[JURIST] The Maryland Court of Appeals [official website] unanimously upheld a preliminary injunction [opinion, PDF] this week barring the state from discontinuing Medicaid [official website; JURIST news archive] benefits to approximately 3,000 legal immigrant recipients, all of whom migrated to Maryland within the past five years. The ruling means that Medicaid benefits to those beneficiaries will be maintained while judges weigh the substantive question of whether termination of benefits violates the equal protection clause of the Maryland constitution [official website].

Benefits to immigrants have been controversial in Maryland since at least 2005, when Gov. Robert Ehrlich [official website] first sought to cut Medicaid coverage from low-income immigrant expectant women and children in an effort to reduce the state budget by $7 million. Immigrant advocates argue the cuts were cruel and discriminatory, and note that the cutbacks are part of a larger US trend to cut back or tightly control social benefits for immigrants [PDF], including those in the country legally. AP has more.

[JURIST] The United Nations General Assembly [official website] appointed South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon [official profile] as the next UN secretary-general [official website] on Friday. Ban, a career diplomat, is set to succeed Kofi Annan [official profile] when the two-term secretary-general steps down on December 31, 2006. Ban was nominated [JURIST report] by the UN Security Council [official website] on Monday and the 192-member General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution [recorded video] confirming Ban's appointment by loud acclamation.

The secretary-general selection process [BBC backgrounder] includes an informal continental rotation scheme that generated seven Asian candidates [official list] for the post. The UN Charter [text] requires the General Assembly to elect the secretary-general by majority vote or acclamation after receiving a recommendation from the Security Council. The UN News Service has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao [Khyber backgrounder] said Friday that the US plans to release two Pakistani detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST archive] and that Pakistan expects the men to arrive in their home country by October 15. Sherpao also said that six other detainees being held by the US at Bagram Airbase [GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] in Afghanistan will also be released later this week. The total number of Pakistani detainees being held by the US is now 19 - five in Guantanamo Bay and 14 at Bagram. AFP has more.

The US has slowly been releasing detainees from Guantanamo and transferred 17 detainees [press release] to Afghanistan and Morocco earlier this week. Several of the detainees sent to Afghanistan alleged that they had been subject to mental torture [JURIST report] while held at Guantanamo.

[JURIST] The ruling party of Rwanda [JURIST news archive] announced Friday that it had directed its lawmakers to support a forthcoming bill to abolish the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. Leaders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) [Wikipedia backgrounder] voted to take the action last weekend at a meeting chaired by Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website; BBC profile], a spokesman said. The RPF, which has ruled Rwanda since 1994, holds 80 percent of the seats in parliament. A bill on abolishing capital punishment is expected to be presented in parliament [JURIST report] in December.

Because many countries refuse to extradite suspects who could face the death penalty, a ban on capital punishment in Rwanda would encourage the return of suspects for trial on charges related to the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder] that claimed about 800,000 lives. The UN mandate of the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive], which has issued judgments or begun trials in 56 cases [ICTR press release], expires in 2008. South Africa's IOL has more. BBC News has additional coverage. From Kigali, the New Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] unanimously ruled Friday that a British Columbia judge overstepped his sentencing power when he ordered a convicted criminal on probation for sexual assault to submit to mandatory submissions of bodily fluids for examination. The court held that such orders were contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. In its judgment [text], the court described the collection of bodily fluids as "highly intrusive" and said it was therefore subject to rigorous scrutiny. "Parliament... has not provided for a scheme for the collection of bodily samples... Such a scheme cannot be judicially enacted on the ground that the court may find it desirable in an individual case."

The Canadian Parliament [official website] is now, in theory, left to decide if changes are to be made in sentencing guidelines to specifically authorize the practice. CTV has more.

[JURIST] A proposed $78 billion merger between telecom giants BellSouth [corporate website] and AT&T [corporate website] stalled unexpectedly Friday in the Federal Communications Commission [official website] after two FCC commissioners, both Democrats, asked Chairman Kevin Martin for more time to study it. The deal had already been approved [text] without reservation by the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division [official website] following an eight-month investigation that concluded that AT&T's proposed acquisition of BellSouth was not likely to "substantially reduce competition" in the US telecom market. Focusing on residential local and long distance services as well as telecom services to business customers, the Division concluded that the presence of other competitors, changing regulatory requirements and the emergence of new technologies in the market ensured that the "transaction is not likely to harm consumer welfare."

The companies began talks in 2001 [CNET report] and AT&T made a formal announcement of its intention to buy BellSouth on March 5, 2006. AT&T says the merger will create more effective and efficient services in the wireless, broadband, video, voice and data markets [AT&T press release]. Critics of the merger allege that the purchase will push the market back to the monopolistic Bell Telephone System - old "Ma Bell" [Wikipedia backgrounder] that was broken up in 1984 - and will create higher prices for consumers. In their letter [PDF] Friday, the Democratic FCC commissioners said that serious questions remained about whether the merger would serve the public interest, especially against the backdrop of other forms of consolidation and concentration in the telecommunications industry. In the immediate wake of the DOJ approval, Democratic commissioner Michael Copps [official profile] publicly assailed the Department, claiming it had "packed its bags and walked out on consumers and small businesses by refusing to impose even a single condition in the largest telecom merger the nation has ever seen." AP has more.

[JURIST] Mohamed Shorbagi, the Palestinian imam of a mosque in Rome, Georgia, has pleaded guilty to a charge of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) [US State Dept. materials], according to a criminal information and plea agreement [PDF text; press release] unsealed Friday by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia [official website]. Shorbagi faces a possible maximum of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for November 3.

US District Judge Harold Murphy allowed the Department of Justice to keep the proceedings sealed due to the sensitive nature of Shorbagi's association with the local community. Shorbagi provided financial support to Hamas through the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) [archived website; official site closed by DOJ] after Hamas [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder] was designated as an FTO in 1997 until Dec. 4, 2001, when HLF's assets were frozen. AP has more.

[JURIST] Freelance Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic, charged [indictment, PDF; JURIST report] with publishing the names of two protected witnesses online, pleaded not guilty to contempt of court Friday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Margetic is accused of publishing the names of witnesses who testified in the trial of Tihomir Blaskic [ICTY case backgrounder], a former Croatian militia commander in Bosnia who was convicted [judgment text] in 2000 of crimes against humanity, war crimes and other charges. Margetic allegedly obtained the names from prosecutors as a defendant in a previous contempt case [indictment] that was withdrawn [decision, PDF] in June. During his court appearance [ICTY press release], Margetic told Judge Alphons Orie that he was in poor health after a month-long hunger strike [SE Times report] to protest his detention.

A trial date has not been set. If convicted, Margetic could be imprisoned for up to seven years and fined up to 100,000 euros (US $125,400). In August, another Croatian journalist, Josip Jovic [JURIST news archive], was found guilty of contempt [judgment summary; JURIST report] and fined 20,000 euros (US $25,080) for publishing transcripts of a closed court session during Blaskic's trial. AP has more.

[JURIST] President Bush on Friday signed a bill designed to strengthen US port security [JURIST news archive] by authorizing $3.4 billion to install radiation detectors, increase random searches of cargo and experiment with checking cargo before it reaches the United States. Speaking at the White House signing ceremony [official transcript], Bush said the Safe Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 [HR 4954 summary; PDF text], which reconciled the Senate and House versions of the legislation [JURIST report], will make the US "more prepared, more prosperous and more secure."

Port security has been a critical issue in Congress [JURIST report] since an Arab state-owned company, Dubai Ports World [corporate website], purchased control of several major US port operations. After much controversy [JURIST news archive], the company decided to transfer control of the ports to a US entity [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense Inspector General [official website] on Friday announced that the armed force's Southern Command [official website] has been ordered to investigate [press release] allegations that detainee abuse is occurring at the military facility at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Last week, USMC Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who represents Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive], filed a complaint [JURIST report] based on comments a Marine paralegal allegedly overheard while visiting the prison. According to the paralegal, military guards suggested that abuse - including the arbitrary denial of privileges, physically striking detainees, and depriving the detainees of hydration - was "common practice" and laughed at stories of how prisoners had been handled.

On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett [official profile] called the lack of trials at Guantanamo "unacceptable" [JURIST report] in a human rights report. International rights groups have long urged the US to close the detention center, and their calls have lately been taken up by high-ranking officials in governments allied with the US in the "war on terror," including UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) [official website] on Friday pleaded guilty [plea agreement, PDF] to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in connection with his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive]. Ney accepted money and gifts [JURIST report] in exchange for taking actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients, sixteen of which were admitted by his former chief of staff Neil Volz [Wikipedia profile], who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in May. Although several people have been convicted in the scandal, including Abramoff, ex-White House head of procurement David Safavian, and former Tom DeLay aide Tony Rudy [JURIST reports], Ney's plea marks the first time a congressman has pleaded guilty or been found guilty in the scandal. Several other members of Congress, however, are currently under investigation [JURIST report].

Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle [official profile], sitting on the US District Court for District of Columbia, said prosecutors, who could recommend a sentence for up to ten years, have called for 27 months' imprisonment. Ney also faces $5,000 to $60,000 in fines when he is sentenced on January 19. Ney has asserted that he will resign before sentencing, but his term expires on January 3 since he did not seek re-election. AP has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Abramoff and Congressional Reform | Video: The Abramoff scandal [Harvard IOP]

[JURIST] US President Bush on Friday signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 [HR 4411 summary; JURIST report], a bill attached to a larger port security measure [Reuters report] late last month by Congress, making it illegal for banks or credit card companies to process transactions involving Internet gambling. Internet gambling is an estimated $12 billion dollar a year business worldwide. Approximately half of that comes from US bettors, despite lingering questions about its legality [Duke Law backgrounder] and efforts by Congress to stamp it out. The law gives the government 270 days to draft regulations for enforcement. Reuters has more.

Upset gamblers [Chicago Tribune report] argue that the law will only push gambling underground, making it easier for disreputable websites to scam players. Others say the law is poorly written and difficult to enforce [Kansas City Star column], and argue that poker websites should be exempt as a game of skill, not chance.

Reaction from gambling site operators has been sharply divided. PokerStars, the second-largest poker website in the world, said in a statement that the ban "[does] not alter the U.S. legal situation with respect to online poker" [Reuters report], and also argued that poker is outside the scope of the law as a game of chance. However, other companies have promised to close up shop in US once the ban goes into effect [BBC report; Reuters report]. Regardless of their positions, companies have been forced to re-evaluate profit expectations and reconsider market strategies. Barclay's and Royal Bank of Scotland said they would take action to comply with the new law [Gambling 911 report]; NetTeller is taking a wait-and-see approach before announcing a position.

Opposition from the World Trade Organization may complicate matters. The small island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which receives income and jobs from hosting gambling sites, have complained since 2003 that such restrictions on Internet gambling are illegal trade restrictions. In April 2005, a WTO board ruled [WTO case materials] that some restrictions did violate agreements [CNET report], but the complex ruling did not clearly rule in favor of one side or the other. Antigua is set to continue pursuing the matter along with some now-displaced British gambling sites [Guardian report], arguing that the ban is veiled protectionism disguised with moral outrage [Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial].

Read more JURIST coverage of Entertainment & Sports Law...

[JURIST] US Army Sergeant Ricky Clousing [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], a paratrooper and interpreter who disputed the legality of the war in Iraq [JURIST news archive], has pleaded guilty to going absent without leave for 14 months. A court-martial [JURIST report] in Fort Bragg, NC, on Thursday sentenced Clousing to 11 months' confinement, with all but three months suspended, under a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid a finding of desertion. Clousing abandoned his post at Fort Bragg after reporting abuses committed by fellow soldiers during his five-month stint in Iraq, including the killing of an unarmed Iraqi teenager and the sideswiping of Iraqi civilian vehicles with a military transport. The military disciplined the soldiers implicated in the sideswiping but found that those involved in the shooting acted properly because they could have considered the teenager a threat.

Clousing, a born-again Christian, consulted his superiors, a staff psychologist, a base chaplain, an anti-war hotline, and friends before deciding to go AWOL, but he refused to request conscientious objector status [Selective Service backgrounder] or to claim he was insane or homosexual, as the psychologist allegedly suggested, to receive a discharge. After 14 months AWOL, Clousing turned himself in [JURIST report] at Fort Lewis, WA. In addition to the confinement [AP report], the military will demote Clousing, withhold two-thirds of his compensation and discharge him after the confinement period. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] A bill allowing a referendum on whether to oust Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian [official website, BBC profile] was defeated in the Taiwanese legislature Friday. Sponsored by the People First Party (PFP) [party website; Global Security profile], the bill accused the president of corruption. Chen is currently under investigation for his use of a confidential state affairs budget, and his son-in-law and former top advisor also face charges of corruption. Leaders of his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) [party website] boycotted the vote, contending that the bill was politically motivated. It was the second failed attempt to hold a referendum in Taiwan [JURIST news archive] since June.

Chen was elected to his first term as President in 2000 in what was viewed as the first democratic transition of power in the Chinese world. Both the PFP and the Chinese Nationalist Party have vowed to force the president to step down [Taiwan Headlines report] through a third bill or a vote of no confidence, playing on the street protests in which thousands of people have called for removal of the president since September 9. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A UK coroner's inquest ruled Friday that US troops were responsible for the "unlawful" killing of British reporter Terry Lloyd [BBC profile] in Iraq in March 2003. Oxford Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker concluded that Lloyd, an award-winning reporter for ITN [media website], was killed by a shot to the head as a minivan carried him to a hospital for treatment of a prior gunshot wound, citing "overwhelming" evidence of the soldiers' culpability. He has called for the Attorney General's office to consider bringing charges. Lloyd's daughter praised the outcome of the routine 10-day inquest but complained that US soldiers were prohibited from testifying [Sky report] and that video footage of the attack was missing fifteen minutes of coverage.

After Spanish reporter Jose Couso [advocacy website] was killed in Iraq in 2003, a Spanish court issued arrest warrants for three US soldiers [JURIST report] charged with the killing. Last September, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld promised to address the problem [JURIST report] of increased detentions and killings of journalists in Iraq. Reporters Without Borders [advocacy website] claims that 109 media personnel have been killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003. AP has more. ITV has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A court in Japan [JURIST news archive] has dismissed an appeal by 81 plaintiffs who argued that the visits of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [official profile] to a war shrine honoring Japanese dead as well as war criminals from World War II violated the constitutional separation of state and religion. The Fukuoka High Court in Okinawa found it unnecessary to consider the constitutional question, concluding that visits to the Yasukuni war shrine [shrine website] did not harm the plaintiffs or their freedom of religious belief. The appeal came after the Tokyo High Court dismissed the suit on similar grounds [JURIST report] in June.

Koizumi has defended his visits to the shrine [JURIST report] despite protests from South Korea and China, claiming that these governments were trying to turn a spiritual issue into a diplomatic issue. Koizumi's successor, Shinzo Abe [official profile, BBC profile], has supported Koizumi's visits, although it is unclear whether he will continue them. AP has more.

[JURIST] Members of Britain's House of Lords [official website] Thursday voiced their support for an amendment [JURIST report] to the Armed Forces Bill [legislative materials] that would pardon 306 World War I soldiers who were executed [backgrounder] for various offenses including cowardice, sleeping while on duty, striking a superior officer, disobedience and desertion. The bill, with the pardons amendment, passed through committee Thursday and if the bill receives final approval, a formal pardon would be placed in the court martial files of the men. Relatives of the executed soldiers have been seeking pardons since 1990 when Britain's Public Record Office [official website] declassified the records.

The families have argued that the soldiers had suffered from shell-shock [BBC backgrounder], a diagnosis not recognized at the time, and should not have been sent back into the trenches. Critics of the amendment have argued, however, that the pardons would effectively rewrite history [BBC backgrounder]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Santiago Court of Appeals [Chilean judiciary website] voted 16-2 Thursday to strip the immunity of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], in a case involving the kidnapping and murder of a chemist who worked for the secret police. Eugenio Berrios was kidnapped and taken to Uruguay to prevent him from being questioned in the assassination of Pinochet's rival, Orlando Letelier [Wikipedia profile]. Berrios was later murdered when he attempted to return to Chile [JURIST news archive]. Pinochet has the option of appealing the immunity ruling to Chile's Supreme Court.

This case marks the seventh time Pinochet's presidential immunity has been lifted [JURIST report]. Four other cases were dropped when a court ruled the 90-year-old's dementia rendered him unfit to stand trial. Besides the human rights charges against him, Pinochet is also facing allegations of tax evasion [JURIST report]. AP has more. From Santiago, La Nacion has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US State Department has rejected Britain's latest call for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detention center, saying the prison would remain open as long as necessary and was needed to house "some very dangerous people." UK Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett [official profile] on Thursday called for Guantanamo's closure [JURIST report] because of its record on human rights and ineffectiveness in the fight against terror. Responding to Beckett's statement, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that the US doesn't want Guantanamo to remain open indefinitely [press briefing transcript] and noted that "We do now have a process, or in the near future will have a process, guided by U.S. law to deal with the people who are in Guantanamo Bay and we will deal with those people according to the law and according to our international treaty obligations and as were outlined by the Supreme Court. So we all look forward to the day when Guantanamo Bay is closed down." BBC News has more.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] said Friday that it had visited 454 Guantanamo detainees, including 14 new detainees who had recently been transferred to Cuba from secret CIA-operated prisons. Included in the new group of inmates are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile], suspected mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and two other al Qaeda leaders, Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah. US officials maintain that these 14 inmates were the last to be held in secret prisons. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] labeled anti-war activities as "potential terrorist activity" and monitored students, Quakers and other anti-war groups while collecting information for a domestic terror threats database, according to documents [case materials; press release] released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website]. The documents, obtained from the DOD under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit [JURIST report], indicate that the DOD's Threat and Local Observation Notice system, or TALON database [Wired report; JURIST news archive], relied on information provided from sources in the Department of Homeland Security, FBI terrorism task forces and local police departments to monitor anti-war activities.

The ACLU lawsuit came after an NBC News report in December revealed that the military maintained the database of "suspicious incidents," including peaceful anti-war protests and groups. Vietnam war era regulations [PDF text] limit what information the military can collect about people and activities taking place inside the US, and the Pentagon launched an investigation [DOD press release; JURIST report] into possible misuse of the program. According to DOD officials, the investigation revealed that 261 entries were improper and subject to removal [JURIST report]. Military official have also acknowledged that some records were kept longer than the DOD's internal 90-day policy even though the groups had been deemed not to be a threat. The New York Times has more.