[JURIST] The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [official website], the region's official human rights watchdog organization, said Monday that US practices of allegedly subjecting terror suspects to torture do nothing to make the country safer in its prosecution of the war on terror. Marking the five-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks [JURIST news archive], Rene van der Linden said [statement]:

Five years ago today, the world stopped. A handful of deranged men, doing what they thought was the will of God, murdered over three thousand people in a monstrous event designed for the television age. We will never forget. Above all else, we acknowledge and mourn the loss of the families touched by that day.

But we must move on. Their loss is the spur to our work: we must do everything in our power to prevent such grief recurring. That means resolutely tracking and bringing to justice the perpetrators of such acts, and vigilance and determination in preventing further attacks.

But this difficult work must be done within the tried and tested framework of international and human rights law – or it will not make us safer. I have no doubt that interrogating suspects using 'alternative procedures' in secret locations beyond the law – official US government policy as of this week – will not make Americans safer in the long run. It is in America's interest to end this practice now.

The total prohibition of torture must be reaffirmed and the policy of extra-ordinary renditions and secret detentions terminated. National security services should be based on clear and appropriate legislation providing for adequate safe-guards against abuse. Governments should secure parliamentary oversight of these agencies and, where human rights are affected, an effective judicial control.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the US Department of Justice told a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] Monday that the court lacked the power to prevent the case of an American held in Iraq from being transferred to the Iraqi courts. The American, Shawqi Omar [JURIST report], has dual US and Jordanian citizenship has been held by the US military in Iraq since US forces detained him for harboring insurgents in 2004. Omar is said to be a relative of late Iraqi al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in June in a US airstrike, and has already been indicted with Zarqawi in Jordan. Omar's family had challenged the US government's attempt to transfer him to Iraqi custody, saying that he will likely be tortured if turned over to the Iraqi courts. US District Judge Ricardo Urbina issued a preliminary injunction [PDF text; opinion, PDF] in February to block Omar's turnover. Government attorneys have also insisted that US courts lack the jurisdiction to rule on Omar's case because Omar is in the custody of the Multi-National Force [official website].

According to US officials, Iraqi courts are considering pressing charges against Omar, which would make him the first US citizen to be tried under the fledgling post-Saddam Iraqi legal system. AP has more.

[JURIST] Fifteen allies of French President Jacques Chirac [official profile; BBC profile] went on trial Monday for allegedly rigging a Paris election during Chirac's tenure as the mayor of Paris. Prosecutors allege that the 15 politicians and officials planted 327 fake voters in the electoral register for a 1989 municipal election where Chirac's conservative party won the majority of all 20 Paris districts. Though a Court of Appeals ruling [text, in French] granted Chirac immunity from prosecution while serving as president, he is expected to leave office next year and he may then be investigated in several corruption cases.

In July, a French court convicted 38 people of corruption [JURIST report] for rigging public works contracts to finance political parties while Chirac served as mayor in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Prosecutors alleged that companies kicked back money spent by the regional Ile-de-France Council for secondary school construction to political parties including Chirac's Rally for the Republic, the Republican Party and the Socialists. Chirac denied any knowledge of the kickbacks. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) [official website] urged the Nepali Maoist party [political party website] Monday to keep its promises to stop its human rights violations. OHCHR-Nepal alleges that Maoist troops are still conducting kidnappings, torture, and murder of political as well as civilian targets. OHCHR-Nepal said it has undertaken probes into five alleged murders of abducted individuals by Maoist cadres throughout Nepal [JURIST news archive].

The Maoist party has repeatedly said it is willing to give up violence so long as the monarchy is completely removed from Nepal's constitution. Human rights groups have criticized the condition as unacceptable and abusive of the Nepalese people. eKantipur Online has local coverage.

[JURIST] A large percentage of US Central Intelligence Agency [official website] counterterrorism officers have bought government-reimbursed private insurance plans [Wright backgrounder] that cover potential civil judgments and legal expenses associated with charges of criminal wrongdoing, according to Monday's Washington Post. Some current and former intelligence officers revealed the growing trend to the Post, highlighting fears that officers are vulnerable to accusations that they participated in alleged abuse or torture of terror detainees and that the US Department of Justice [official website] will not defend them. Though the Bush administration has insisted that harsh interrogation methods employed at military prisons and secret CIA prisons were legal [JURIST report], some CIA intelligence officers have apparently expressed concern that the methods may violate international law or US criminal statutes. Others fear that an internal CIA probe of wrongdoing related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive] will spark a wave of accusations if details eventually become public. Accusations will likely also emerge when, and if, military tribunals [JURIST news archive] commence for terror detainees held in the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive].

The insurance policies, provided by Arlington-based Wright and Co. [corporate website], a subsidiary of the private Special Agents Mutual Benefit Association [corporate website], will pay up to $200,000 towards legal expenses and up to $1 million to satisfy civil judgments. Though the government has reimbursed insurance policies for top CIA staff for years, Congress authorized reimbursement to all counterterrorism officers in 2001. The CIA general counsel advises CIA officers to consider the insurance program in light of the fact that the Justice Department will only defend officers if their conduct occurred in the course of their job duties and if the Justice Department finds the case in the government's interest. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] and six co-defendants on genocide and crimes against humanity charges related to the so-called "Anfal" operation [HRW backgrounder], which led to the killings of as many as 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s, resumed in Baghdad Monday with the testimony of a former Kurdish guerrilla who described the aftermath of the chemical weapons bombing campaign. Hussein and his co-defendants are all charged with crimes against humanity [JURIST report] and Hussein and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile], known as "Chemical Ali," also face more serious charges of genocide. In August, Kurdish witnesses testified about the alleged Anfal gas attack [JURIST report], when they described two planes flying over two Kurdish villages dropping chemical weapons on the villagers and said that many people were blinded in the attacks, though defense lawyers say the witnesses were coached. During Monday's session, Hussein insisted that Kurds had recognized rights under his regime, and that he had only retaliated against insurgents. Hussein also said that Iraqis "should not suffer from the guilt that they killed Kurds."

Hussein also is currently awaiting a verdict in the Dujail crimes against humanity case [JURIST report], which is expected on October 16. He is eligible for the death penalty [JURIST report] in the Dujail case, and a US official, speaking anonymously, indicated that the Anfal trial could continue posthumously [JURIST report] should Hussein be executed before proceedings in the second trial conclude. BBC News has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] has proposed three major changes [EPA materials; proposed rule] to the rules regulating when companies' oil process facilities must integrate new pollution control equipment. Environmental advocates say the rule changes, put forward Friday, allow companies to ignore the total pollution produced by a facility, instead focusing on emissions produced by individual pieces of machinery, while industry advocates say the changes will allow oil companies to respond to calls for increased supply.

According to the EPA fact sheet [text]:

We propose to change how emissions from emissions units upstream or downstream from the unit(s) undergoing a physical change or change in the method of operation are included in the calculation of an emissions increase for the project. Also, these proposed changes would clarify and codify our policy of when emissions increases from multiple projects are to be aggregated together to determine NSR applicability. Finally, we are clarifying how emissions decreases from a project may be included in the calculation to determine if a significant emissions increase will result from a project.

[JURIST] Chinese prosecutors have charged a police officer with negligent conduct in connection with the death of a suspect that occurred after a 21-hour interrogation, according to state media reports published Monday. The suspect, Tan Gangshan, was arrested on unknown charges after police saw him "looking suspicious" while riding a motorcycle. The autopsy report concluded in part that "body wounds, fatigue, starvation, high temperature and mental stress" contributed to Tan's death. Local police have paid compensation to Tan's family for the death.

In May 2005, China announced increased efforts [JURIST report] to crack down on Chinese police officials' use of improper interrogation methods on criminal suspects, ordering prosecutors to question suspects to ensure they were not mistreated while under interrogation. Public outrage over Chinese police brutality was sparked by the case of She Xianglin [CECC backgrounder], a man falsely jailed for 11 years for his wife's murder who claimed he was tortured until he confessed to the killing. She was released [China Daily report] after his wife turned up alive. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive], recently transferred from US to Iraqi control [JURIST report], are allegedly being tortured by prison officials, according to an independent observer who told the UK's Telegraph that screaming was heard coming from the inmate cell blocks, that health conditions there are unacceptable, and that inmates are given inadequate food and no time to exercise. Prison staff have also said that dozens of terror suspects have been transferred in the last week to Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry facility at Jadriyah, where US troops discovered 173 malnourished Iraqi detainees [JURIST report] in November, some showing signs of torture. Last week, 27 prisoners were executed [Telegraph report] at Abu Ghraib, the first mass execution in Iraq since the downfall of Saddam Hussein.

The US faced pressure to close Abu Ghraib since scandalous photos [JURIST report] of US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners there surfaced in April 2004. A Human Rights Watch report released in July claimed that US commanders authorized [JURIST report] widespread torture of Iraqi detainees during and even after the Abu Ghraib scandal. The Telegraph has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi National Assembly [official website] on Sunday postponed debate on proposed federalism legislation that would allow Iraq's 18 provinces to form strong governments with their own security forces. Debate on the bill, supported by Kurdish and Shiite politicians and opposed by most Sunnis, is now postponed until September 19, a month before the recently agreed-upon October 22 deadline for the Iraq parliament to define the rights and responsibilities of the provinces vis-a-vis the federal government. Some lawmakers are of the opinion that the constitution [JURIST news archive] should be amended before parliament discusses the possibility of relatively autonomous Iraqi provinces.

Debate on the bill was delayed last week [JURIST report] due to Sunni opposition to the bill. Sunnis oppose the plan because it would leave them without access to Iraq's oil as most Sunnis live in the central and western provinces of the country where oil resources are limited. Shiite lawmakers proposed the draft plan [JURIST report] in August. Reuters has more. VOI has local coverage.

[JURIST] US violent and property crime rates in 2005 reached the lowest levels since 1973, the first year such statistics were kept, according to estimations released Sunday by the US Justice Department [official website]. The report, Criminal Victimization, 2005 [text; press release] by the Bureau of Justice Statistics [official website] also shows that while slightly more robberies and gun violence incidents [AP report] occurred in the US in 2005 than in 2004, the overall violent crime rate stayed the same as the year before. Overall, the violent crime rate has fallen 52 percent between 1993 and 2005, and the overall property crime rate fell 58 percent during the same time period.

The Justice Department statistics reinforce a Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] preliminary report [text], released in June, that indicated a rise in violent crime [JURIST report] for the first time since 2001. AP has more.