[JURIST] A European Parliament [official website] committee [official website] approved a report Monday that supports allegations that the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] was "directly responsible for the illegal seizure, removal, abduction and detention of terrorist suspects" in Europe. The report [draft text, PDF], organized by committee rapporteur Giovanni Claudio Fava [official profile], passed by a vote of 25 members in favor of the text, 14 against, and seven abstentions. Almost 200 amendments were debated before the final version was approved, including one that called for governments of the European Union [official website] to take a greater stand in supporting the closure of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Fava reported to the committee in April that the CIA used extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] to kidnap terror suspects in Europe and transfer them to countries known to use torture and has operated over 1,000 secret flights in European territory [JURIST report].

The European Parliament report comes to similar conclusions as those in the report [PDF text] released [JURIST report] by the Council of Europe [official website] last week. The committee based its findings on interviews of alleged victims and rights groups. While the European Parliament has no legal power over the US, it does have the authority to recommend political sanctions against any involved countries, including the US. The report will go before a session of the entire European Parliament in July. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The number of illegal Mexican migrants attempting to cross the US-Mexico border in Arizona has dropped significantly due to US National Guard [official website] troops working to extend border fences and repair roads in the area, according to reports by US officials Monday. The US Border Patrol [official website] said that detentions have fallen 23 percent along the Arizona border, and authorities said along the entire US-Mexico border detentions are down 21 percent over the first ten days in June when compared to this time last year. Currently, 55 soldiers are at the Arizona border as part of President Bush's plan to hinder illegal immigration [JURIST news archive] in the US by ultimately sending 6,000 troops to the border [JURIST report].

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano [official website] said that 2,500 troops are scheduled to join the soldiers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Despite the troops not being able to actually detain illegal migrants, their presence has been a deterrent to migrant crossers, according to migrant rights activists. The Mexican government has said it will continue to watch the troops to ensure they are not arresting illegal crossers. AP has more.

[JURIST] JURIST [FAQ] received the Webby People's Voice Award [poll website; Webby Awards website] for Law at the 10th Annual Webby Awards ceremony in New York Monday evening. Called the "online Oscars" by TIME magazine and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences [profession website], the "Webbys" are the leading international awards honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality. Winners [full list] were announced [JURIST report] last month.

Accepting JURIST's Webby at the Wall St. gala event which drew over 750 award winners, industry leaders, sponsors and guests, JURIST founder, publisher and editor-in-chief Bernard Hibbitts [profile] delivered the requisite five-word acceptance speech - sometimes witty and sometimes serious - for which the Webbys have become famous, declaring "Our news breaks law worldwide." Special online achievement Webbys were presented to Internet co-founder Robert Kahn, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman; Gorillaz, the platinum record selling and Grammy-performing music and animation pioneers; Chris DeWolfe, co-founder of MySpace.com, and to the the musician Prince, who wrapped up the evening with a brief live performance. The Webby awards ceremony was hosted this year by comedian Rob Corddry, from Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

To win the People's Voice Award in the Law category, JURIST drew more votes from web users than fellow-finalists Court TV (the US legal television network), FindLaw, the Nolo legal self-help service, and Justice Learning, a New York Times-National Public Radio collaboration funded by the Annenberg Foundation. Justice Learning won the Webby judges competition in Law. Over 300,000 votes were cast for the 2006 Webby People's Voice Awards, up 50% from last year.

This is the first time a law school website has won a Webby award. 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 Professor Hibbitts, who devote 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 expert analysis as an educational service to the public and the legal community.

JURIST thanks its readers for their support!

7:38 AM ET 06/13/06 - BBC News has posted photos from the awards ceremony.

9:40 PM ET 06/13/06 - The Rocketboom vlog has posted a video montage of the gala, and BBC News now has a video report.

[JURIST] The new government of Nepal [JURIST news archive] has ordered the release of anyone arrested or detained under an anti-terrorism law [JURIST report] implemented by King Gyanendra [official profile; BBC profile], according to Nepal's Information Minister Dilendra Badu on Monday. Krishna Mahara, a rebel spokesman, said that the administration has promised to release the last 350 insurgents still imprisoned following a weekend meeting between Home Minister Krishna Sitaula, leader of the opposition Nepali Congress [party website], and communist rebel leader Prachanda [Wikipedia profile].

Mahara said that the decision has allowed peace talks between the government and rebel leaders to move forward again after stalling for a period of time due to the hundreds of communist rebels still in prison for alleged acts of murder, kidnapping and crimes against the state. On Sunday, the Nepalese Parliament voted to remove King Gyanendra's power to veto [JURIST report] laws passed by the legislature in the government's latest attempt to strip Gyanendra of his wide-ranging powers [JURIST report]. AP has more. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] Four defense witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] said Monday that they were coerced into testifying by the former Iraqi president's bodyguards and coached by his lead lawyer. Two of the witnesses said in confessions read in court that they had been offered $500 bribes for their testimony, while two others said their families had been threatened. The witnesses now face legal action for perjury, Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile] said. The same witnesses testified last month that chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Musawi had tried to bribe them [JURIST report] to testify against Hussein. After the bribery allegations, the witnesses were detained by US and Iraqi officials [JURIST report], leading the defense team to protest [JURIST report]. One of Hussein's lawyers said Monday that the witnesses' confessions, and not their earlier testimony, were coerced.

Three other defense witnesses testified Monday, including a half-brother of Hussein, Barzan al-Tikriti. After Barzan was thrown out of court for insulting the judge, Hussein rose to say: "This trial is in need of some mental relaxation. It feels like we are in a minefield." AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A family court judge in Reno, Nevada, was shot while standing near a courthouse window Monday, and police are searching for a sniper. Judge Chuck Weller [official website; RGJ profile], of the Second Judicial District Court [official website] in Washoe County, was shot four times in the chest about 11:15 AM local time Monday and taken to a local hospital. The judge was reportedly breathing and in stable condition. Weller, 53, gave legal advice in a newspaper column and on a radio show before he was elected judge in 2004.

Police believe the shots were fired at the third floor of the Mills B. Lane Justice Center from a nearby parking garage. Three courthouses in Reno have been closed as SWAT teams search for the shooter. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic has also been restricted in parts of downtown Reno. AP has more. The Reno Gazette-Journal has local coverage, as does KOLO-TV.

[JURIST] Jordanian authorities have detained four lawmakers from the Islamic Action Front (IAF) [party website, in Arabic], the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood [Wikipedia backgrounder], who allegedly expressed sympathy after the death of al Qaeda Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [CTV report; JURIST report] by visiting Zarqawi's relatives in his native Jordan, according to a report Monday by Jordan's official Petra News Agency. Jordan's general prosecutor had issued arrest warrants Sunday for the four lawmakers - Mohammed Abu Fares, Jaafar al-Hourani, Ali Abu Sukkar, and Ibrahim al-Mashwakhi - after receiving several complaints from Jordanian citizens, mostly families of victims of last fall's al Qaeda-led attacks on three hotels in Amman [Wikipedia backgrounder], which killed 60 people.


Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit [Wikipedia profile] also warned against sympathy for Zarqawi, saying that Jordan will not tolerate attempts to undermine its security. The four lawmakers have no legal immunity from prosecution while the parliament is in recess, and they could face up to 10 years in prison under Jordan's new anti-terror laws. IAF members slammed the Jordanian government [Khaleej Times report] Monday, calling the detention of the four lawmakers unconstitutional and demanding their release. Reuters has more. The Angola Press has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] on Monday argued in court for the first time that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] is legal. Anthony J. Coppolino, special litigation counsel for the DOJ, argued in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan [official website] that a lawsuit against the National Security Agency [official website] should be dismissed because proving that the program falls within the president's authority would reveal state secrets. The DOJ is relying on the state secrets privilege established in a 1953 US Supreme Court case, United States v. Reynolds [text]. The DOJ is also asserting the state-secrets privilege in a similar case filed in New York [JURIST report].

The plaintiffs, who are journalists, scholars and lawyers represented by the ACLU [advocacy website], argue that the program violates their rights to privacy and free speech [complaint, PDF; ACLU materials], and that enough information has been made public about the program for the court to determine whether it is legal. The NSA has acknowledged warrantless eavesdropping on international phone calls made from within the US, but the Bush administration contends the program is legal under Bush's inherent powers as commander-in-chief and under a 2001 congressional resolution [PDF text] authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Although Coppolino said the DOJ demonstrated in a classified court filing that the program is narrowly targeted at al Qaeda, US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor [official profile] has not reviewed that document because she must travel to Washington DC to see it. Monday's arguments came during a hearing on the ACLU's motion for partial summary judgment [PDF text]. AP has more. The Detroit News has local coverage.

5:59 PM ET - Taylor said Monday that she would not make an immediate decision on the ACLU's motion, deferring her ruling. Another hearing in the case has been scheduled for July 10. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Fourteen of the 17 Canadian men arrested on terror charges [JURIST report], including five teenagers, appeared Monday in the Ontario Court of Justice [official website], where lawyers for some of the adult suspects complained that their clients had been beaten by guards and held in solitary confinement, among other instances of ill treatment. One other suspect will appear in court on July 4, while the remaining two are serving prison sentences for unrelated charges. The 17 suspects were arrested on June 2 on charges [CBC breakdown by suspect] of being members of a terrorist cell that planned to detonate bombs on targets in southern Ontario and Toronto.

In a related development, a prominent Canadian lawyer representing one of the suspects said Monday that they do not stand a chance at a fair trial [Reuters report] because both Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [statement; official website] and Toronto Mayor David Miller [official profile], as well as several Muslim leaders, have publicly declared that the suspects are guilty. Rocco Galati [Wikipedia profile], representing Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, added that the lack of private access to their lawyers made a fair trial for the accused even more difficult, if not impossible. Galati, who has represented other Canadians accused of al Qaeda involvement, said that the idea that authorities would hold a fair criminal trial has been discredited. Calling proceedings "a show trial for political ends," Galati added that the prosecution was meant to "the vote in the House of Commons on extending the anti-terrorism provision and to influence the Supreme Court of Canada in its constitutional review of anti-terrorism provisions." The Canadian government last week announced plans to introduce new anti-terror legislation [JURIST report]. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage. The Toronto Star has local coverage.

7:28 PM ET - An Ontario justice of the peace on Monday imposed a publication ban on proceedings, though defense lawyers said the move came too late as much of the information surrounding the case has already been released publicly. CTV has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Canadian Anti-Terror Law on Trial: The Toronto Terrorism Arrests

[JURIST] A court in Indonesia [JURIST news archive] ruled Monday that the country's attorney general must reopen corruption charges against former President Suharto [CNN profile], saying that the charges should not have been dropped, but Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said Monday that he would appeal the decision. Saleh dropped the charges [JURIST report] because of the former dictator's poor health [JURIST report], prompting a lawsuit by several human rights groups [JURIST report]. South Jakarta Court Judge Andi Samsan Nganro ruled Monday during a pretrial hearing that the attorney general did not follow the proper procedure to discontinue the case. One of the plaintiffs, the Advocacy Team for the Trial of Suharto, argued that the charges could be dropped only if the evidence was insufficient or if the defendant died. A spokesman for Saleh said that an appeal would be filed within a week and that the investigation will be suspended while the appeal is pending. Saleh's decision to suspend the prosecution drew criticism from several groups [JURIST report], including Transparency International Indonesia and Indonesian Corruption Watch [advocacy websites].

Suharto, ousted from power in 1998 amid violent protests against his three-decade dictatorship, was charged with misusing more than half a billion US dollars, including money from charitable foundations that he established. The former strongman, who is 84, has reportedly suffered permanent brain damage and cannot carry on a conversation. He was released from a hospital [BBC report] in May after treatment for intestinal bleeding following colon surgery. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Spain's National Court said Monday it would investigate allegations that the US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] used an airport on the island of Mallorca in its alleged "spider's web" of extraordinary rendition flights to transport terror suspects. The investigation comes in response to a report [PDF text; JURIST report] released last week by the Council of Europe (CoE) [official website], Europe's human rights watchdog, accusing 14 European countries of colluding with the CIA to transport terror suspects on secret flights. The Spanish government denies any involvement [JURIST report] in the alleged rendition flights, and announced that it will not tolerate human rights violations, including such rendition flights, if they do occur within the boundaries of Spain. The CoE report, written by Swiss legislator Dick Marty, provided no concrete evidence of rendition flights [JURIST news archive] or secret prisons [CoE materials], but instead was meant to pressure the 14 accused European nations to conduct "serious, transparent investigations."

Spain investigated similar accusations [JURIST report] last fall from the media, finding that stopovers by private planes in Mallorca airport and the Canary Islands were legal [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith [official profile] defended the UK's court-martial system Monday, stating that the decision to prosecute four British soldiers for the drowning death of a 15-year old Iraqi boy in 2003 was not politically motivated. Goldsmith conceded that the quality of evidence in the court-martial, which acquitted three of the soldiers last week and another in May [JURIST report], was inadequate at times, but maintained that the military still needed to prosecute the four soldiers based on the evidence prosecutors had. In an op-ed [text] for the Daily Telegraph, Goldsmith wrote:

It was suggested, for example, in recent reports that there was absolutely no evidence in the drowning case to support the charges on which the guardsmen were acquitted and the cases therefore should never have been brought. That is quite wrong. But it also misunderstands the process of justice.

Under our system, both civil and military, we leave it to judges and juries to decide if someone is guilty or innocent. We don't leave it, for example, to the prosecutors or to the police, still less to government ministers.

The prosecutors' job is only to bring cases if satisfied that there is credible evidence, that there is, as the standard test has it, a realistic prospect of conviction. That means that the professional judgment of the prosecutor is that a court is more likely than not to convict on that evidence.

[JURIST] Violent crime - consisting of violent murders, robberies and aggravated assaults - increased in 2005 for the first time since 2001, according to the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report [text; press release; additional materials] released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] Monday. Murders increased by 23 percent in Houston, 14 percent in Philadelphia and 10 percent in Las Vegas, while the Midwest had the largest increase, 5.7 percent, in overall crime last year. The overall increase in violent crime for the country, however, was a modest 2.5 percent. The 2005 data show the first major increase in violent crime since it peaked in 1992 and fell steadily until 2000.

The FBI reported last fall that the 2004 numbers on violent crime hit a 30 year low [press release; JURIST report], but the number of violent rapes increased in 2004 [JURIST report]. The FBI will release its final annual crime report in the fall. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in two cases Monday, including Hill v. McDonough [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], where the Court held that a death row inmate can challenge the constitutionality of a state's method of lethal injection [JURIST news archive] under 42 USC 1983 [text] even when all other appeals have been exhausted. The Court in January granted a stay of execution [JURIST report] for death row inmate Clarence Hill [NCADP profile], who was sentenced to death in Florida for the 1982 killing of a police officer. Hill has exhausted all his federal habeas appeals but filed a civil rights lawsuit arguing the chemicals used by Florida and several other states in lethal injections cause unnecessary pain and suffering, and therefore constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court did not rule on the constitutionality of lethal injection but instead allowed Hill to proceed with his claim. Read the Court's unanimous opinion [text] per Justice Kennedy. AP has more.

In a second decision Monday, the Court ruled in House v. Bell [Duke law case backgrounder; JURIST report] that a death row inmate can use DNA evidence to attempt to prove his innocence 20 years after his conviction. The Court said that appellant Paul Gregory House, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the abduction, attempted rape and murder of Carolyn Muncey in July 1985, presented enough exculpatory evidence to merit another look at his case. Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Justice Kennedy, along with a partial concurrence and dissent [text] from Chief Justice Roberts, who was joined by Justices Scalia and Thomas. Justice Alito did not participate in consideration of the case. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Hamas party [ICT backgrounder], which controls the Palestinian Legislative Council [official website], launched a challenge to a referendum [JURIST report] proposed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile], calling an emergency debate Monday on whether a referendum is legal under Palestinian law. Abbas set a date of July 26 [JURIST report] for a vote on a "national reconciliation" document [text; summary], which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state that implicitly recognizes Israel. Leading Islamists of Hamas have accused Abbas of orchestrating a coup by calling the referendum, which will be Palestine's first referendum and will bypass the Hamas-led government. While parliament speaker Aziz Dweik [JCMC profile], a senior member of Hamas, stated that the referendum has no legal basis, Abbas said that nothing in Palestinian Basic Law [PDF text] prevents a referendum.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [BBC profile] has dismissed the referendum, calling it an "internal game" that will not affect the frozen peace process between Israel and Palestine. Abbas had previously set a deadline for Hamas to accept the national reconciliation document, threatening to hold a referendum if Hamas refused to do so. Surveys indicate that most Palestinians support the document [CFR interview]. AFP has more.

4:06 PM ET - In reaction to an attack by Hamas gunmen on the Preventive Security forces, Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas and his Fatah party, members of the security forces on Monday opened fire on the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet buildings in the West Bank, storming the buildings and setting them on fire. AP has more.

4:54 PM ET - AP is now reporting that the Fatah gunman have said they have kidnapped a Hamas lawmaker.

[JURIST] Military officials said Sunday that the three Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees who committed suicide [JURIST report] Saturday by hanging themselves with bedsheets and clothing - identified [AP report] as Saudis Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed - took steps to conceal themselves from patrolling guards as they hung themselves in their cells. The detainees hung themselves behind hanging laundry, and arranged their beds to look like they were still in the beds. Military officials launched an immediate investigation into their deaths, both in regards to how the detainees actually died and whether Guantanamo guards followed appropriate procedures, which include checking on inmates every two minutes. Lt. Commander Robert Durand, commander of Guantanamo Bay, said that guards will begin to collect bed linens every morning, and may revoke permission for detainees to do their laundry inside their cells to prevent similar suicide attempts. Lawyers representing other Saudis held at Guantanamo Bay have expressed skepticism that the detainees killed themselves, and a Saudi human rights group has called for an independent investigation into the deaths. There have also been allegations that Guantanamo guards tortured the detainees [AP report], because the two strict Muslims would never have committed suicide, which is forbidden by Islam, and there have been renewed calls from the Saudi government to release the remaining Saudi detainees [JURIST report] at Guantanamo into Saudi custody.

Gen. John Craddock, Commander of the US Southern Command, speculated Monday that the three suicides may have been timed to correspond with the forthcoming US Supreme Court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], expected by the end of June, that will determine the legality of military trials for Guantanamo detainees. The suicides prompted renewed calls [Reuters report] from European Union countries for the US to close the Guantanamo detention center [JURIST report] and suggestions from US officials that the suicides were an "act of warfare" and a public relations move [Telegraph report] have sparked criticism.

US authorities allege that Ahmed was a mid- to high-level al Qaeda operative that had not complied with guards and had been on a hunger strike [JURIST report] since last year. Authorities accused Al-Zahrani of working as a front-line Taliban fighter who facilitated weapons purchases, as well as being involved in a 2001 prison uprising in an Afghanistan prison that killed a CIA officer. Al-Utaybi is accused of being a member of splinter group Jama'at Al Tablighi, but authorities have said that he had been recommended for transfer to another country, though it was not clear that al-Utaybi himself knew of his scheduled transfer. The three detainees committed suicide following two other suicide attempts [JURIST report] at Guantanamo, and another apparent suicide attempt was a ruse to lure guards into a cell where they were ambushed by prisoners. Authorities said there have been 43 suicide attempts since Guantanamo opened. David Cloud and Neil Lewis of the New York Times have more.

4:06 PM ET - Amnesty International [advocacy website] on Monday also called for a full "independent investigation led by civilians" [press release] into the Guantanamo deaths and urged the US to grant unrestricted access to UN investigators [JURIST report] so that UN experts can meet privately with detainees.

[JURIST] An American defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] accused the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] on Monday of not giving the defense team enough time to present their case on behalf of Hussein and his seven co-defendants. Curtis Doebbler [Wikipedia profile] criticized Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman [BBC profile] for not responding to defense motions and intimidating defense witnesses, adding that the prosecution had more than five months to complete its case [JURIST report], while the court rushes the defense through their case. Barzan al-Tikriti, Hussein's half-brother and co-defendant, voiced his opinion that the trial has been unfair, prompting Abdel Rahman to throw al-Tikriti out of the courtroom.

Doebbler complained that the court has not responded at all to some defense motions, including one seeking the records for the 1984 Revolutionary Court trial which resulted in death sentences for 148 Shiites [execution order], allegedly for partaking in a 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein in Dujail. The execution of 148 Shiites is one of the main crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] Hussein faces. Three defense witnesses testified that 15 of those slotted for execution in 1984 were not executed then, and that 10 are still alive [JURIST report], an argument that could hurt the prosecution if proven true. Those three witnesses, plus one other, were arrested on perjury charges [JURIST report] last month and the defense later alleged that two of the four witnesses were abused while in custody [JURIST report]. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Saddam Hussein | Op-ed: A Farce of Law: The Trial of Saddam Hussein [Curtis Doebbler]