[JURIST] Last-minute voter turnout pushed the proposed new Serbian constitution [DOC; text] over the required 50% margin for adoption late Sunday. The two-day referendum on the draft charter, which includes a controversial preamble asserting Serbia's ongoing claim to Kosovo, got off to a slow start [JURIST report] on Saturday, with only 17.81% of eligible voters casting ballots. Preliminary Sunday polls indicated that approval by 50% of registered voters was reached with just one hour left in the voting. The Serbian government [website, in Serbian] preliminarily reported a 53.5% turnout of registered voters, of which 51.46% voted "yes" [press release]. Official tallies are expected to be released late Sunday night. BBC News has more.

The final draft of the constitution was approved by Serbian parliament [JURIST report] earlier this month and will make Serbia an independent state for the first time since 1918. Serbian leaders have called it the "last line of defense of Kosovo," but EU and US diplomats have warned [JURIST report] that references to the province in the draft charter will not impact ongoing United Nations discussions over the region's future status.

[JURIST] Israeli President Moshe Katsav [official website] Sunday evening rejected a recommendation issued earlier in the day by Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz [official profile] that he voluntarily suspend his presidential duties pending the conclusion of a criminal investigation into alleged sexual harassment. In a legal opinion, Mazuz had informed [YNet report] the country's Supreme Court [official website] that the president must "consider suspending himself from duty by asking parliament to declare him temporarily incapacitated." The recommendation came after the court last week urged Mazuz to quickly decide whether the president will be formally indicted [JURIST report] on rape, sexual harassment, wire-tapping, and other charges [JURIST report]. Rejecting the allegations against him, Katsav said in an official statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post, "It is the duty of the authorities in the country to do everything to dig up the truth and not to allow the media lynch to ruin their investigation."

Police initially recommended the indictment following a three-month investigation covering at least 10 complaints against Katsav by former employees. The Israeli presidency, which Katsav has occupied since 2000, is largely ceremonial with real power vested in the prime minister [official website]. Reuters has more. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] China's legislature Saturday finished the unprecedented sixth reading of a landmark private property bill [Xinhua backgrounder] intended to protect state, collective and private property [CRI report]. If the National People's Congress [official website] passes the legislation next March as anticipated, it will be the first bill in China's history to specifically protect private ownership.

The controversial bill has already sparked public debate [AFP report] on whether the law represents a serious departure from Communist values or a realistic modern view of the nation's economic position. The legislation has been in revision since its introduction in 2002 and has had more reviews than any other in the NPC's history. Xinhua has more. In March 2004 the NPC officially enshrined private property protection in the Chinese constitution [JURIST report] by approving an amendment declaring "legal private property is not to be encroached upon."

[JURIST] A UK proposal to criminalize flag burning has drawn the ire of human rights groups, according to the BBC Sunday. The idea, submitted by Scotland Yard to Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [official profile], is aimed at curbing unruly protestors and suppressing opportunities for incitement to violence by banning flag burning in general as well as requiring protestors to keep their faces visible and affording greater power of arrest to police. Liberty UK [group website] director Shami Chakrabarti argues alongside other rights organizations and Liberal Democrat politicians that the police already have sufficient measures in place to deal with protestors and that additional legislation is unnecessary. BBC News has more.

The as-yet-unreleased plan was developed by UK Metropolitan Police [official website] Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur [official profile], the highest-ranking Muslim in Britain's police force. In an interview [recorded audio] with BBC Radio Five Live, Ghaffur highlighted the need for the ban to strengthen Britain's image as tough on extremists. He emphasized his belief that the ban would not exacerbate tensions with the Muslim community, as there would be an exemption for Muslims women's face coverings. BBC News has more; a recorded video report is also available. In June a proposed amendment to the US constitution prohibiting flag desecration [JURIST report] fell one vote short of the two-thirds Senate approval necessary to send it on to the states for ratification.

[JURIST] More than 300 prisoners now held by the US at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] could remain there under US military detention for the rest of their lives, DOD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Detainee Affairs Charles "Cully" Stimson [profile] told Reuters during a routine visit to the base last week. Of the 435 prisoners currently held at the US military base in Cuba, some have been given permission by the Pentagon to return home [JURIST report], but the US claims the release process has been slowed by the refusal of other nations to accept Guantanamo prisoners [Washington Post report; JURIST report]. Reuters has more. Only ten detainees have so far been charged with offenses, although a top State Department official said earlier this month that up to 80 could be charged and tried [JURIST report] under the new US military commissions process.

At the same time, some countries appear to have dealt with former US detainees differently than US authorities might prefer. Last week, US officials learned of the release of 29 former Guantanamo Bay prisoners by the Saudi government to allow the suspects to take part in Ramadan. They were released temporarily, with instructions to return to jail by the end of October, but US officials worry the men will join up with extremist groups, rather than return voluntarily to detainment. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] Jaafar al-Mussawi, chief prosecutor in the trial [BBC timeline] of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] for crimes against humanity, said Sunday that the trial verdict could once again be delayed. The Iraqi High Tribunal [JURIST news archive] had postponed the original October 16 verdict [JURIST report] until at least November 5, but could now delay the announcement of the verdict for an additional two weeks. The chief prosecutor told AFP that the court needed additional time to review evidence and complete its findings. AFP has more.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Hussein [JURIST report] in June for allegedly killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents, including 148 Shiites [JURIST report]. Khalil al-Dulaimi, chief defense lawyer for Hussein, meanwhile warned against the execution of Hussein [AP report] Sunday, citing the potential reaction of escalating violence and civil war in Iraq. His comments echoed others [JURIST report] made earlier in the month by fellow Saddam defense team member Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General, who predicted that the execution of the former Iraqi dictator would lead to "catastrophic violence" and "total, unmitigated chaos." Also Sunday, Dulaimi announced the ending of a month-long boycott [JURIST news archive] of Hussein's genocide trial, which resumes on Monday. Hussein is facing genocide charges [JURIST news archive; BBC timeline] for allegedly killing 100,000 Kurds during the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] in the late 1980s.

[JURIST] Halliburton [JURIST news archive] subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (KBR) has been violating a US Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) [official website] direction on classifying proprietary data by claiming protection for information normally in the public sphere, according to a report [text, PDF] issued Friday by Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen Jr. [official website]. Bowen wrote:

The routine use of proprietary markings when the data marked is not internal contractor information . . . is an abuse of FAR procedures . . . The result is that information normally releasable to the public must be protected from public release just because the information gathered . . ., pursuant to KBR’s contractual obligations, was marked as proprietary. In effect, KBR has turned FAR provisions designed to protect truly proprietary information and to enhance procurement competition . . . into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight.

[JURIST] Halliburton [JURIST news archive] subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (KBR) has been violating a US Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) [official website] direction on classifying proprietary data by claiming protection for information normally in the public sphere, according to a report [text, PDF] issued Friday by Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen Jr. [official website]. Bowen wrote:

The routine use of proprietary markings when the data marked is not internal contractor information . . . is an abuse of FAR procedures . . . The result is that information normally releasable to the public must be protected from public release just because the information gathered . . ., pursuant to KBR’s contractual obligations, was marked as proprietary. In effect, KBR has turned FAR provisions designed to protect truly proprietary information and to enhance procurement competition . . . into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight.