[JURIST] The Tashkent City Court in Uzbekistan [JURIST news archive] Wednesday ordered the closure of another US nongovernmental organization (NGO) operating in the country, stating the group's failure to provide accurate information about its activities as one of the chief reasons. Crosslink Development International [NGO website] is the most recent activist group forced to close its offices in Uzbekistan as part of the country's crackdown on western NGOs. The organization has been helping low-income families in Uzbekistan set up small businesses among other projects since its founding in 1992. The Uzbek Justice Ministry [official website] said earlier this month that the loans provided by the organization were given in cash, which is against Uzbek law.

Earlier this week, Uzbek officials ordered the US-based nonprofit group Winrock International [NGO website] to end its operations in the country as well. News agency press-uz.info [media website] reported that Uzbek officials accused the group of publishing a book that misquotes the Koran and shooting video footage that "distorts conditions for Uzbek women." Uzbek courts have also closed [JURIST report] the local office of the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) and the local offices of the US-based human rights group Freedom House [JURIST report], the Eurasia Foundation and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. RFE/RL has more.

[JURIST] US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff [official profile] said Wednesday that US Border Patrol [official website] officials are now detaining nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants [DHS fact sheet] caught crossing the US-Mexico border for an average of 21 days before releasing them to their home countries. Fulfilling a promise [JURIST report] made by DHS leaders last fall, US officials detained 99 percent of non-Mexican immigrants stopped in the first two weeks of August, which amounts to nearly 2,000 people; Mexicans caught sneaking across the border are typically returned home immediately.

The new policy ending the former practice of "catch and release" has resulted in a 20,000 drop in the number of illegal immigrants caught crossing the border between this summer and the same period last year, Chertoff said. A new DHS study [PDF text] released earlier this month estimates that the number of illegal immigrants living in the US increased by half a million [JURIST report] between January 2005 and January 2006; a study released in March by the Pew Hispanic Center [research website] estimates that the number of illegal immigrants now living in the US [JURIST report] has risen to 12 million. The Bush administration, however, has made tighter immigration and border security [JURIST news archive] a priority this term. In May, the White House [official website] announced a plan to deploy 6,000 National Guard troops [JURIST report] to help curb illegal immigration [JURIST report] from Mexico, a controversial move that has been referred to by opponents as militarization of the border. AP has more.

[JURIST] A High Court judge in London on Wednesday granted requests by Scotland Yard [official website] to extend the detentions of 9 of 11 uncharged suspects in custody in connection with an alleged airline bombing plot [JURIST report] said to have been foiled by police. Eight suspects had their detentions extended to August 30, the first time a British court has authorized a longer than 14-day detention without charge under the new Terrorism Act of 2006 [PDF], which permits detention for up to 28 days. A ninth suspect had his detention extended until Thursday. Two other suspects were freed.

A total of 24 men were arrested during raids on UK properties on August 10, and on Tuesday, police charged 11 suspects [JURIST report] total, eight with conspiracy to commit murder and with preparing acts of terrorism, one with possession of articles useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, and two with failing to disclose information of material assistance in preventing an act of terrorism. One detainee was released on Tuesday; police had previously released another without charge [JURIST report] last week while arresting an additional suspect [JURIST report]. In connection with the investigation police have executed a total of 46 property searches, 22 of which remain ongoing. Nineteen of the named suspects [list] have had their assets frozen by the Bank of England [corporate website]. AP has more. British lawyers have suggested, however, that Scotland Yard may have already prejudiced the case against the plotters [ABC Australia report] by revealing to the media too many details [Metropolitan Police Service press release] of the evidence against them.

[JURIST] Telecom giant AT&T [corporate website] sued 25 "John Doe" defendants [press release] in US federal court on Wednesday, alleging that the defendants had posed as customers to obtain personal customer information for use in domestic and legal disputes. The AT&T complaint alleges that the so-called "data brokers" fraudulently obtained data on about 2,500 customers, and if the lawsuit leads to the identities of the data brokers, AT&T will seek an injunction to block future data brokering, as well as the return of profits made on the defendants' activities. The suit alleges a cause of action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act [text] and other statutes protecting harmful computer access. CNET has more.

In June, AP reported that several prominent government bodies, in attempts to circumvent the normal warrant or subpoena process usually required by the Fourth Amendment [text and materials], have hired data brokers to obtain customer phone records [JURIST report]. The reports prompted Congressional panel hearings [JURIST report] on the issue, where a self-described data broker detailed [PDF] the technique of "pretexting," or tricking companies into divulging their customers' records. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act [HR 4943 summary; press release], a bill that would outlaw pretexting, which now awaits a full House vote.

[JURIST] Australian detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] has been kept in solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] for about five months and his health is deteriorating, Hicks' US military lawyer Major Michael Mori said Wednesday. Mori insisted that Hicks is among the best-behaved inmates at the US military prison and there was no good reason for him to be kept in isolation. Australia's ABC News has more.

Australian media reported Monday that US investigators seized legal papers belonging to Hicks [JURIST report] in a probe into the June suicides of three other Guantanamo inmates [JURIST report] - a Yemeni and two Saudis - at the US military prison in June. Hicks was in solitary at the time of the suicides.

[JURIST] Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz [official profile] on Tuesday sent Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official website] a memo detailing the pros and cons of all possible legal methods the government may use to investigate the country's conduct in the Middle East conflict [JURIST news archive]. The memo, which was not released to the press, lists at least five options, the most serious of which is a state commission of inquiry. Olmert has opposed a state commission [Haaretz report] because Israeli law strictly regulates state commission procedure, leaving Olmert scant flexibility in conducting the investigation. Other alternatives proposed by Mazuz include a governmental inquiry commission with subpoena powers, a parliamentary commission of inquiry, or an inquiry committee appointed by a minister, all of which carry less weight than a state commission. Mazuz also approved the legality of the state comptroller [official website] investigation that was launched [AFP report] on Monday, which enjoys majority support from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee [Haaretz report].

Public opposition to Israeli tactics has grown in recent weeks, as IDF soldiers returning from the frontlines have circulated petitions [text] opposing Israeli tactics. Complaints of possible war crimes violations have been voiced by others, including the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International [JURIST reports]. Haaretz has more.

[JURIST] The kidnappers of two Fox News journalists who were abducted in Gaza City [Reuters report] on August 14 have demanded that the US release "Muslims detained in American prisons" within 72 hours in exchange for the safe release of the journalists. The self-named "Holy Jihad Brigades" faxed their demand [text] to news stations, and sent a video of the two journalists to Aljazeera TV showing both Olaf Wiig [personal website] and Steve Centanni [Fox News profile] to be healthy.

The US State Department Wednesday officially rejected the kidnappers' demands [Fox News report] and called for the release of the news crew without conditions. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya [BBC profile], an Hamas [CFR backgrounder] member, has similarly denounced the kidnappings and demanded the immediate return of the prisoners. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL [official website], will be authorized to use force to protect civilians under immediate threat and act in preemptive self defense according to a draft copy of its proposed rules of engagement obtained by wire services. UNIFIL was given an expanded mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 [text], unanimously passed [JURIST report] earlier this month to end the current Middle East conflict [JURIST news archive]. If the rules are approved, UNIFIL will also be authorized to use deadly force to protect Lebanese government troops when peacekeepers are assigned to accompany those troops, but will not be authorized to carry out a large scale disarmament of Hezbollah [CFR backgrounder] forces.

The draft rules of engagement have been circulated to countries which may contribute troops to the peacekeeping force - Resolution 1701 authorizes an expanded force of up to 15,000 troops. Vijay Nambiar, an advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said Tuesday that he expects the rules to be finalized "imminently." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official website] may not tax monies that Washington, DC plaintiffs receive to compensate for emotional distress injuries, according to a ruling [PDF text] released Wednesday by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website]. The plaintiff in the case was fired from her previous job, brought suit against her employer, and recovered $70,000 for emotional distress and injury to her reputation. The IRS taxed the award as income, and the appeals court found the taxation unconstitutional "because compensation for a non-physical personal injury is not income under the Sixteenth Amendment if, as here, it is unrelated to lost wages or earnings."

Awards for personal injuries under 26 USC 104(a)(2) [text] are generally tax exempt. The ruling currently only applies to the District of Columbia, but could have broader implications if the IRS decides to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] on Wednesday accused Israel of deliberately inflicting unnecessary damage [press release] on Lebanese civilian infrastructure during the Middle East conflict [JURIST news archive], acts which Amnesty says rises to the level of war crimes. In its report [text], Amnesty cited as evidence instances of Israeli airstrip's on remote bridges "of no apparent strategic importance," the destruction of entire villages in southern Lebanon, deliberate attacks on supermarkets and water pumps and treatment plants, which Amnesty says violate prohibitions against attacks on infrastructure necessary to human survival, and statements by Israeli officials suggesting that the Israel Defense Forces intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure to turn the Lebanese population against Hezbollah. According to the report:

Direct attacks against civilian objects are prohibited [by the international laws of war], as are indiscriminate attacks. Indiscriminate attacks are those which strike military objectives and civilian objects without distinction. One form of indiscriminate attack is treating clearly separate and distinct military objects located in a city, town, village or concentration of civilians, as a single military objective. If two buildings in a residential area are identified as containing fighters, bombardment of the entire area would be unlawful.

Disproportionate attacks, also prohibited, are those in which the "collateral damage" would be regarded as excessive in relation to the direct military advantage to be gained. Israel maintains that the military advantage in this context "is not of that specific attack but of the military operation as a whole".

This interpretation is too wide. Overboard interpretations of what constitutes a military objective or military advantage are often used to justify attacks aimed at harming the economy of a state or demoralizing the civilian population. Such interpretations undermine civilian immunity. A legitimate military advantage cannot be one that is merely "a potential or indeterminate advantage". If weakening the enemy population resolve to fight were considered a legitimate objective of armed forces, there would be no limit to war.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] has assigned counsel [decision, PDF] for Vojislav Seselj [ICTY case backgrounder], ruling that Seselj may not conduct his own defense in his war crimes trial. According to the ICTY press release [text]:

In coming to its decision, the Trial Chamber described numerous instances where Vojislav Seselj behaved in an obstructionist, disruptive and disrespectful manner, and intimidated and made slanderous comments about witnesses. The Trial Chamber ordered that Vojislav Seselj will participate in the proceedings against him through his defence counsel only. It will consider permitting his personal involvement on a case-by-case basis if it is in the interests of justice.

In its decision, the Trial Chamber carefully reviewed international jurisprudence on the question of an accused's right to defend himself. It cited jurisprudence that this right can be restricted in the interests of justice if the accused fails to cooperate in good faith with the court, or is willfully disruptive and disrespectful. ...

The Trial Chamber expressed its concern that because of his on-going disruptive behaviour and unwillingness to follow the Tribunal's rules, Vojislav Seselj is undermining his intention to present his defence. The Trial Chamber noted that he had been warned on numerous occasions that his behaviour was obstructionist and demonstrated a need for legal assistance.

[JURIST] Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a 36-year-old Pakistan-born Australian immigrant, on Wednesday was sentenced [judgment text] to 20 years in prison with a minimum of 15 years served for his plan to wage a "holy war" by detonating homemade bombs around Sydney. New South Wales Supreme Court [official website] Justice Anthony Whealy said the maximum sentence given to Lodhi should be viewed as a deterrent to those with fanatical beliefs.

Lodhi was convicted [JURIST report] in June of plotting a terrorist attack when an October 2003 search of his home produced a terrorist manual that evidenced a plan to bomb either an electrical supply system or defense installations in Sydney. Lodhi's conviction came under Australia's strict new terrorism laws [summary and text], enacted following the 9/11 attacks. The Melbourne Herald Sun has local coverage.

[JURIST] Xia Shuqin [witness profile], a survivor of the 1937-1938 Nanjing Massacre [BBC report; memorial website], was awarded $200,000 by a Chinese court Wednesday in a lawsuit against two Japanese historians who claimed she fabricated her recollection of the atrocities. Shuqin claims to have suffered psychological trauma and damage to her reputation after the historians published two books claiming her accounts of Japanese troops entering her home and killing seven of her family members were untrue. The verdict requires the historians, Shudo Higashinakano and Toshio Matsumura, to immediately stop publishing their books and recall those books already distributed. Higashinakano rejected the ruling, disputing the jurisdiction of the court and arguing the case must be heard in Japan to have validity. Another survivor, Li Xiuying [obituary], was awarded $12,900 against Matsumura in 2003 in a separate defamation case.

Nations outside of Japan generally agree that the Japanese Army murdered more than 250,000 civilians and raped tens of thousands of women during the massacre. In Japan, the extent of the massacre remains a disputed fact and a source of tension in relations between Japan and China, exacerbated by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits [JURIST report] to a shrine [shrine website] memorializing Japan's war dead. AP has more. Xinhua has local coverage.

[JURIST] A Russian court has affirmed the right of the city of Moscow to reject an application by organizers of a gay pride parade, ruling that there was a legitimate safety concern in banning the parade, though lawyers for the parade organizers said the ban infringes on gay rights. A separate court upheld the ban [JURIST report] in May but organizers held the parade anyway. Two hundred people were arrested during the May 27 parade [Washington Post report], where participants were assaulted by onlookers. The organizers intend to appeal Tuesday's court decision.

The parade marked the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia. In 1997, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia implemented a new Criminal Code [text] that excluded Article 121, which criminalized consensual homosexuality [gay.ru backgrounder]. MosNews has more.

[JURIST] Texas Supreme Court [official website] Justice Nathan Hecht [official profile], who was reprimanded by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct [official website] in May for his support of former US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers [JURIST news archive], defended his actions to an appeals court Tuesday. Hecht was issued an "admonishment" [JURIST report], the least severe sanction allowed, following complaints filed with the commission that he improperly used his office to support Miers' candidacy. Under Texas judicial rules, justices are not permitted to use the prestige of their office to support private interests or to support candidates for office. On the request of Karl Rove [official profile], White House deputy chief of staff, Hecht gave about 120 newspaper, radio and television interviews. Hecht told the appeals board that he believed he needed to defend Miers after her nomination was criticized and said the he didn't believe he violated any ethical rules.

A three-judge panel which includes Justices Kerry FitzGerald [DBA profile] and Amos Mazzant [SBT profile] of the Dallas appeals court and Ann McClure [official profile] of the El Paso appeals court, heard testimony from Hecht, as well as US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website], chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website], who defended Hecht's support of Miers. The panel has 60 days to decide whether to uphold the admonishment. The Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram has local coverage.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] has said that he will divert additional resources [prepared remarks] to New Orleans to address the city's high crime rates following the Hurricane Katrina disaster [JURIST news archive]. The additional resources include ten temporary prosecutors to handle gun, drug and immigration cases, nine permanent lawyers to assist in fraud and violent crime cases, and four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) [official website] and the US Marshalls Service [official website] to locate violent criminals. New Orleans will also begin a Violent Crime Initiative [program overview], allowing the FBI and state and local police to compile information and develop a list of violent offenders and the ATF will establish a 24-hour hotline where citizens can report the possession of illegal firearms.

Violent crime in New Orleans has increased dramatically over the last few months. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco [official profile] deployed National Guard Troops [CBS/AP report] this summer following the shooting deaths of five teenagers. Earlier this month, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced an overhaul of the city's criminal justice system [JURIST report], saying that prosecutors from a neighboring parish in Louisiana have volunteered to help the New Orleans district attorney's office. The Louisiana State Bar Association [group website] is also providing pro bono representation [court order, PDF] for indigent defendants and will pay for a system to track and organize cases. The New Orleans Times Picayune has local coverage.

[JURIST] Testimony from Kurdish survivors of the 1987-1988 Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder] in Iraq continued Wednesday during the trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], where Hussein and six co-defendants face genocide and crimes against humanity charges [JURIST report]. Following testimony the day before describing chemical attacks [JURIST report], Adiba Oula Bayez, a Kurdish woman, described the August 16, 1987 attack on the village of Balisan [NPR report], where warplanes dropped bombs that spread smoke smelling of "rotten apples" which caused vomiting, burns and blindness. Helicopters bombed caves where villagers sought refuge from the bombings. Bayez, a mother of five, awoke in a military prison camp to find her children with "eyes swollen, their skin blackened."

Hussein and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile] face genocide charges for the Anfal campaign. Genocide is difficult to prove as prosecutors must show intent to exterminate an ethnic group. AP has more.

12:23 PM ET - Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri [JURIST report] on Wednesday adjourned proceedings until September 11, allowing time for the defense to file an appeal challenging the Iraqi High Tribunal's legitimacy. When the genocide trial opened on Monday, in addition to refusing to enter a plea [JURIST report], Hussein questioned the legitimacy of the tribunal, calling it "the law of the occupation." AP has more.

[JURIST] A plan by the US Forest Service [official website] to allow commercial logging inside Central California's Giant Sequoia National Monument [USFS materials] violates environmental laws [press release], US District Judge Charles R. Breyer held Tuesday. Breyer had previously issued an injunction [PDF text] to stop the logging in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and the John Muir Project [advocacy websites], as well as a separate challenge brought by the California Attorney General [official website].

Under the plan, private companies would pay the Forest Service for the right to clear small brush and trees beneath the sequoias, as well as mid-sized trees up to 30 inches in diameter. The Forest Service maintains the clearing is necessary for fire control and prevention, but the environmental groups argued that the plans were designed to satisfy the timber industry. In his opinion [PDF text] in the Attorney General's lawsuit, Breyer held the plan lacked "coherent or clear guidance" and was "decidedly incomprehensible." In a separate opinion [PDF text] in the case brought by environmental groups, Breyer issued a permanent injunction barring the Forest Service from continuing with its plans until the Forest Service conducts an adequate and sufficient supplemental ... review" under the National Environmental Policy Act [EPA materials]. AP has more.