[JURIST] The judge presiding at the Libyan trial [JURIST news archive] of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian physician for allegedly infecting over 400 children with the HIV virus announced Saturday that the verdict in the case will be rendered December 19. The six medical professionals have been held prisoner by Libyan authorities since February 1999. They were originally convicted and sentenced to death [BBC report] in May 2004, but after international outcry that sentence was vacated [JURIST report] in December 2005 by the Libyan Supreme Court and remanded to a lower court to be heard again.

The defendants maintain that their alleged confessions of guilt were extracted by torture. They previously argued that the children were infected with the virus before treatment. French Professor Luc Montagnier, the co-discover of the HIV virus, testified in the 2004 trial that the infection had spread in the children's hospital before the Bulgarian nurses began their contracts there. DPA has more.

[JURIST] A top Pakistani judge has forbidden female lawyers to wear the Muslim hijab [III&E backgrounder; JURIST news archive] (veil) in his courtroom, according to the Saturday edition of Pakistan's Daily Times [media website] newspaper. The Times quotes Chief Justice Tariq Pervaiz Khan [official profile] of the Peshawar High Court [official website] as telling veiled lawyer Raees Anjum, "You are professionals and should be dressed as required of lawyers... We (judges) cannot identify veiled woman lawyers and suspect that veiled lawyers appear to seek adjournment of proceedings in other lawyers' cases." Khan added that he could barely hear Anjum speak from behind her covering.

Anjum, who considers herself "a progressive Muslim woman... living and working in this conservative society", told the Times after her admonishment. "I was embarrassed when the chief justice asked me not to wear veil in courtrooms. I feel more confident in my hijab... [It] reflects a woman's modesty". She pointed out that the local government is divided on the issue of veiled professionals. While Khan has forbidden them, several female judges in Peshawar's North West Frontier Province wear the hijab during proceedings, as do all female legislators in the region's dominant political party. IANS has more.

[JURIST] Thousands of lawyers working for political parties, government and interest groups are preparing to go into action across the United States Tuesday when Americans vote in mid-term elections. At stake is control of Congress [NYT backgrounder] and a series of key state ballot initiatives [Stateline.org list, PDF] on hot-button legal and political issues. In the wake of the notorious 2000 presidential recount [JURIST archive] and legal problems in states like Ohio in the 2004 election, participants and observers are prepared for almost anything and are laying the groundwork for possible challenges before voters even go to the polls. On Saturday and Sunday some 7,000 lawyers retained by the Democratic National Committee [party website] are fanning out to 18 key states; on Monday, the Republican National Committee [party website] is dispatching about 150 lawyers to help local counsel in states like Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Missouri.

Legal problems may be most pronounced in Arizona, Indiana, Georgia, and Missouri [JURIST reports], where controversial new voter ID laws [JURIST news archive] have already been the subject of significant litigation focusing on the dangers of potential disenfranchisement. The US Election Assistance Commission [official website] issued a report [JURIST report] in October arguing that concerns of electoral fraud that drove the passage of these laws were greatly exaggerated.

The dispersal of voting machines [Diebold Election Systems website] under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 [PDF text; FEC overview] has also compounded the potential for post-electoral legal wrangling. Reports are already coming in from Texas and Virginia that candidate names have been cut off. In Texas, Florida, and South Carolina, officials have received reports of touch screens registering votes for the wrong candidate. With few if any paper records of votes that can be checked after the fact, concerns about technical malfunctions are running high.

In addition to lawyers deployed by the main political parties themselves, the US Department of Justice [official website] plans to send 800 lawyers to 65 cities, and the NAACP [advocacy website], Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law [advocacy website], and the People for the American Way [official website] have together amassed about 2,000 lawyers to work in 20 states. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] is attempting to block lawyers' access to Majid Khan, one of 14 "high value" prisoners [DNI profiles, PDF] previously held at a CIA secret prison [JURIST report] but recently transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba [JURIST archive]. The Washington Post reported Saturday that DOJ lawyers argued in court papers filed on October 26 with US District Judge Reggie B. Walton [official profile] that allowing access to Khan could compromise CIA interrogation tactics and locations. Although the papers did not point to any specific knowledge Khan may possess, the government contends that simply by being involved in the CIA interrogation system he could disclose information the US government believes should remain classified.

The Center for Constitutional Rights [official website], which represents many detainees at Guantanamo, filed a habeas corpus petition [press release, petition text. PDF] on Khan's behalf on October 3. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] The ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) [advocacy website], and other rights groups filed a lawsuit [PDF] Friday attempting to block an ordinance [2006-38R text, TIF] in Escondido, California [official website], designed to prevent landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. In October, Escondido lawmakers approved the measure [JURIST report] to take effect Nov. 18 requiring landlords to submit documentation to city authorities to prove their tenants' immigration status. If found in violation, landlords could face suspension of their business licenses and fines. MALDAF said in a press release [text]:

The coalition maintains that the ordinance is in direct violation of federal immigration law, since the federal government exclusively is charged with enforcing immigration laws, and it puts landlords in the untenable situation of served [sic] as federal law enforcement agents. It also violates the property and contract rights of both landlords and tenants, as well as federal fair housing and privacy laws, and disproportionately discriminates against Latino families.

[JURIST] US Rear Adm. Harry Harris [official profile], chief of the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detention facility, has said that compulsory interrogations are no longer employed to elicit information from detainees due to their ineffectiveness as compared to "rapport building" techniques. Harris, who took command of the camp in March, told journalists this week that forcible interrogation had been phased out this summer, and that teams of guards in protective gear no longer go into cells to remove detainees who refuse to co-operate.

Guantanamo prisoners have also been informed of their rights under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] pursuant to the US Supreme Court's June ruling [JURIST report] in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari in two cases Friday to clarify the law on federal sentencing guidelines. The cases, Claiborne v. United States, 06-5618, and Rita v. United States, 06-5754, were selected from dozens of similarly-themed appeals to address the issue of the reasonableness of sentence lengths below and within the guidelines, and come to the high court from the Eighth Circuit [Claiborne opinion, PDF] and Fourth Circuit, [Rita opinion] respectively. The New York Times has more.

In January 2005 the Supreme Court held in United States v. Booker [opinion] that the decades-old federal sentencing guidelines set forth in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 [text, PDF] were advisory, not mandatory. The new cases, to be argued early next year, are expected to clarify lower courts' discretionary power under the Booker holding.

[JURIST] The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) [official website] Friday began transferring inmates to private detention centers in other states to alleviate overcrowding under the terms California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's October 4 emergency proclamation [JURIST report]. The first transfer flight of 80 inmates was delayed while a lawsuit was heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California [official website] claiming that the out-of-state facilities are not equipped to properly treat mentally ill prisoners. Judge Lawrence Karlton declined to issue a restraining order because he did not want to further delay the transfer flight. He nonetheless ordered mental health screening at the destination facility in Tennessee. The lawsuit represents the third challenge to the new prisoner transfer policy. The other lawsuits, which were denied, dealt with union issues and the handling of disabled inmates.

The California prison system has faced severe criticism lately for serious overcrowding. Earlier this month a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order demanding immediate improvement to facilities [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein's defense team asked the Iraqi High Tribunal Friday to delay its now-expected Sunday verdict in the Dujail crimes against humanity case [JURIST news archive; BBC timeline] against the ousted Iraqi leader, saying in a letter obtained by AP that it needed more time to make final arguments. The verdict has already been postponed [JURIST report] from an anticipated October date to give the court more time to review evidence and complete its findings. If convicted, Hussein could face the death penalty. AP has more.

Hussein is charged [charging instrument, PDF] with killing, torturing and illegally detaining Dujail residents, including 148 Shiites [JURIST report], after an unsuccessful attempt on his life there in 1982. Members of Hussein's defense team, including chief defense lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have repeatedly warned against his execution, citing the likelihood of escalating violence and civil war in Iraq [JURIST report]. Security across the country has already been heightened in anticipation of a guilty verdict, with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordering a strict curfew, traffic bans and new checkpoints. AP has more. On Friday Iraq's defense minister canceled leave for Iraqi soldiers [JURIST report] and summoned all military personnel currently on leave to return to duty.

3:25 PM ET - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad Saturday that Hussein's sentencing was still scheduled to go ahead [press release in Arabic, DOC] on Sunday and that he hoped "this man will get the verdict he deserves for what he committed against the Iraqi people." He said that after the verdict "The Iraqi people will express their happiness in a way they see fit and we will call on the Iraqi people through a broadcast statement to remain calm and express their happiness in an appropriate way in this current situation, in a way that does not risk their lives." AP has more. VOI has local coverage; AINA has more.