[JURIST] The International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] on Friday convicted [judgment summary] Naser Oric [ICTY case backgrounder; Wikipedia profile], a former senior commander of Bosnian Muslim forces in Srebrenica, for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serb prisoners. Oric, sentenced to two years in prison [press release], will be released immediately for time already served. Oric's indictment [text] alleged that military police under his command beat Serb detainees with metal bars, baseball bats and rifle butts and extracted teeth with pliers. Oric was charged with failing to prevent abuses by military police under his command, and was also charged with responsibility for destruction of Serb villages around Srebrenica [JURIST news archive].

The ICTY convicted Oric because he had reason to know about the acts committed by the military police under his command, and failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the inhumane acts. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi High Tribunal said on Friday that while coalition forces still provide physical protection for former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], he has been safe and in no danger in the legal custody of the Iraqi judiciary since June 30, 2004, when the US-led coalition forces handed Iraq over to the transitional government. Earlier this month Aziz lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano [law firm website; Aziz case file] expressed concern that Aziz would "be punished by the Iraqi government well outside any judicial process" when coalition forces - US, Britain and Italy - transfer their detainees to the custody of the Shiite-led Iraqi government. On June 26 he filed an urgent request for interim measures [text, DOC] with the European Court of Human Rights [official website] asking it to stop any transfer of Aziz, claiming that "Under Article 2 and 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 1, 6 and 13, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Italy [as parties subject to the Convention] certainly have an obligation not to extradite or in any other manner whatsoever, surrender legal or physical custody, of individuals to a country or jurisdiction where they face torture, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment."

In response to a court request for further information about how Aziz was taken into custody and his current status, Di Stefano said [statement text] Tuesday:

Mr Aziz actually handed himself over to what he thought were BRITISH troops and there were indeed UK troops as well as US and Mr Aziz recalls hearing also Italian voices. He surrendered at 19.00pm exactly from the home of his daughter Amel Aziz in Baghdad in the presence of his wife and two other sons Mazen and Ziad. It is evidently clear he is guarded by US/UK and occasionally (in the past but not now) Italian troops and it is intended on a date unknown for physical security of all detainees to be handed over to the Iraqi. That is my main concern. If that happens the risk to the detainees is enhanced. Britain and Italy will not be allowed to simply bury their heads in sand and wash their hands in Pontius Pilate style. They signed agreements after World War II and must be bound by them.

[JURIST] USA Today reported [USA Today article] Friday that its inside sources at BellSouth and Verizon are unable to "document a contractual relationship" between the two phone companies and the National Security Agency, or document that "the companies turned over bulk calling records" for the alleged NSA phone records database [JURIST news archive]. Lawmakers sitting on the House and Senate intelligence committees, who were briefed by NSA officials on the program after the original May 11 USA Today report [text; JURIST report], have since told the paper that the phone record database is "enormous but incomplete."

USA Today's sources have repeatedly confirmed their original reports, and Friday's article insisted that "the published report accurately reflected their [sources'] knowledge and understanding of the NSA program." Verizon and BellSouth have both denied contracting with the NSA [JURIST report] for the program, while AT&T has neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Five members of the intelligence committees told USA Today that they learned from intelligence officials that AT&T did in fact give the NSA bulk call records, and five lawmakers also said that BellSouth did not provide call records to the program, contradicting the original USA Today story. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who receives intelligence reports, said that the program monitored only long distance calls to and from geographic areas where al-Qaeda affiliates were thought to reside. AP has more.

[JURIST] Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee [official website] said on Friday that he would like the state legislature to consider reinstating a ban on same-sex foster parents after the Arkansas Supreme Court [official website] Thursday struck down [ruling, PDF; JURIST report] a regulatory provision barring same-sex couples from raising foster children. The court upheld a lower court decision, saying that it found no connection between homosexuality and the ability to raise a child. The state child welfare agency had appealed against section 200.3.2 of the Arkansas Minimum Licensing Standards of the Child Welfare [PDF text], which states in part that "No person may serve as a foster parent if any adult member of that person's household is a homosexual." The Supreme Court agreed with the trial court that "the regulation did not promote the health, safety and welfare of foster children and, thus, the Board exceeded its authority in legislating for public morality."

The Supreme Court decision allowed room for the state legislature to enact a ban by law or give a state agency the authority to enact a ban, however the language of the decision cited no connection between homosexuality and a child's welfare, potentially making legislation difficult to pass. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US military is investigating reports that five US soldiers raped a young woman in the city of Mahmudiyah [globalsecurity.org backgrounder; also "Mahmoudiyah", "Mahmoudiya" or "Mahmudiya"] and then killed her and three family members last March, an anonymous official told AP Friday. According to another official, one of the soldiers under investigation came forward on June 22 to confess to the rape and slaying, prompting the investigation. One of the soldiers has already been discharged back to the United States, while four others are being held at a military base in Mahmudiyah.

Fourteen US soldiers have been convicted for their involvement in Iraqi civilian deaths since the beginning of the war. Two soldiers were charged with voluntary manslaughter and obstructing justice [JURIST report] on Sunday for shooting an unarmed Iraqi civilian, and earlier this month, the US Army charged four soldiers for the deaths of Iraqi detainees [JURIST report; US Central Command press release on charging of fourth] in the northern province of Salahuddin. Last week seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with murder and kidnapping [JURIST report] in connection with the April 26 death of an Iraqi man outside his home in Hamdania. Military investigations into the alleged killing of 24 Iraqi civilians [JURIST report] by Marines in the city of Haditha in November, 2005 are ongoing. AP has more.

[JURIST] Uzbekistan moved closer to abolishing the death penalty on Thursday as Uzbek President Islam Karimov [BBC profile] ordered the establishment of a commission charged with drafting anti-death penalty legislation as well as new criminal laws, both substantive and procedural, to implement the change. The order establishing the working group directed attention to amending the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan [excerpted text] to set definite sentencing guidelines for life- and long-term imprisonment. Current Uzbek law allows the death penalty [JURIST news archive] in premeditated murder and terrorism cases.

Last August, Karimov announced his intention to abolish the death penalty before 2008 [JURIST report]. The Council of Europe on Wednesday called on Russia, the US, and Japan to abolish the death penalty, and the Philippines abolished capital punishment [JURIST reports] last Saturday. UzReport.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] A panel of federal judges in Texas has given parties to a lawsuit over Texas' congressional district two weeks to propose a solution [order, PDF] to the 2003 Texas redistricting plan [official website] for the 23rd Congressional District, which the US Supreme Court [official website] scrapped [JURIST report] on Wednesday. US District Judge T. John Ward of the Eastern District of Texas [official website] set a deadline of July 14 for new proposals and scheduled oral arguments for August 3. The Supreme Court ruled in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] and three other consolidated cases that the "redrawing of District 23's lines amounts to vote dilution violative" of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act [DOJ backgrounder]. The Court, however, upheld the new voting districts for all of the other challenged districts.

Opponents of the redistricting plan had also challenged the validity of the plan [case materials], which allowed Republicans to gain six seats in Congress in the 2004 election, and accused the Texas legislature of drawing oddly shaped districts solely to protect Republican interests, but the Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to state a sufficient claim of partisan gerrymandering. They also declined to resolve a dispute over whether partisan gerrymandering claims present nonjusticiable political questions. AP has more. The Houston Chronicle has local coverage.

[JURIST] Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz [official profile] has said that a group of two dozen Hamas MPs and ministers who were detained [JURIST report] Thursday will not be held in administrative detention [B'Tselem backgrounder] under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law [PDF text]. Mazuz said he will instead use standard criminal warrants under the Prevention of Terror Ordinance [text]. Mazuz said they will likely be charged with membership in or leadership of a terrorist organization. By using normal criminal procedures rather than the much-maligned Unlawful Combatants Law [academic backgrounder; JURIST commentary], any Hamas official arrested will be summoned before a judge within 96 hours of arrest, will be tried before a military tribunal, and will enjoy all normal criminal legal protections.

Meanwhile Israeli officials on Friday stripped a Hamas cabinet minister and three Hamas MPs of their East Jerusalem residency rights, saying the four were ordered to sever their alliance with Hamas in May. AP reports that lawyers for the four men, who were among those arrested Thursday, will appeal their detentions to Israel's Supreme Court. Also Friday, as protesters marched against the Israeli offensive into the Gaza strip [AP report], Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said the arrests were "meant to hijack the [Palestinian] government's position, but we say no positions will be hijacked, no governments will fall."

Responding to the worsening Middle East situation, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States all urged Israel and the Palestinians to step back [UN press release] and use diplomacy instead. BBC News has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] Tenet Healthcare [corporate website] has agreed to pay $900 million [US DOJ press release] to resolve federal allegations of illegal Medicare billing practices. Tenet was charged [DOJ press release] in 2003 with violating the False Claims Act [text] by billing the government for services not provided to patients, billing it for "outlier" costs "substantially in excess" of the actual cost of care, and for paying kickbacks to doctors in exchange for Medicare referrals. Under the settlement agreement, Tenet is not required to admit guilt, though in a company statement [text] released Friday, Tenet admitted that billing "mistakes were made." Tenet will sell 12 hospitals to offset settlement costs, of which $470 million will be paid immediately, with the rest to be paid by 2010. AP has more.

In January, Tenet settled a class-action lawsuit for $215 million [JURIST report] brought by shareholders alleging breach of fiduciary duty, mismanagement and unjust enrichment in misleading investors about Medicare expenses. Seventy-three employees of a Tenet-owned hospital in Louisiana were subpoenaed last year as part of the ongoing investigation [JURIST reports] into deaths alleged at hospitals and nursing homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] In a victory for German Chancellor Angela Merkel [official profile in German; BBC profile], a package of constitutional reforms aimed at separating and clarifying the powers of the federal and state governments passed Germany's lower house of parliament in a 428-162 vote Friday, with three lawmakers abstaining. After World War II, Germany's government was organized under an inefficient system of federalism [German Law Journal article] where centralized power was disfavored and each of Germany's 16 states in the Bundesrat [official website] upper house had complete veto power over legislation. The new legislation [JURIST report] would strip veto power from the 16 states and allow the federal government to control environmental and nuclear energy policy in exchange for withdrawing federal influence from issues of education, the judiciary, and localized commerce. In a compromise, the federal government may still fund university-based research projects.

A vote is scheduled for next Friday in the upper house, which is expected to approve the federalism legislation [official backgrounder, in German]. This bill is one of three prongs of Merkel's ambitious reform plan, along with healthcare reform legislation and a plan to reorganize Germany's corporate tax structure to enhance competitiveness. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge has extended a temporary restraining order [PDF text; JURIST report] preventing the state of Georgia from fully enforcing a law that restricts where convicted sex offenders can live. The restraining order issued Monday applied only to the eight plaintiffs in the case, but US District Judge Clarence Cooper [official profile] in the Northern District of Georgia [official website] extended the order [ruling, PDF] to include all sex offenders who live within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop Thursday. State attorney general spokesman Russ Willard said the government will appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website]. The law [legislative materials], which was due to take effect on July 1, forbids people convicted of certain sex-related crimes from living or working within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, church, school or "area where minors congregate," including school bus stops. A violation is a felony punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison.

The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) [advocacy website], which is representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; SCHR materials], says that the law violates several constitutional provisions and at least one federal statute, and that it would require all but a few of the state's offenders to move. Cooper has scheduled a hearing in the case for July 11. AP has more. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has local coverage [registration required].

[JURIST] The Turkish Grand National Assembly [official website, in Turkish; Wikipedia backgrounder] broadened the country's anti-terror laws Thursday by adopting new legislation that delays a suspect's guaranteed access to a lawyer for the first 24 hours of detention and expands the definition of offenses classified as terrorism. New acts classified as terrorism include human trafficking, drug smuggling, obstruction of education, influencing tenders, prostitution, pollution of the environment and credit card forgery. The Turkish government proposed the new law [New Anatolian op-ed] to fight resurgent Kurdish separatists like the Kurdistan Worker's Party [FAS backgrounder] that have increased attacks in the last two years.

The European Union [official website] has expressed concern over the new anti-terror measures, while the Turkish Press Council [advocacy website] warned that the new measures might hinder editorial independence and lead to censorship after the Turkish Parliament Justice Subcommittee adopted the measure last week [MSNBC report]. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, however, denies that the new measure will restrict freedom of the press or freedom of expression. In May, the Istanbul Bar Association [official website, in Turkish] urged the government to withdraw the proposed law [JURIST report], warning that the bill could harm freedom. Reuters has more. From Turkey, the Zaman Daily News has local coverage.

[JURIST] The French Senate and National Assembly gave final approval Friday to the so-called "iTunes" copyright legislation [legislative materials, in French], meaning the bill will soon become law assuming the failure of a constitutional challenge filed last week by the Socialist party. The government still has the option of amending the bill before it is signed. Though the original bill, passed by the National Assembly [CBS report] in March, was weakened through compromise [AP report] during a joint committee markup last week, some industry analysts expect the bill to cause Apple to abandon the French market for downloadable music.

Apple's iTunes player currently does not play songs downloaded from other Internet music stores, and songs purchased from the iTunes catalog are not compatible with other players. In its current form, the bill will require Apple and other companies to solve the "inoperability" problem by sharing technology. However, the bill would also allow Apple and others to strike exclusive deals with artists for French distribution, thus avoiding the technology-sharing requirement. The bill is France's attempt to implement the EU Copyright Directive [materials; JURIST report]. In statements [Appleinsider report] released since the March vote, Apple predicted that the bill will cause its music sales to drop. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives voted 232-187 [roll call] Thursday to approve the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act [HR 4761 text], which "provide[s] for exploration, development, and production activities for mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf [DOI definition]." The bill, a version of which was approved [JURIST report] in a House committee in October, would end the offshore drilling moratorium on 85% of the coastal waters surrounding the US, which has been renewed by Congress every year since 1981. Florida senators are expected to filibuster the bill when it comes before the Senate, as fears of an oil spill worry lawmakers from states that rely heavily on tourist income. Currently before the Senate is a bill [S 2253 PDF text] that would open to oil exploration an area in the Gulf of Mexico not currently under the moratorium.

The House bill includes provisions allowing individual states to choose whether to lift the moratorium, and would change revenue sharing so that states would receive as much as 75% of royalties paid by oil companies for drilling rights. Currently, the federal government receives the as much as 95% of the royalties. The US Department of the Interior [official website] has estimated that changing the royalty structure could cost the federal government as much as $69 billion in revenue over the next 15 years. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri [BBC profile], who resigned on Monday [BBC report], on Friday refused to respond to a prosecutor's summons to appear for questioning in connection with allegations that he organized and armed a private militia. Instead, Alkatiri wrote a letter back to prosecutors saying he is waiting for his lawyer, and that he intends to claim immunity from criminal prosecution as a member of Parliament. Prosecutors have yet to announce whether Alkatiri will be charged with organizing and arming the militia to target political opponents. Alkatiri's associate and former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato has been charged with supplying the group with weapons [JURIST report], and has reportedly implicated Alkatiri in testimony. In a national television interview broadcast last week, Alkatiri denied the allegations.

The UN is investigating the violence [JURIST report] that has surged in East Timor since April. East Timor [JURIST news archive] was a UN protectorate between 1999 and 2002 while the territory transitioned from an Indonesian possession to an independent state. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) [official website] has adopted [press release] the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [PDF text], a document which asserts that indigenous peoples [UNHCHR backgrounder] worldwide should have the right to restitution of land and resources taken from them. Bypassing objections from Canada and Russia, the HRC voted by a margin of 30-2 to approve the declaration, which calls for indigenous people to be free from discrimination and have a right to consider themselves different. Twelve countries on the 47-seat Council abstained from the vote Thursday, and three were absent during the session. The Commission for Human Rights [official website], which was replaced by the Human Rights Council earlier this year, had been negotiating the declaration [UNHCHR materials] for indigenous peoples for eleven years.

The HRC also adopted a resolution [JURIST report] Thursday endorsing the draft International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance [PDF text], which would require signatories to refrain from engaging in forced disappearances [Wikipedia backgrounder; UNHCHR materials]. The convention now goes to the UN General Assembly [official website] for final approval. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website] said Friday that he wants Australian-born terror suspect David Hicks [JURIST news archive] to be tried in American courts even after the US Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday struck down military commissions [JURIST report; opinion, PDF] set up to try terror suspects detained at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Hicks, captured in Afghanistan by US forces in 2001 with suspected ties to the Taliban, is one of ten Guantanamo Bay detainees who had been charged by a military commission [JURIST news archive]. Howard's government has steadfastly supported the Guantanamo military tribunals, and has refused to lobby for the US government to release Hicks into Australian custody.

In a radio interview [transcript], Howard said that Hicks can not stand trial for terrorism charges in Australia because training or supporting al Qaeda was not illegal under Australian law in 2001. Howard stated:

Well I think he should be tried, and we were quite happy to go along with the military commission procedure because we were told, subject to the changes to it that we had negotiated with the Americans, that it was acceptable. Now the American Supreme Court has decided otherwise. Well that is the end of that matter. That decision has to be accepted and it has been accepted and what the administration must now do is to decide, in our view quickly, what alternative method of trial will be used for the people charged with offences who are being held in Guantanamo Bay and Mr Hicks is one of those. Now it seems on the face of it, and I do need a bit more advice, I've only heard about the decision in the last few hours, it does seem that either that method of trial has to be a court marital or a civilian trial.

[JURIST] Ta Mok [Trial Watch profile], the former military chief of the Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] communist movement in Cambodia who was indicted [PDF text] on crimes against humanity charges in 1999 and has been in detention [order, PDF] since 2002, demanded a swift trial Friday. An unexpected hospitalization has renewed fears that he will not live through the end of his trial before Cambodia's Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal [official task force website; timeline]. Ta Mok was hospitalized Thursday [JURIST report] for several illnesses after his health began to deteriorate in jail last week. He wants his trial to begin soon so he can tell the court who was really responsible for the massacre of 1.7 million people during the Khmer Rouge 1975-78 rule over Cambodia. The tribunal is expected to begin holding trials next year [JURIST report].

The deteriorating health of several potential defendants has prompted the UN to call for their trials to begin as soon as possible [JURIST report]. Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary [Wikipedia profile] was hospitalized due to a heart condition [JURIST report] earlier this year. While judges and prosecutors for the UN-assisted court were recently selected [JURIST report], the tribunal has yet to secure all of its $56.3 million budget [JURIST report]. The tribunal will swear in the 30 selected judges on Monday, and prosecutors will begin to assemble the cases starting next week. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] China has approved stiffer penalties for people responsible for industrial accidents and white collar crimes, state media said on Friday. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) [official website; government backgrounder] increased the maximum jail sentence from seven to 15 years for individuals who make employees work in dangerous conditions that ultimately result in industrial accidents, and also increased the fines and jail terms for individuals convicted of fraud and misreporting. In addition, the NPC broadened the definition of white-collar crimes to include actions that undermine financial markets and corporate administrations. Meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao [official profile] on Friday called on member's of China's Communist Party to intensify the government's anti-corruption efforts [Xinhua report], during a ceremony marking the party's 85th anniversary.

A recent wave of corruption scandals and coal mine accidents prompted the tougher penalties in an effort to prevent future accidents and scandals. China has seen 827 people die in 52 major industrial accidents so far in 2006. In recent weeks, top naval officer Wang Shouye was fired [AP report] as a result of economic crimes charges, Anhui Vice Governor He Minxu was detained for taking bribes, and Beijing Vice Mayor Liu Zhihua was fired [Guardian report], allegedly for corruption and bad morals. Liu had been responsible for urban development leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Reuters has more. The China Daily has local coverage.