convinced it was lawful after discussions with several Bush administration officials, including then-CIA director George Tenet and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. Hayden testified that a 2001 Ashcroft memo, which Hayden said he hadn't read, provided the legal basis for the eavesdropping program and that the NSA moved forward with the program in October 2001. In his opening statement [PDF text], Hayden said that as NSA head he worked to fight terrorism in a manner consistent with American values, and said he'd do the same at the helm of the CIA:

In return, I vow that, if confirmed, we will dedicate ourselves to strengthening the American public's confidence and trust in the CIA and re-establishing the Agency's "social contract" with the American people, to whom we are ultimately accountable. The best way to strengthen the trust of the American people is to earn it by obeying the law and showing what is best about America. ...

And while the bulk of the Agency's work must, in order to be effective, remain secret, fighting the "long war" on the terrorists who seek to do us harm requires that the American people and their elected representatives know that the CIA is protecting them effectively - and in a way consistent with the core values of our nation. I did that at NSA and, if confirmed, I pledge to do it at CIA.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned in a speech delivered in Japan Thursday that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [UN backgrounder] faces a twin crisis of "confidence and complicity":

The Treaty embodies a contract between the nuclear weapon States and the rest of the international community. The former committed themselves to move towards general disarmament, and to refrain from threatening the non-nuclear States with nuclear weapons, while facilitating their access to nuclear energy. In return, the latter committed themselves not to acquire or manufacture nuclear weapons, and to accept on-site verification.

Today, each of these pillars has been put into doubt. While some progress toward disarmament has taken place, nuclear weapons worldwide still number in the thousands, many of them on hair-trigger alert. Moreover, the emphasis seems to have shifted towards having fewer, but more potent weapons, and current politico-military thinking seems to embrace the notion of using such weapons in conflict.

To these old challenges have been added new ones, above all the vulnerability exposed by the extensive trafficking in nuclear technology and know-how, by the scientist A.Q. Khan and others. Perhaps most damaging of all, there is also a perception that the possession of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction offers the best protection against being attacked.

All of this undermines the Treaty’s integrity and authority. If we want to avoid a cascade of nuclear proliferation, we need a major international effort to strengthen the regime before it is too late.

We seem to have reached a crossroads. Before us lie two very divergent courses. One path can take us to a world, in which the proliferation of nuclear weapons is restricted and reversed, through trust, dialogue and negotiated agreement, with international guarantees ensuring the supply of nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, thereby advancing development and economic well-being.

The other path leads to a world, in which a rapidly growing numbers of States feel obliged to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, and in which non-State actors acquire the means to carry out nuclear terrorism. The international community seems almost to be sleepwalking down the latter path -- not by conscious choice, but rather through miscalculation, sterile debate and the paralysis of multilateral mechanisms for confidence-building and conflict-resolution.

[JURIST] The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court [official website] ruled [text; oral argument video] Thursday that tobacco giant Philip Morris Inc. [corporate website] cannot avoid liability in a wrongful death lawsuit by claiming that smokers should know that cigarettes are dangerous. Brenda Haglund had sued the tobacco company for the wrongful death of her husband. The court said that her lawsuit could proceed because the so-called “personal choice defense" can only be used if a consumer used a product in an unreasonable way. The court ruled unanimously that “because no cigarette can be safely used for its ordinary purpose, smoking, there can be no nonunreasonable use of cigarettes.” The court added, however, that it would not block the use of the personal choice defense in every case related to smoking, and would allow it when a person’s behavior was “overwhelmingly unreasonable,” such as when a person with emphysema begins smoking.

The defense has been the tobacco industry’s most successful defense to date in wrongful death lawsuits. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Thursday reheard oral arguments on whether police must continue to knock and announce themselves before entering a person’s home to seize evidence with a warrant in order for the seizure to be constitutional under the Fourth Amendment [GPO backgrounder] ban on unreasonable search and seizure. In Hudson v. Michigan [Duke Law backgrounder; merit briefs], Booker Hudson was convicted of cocaine possession based on evidence seized during the search of his home, which the police entered three to five seconds after knocking and announcing themselves. The Court has previously held that police must generally wait 15 to 20 seconds before forcibly entering the home.

The Court first heard arguments [JURIST report] for Hudson v. Michigan in January when now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor [Oyez profile] was still on the bench, but needed to re-hear the arguments for Justice Samuel Alito [Oyez profile] to break an apparent tie. Alito seemed sympathetic to the police and focused on whether there was a connection between the failure to wait for someone to answer the door and the seizure of evidence, while Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia [Oyez profiles] criticized Hudson’s claim, indicating that the cocaine would have been discovered either way. The issue seems to have divided the Court, with the more liberal justices appearing sympathetic to Hudson. Justice Stephen Breyer [Oyez profile] stated that it would be “risky and unprecedented” if the Court rules against Hudson and Justice David Souter [Oyez profile] suggested that the Court follow its previous rulings protecting a person’s home. AP has more.

[JURIST] A disciplinary panel for two Egyptian judges who complained of alleged fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections [JURIST report] Thursday reprimanded pro-reform judge Hisham Bastawisi but cleared Mahmoud Mekki of whistleblowing allegations. The rulings came amid clashes [JURIST report] between riot police and supporters of the judges which began last week; protesters have also been rallying in Cairo to protest the recent extension of emergency laws [JURIST report] that have been in effect since the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat [CNN profile]. Egyptian police sealed off the city center and arrested over 200 members of the Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] and other protesters who came to support the two judges, including Islamist movement spokesman Issam al-Aryan and former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary group Mohammed Mursi.

Bastawisi, who suffered a heart attack Wednesday, was not present at the hearing even though rights groups had called for a postponement due to his health. Bastawisi and Mekki are two of ten judges stripped of judicial immunity [JURIST report] and charged with slander after criticizing last year’s parliamentary elections. Several judges have called for more judicial independence [JURIST report] from the government led by President Hosni Mubarak [official profile]. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] will be freed on bail as he fights extradition [JURIST report] to Peru on corruption and human rights charges [Trial Watch backgrounder]. A panel of the Supreme Court of Chile [official website] voted 4-1 Thursday to free Fujimori, who must remain in Chile pending a decision on Peru's extradition request [JURIST report].

Fujimori was arrested in Chile [JURIST report] last November after returning to South America from five years of exile in Japan. Earlier this year, a judge refused to grant him bail [JURIST report]. AP has more. Lima's El Comercio has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Serbian Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the sentences of four paramilitary group members convicted of war crimes, according to reports from state-run television. The members of the Serbian Avengers were convicted last year [JURIST report] of abducting, torturing and murdering 16 Muslims riding in a bus near Serbia's border with Bosnia in 1992.

Milan Lukic [Bosnian Institute backgrounder], who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to 20 years. He was arrested in Argentina last year and extradited to The Hague [JURIST report], where he faces separate charges [indictment] at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive]. The three other men received 15-year sentences. UPI has more. B92 has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Thursday voted to send a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] to the Senate floor for consideration. The amendment [text], sponsored by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) [official website] and co-sponsored by 29 others, defines marriage as "the union of a man and a woman." Committee members [list] approved the amendment 10-8, voting along party lines. Debate on the amendment sparked a heated exchange between Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) [official website] and committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website]. After Feingold declared he opposed the amendment [statement] and intended to leave the meeting, Specter bid him "good riddance."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) [official website] has set a vote on the proposed amendment for early June. Specter said that even though he opposes the amendment, he thought it deserved debate in the full Senate. A similar amendment [text] is pending in a House subcommittee. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour [JURIST news archive] Thursday lost his appeal for a retrial following his December conviction [JURIST report] for forging signatures on documents registering his Al-Ghad Party [party website] for last year's presidential election {JURIST news archive]. Nour [BBC profile], who finished a distant second to President Hosni Mubarak [official website] last year in the election that observers said was marred by irregularities [JURIST report], was sentenced to five years in prison.

Egyptian law bars Nour from appealing again. He has said the charges were politically motivated. Nour supporters were reportedly beaten by police as they marched Thursday in Cairo. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In an historic proclamation approved [recorded video] Thursday, Nepal's reinstated parliament stripped all the privileges and powers of King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile], who gave up direct rule of the country after 19-days of mass protests [JURIST news archive] in April. The proclamation effectively makes Nepal's 237-year old monarchy ceremonial and recognizes the Nepali people as the source of the state power after a 50-year struggle. Nepal's pro-democracy parties have been demanding the monarchy become ceremonial since 1950 when democracy was first established. On two occasions since, Nepal's kings have taken over control of the government. The Nepalese parliament also declared itself as sovereign and supreme, taking precedence over the constitution [text].

According to the proclamation, Gyanendra, who seized power [JURIST report] in a bloodless coup in February 1, 2005, is now no longer the supreme commander of the 100,000-strong army. In addition, the parliament stripped the monarch of the privilege to choose the heir to the throne and amend laws related to the succession to the throne.

"The House of the Representatives (parliament) will have the right to formulate, amend or annul the law related to the succession to the throne," reads the proclamation, dubbed the Nepali magna carta, which was passed by a voice vote by Nepalese parliamentarians. The king will no longer be a part of the parliament, whereas before Thursday, Nepal's parliament constituted the House of Representatives, an upper house and the king. Parliament will decide the expenses and privileges of the king and the king will have to now pay taxes on his private property and income.

"From now on, the king can be questioned in a court of law," said the proclamation. Earlier, the king was not subject to law of Nepal. The parliament also scrapped the king's advisory body that was in controversy after the royal takeover in February, 2005. Many believed that the body encouraged the king to assume executive power in 2005. eKantipur.com has more.

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

[JURIST] The Oregon Court of Appeals [official website] has vacated [opinion text] a $150 million jury verdict against cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris [corporate website] and remanded the case for a new trial to determine punitive damages. Philip Morris appealed a judgment by Multnomah County Circuit Judge Roosevelt Robinson, who found the 2002 jury award "grossly excessive" and reduced it to $100 million. The Court of Appeals, hearing the case en banc, held the reduction was proper but said Robinson should have granted Philip Morris' request that the jury be instructed not to consider harm to residents of other states. The appeals court upheld compensatory damages of more than $168,000.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the estate of Michelle Schwarz, 53, an Oregon woman who died of lung cancer. Her family claimed the tobacco company fraudulently marketed low-tar cigarettes as safer than other cigarettes. AP has more. The Oregonian has local coverage.

[JURIST] Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal has said that 16 Saudi detainees now held by the US at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] will be returned to Saudi Arabia [press release] in the next few days. During an interview [transcript] with US media Wednesday, al-Faisal said that after their return to Saudi Arabia, the detainees will be "will be incarcerated and checked, and we see what the proof against them is. If the proof against them justifies trial, they are put on trial." There has been no confirmation from the US military of the detainees' release, as it is US policy not to announce impending transfers until the captives are exclusively under the control of the receiving country.

Al-Faisal did not provide the names of the detainees to be released. The US Defense Department earlier this week released the names of 759 current and former Guantanamo prisoners [PDF; JURIST report], over 100 of whom are from Saudi Arabia. Knight Ridder has more.

[JURIST] The US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] has said that all public companies, regardless of their size, must eventually comply with rules [press release] implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 [text, PDF], which is designed to protect investors. The decision Wednesday follows months of requests by small and mid-size businesses for an exemption from the rules, which could be prohibitively expensive, and two extensions [JURIST report] granted by the SEC for compliance by smaller companies. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox [official profile] said that smaller companies will be granted an extension of a few months once the final rules are released and that the agency will provide detailed guidance for compliance to smaller businesses to prevent unnecessary costs. Cox also affirmed that the SEC would coordinate with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board [official website], which announced a four-point plan [press release] on Wednesday regarding revisions of the existing internal control standards.

The rules, which require public companies to implement internal controls to ensure accurate financial reporting and to seek confirmation of the controls by an external auditor, have prompted many small businesses to go private [JURIST report] in order to avoid the costs of compliance, according to a recent report [text, PDF] from the Government Accountability Office [official website]. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] James Tobin [SourceWatch profile], President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison [press release] after being convicted [press release] in December for his involvement in jamming phone lines to block Democratic voting drives [JURIST report] during the 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire. In that race, the Republican candidate, Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) [official website], beat Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen by less than five percentage points. In handing down the sentence, US District Court Judge Steve McAuliffe told Tobin that "people in your position need to know they cannot do these things and if they do the consequences are very, very serious." Tobin maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming to have no knowledge of the 800 hang-up phone calls that were placed to interfere with Democratic get-out-the-vote campaigns. Tobin's request for bail was denied, and he was also fined $10,000 and given two years probation.

Tobin's lawyers were hired by the Republican National Committee [JURIST report] from the prestigious firm Williams & Connelly, and have been paid over $2.5 million in compensation. The former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party has been sentenced to seven months in prison [NHPR report] for planning the scheme, and the ex-president of a Republican consulting firm is now serving a five month sentence [Washington Post report] for persuading a telemarketing company to make the calls. Tobin plans to appeal the sentence. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The United States on Thursday introduced a new draft nuclear weapons treaty at a meeting of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament [official website] in Geneva. The Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) [FAS backgrounder], tabled [press release; prepared statement] by Stephen G. Rademaker [official profile], assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, would legally bind its signatories to a ban on the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium that could be used to create atomic weaponry. Rademaker contended that a pressing need exists for a new FMCT, pointing to the developing nuclear programs in Korea and Iran [IAEA backgrounders].

The draft received immediate support from several speakers, but Iranian representative Hamid Eslamizad focused discussion on his country's ongoing case with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] and its accounting of Iran's nuclear material. AP has more.

[JURIST] Thousands of Turks marched in Ankara on Thursday to denounce the shooting of five judges [JURIST report] Wednesday in the Council of State [official website], Turkey's highest administrative court. The judges were shot by an attacker, reported to be a lawyer, who disagreed with a recent ruling made by the court denying a promotion to a teacher because she wore a religious headscarf. The march led to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [Wikipedia profile], the founder of the modern secular Turkey who outlawed religious dress [JURIST news archive] in many public places, where the protesters wept over the attack and endorsed Turkey's secularism. The shooting and Thursday's march highlighted the tension [AP report] between the secular population and the pro-Islamist government led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [official website], whose wife is banned from state functions because she wears a headscarf and who vehemently criticized [JURIST report] the ruling that prompted the gunman.

According to reports, Turkish authorities detained two people on Thursday in addition to the gunman, who was captured immediately after the shooting. Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin died on Wednesday after undergoing surgery to remove a bullet from his brain, and one other judge is reported to be in intensive care. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] confirmed Wednesday that military officials are conflicted about the specific guidelines on interrogation techniques [JURIST report] to be included in a new Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation [current text] during a hearing with the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee [official website]. Defense officials are struggling over whether to include different standards for prisoners of war, who are protected by the Geneva Convention [text], and enemy combatants, such as those held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] who the Bush administration has said are not entitled to Geneva Convention protections. Rumsfeld did not say if the standards for interrogation would be the same for all prisoners, but he did assure the subcommittee that all techniques would comply with US law. Further delaying the release of the manual, military officials have also considered classifying portions [JURIST report] of the manual in order to prevent enemies from preparing against specific techniques; but Armed Services Committee members and rights activists have raised concerns that by keeping this information classified, there is no way to ensure that the guidelines fall within the bounds of US and international law.

The Pentagon has been working on a new version of the manual since the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] surfaced in 2004. The delays in its release have been attributed to attempts to legitimize different interrogation techniques and allow the army to effectively obtain timely information from prisoners on the battlefield, while complying with the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document], a measure passed by Congress last year that explicitly prohibits any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of persons in custody of the US government. Earlier this month, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment [JURIST report] to the 2007 military spending bill which would require "a US government coordinated legal opinion on whether certain specified interrogation techniques would constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005." The call for a legal opinion has not yet become law. AP has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] lauded Mexican President Vicente Fox [official website, in Spanish] Wednesday for advances made in increasing the transparency of the Mexican government, but warned in a new report [text] on human rights in the country that more progress was needed. HRW pointed to continuing difficulties Mexico has had tackling the "dirty war" [National Security Archive backgrounder] of the 1960s and 1970s, and to rampant police abuses and brutality that have remained unchecked.

The group said Fox's initiatives to address the two issues have failed because of lack of support and lack of follow-through. Proposals made to curb law enforcement abuse have been repeatedly ignored by Congress and a task force headed by special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo to investigate the "dirty war" has led only to a few arrests, with the biggest disappointment being his unsuccessful attempt to obtain an arrest warrant [JURIST report] for former President Luis Echeverria [Wikipedia profile], who was previously charged with genocide. HRW nonetheless called for Fox's policies to be continued by the new administration that is to follow after presidential elections in July. AP has more.

[JURIST] Syrian authorities have arrested leading human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni [2005 interview; Amnesty International backgrounder] just days after Sunday's arrest of prominent writer Michel Kilo [BBC News report], prompting speculation that a large government crackdown on dissidents is underway. Amnesty International [advocacy website] said in a statement Wednesday that at least eight civil society activists have been arrested in the past week, mostly in connection with their signature of the so-called Beirut-Damascus Declaration of 12 May, which calls for normalization of relations between Syria and Lebanon, a properly demarcated border, the release of political prisoners and the exchanging of ambassadors. The declaration, signed by some 300 Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals and published in Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar [media website], echoes appeals made in newly-adopted [BBC report] UN Security Council Resolution 1680 [summary and text] urging Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon. Activists fear that some of the detainees may be tortured. Reports say al-Bunni was forced into a car and taken away without an arrest warrant.

Syria withdrew it military forces and intelligence units from Lebanon last year, but is still considered to exercise great influence in the country. Syrian agents are said to have been behind the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and others in a massive Beirut bombing. A UN commission is still investigating the assassination [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] Wednesday lifted [order] its stay of execution [JURIST report] for Derrick S. O'Brien [NCADP profile], citing insufficient factual or scientific evidence [concurring opinion text] proving that lethal injection causes suffering and leads to a painful death. Death penalty opponents have criticized the lethal injection [JURIST news archive] process, claiming that the painkiller sodium pentothal does not last long enough to counter the effects of the two other drugs used, namely pancuronium bromide for paralysis and potassium chloride which simulates a fatal heart attack. O'Brien's stay had initially been interpreted as a deferment to the upcoming US Supreme Court [official website] ruling on a Florida lethal injection case [JURIST report], but the appeals court judges said they had merely halted the execution to give themselves enough time to review O'Brien's case. O'Brien received the death penalty for his killing of two Houston teenagers. A new execution date will be set after a hearing in July.

Also Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and later the US Supreme Court rejected the lethal injection appeal of Jermaine Herron [TDCJ profile], who was convicted nine years ago for shooting a woman and her 15 year old son in southern Texas. Harman was executed Wednesday night. AP has more. From Texas, the Huntsville Item has local coverage.