[JURIST] Former Qatari justice minister Najib al-Nuaimi has said that any attempt by the Iraqi government to extradite Saddam Hussein's first wife Sajida [Wikipedia profile] from her current presumed residence in Qatar would fail. Al-Nuaimi, currently a member of Saddam Hussein's defense team, told AFP in an interview published Tuesday that extradition would require adherence to certain procedures and that criteria such as a court conviction against Sajida and an extradition treaty with Qatar were lacking.

Sajida was named by Iraqi officials [JURIST report] Sunday as one of Iraq's 41 most-wanted fugitives [list], with the following notation: "Main source of guidance, logistic support, funds terrorism in Iraq. She has access to Iraqi riches stolen by Saddam." Her daughter Raghdad, now under royal protection in Jordan, was also named in a lesser capacity. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the European Court of Human Rights [official website] in Strasbourg ruled [ECHR press release; ruling text] Tuesday that eight years solitary confinement in a French prison for the convicted assassin and terrorist known popularly as Carlos the Jackal [Wikipedia profile] - Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - was not inhumane or otherwise violative of his rights. The Court upheld a January 2005 lower court decision [press release] in making its determination. It did, however, award Ramirez the equivalent of $12,800 damages for a ruling of a French administrative court that had originally refused to allow him to bring a petition objecting to his treatment.

The Court found that Ramirez had had a sufficiently large cell and facilities, books and a television, and the opportunity of two hours exercise every day plus access to a training room. He had also had regular visitors. Considered dangerous and at significant risk to attempt escape, he was held in solitary confinement from 1994, when he was brought from Sudan by French secret service agents, to 2002. He is currently held in general detention at the high security Clairvaux prison [Wikipedia profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the European Court of Human Rights [official website] in Strasbourg ruled [ECHR press release; ruling text] Tuesday that eight years solitary confinement in a French prison for the convicted assassin and terrorist known popularly as Carlos the Jackal [Wikipedia profile] - Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - was not inhumane or otherwise violative of his rights. The Court upheld a January 2005 lower court decision [press release] in making its determination. It did, however, award Ramirez the equivalent of $12,800 damages for a ruling of a French administrative court that had originally refused to allow him to bring a petition objecting to his treatment.

The Court found that Ramirez had had a sufficiently large cell and facilities, books and a television, and the opportunity of two hours exercise every day plus access to a training room. He had also had regular visitors. Considered dangerous and at significant risk to attempt escape, he was held in solitary confinement from 1994, when he was brought from Sudan by French secret service agents, to 2002. He is currently held in general detention at the high security Clairvaux prison [Wikipedia profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraq's justice minister called Tuesday for international supervision of the US investigation of the rape and murder of one Iraqi civilian and the murder of three others in Mahmudiya in March. On Monday, US federal prosecutors charged former US Army soldier Steven Green [JURIST report; criminal complaint via FindLaw] in connection with the incident. Four other currently-serving soldiers are being held pending the outcome of a military criminal probe [JURIST report]. Justice Minister Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shebli, a Sunni, said:

If this act actually happened, it constitutes an ugly and unethical crime, monstrous and inhuman...The Iraqi judiciary should be informed about this investigation which should be conducted under supervision of international and human organizations. Those involved should face justice.

[JURIST] Israel was sharply criticized by Swiss diplomats Monday for allegedly violating international humanitarian law in its latest actions against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as tensions between Israel and Palestinian authorities continue to mount over the seizure of an Israeli soldier [JURIST report] by militants. Switzerland, the original host state for the Geneva Conventions [ICRC backgrounder] which retains the right to call special meetings on its implementation, took Israel to task in a lengthy statement [text] issued by its Foreign Affairs Department [official website], flagging infringements by Israel of its obligations as an occupying power to protect civilians:

A number of actions by the Israeli Defence Forces in their offensive against the Gaza Strip have violated the principle of proportionality and are to be seen as forms of collective punishment, which is forbidden. For the DFA, there is no doubt that Israel has not taken the precautions required of it in international law to protect the civilian population and infrastructure. The destruction of a power station, the attack on the offices of the Palestinian Prime Minister, the arbitrary arrests of a large number of democratically elected representatives of the people and ministers, as well as the withdrawal of the residence permits of three members of parliament and a minister in East Jerusalem cannot be justified. Attacks on civilian property are forbidden by international law. The DFA demands that Israel forgo any further attacks on civilian property, ensure the protection of the civilian population, and release the detained representatives insofar as no concrete grounds in individual cases exist that fully justify their lawful arrest.

[JURIST] Antitrust regulators from EU member states voted unanimously Monday to approve in principle new fines against Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive] for not following a 2004 European Union [official website] antitrust ruling [text, PDF; JURIST report]. In December 2005 the European Commission [official website] warned [JURIST report] the software giant that it may face fines of up to $2.5 million (2 million euros) per day for not giving competitors the necessary information to develop software compatible with the Windows operating system. Implementation of the fines requires an additional meeting to approve the actual amounts, currently scheduled for next week.

Microsoft has argued that its engineers have been working "around the clock" to supply the information and that six out of seven information installments have already been given, so any fines at this point would be unfair. But the commission said the company had 18 months to comply with the 2004 ruling after a court denied its appeal against instant antitrust sanctions. If the fine is imposed, it will mark the first time that the European Union has fined a company for not complying with a previous order. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke [profile] took senior British judges to task over terrorism in an editorial published Monday in London's Evening Standard newspaper, saying that they had repeatedly refused to meet with him to discuss the interpretation of human rights law in light of security needs, and that their disengagement had to change as it was fuelling "dangerously confused and ill-informed debate which challenges Britain's adherence to the European convention on human rights." Wrote Clarke, "One of the consequences of the Human Rights Act is that our most senior judiciary are taking decisions of deep concern to the security of our society without any responsibility for that security." The Guardian has more. Earlier this year Clarke successfully guided the 2006 Terrorism Act [text; JURIST op-ed] through Parliament before being sacked [JURIST report] in May in a furor over early release of foreign criminals before deportation reviews.

Tensions between leading UK political leaders and the judiciary have increased since 9/11, and dramatically so since the London bombings of July 7, 2005, with Prime Minister Tony Blair recently promising a review [JURIST report] of "whether primary legislation is needed to address the issue of Court rulings which over-rule the Government in a way that is inconsistent with other EU countries interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights." Last week Labour Party MP John Denham, chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee [official website], called the brewing confrontation with the courts a "constitutional crisis" [JURIST report]. On Monday, lawyers for current British Home Secretary John Reid asked the Court of Appeal in London to overturn a ruling [JURIST report] that terrorism suspects cannot be detained without charge under so-called control orders, arguing that a judgment last week by a High Court judge based on his reading of the European Convention on Human Rights contained "misunderstandings and errors."

[JURIST] Eleven African jurists [profiles] were sworn-in Monday as the first members of Africa's first continent-wide human rights court, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) [PICT backgrounder], sponsored by the African Union [official website]. The swearing-in took place at the end of a two-day AU summit in Banjul, Gambia. The legal experts vowed to "preserve, protect and defend" the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights [text, PDF], which will allow prosecutions for human rights infractions rather than just handing out resolutions and judgments, according to AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Julia Joiner [Wikipedia profile].

The ACHPR was officially created by a 1998 African Union protocol [text], but the appointment of the judges indicates that the panel will now start to carry out its intended functions, including interpreting and ruling upon any international laws or treaties ratified by the offending states. AU organizations, individuals, states, and non-governmental bodies will all be able to petition the court for rulings on human rights violations. Earlier this year, the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the process of nominating judges [JURIST report], suggesting that the AU commission should select the judges rather than leaving final determinations up to election by the member states. IRIN has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners seeking to challenge their detentions in the US federal courts argued Monday before the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] that no further filings in their cases were necessary and that enough documentation had been provided for the appeals court to decide whether the challenges could be made. Following the US Supreme Court's decision [JURIST report] last week in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld declaring military commissions illegal, US Solicitor General Paul Clement [official profile] had asked the appeals court for permission to provide additional briefs on the Bush administration's understanding of the high court's ruling.

Granting such permission would in practice oblige the attorneys representing the detainees to reply, and they argued Monday that three rounds of briefs were enough, that requiring more briefs would delay the resolution of their clients' cases - and their detentions - even further, and that in any event the Supreme Court ruling was clear in establishing that pending lawsuits filed by detainees can proceed if they were brought prior to the passage of the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document], which Congress approved late last year to limit such lawsuits. AP has more.