[JURIST] The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] could begin as early as January, Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] officials said Wednesday. Taylor, who was transferred [JURIST report] from Sierra Leone to The Hague on Tuesday, will await trial [ICC press release] by the UN-backed SCSL at International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] facilities in the Netherlands. At a status conference Wednesday, Taylor's defense lawyers objected to his sudden move to the Netherlands, saying it interrupted their preparation and assembly of the defense team. Prosecutors dismissed the claims, assured that Taylor would receive a fair trial, and said that they had disclosed over 32,000 pages of evidence and provided Taylor with the same access to his lawyers as he had in Sierra Leone.

The UN Security Council [official website] answered the SCSL's pleas to move the trial for security reasons [JURIST report] and approved Taylor's transfer [JURIST report] last Friday. The Netherlands agreed to host the trial only if the tribunal found a country willing to imprison Taylor if he is found guilty [JURIST report] and a country that will grant him asylum if he is acquitted. Last Thursday, UK Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett said Britain would take custody of Taylor if he is convicted [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Former Computer Associates [corporate website] senior vice president Thomas Bennett pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of obstruction of justice for his role in the company’s revenue-swapping of $2.2 billion with another company in 1999 and 2000. Bennett, who faces up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000, is the third CA executive to plead guilty in the scandal. Ex-CEO Sanjay Kumar pleaded guilty to several charges [JURIST report] in April, along with former sales chief Stephen Richards, who initially pleaded not guilty [JURIST report].

Bennett will be sentenced on October 12, while Kumar and Richards are scheduled to be sentenced on September 12. CNET News has more.

[JURIST] A retired Canadian Supreme Court justice said Wednesday that major flaws plaguing the Canadian justice system contributed to the mismanagement of the criminal trial and investigation into the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight [CBC backgrounder] from Montreal that exploded over the Atlantic near Ireland, killing 329 people, most of them Canadians. A judicial inquiry into the bombing, headed by former justice John C. Major [official profile] and announced [JURIST report] by Prime Minister Stephen Harper [official website] last month, opened today with a statement from Major, who is slated to begin hearing evidence on September 25 and is expected to report his findings by September 2007. The inquiry will examine whether terrorist threats have been eliminated and whether systemic problems concerning terrorism and other crimes have been resolved, but it will not determine culpability.

The 1985 bombing was the largest single modern terror attack against a Western target before September 11, 2001, and it resulted in the longest and most expensive trial in Canadian history. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Sing Bagri were tried on charges [indictment, PDF] of conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder of the passengers and crew of Air India Flight 182, and attempted murder of the passengers and crew, but the suspects were acquitted on all charges [JURIST report] last year. Reuters has more. Canadian Press has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] on Wednesday approved a review of media ownership rules [FCC news release, PDF; fact sheet, PDF], including limits on ownership of broadcast stations by one company and on cross-ownership by broadcasters and newspapers. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin [official profile] said [statement, PDF] that the rules, which must be reviewed every four years, will be subject to more public hearings and research studies than in previous reviews and will be available for public comment for a longer time. But the minority FCC Democrats, Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein [statements], criticized the review even while voting for it, saying it does not allow for enough public comment and should be more transparent.

Copps noted the importance of public comment, saying:

[W]e need to include the people in our process instead of trying to exclude them. We need to hear from anybody who has a stake in how this is resolved. And everyone has an interest and a stake. ... Good hearings must include all sides of the debate and be held in diverse communities around the country. ... And citizens have a right to expect direct access to decision-makers at the FCC. When a regulatory agency is charged by the law with important public policy matters, it has the obligation to reach out, explain and solicit citizen input. A handful of generalized FCC hearings are not themselves enough. I hope citizens in hundreds of communities across this country will gather to discuss the future of the media. These issues deserve to be discussed in every community because they are going to affect every community.

[JURIST] The US Marine Corps on Wednesday charged seven Marines and one Navy corpsman with murder and kidnapping in connection to the April 26 death of an Iraqi man outside his home in Hamdania. The eight men allegedly dragged an Iraqi civilian outside of his home, shot him, and then placed an AK-47 rifle and a shovel near his body to make him look like an insurgent burying a roadside bomb. US commanders in Iraq ordered the Naval Criminal Investigative Service [official website] to investigate the incident [MNF-Iraq press release] late last month after local Iraqis told Marine leaders about it at a regularly scheduled May 1 meeting. After investigations began, the eight enlisted service members returned to San Diego-area Camp Pendleton, where they have remained pending the investigation and charges since May. The eight men will now be assigned military lawyers and the US military will likely begin Article 32 [JAG backgrounder; USMJ text] proceedings, similar to a grand jury investigation, which could lead to courts-martial.

The seven Marines from Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment [official website] and the Navy corpsman have also been charged with conspiracy and providing false official statements. A civilian lawyer representing one of the Marines announced in early June that charges were expected [JURIST report], though the military has taken longer than expected to charge the eight men. Defense attorneys representing two of the Marines claimed last week that NCIS interrogated their clients under coercive conditions [JURIST report], including making threats about the death penalty. The Hamdania probe is separate from a military investigation into the death of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [JURIST report] last November.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] passed a non-binding resolution [HRES 645 text] Wednesday asking the President and the Secretary of Defense to provide the House with information on the NSA domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The resolution calls for:

all information in the possession of the President or the Secretary of Defense relating to the collection of intelligence information pertaining to persons inside the United States without obtaining court-ordered warrants authorizing the collection of such information and relating to the policy of the United States with respect to the gathering of counterterrorism intelligence within the United States.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants have begun a hunger strike to protest the abduction and murder of a defense team lawyer [JURIST report] in Baghdad early Wednesday morning. Leading defense counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi said the defendants would end their strike when additional security is provided to the defense team. Saddam threatened to boycott the trial [JURIST report] last year if additional security demands were not met by his Iraqi and US captors. Khamis al-Obeide is the third defense team lawyer murdered [JURIST report] since the trial started.

The defense is currently scheduled to present its closing arguments on July 10. On Monday, the prosecution closed their case with a demand that Saddam and four co-defendants receive the death penalty [JURIST report]. He and his seven co-defendants face crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] for killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents and for commiting other inhumane acts in response to an alleged 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein's life. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Nepal committee has started to consult rebels and civil society leaders in preparation for drafting a temporary constitution after the new Nepal government and Maoist rebels reached a landmark deal [text; JURIST report] Friday. The two parties agreed to draft a power-sharing constitution within 15 days and dissolve the parliament reinstated by the popular people's uprising [JURIST news archive] against the direct rule of King Gyanendra [official profile] in April. The six-member team led by former Supreme court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal is, however, still awaiting the formal go-ahead from the government required before it can begin the actual constitution drafting process.

Analysts said the agreement has paved the way to ending the decade-old Maoist insurgency that has already claimed over 13,000 lives. The United Nations will be invited to monitor and manage the arms of both the government army and the rebels to ensure free and fair elections for a proposed constituent assembly [JURIST report], expected to be held before April 2007. AFP has more.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the world's governments Wednesday to ensure the goal of nuclear non-proliferation by devaluing nuclear weapons and strengthening the treaties to limit and control them. Addressing the opening session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (CD) [official website] in Geneva, Annan advocated renewed international efforts to secure compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [PDF text; UN backgrounder] and buttress that with other agreements.

In May Annan said in Tokyo that the NPT "faces a crisis in confidence and complicity" [JURIST report] as thousands of nuclear weapons still exist, and few nuclear powers seem to be genuinely considering cutbacks in nuclear strength. Now, he observed:

We must also resolve two specific situations. The impasse on the Korean Peninsula is especially disappointing given last September's agreement, in the six-party talks, which included a set of principles for a verifiable denuclearization of the Peninsula. I hope the leaders of the DPRK will listen to what the world is telling them, and take great care not to make the situation on the Peninsula even more complicated. Iran, for its part, needs to enable the IAEA to assure the world that its nuclear activities are exclusively peaceful in nature. In both cases, we need solutions that are not only peaceful, but that buttress the NPT's integrity. The NPT has proved an effective instrument. It is an achievement worth strengthening. And the Conference on Disarmament has a central role to play in that effort.

[JURIST] A guard at a federal detention center in Tallahassee, Florida, shot and killed a US Justice Department agent before being shot and killed himself Wednesday as FBI and Justice Department investigators arrived at the prison to arrest six men, including the guard, who were indicted Tuesday on corruption charges. The six allegedly brought contraband into the female quarters of the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution [official website] and sold it in exchange for sex with the female inmates or silence concerning their activities. Also shot in the exchange was an employee of the federal Bureau of Prisons. The deceased agent was with the DOJ Office of the Inspector General [official website]. The attorney for the deceased guard, Ralph Hill, said afterwards that his client had been co-operating with prosecutors [Tallahassee Democrat report] in the investigation for months and had denied allegations against him.

No inmates were involved in the shootings. The remaining five men, all arrested without further incident, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of engaging in a conspiracy to commit acts of bribery, witness tampering, mail fraud and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. The detention center, which houses early 1,500 inmates, is now in lockdown status. AP has more. The Tallahassee Democrat has local coverage. Watch the press conference [recorded video] from Tallahassee police officer John Newland.

[JURIST] The United States and Japan have finalized a treaty that will allow law enforcement authorities from both countries to deal with each other directly to facilitate criminal investigations, rather than going through diplomats. The Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) [draft text, PDF], which the two countries initially signed [US DOJ press release] on August 5, 2003, will take effect July 21 and allow the US and Japan to cooperate in regular legal proceedings, including taking testimonies, obtaining evidence, locating people and providing other assistance. The treaty will facilitate the investigation into crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, child exploitation and obscenity, antitrust violations, environmental crimes, fraud and white collar offenses.

Though the US has signed over 50 similar treaties [US DOS backgrounder] with other countries, this is the first MLAT for Japan. The first MLAT the US entered into was with Switzerland in 1977. The US signed a MLAT with China [JURIST report] last year. Each party in the bilateral treaties designate a central authority, generally the Justice Department, to handle direct communication relating to criminal investigations and prosecution. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] House GOP leaders on Wednesday indefinitely postponed consideration of the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 [HR 9 IH text], which would renew provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [text] for an additional 25-year period. The unexpected decision to remove the bill from floor debate came after Republicans from southern states complained during a private leadership meeting that the reauthorization unfairly focuses federal oversight on their states. One provision set to expire in 2007 requires that states and counties with a history of discrimination secure Justice Department or court approval before changing voting procedures. The House was scheduled to vote on the bill Wednesday.

The reauthorization asserts a "continued need for Federal oversight" in certain jurisdictions due to discrimination against "racial and language minorities" in the form of "dilutive techniques" that reduce minority voting power. The reauthorization bill also voices concern over the Supreme Court decisions in Reno v. Bossier Parish II and Georgia v. Ashcroft [opinion texts; Georgia backgrounder], saying they weaken the permanent protections afforded by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [DOJ materials].

The reauthorization was introduced [JURIST report] in May by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and generally enjoys broad bipartisan support. The ACLU and the NAACP testified before the House Judiciary Committee last year on the existence of voting barriers to minorities [JURIST report], and a recent study [PDF; executive summary] completed by the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act found that minorities still face disenfranchisement at the polls [JURIST report]. In a statement [PDF text] Wednesday, Sensenbrenner said that members of the House of Representatives who have expressed concerns about holding a vote on the reauthorization bill are "misinformed" and said that the bill is something that all House members "can be proud of because it ensures that when discriminatory practices of the past resurface, they are quickly put to rest." Sensenbrenner called on House leaders to bring the legislation back to the floor "in the near future." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Speaking Wednesday at a news conference [transcript] after a US-EU summit meeting in Vienna [press release; White House backgrounder], President George W. Bush suggested that the White House is open to having Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees tried in US courts, as opposed to Guantanamo-based military commissions where a few are currently facing trial. After reaffirming his commitment to "ending Guantanamo" [JURIST report] and to releasing some detainees into the custody of their home nations, Bush said:

There are some who need to be tried in U.S. courts. They're cold-blooded killers. They will murder somebody if they're let out on the street. And yet, we believe there's a -- there ought to be a way forward in a court of law, and I'm waiting for the Supreme Court of the United States to determine the proper venue in which these people can be tried.

[JURIST] Iran [JURIST news archive] has charged leading women's rights activists Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani and Parvin Ardalan [Iranian.com profile] with acting "against national security" in connection with a June 12 women's rights demonstration [AP report; Kosof.com photos] that turned violent when police detained more than 70 people in central Tehran. Both women have reportedly been freed on bail. Many protesters alleged that the police beat some demonstrators, who were protesting Iran's "discriminatory" laws against women. Islamic law in Iran requires a woman to have a male guardian's permission to work or travel, restricts women from becoming judges, and weighs a man's testimony in court twice as much as the testimony from a woman.

The protest [Direland blog post] demanded equal rights for women and sought to have a law allowing polygamy for men nullified. Protesters chanted "we are women, we are human, but we don't have any rights" at the demonstration, which lasted only an hour. Police attacked protesters at a March women's rights demonstration as well, beating the protesters of both sexes with their batons. Radio Free Europe has more.

[JURIST] Law enforcement officials often obtain Americans' phone records without a warrant or subpoena by paying private data brokers, who sometimes get the information through improper or even illegal techniques, AP reports. Federal agencies that hire data brokers include the FBI [official website] and the US Marshals Service [official website], both part of the Justice Department, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [official website] in the Department of Homeland Security. Privacy groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center [advocacy website] consider the government's use of data brokers an "end run" around the Fourth Amendment [text and materials], which requires judicial oversight of most searches and seizures. The National Security Agency [official website] has come under fire recently for its warrantless surveillance programs [JURIST news archive], which are being challenged in a number of lawsuits [JURIST report].

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations [official website] has gathered documents showing that some data brokers trick phone companies into releasing records or hack into customer accounts. The subcommittee is holding hearings on data brokers on Wednesday and Thursday [committee materials]. Several data broker executives scheduled to testify are expected to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights. Last year, executives told a congressional committee [Washington Post report] that they would take measures to protect Social Security numbers and other sensitive information. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Catholic church is pushing the UK government to establish a committee to consider lowering the legal limit on abortions from the current 24 weeks [EFC backgrounder] allowed by the 1967 Abortion Act [BBC Q/A], UK Archbishop Rev. Peter Smith said Wednesday during an interview on the BBC Breakfast program. The proposed committee would involve members of both houses of parliament and would solicit expert testimony on current UK abortion laws. Smith's comments coincide with a Thursday meeting between Catholic leader Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and UK Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt [official profile], where Murphy-O'Connor is expected to request a reduction in the 24-week limit. Smith said that UK public opinion has shifted since the BBC in 2004 published pictures of a 12-week fetus "walking" in the womb, and that recent medical advances make it possible for fetuses to survive birth after 24 weeks in the womb.

A UK Department of Health spokesperson said the government has no plans to adjust the time limits, and Hewitt has previously opposed a change. The government rebuffed previous calls to adjust abortion limits [JURIST reports] in January after the Observer reported that 47 percent of British women feel the legal limit for an abortion should be reduced. The Independent has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense profile; JURIST news archive] supporters have raised more than $2 million for his legal defense in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive] since last fall, according to Barbara Comstock, a member of Libby's defense team. Supporters of Vice President Cheney's former aide have hosted several fundraisers, including one Tuesday evening, hosted by former Cheney spokeswoman Mary Matalin [Wikipedia profile], former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham [official profile], former Rep. Bob Livingston [Wikipedia profile] and oil industry executive and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans [official profile]. Former Sen. Fred Thompson [Wikipedia profile] hosted a similar fundraiser last month.

Libby has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to obstruction of justice and perjury charges [PDF indictment; JURIST report] in connection with the investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to the media. Speculation that President Bush will pardon Libby [Newsday report] has increased following last week's revelation that Karl Rove [official profile], Bush's top political advisor, will not face criminal charges [JURIST report] in the three-year investigation. Political theorists speculate that the timing of a presidential pardon [JURIST backgrounder; Wikipedia backgrounder] will be governed by whether the Republicans retain control of Congress in the mid-term elections, while others believe he will wait until his last days to issue the pardon, a tactic employed by many former presidents to avert political consequences. Bush could be motivated to pardon Libby to avoid disclosures of government documents and the possibility of Cheney testifying [JURIST report] at trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] Canada [JURIST news archive] must do more to protect citizens' personal information from foreign governments, the national privacy commissioner [official website] said in a report [text; press release] to Parliament presented Tuesday. Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart [official profile] singled out the Canadian Border Services Agency [official website] for allowing guards and customs agents to give their US counterparts private information over the phone, even though agreements between the two nations require written requests and responses. The report also noted that the USA PATRIOT Act [JURIST news archive], passed by the US Congress [HR 3162 summary] soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and renewed this year [JURIST report], "has become the symbol of the increasing concern of Canadians about the security of their personal information when it leaves Canada."

Stoddart also called on Parliament [official website] to update privacy legislation [official backgrounder] to reflect "the reality of huge government systems that are capable of a surveillance we could not have dreamed of in 1982." Canada's Privacy Act has not been overhauled since its enactment in 1983. CBC News has more. The Globe and Mail has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The federal judge presiding over the Miami trial of terror suspect Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] has ordered prosecutors to turn over more evidence regarding their allegations that Padilla and his co-defendants conspired to kill, injure or kidnap US nationals overseas as part of a global terrorist network. US District Judge Marcia Cooke said that the indictment [PDF text] against Padilla is "light on facts" linking Padilla and his co-defendants to specific terrorist acts and ordered the government to provide the defense team with the names of co-conspirators not included in the indictment, descriptions of the intended victims of alleged violent acts, and specifics about false statements allegedly made by Padilla's co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun.

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. He pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the terror charges in January, and a trial is schedule to begin in September, though both the prosecution and defense believe they will not be ready for trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Syrian writer and his son have been charged with insulting government employees and will be tried before a military tribunal, the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said Tuesday, as a crackdown on dissent in Syria continues. Journalist Ali Al-Abdallah and his son Mohamed are members of the state-recognized Atassi Forum for National Dialogue, a political group critical of the current Baath administration of President Bashar al-Assad [BBC profile], and were arrested [HREA report] on May 15, 2005, around the same time that a prominent human rights lawyer was arrested [JURIST report]. Earlier this month another writer, Mohammad Ghanem, was sentenced to six months [JURIST report] for "insulting the Syrian president, discrediting the Syrian government and fomenting sectarian unrest."

On Monday, Syrian activists said that the government fired 17 workers for signing the Damascus-Beirut declaration of May 12 [text, in Arabic], signed by 500 Syrian dissidents, 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 government in May arrested 10 signatories to the declaration [JURIST report], as well as the eight remaining members of the Atassi Forum [BBC report]. The declaration echoes appeals made in newly-adopted [BBC report] UN Security Council Resolution 1680 [summary and text] urging Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon. Ties between Lebanon and Syria [JURIST news archives] have become increasingly strained throughout the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [JURIST news archive], which has implicated Syrian security forces in Hariri's death.

In a related development, the Syrian government is working on a law that could ease the way for other political parties to challenge political dominance of the Baath party, which has been in power for 43 years. A Syrian spokesperson said the draft law will soon be published on the Internet, but cautioned that allowing more political parties to participate will not necessarily mean that the Baath party will lose its leading role in the government. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] A civil rights group has sued the state of Georgia [JURIST news archive], arguing that a new law designed to protect children from sex crimes all but forbids convicted offenders from living in urban and suburban areas. The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) [advocacy website] filed a complaint [PDF] on Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia [official website] in Rome, asking the court to certify the lawsuit as a class action and to issue an injunction blocking the enactment of House Bill 1059 [legislative materials], which takes effect on July 1. The statute, in part, provides that:

(a) No individual required to register pursuant to Code Section 42-1-12 shall reside or loiter within 1,000 feet of any child care facility, church, school, or area where minors congregate. ...
(b)(1) No individual who is required to register under Code Section 42-1-12 shall be employed by any child care facility, school, or church or by any business or entity that is located within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, a school, or a church.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] on Tuesday filed a motion in support of Verizon's petition to consolidate over 20 cases in which the company must defend allegations that it illegally shared customer phone records with the National Security Agency in conjunction with the NSA's domestic spying program [JURIST news archive]. The DOJ motion invokes national security and efficiency concerns in support of its request that the cases be consolidated into one civil action before the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website]. The government has previously said it will seek to dismiss the 20 lawsuits [JURIST report] after they are consolidated on the grounds that continuing the lawsuits may reveal military and state secrets.

Verizon petitioned the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) [official website] in May to consolidate 20 nationally coordinated complaints [JURIST report] brought by the ACLU in fourteen different district courts challenging Verizon's participation in the NSA program. Verizon and BellSouth [JURIST, AP reports] have denied last month's USA Today report accusing them of turning customer phone records over to the NSA [JURIST report], while AT&T has refused to comment. Along with supporting Verizon's bid to consolidate the 20 ACLU cases, the government also requested that the JPML consolidate four other cases against the government with the Verizon litigation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Cuba and the United States exchanged barbs Tuesday over the US human rights record on the second day [press release] of the inaugural session [opening ceremony statements; JURIST report] of the UN Human Rights Council official website; JURIST news archive] in Geneva, Switzerland. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Rogue accused [transcript] the US of running a "concentration camp" at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and claimed that Cuba needed to represent the rights of American people because the US does not have a seat on the 47-member Council. Velia De Pirro, a member of the US observer delegation, called Cuba's attacks on the US "gratuitous and unfounded," adding that the US delegation can adequately speak for the American people. The US chose not to seek a seat [JURIST report] in the first year of the Human Rights Council, after opposing its creation [JURIST report] as an insufficient corrective to the problematic UN Commission on Human Rights [official website]. The US has said it may run for a position next year.

The Council's first meeting is focused on establishing new operating procedures, particularly the format of a universal periodic review to evaluate the human rights records of all countries. The Council then plans to move onto passing two "vital documents" that will guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples and another that will oppose enforced disappearances. Reuters has more. Cuban news agency Prensa Latina has additional coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] For the first time in 20 years, a former government official is on trial for crimes committed during the Dirty War [GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] in Argentina [JURIST news archive]. The trial of Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz [Project Disappeared profile], former chief investigator of the Buenos Aires province police, began Tuesday in La Plata, with the defendant refusing to testify. Etchecolatz told a panel of three federal judges that the court did not have "moral authority" because the charges fell under military jurisdiction. Etchecolatz, who is charged with murder, kidnapping and torture, is the first former official to be prosecuted since the Argentine Supreme Court [official website] struck down two laws that blocked prosecutions [JURIST report] of crimes committed during the Dirty War, the military junta's campaign against its domestic opponents - at least 13,000 of whom "disappeared" from 1976 to 1983. "We are finally seeing the results of last year's historic Supreme Court decision," said Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch [advocacy website], which said in a statement [text] that the trial "marks the end of 20 years of impunity."

The amnesty laws, known as the Full Stop Law [text] and the Law of Due Obedience [text], were passed in the 1980s by the democratically elected government that replaced the junta and were meant to prevent rebellions among the military. Etchecolatz was convicted of illegal arrest in 1986, but his 23-year sentence was vacated by the Due Obedience Law. Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of former officials could now be prosecuted. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage. La Nacion has local coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] In an effort to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the suicide of three Guantanamo Bay detainees [JURIST report], the Center for Constitutional Rights filed an Emergency Motion for Preservation of Evidence [PDF text; press release] in federal court late Monday on behalf of the father of detainee Salah Ali Abdullah Al-Salami. The motion asks the district court in Washington, DC to compel the government to:

(1) produce to the Court official documentation of Al-Salami's death; and, (2) preserve and maintain all evidence related to his death, his detention, the reasons for his detention, any interrogations of him, his treatment and potential mistreatment, along with any and all other evidence sufficient to test the veracity of any official documentation of death produced by Respondents.

[JURIST] A group of nurses filed four class-action lawsuits [press release; case materials] around the country Tuesday against multiple hospitals [summary, PDF], alleging the hospitals violated antitrust laws by conspiring to keep wages low for nurses despite a national shortage of nurses. The four lawsuits - filed in Chicago, Illinois [PDF complaint; Chicago Tribune report]; Memphis, Tennessee [PDF complaint; Tennessean report]; San Antonio, Texas [PDF complaint; Express-News report]; and Albany, New York [PDF complaint; Times Union report] - seek back compensation and legal costs of "hundreds of millions" of dollars, charging that various hospital systems discussed nurses' wages regularly in an effort to systematically depress wages. The Service Employee International Union [union website] worked with the plaintiffs in investigating the alleged conspiracy and Daniel Small, the Washington, DC, area lawyer that filed all four lawsuits in federal courts Tuesday, said that dozens of former and current hospital employees provided information for the lawsuits against 20 different hospital systems throughout the four cities.

Though a spokesman for the Nashville-based HCA [corporate website], the largest hospital chain in the country, said the lawsuits are frivolous, nurses' wages defied long standing market theories by stagnating in 2003 and falling in 2004 in the midst of a nationwide nurse shortage, according to a report [PDF text] from the Institute for Women's Policy Research [advocacy website]. Experts disagree on a resolution for the nursing shortage, saying that low wages deter people from entering the field, while others believe the heavy workload mixed with lack of respect for the profession deter people from entering. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] was abducted and killed Wednesday, just two days after the prosecution presented their closing arguments in the trial, calling for the death penalty [JURIST report] for Hussein and four of his co-defendants. Khamis al-Obeidi, a lawyer for both Hussein and his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, had chosen to continue living in Baghdad throughout the trial, despite the murder of two other defense lawyers [JURIST report] last year. Khalil al-Dulaimi, the leader of Hussein's defense team, blamed Shiite death squads that allegedly infiltrated the Interior Ministry to carry out the murder. Several men dressed in police uniforms abducted al-Obeidi early Wednesday morning, and police found his body later in the day.

Last fall Adel al-Zubeidi, a lawyer representing former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was killed in an ambush, and ten masked gunmen killed Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi [JURIST reports]. The defense team will conclude the trial with their closing arguments, scheduled to begin on July 10. After the killings last year, the defense team asked for increased protection, however and threatened to boycott the trial [JURIST report] if added security is not provided. AP has more.