[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Chile [official website, in Spanish] on Friday stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive] of immunity from additional tax fraud charges, allowing prosecutors to continue with a $27 million fraud case [JURIST report] stemming from an investigation of Pinochet's secret offshore back accounts that was established by the former dictator under false names. Chilean legal procedure requires prosecutors to challenge a defendant's immunity claims charge-by-charge, and the Supreme Court has already stripped Pinochet of immunity [JURIST report] in connection with several other tax evasion charges arising from the same investigation.

Pinochet's lawyers have argued he is unfit to stand trial because of dementia and other ailments, but the Supreme Court of Chile last year ruled [JURIST report] that Pinochet was fit to stand trial on separate human rights charges for the disappearance of 29 leftists [JURIST report] under his regime, and for the kidnapping of six dissidents [JURIST report] as part of Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Last week, a Chilean appeals court ruled Pinochet fit to stand trial [JURIST report] in a case involving the disappearance of Antonio Llido, a Spanish priest who was a member of a socialist group opposing Pinochet's regime. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] After a federal judge ruled the NSA domestic surveillance program unconstitutional [JURIST report; opinion, PDF text] on Thursday, President Bush said Friday in an appearance at Camp David [press release] that he believes the ruling will be overturned on appeal. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a notice of appeal hours after the opinion was released, signaling its intent to challenge the ruling before the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website]. Responding to a reporter's question, Bush said:

I would say that those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live. You might remember last week working with the -- with people in Great Britain, we disrupted a plot. People were trying to come and kill people.

This country of ours is at war, and we must give those whose responsibility it is to protect the United States the tools necessary to protect this country in a time of war. The judge's decision was a -- I strongly disagree with that decision, strongly disagree. That's why I instructed the Justice Department to appeal immediately, and I believe our appeals will be upheld.

[JURIST] New statistics from the Office of Immigration Statistics in the US Department of Homeland Security [official websites] estimate that there were 2.5 million more illegal immigrants living in the United States in January 2006 than there were in January 2000, with an increase of half a million since January 2005 [report, PDF]. The report, released Friday, comes amidst animated debate on comprehensive immigration reform [JURIST news archive], to which the US House and Senate have taken sharply different approaches. President Bush has urged Congress to come to a compromise [JURIST report] on the divergent House [HR 4437; JURIST report] and Senate [S 2611 summary; JURIST report] versions of immigration reform bills. AP has more.

A report [text] released in March this year by the Pew Hispanic Center [organization website] estimated that the total number of illegal immigrants in the US has risen to some 12 million [JURIST report], with nearly 850,000 new illegal immigrants coming to the US each year since 2000.

[JURIST] Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon [Knesset profile] announced Friday that he will formally resign from his position on Sunday over allegations that he kissed a woman at a party without her consent. On Thursday, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz [official profile] decided to indict Ramon on the allegations, and on Friday, Ramon relinquished his parliamentary immunity and declined his right to a hearing on the charges, which automatically triggered his dismissal.

Ramon was banned from making legal decisions [Haaretz report] in July when the investigation was launched, and on Tuesday, police said that sufficient evidence exists to indict him [Haaretz report] on the harassment charges. Ramon insists that he is not criminally liable and that the contact was initiated by the 18-year old female soldier involved. No trial date has yet been announced. BBC News has more. Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] The trial of blind Chinese human rights legal activist Chen Guangcheng [HRW case timeline] for illegal assembly and intent to destroy public property was thrown into confusion Friday when Chinese police arrested three of his lawyers, who were accused of stealing a wallet. Two were later released, but Chen refused to accept court-appointed substitutes, insisting they were not familiar with his case. Relatives and supporters of Chen were placed under house arrest or detained earlier this week to prevent them from attending the trial, which Chen's supporters claim is retaliation for Chen's efforts to expose alleged forced abortions [TIME feature] ordered by the local government of Yinan County, Shandong province, under China's one-child law [CFRR backgrounder].

The current proceeding is one of several high-profile steps taken by Chinese authorities in recent months that are viewed by rights advocates as aspects of a new effort to silence dissent in China. The actions include the prosecution of Zhao Yan [HRIC profile, PDF], a former New York Times researcher accused of providing state secrets to foreigners, a crackdown on US Internet companies that had prompted them to be accused [JURIST report] in the West of complying with so-called "Internet oppression", and the jailing of Chinese journalists [JURIST report] for inciting subversion. The Guardian has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The governing party in Rwanda [JURIST news archive] is proposing legislation to eliminate the death penalty for genocide in an effort to encourage other countries to extradite suspects in the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] that left at least 937,000 Tutsis and Hutus dead, according to Rwanda Attorney General Martin Ngoga speaking to AP Friday. Rwanda has demanded the extradition of suspects from several European countries, Canada and the United States, but the US has so far been the only country to comply when a suspect entered the US illegally [JURIST report]. Other countries have refused to extradite suspects, noting they might face the death penalty upon their return. Some 500 Rwanda genocide suspects have so far been sentenced to death, but only 22 have so far been executed, all those in a single 1998 event [Amnesty International press release] at a soccer stadium in Kigali, Rwanda's capital.

Twenty-three suspects have faced trials at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website] which does not levy death sentences, but the governing party wants to try suspects in Rwandan courts instead. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld Masami Tsuchiya's death sentence, handed down in 2004 after Tsuchiya was convicted for leading a Japanese cult's development of Sarin nerve gas used in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack [MIPT backgrounder]. The Aum Shinrikyo [FAS backgrounder] attack killed 12 people and left thousands ill. Tsuchiya was sentenced to death [BBC report] in 2004, joining 11 other Aum Shinrikyo members, including founder Shoko Ashara [BBC profile; JURIST report], on death row for the attack. Tsuchiya had pleaded not guilty to each of the six charges, which included murder and attempted murder, and argued on appeal that the Sarin nerve gas used in the attacks had been manufactured by another group.

Tsuchiya has also been convicted for producing nerve gas that killed seven people during a 1994 attack in Matsumoto. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US Department of Homeland Security [official website] Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] urged state legislatures [press release] to support the federal Real ID Act [PDF text] at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) [official website] on Thursday. The legislation, drafted after the September 11 attacks and designed to discourage illegal immigration, attempts to make it more difficult for terrorists to fraudulently obtain US driver's licenses and other government IDs by mandating that states require birth certificates or similar documentation and also consult national immigration databases before issuing IDs. Chertoff also responded to privacy concerns, stressing that there are no plans to create a federal database of personal information gleaned from state licenses. Responding to Chertoff's prepared remarks, state lawmakers demanded that the federal government fund the program or repeal the legislation by the end of 2007. The law is currently scheduled to take effect in 2008.

Since the Real ID Act passed Congress [JURIST report] last year as part of a larger spending bill, states have insisted that the compliance process is too large and too expensive [JURIST report] to undertake and complete by the deadline. In December 2005 the NCSL, the National Governor's Association, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators [official websites] teamed up and released a report [executive summary, PDF] concluding that states are unprepared to implement the law and may need up to eight years to acquire the requisite money and time to successfully enact the legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leaders of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) [party website, in Spanish], the Mexican political party led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [campaign website, in Spanish], the leftist candidate challenging the results of Mexico's disputed July 2 presidential election [JURIST news archive], said Thursday that while they do not expect the Federal Electoral Tribunal [official website, in Spanish] to order a full recount of the disputed votes, the party will continue to hold nonviolent protests in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador supporters have staged protests in Mexico City since the beginning of August, causing traffic jams and business delays at the headquarters of many major corporations located in the city. Earlier this week, the protests turned violent [Reuters report] when riot police responded to PRD attempts to block the Congress building, leading to 30 injuries.

Lopez Obrador lost to conservative candidate Felipe Calderon [campaign website, in Spanish; Wikipedia profile] by just 0.6 percent of the vote [JURIST report], but Lopez Obrador supporters claim that fraudulent election practices [JURIST report] allowed Calderon to win the election. Election officials have not yet confirmed Calderon as the winner. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] An Israeli military court has authorized the continued detention of Palestinian parliament speaker Aziz Dweik [official profile in Arabic; JMCC profile] until August 22. Dweik was arrested [JURIST report] at his home in Ramallah on August 5 for being a senior leader of Hamas [CFR backgrounder], which Israel contends is a terrorist organization. He was hospitalized [JURIST report] last week for chest pains and breathing problems, which he alleges were brought on by abuse at the hands of his Israeli captors, allegations echoed by two now-released Hamas officials [JURIST report] who previously complained of their own mistreatment. Israel has denied all allegations of abuse.

Israel seized seven Palestinian government ministers and some 20 legislators [JURIST report] on June 29 following the abduction of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Israeli officials said in June that the captured Palestinian lawmakers would be tried under standard criminal warrants [JURIST report] for membership in or leadership of a terrorist organization. Dweik and other Hamas leaders still detained have insisted the Israeli court has no jurisdiction over their cases. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] US federal prosecutors on Thursday charged former Hollinger CEO Conrad Black [CBC profile; JURIST news archive] with additional counts of tax evasion in connection with the $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers and alleged abuse of corporate perquisites at Hollinger. After going before a grand jury, prosecutors filed a second superseding indictment in the criminal case to replace the initial indictment [PDF text]. According to Black's lawyer, in addition to adding tax evasion charges, prosecutors also made minor changes to several other charges. In December Black pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to criminal charges [JURIST report] of fraud and racketeering, as well as obstruction of justice for destroying documents. His trial is scheduled to begin next March.

Earlier in August, US District Judge Amy St. Eve of the Northern District of Illinois increased Black's bail from $20 to $21 million [BBC report] at the urging of prosecutors who maintain that Black has underreported his financial situation to the government. Canadian Press has more.

[JURIST] The Court of Appeal division of the Supreme Court of Victoria [official website] in Australia on Friday quashed the conviction of Joseph Terrence "Jihad Jack" Thomas [advocacy website], the first Australian jailed under the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism Act 2002 [text]. The court ruled that authorities interviewed Thomas against his will and without access to a lawyer when he was arrested in Pakistan in 2003. Thomas' lawyer had argued that Thomas cooperated with the interview because he feared being held in detention indefinitely or being sent to the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay.

A jury convicted [BBC report] Thomas in February of receiving $3,500 from Khaled bin Attash [Wikipedia profile], a senior al Qaeda member, after training with the terrorist group in Afghanistan in 2002. The jury also convicted Thomas of carrying a fake passport, but acquitted him on charges of willingly providing resources and support to al Qaeda. Thomas' lawyers promptly announced plans to appeal the conviction [JURIST report], saying that Australian authorities used the trial to show that police are "tough on terrorism" under the new anti-terrorism laws [ANS materials]. Authorities released Thomas on bail on Friday, pending a possible retrial that may include a television interview that prosecutors did not use in the first trial. Reuters has more. The Age has local coverage.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] on Friday said that "the Iraqi High Tribunal is presently incapable of fairly and effectively trying a genocide case in accordance with international standards and current international criminal law" and called on the tribunal to "improve its practices" [statement] during Saddam Hussein's second trial, scheduled to begin Monday [JURIST report]. HRW based its statement on observations from the first Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive], where Hussein and seven co-defendants faced crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report] for allegedly killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents and for committing other inhumane acts after an alleged 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein's life. According to the statement:

Human Rights Watch's observation of the Dujail trial, in which the defendants are accused of ordering the murder of villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on Hussein, indicated a number of serious shortcomings in the institutional functioning of the court. None of the Iraqi judges and lawyers has shown an understanding of international criminal law. The court's administration has been chaotic and inadequate, making it unable to conduct a trial of this magnitude fairly. And the court has relied so heavily on anonymous witnesses that it has undercut the defendants' right to confront witnesses against them and effectively test their evidence.

These shortcomings have been compounded by the sharp deterioration of the security environment in Iraq, including the tribunal's failure to protect defense counsel targeted for assassination.

[JURIST] US Marines involved in the death of 24 civilians in Haditha [JURIST report] last November concealed and destroyed evidence relating to the incident, the New York Times reported Friday. According to top military officials speaking to the Times who have been briefed on an investigation completed last month by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell [Wikipedia profile], the unit's logbook, which reports all activity within the unit, had missing pages from November 19, the date of the incident. The Bargewell report has not yet been released to the public, but the two officials also said that an aerial video did not support statements made by Marines that the deaths occurred in a firefight resulting from a roadside bomb attack, and that the Marines did not hand over the video until Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking commander in Iraq, demanded it.

The report has been reviewed by Chiarelli [JURIST report] and turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) [official website], which is looking into the murder allegations and probing higher ranking officers [JURIST report] suspected of facilitating the incident through poor leadership and perhaps even covering it up. Lieutenant General James Mattis [official profile], commander of the US Marine Corps in the Middle East, is expected to decide whether to charge the Marines involved by next week. Earlier this month, NCIS completed its initial investigation [JURIST report], finding that the evidence supported accusations that the Marines murdered the civilians. The Bargewell report is already said to have found several "red flags" and suspicious incidents [JURIST report], but supposedly refrains from drawing conclusions or making outright accusations of murder. The New York Times has more.