[JURIST] Officials in several US states asked judges to extend polling hours in a number of areas Tuesday after problems with new electronic voting machines caused delays and left some voters unable to cast ballots in nationwide mid-term elections. By mid-afternoon, requests had been made in Denver, Colorado, Muncie, Indiana, and Davidson County, Tennessee [CBC report]. Voting machine-related problems were also reported in precincts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, Missouri and Texas. The problems, however, seemed scattered, and most observers seemed to agree that they would not compromise the vote.

New voter ID laws [JURIST news archive] in effect in a number of states to prevent alleged fraud also proved somewhat problematic, with some voters being turned back for not having the proper identification or scrambling to produce an ID when they had not anticipated doing so. In South Carolina, Governor Mark Sanford was initially turned away from his polling station [The State report] because he did not have the proper voter registration card and his driver's license carried the address of the Governor's Mansion, not his permanent home address. He went away to obtain a registration card, then returned and voted. Ohio Republican congressman Steve Chabot ran into a similar problem [Reuters report]. In Virginia, state elections officials said they had asked the FBI to investigate [AP report] phone calls made to some voters saying that if they were not properly registered to vote in Virginia they would be criminally prosecuted. Other calls allegedly told voters that their polling places had changed when they had not. The Washington Post has more.

At stake in Tuesday's vote are all seats in the US House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and a range of state initiatives and ballot propositions as well as other state and local offices. The major political parties, the US Department of Justice, rights organizations and interest groups have deployed thousands of lawyers [JURIST report] at polling stations across the country to help monitor the poll in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election recount and problems with the 2004 vote.

6:58 PM ET - Judges have ordered extensions of voting hours in Delaware County, Indiana, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, DeKalb County [media advisory], Georgia, and South Carolina's 5th Congressional District [The State report] to compensate for problems encountered earlier in the day.

7:05 PM ET - In Denver, state judge Sheila Rappaport has turned down a request by the local Democratic Party to extend voting by two hours, saying it is a matter for the legislature. The Denver Post, however, is describing the situation at polling places there [Denver Post blog] with malfunctioning machines as "chaos", notwithstanding a statement by Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis welcoming the ruling [Denver Post report].

7:14 PM ET - The Democratic Party has filed suit [Columbus Dispatch report] in US District Court in Cleveland to keep the polls in Ohio's Cuyahoga County open for an additional 90 minutes to compensate for the late opening of some polling stations.

7:45 PM ET - In Cleveland, US District Court Judge Dan A. Polster has ruled [Dayton Daily News report] that polls in 16 locations in Cuyahoga County which opened more than an hour late can remain open an extra 90 minutes after their scheduled closing at 7:30 PM local time. The Ohio Attorney General has filed a motion [PDF via Election Law @ Moritz] seeking an emergency stay of the extension.

8:03 PM ET - The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled [PDF via Election Law @ Moritz] that all Cuyahoga County ballots cast in extended voting hours authorized earlier this evening by US District Court Judge Dan A. Polster must be considered provisional.

[JURIST] Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that his office is once again pressing for the extradition of 26 Americans for their role in the alleged 2003 CIA kidnapping [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] of Egyptian cleric Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile] from Italy. Spataro was previously stonewalled [JURIST report] by the conservative and strongly pro-US government of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. He has filed a request to renew the investigation with the new center-left administration of Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

The kidnapping of Nasr from a Milan street in 2003 is believed to have been the product of a joint operation between CIA and Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website] and is alleged to have been a breach of Italian sovereignty as previous Italian governments denied complicity. Prosecutors have called the kidnapping a classic example of an extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive], where suspects are whisked away by American agents to a third country to be interrogated and allegedly tortured. All but one of the 26 Americans suspected in the kidnappings are CIA agents. SISMI intelligence officers are also implicated in the case. The extradition request indicates Spataro would prefer not to try the agents in absentia [JURIST report] as previously claimed. Indictments are expected to soon follow the extradition request. AP has more.

[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan opposition party members and pro-government supporters announced Tuesday that they had reached a compromise in an effort to reform the country's constitution [constitutional materials, in Kyrgyz]. Members of the country's parliament [People's Assembly website] are expected to vote Wednesday on a new draft charter, which places limits on the powers of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [BBC profile]. The draft also creates a presidential-parliamentary government, enlarges the parliament from 75 to 90 deputies and gives the parliament the right to form the government. In response to the announced consensus, thousands of anti-government protestors who have been agitating for change ever since Bakiyev rejected an initial draft last week agreed to suspend [Itar-Tass report] their demonstrations even after casualties were reported when Kyrgyz police fired tear gas into a crowd.

Bakiyev came to power [JURIST report] during the so-called Tulip Revolution [Wikipedia backgrounder] of 2005 in Kyrgyzstan [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] during which former president Askar Akayev resigned [JURIST report] amid charges of corruption and abuse of office. It is unclear whether Bakiyev will accept the new constitution, which also needs approval of two thirds of parliament. Reuters has more. MosNews has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Iraq's Interior Ministry announced Tuesday that 57 members of its Shiite-led police force have been charged with torturing hundreds of detainees at a prison in eastern Baghdad. This is the first time the Iraqi government has filed charges against members of the police amidst ongoing accusations [JURIST report] of corruption and human rights violations. Besides the police torture chamber discovered in Baghdad last year and the complicity of police in a mass kidnapping of Sunni workers, investigators also discovered the bodies of apparent death squad victims that were killed in reaction to the bombing of a Shiite shrine in February. Police are suspected of aiding and abetting the murders by allowing death squad members to pass through checkpoints and violate curfews.

The police force has long been accused of being dominated by Shiite militias responsible for the slayings of Sunni Arabs. Last month, the Interior Ministry announced [AP report] that 3,000 members of its police force had been fired [JURIST report] since May, top commanders have been reshuffled, and up to 600 department employees will face prosecution. In February US military officials vowed to improve Iraqi police forces [JURIST report] and in March US Army Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey [official profile], head of the Multi-National Security Transition Command in Iraq [official website], declared 2006 would be "the year of the police" [US Department of State press release], promising a renewed effort to instill professionalism in the force. Iraqi authorities plan to retrain all 26 police battalions in hopes that they can identify members of the police who are in sectarian militias and criminal gangs. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers in Jordan held a one-hour strike Tuesday to protest the death sentences [JURIST report; BBC Q/A] imposed over the weekend against Saddam Hussein and two co-defendants in the Dujail crimes against humanity case [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline]. The Jordan Bar Association led the brief work stoppage for its 10,000 members; about 250 lawyers staged a demonstration outside the Palace of Justice in Amman. Prominent Jordanian lawyers said the verdict was influenced by US occupation forces in Iraq. They also said it is unlikely that an appeals panel [JURIST report] will reverse the rulings. Saleh al-Armouti, the bar association's president and a former lawyer for Hussein, said, "We denounce the verdict against Iraq's legitimate president, Saddam Hussein, because it's been issued by the American occupation. The verdict is a shameful stain on Iraq's legal history and it strikes at the dignity of the Arab and Muslim nation." AP has more. DPA has additional coverage.

Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak [official profile, DOC; JURIST news archive] said Tuesday in an interview with AP [AP report] that Hussein should not have been sentenced to death and questioned the legitimacy of the Iraqi High Tribunal [JURIST news archive], echoing similar views [JURIST report] expressed Monday by his colleague, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Leandro Despouy. "I would say it didn't enjoy the full guarantees of independence we expect from a court trying someone like Saddam," he said. Nowak stressed that other special tribunals, such as the ICTY [JURIST news archive] and the ICTR [JURIST news archive], do not apply the death penalty. Other European leaders oppose Hussein's death sentence [JURIST report]. Iran, however, on Tuesday voiced its support for the verdict and sentence in the case of what it described as dictator who deserved to die [AP report]. A government spokesman said he hopes "the fair, correct and legal verdict against this criminal ... is enforced."

[JURIST] The Australian Senate [official website] voted Tuesday to lift restrictions on stem cell research and permit the therapeutic cloning of human embryos. By a 34-32 vote, lawmakers approved the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Bill 2006 [legislative materials], which also includes stricter penalties of up to 15 years in prison for anyone convicted of attempting to buy human egg, sperm or embryo faces.

Australia's parliament voted in 2002 to allow researchers to extract stem cells from extra embryos originally intended for use in in vitro fertilization, but did not permit the use of those cells in cloning. The Australian House of Representatives [official website] will consider the latest legislation later this month. AP has more. The Sydney Morning Herald has local coverage.

[JURIST] Thai Prime Minister Chulanont Surayud [official website; BBC profile] Tuesday proposed a plan to the country's new military-led Council for National Security [official website, in Thai] for lifting martial law [JURIST report] in peaceful areas of the country. He also asked for a report on when martial law could be lifted in the rest of the nation. Surayud said last month the Thai government will maintain martial law until supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra cease their protests [JURIST report] against the new regime.

The Thai military seized power from Thaksin in a bloodless coup [JURIST report] in September. In late October, Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin [BBC profile], who led the coup, admitted that investigators are struggling to find evidence of corruption [JURIST report], the reason given for Thaksin's overthrow. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Palestinian Authority (PA) [JURIST news archive] has failed to treat violence against women as criminal conduct, according to a report [text] released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Tuesday. The 101-page report entitled "A Question of Security: Violence Against Palestinian Women and Girls" says "little action has been taken to seriously address these abuses. Indeed, there is some evidence the level of violence is getting worse while the remedies available to victims are being further eroded." The report found that in 2005, 10 percent of married women in Palestinian territories reported incidences of sexual abuse, 23 percent said they were victims of domestic violence, and 61 percent said they were subjected to psychological violence. Of these women, only 1 percent filed official complaints with authorities. HRW said women in violent marriages have little legal recourse because the options available "both require evidence of extreme violence and impose a high evidentiary burden on the victim."

In October, HRW claimed that the PA had failed to stop violence [HRW report] against civilians in its territories and called for immediate action against perpetrators. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] has dropped charges [summary] previously filed against ABC's "NYPD Blue" and CBS's "The Early Show," holding Monday that the shows were not indecent based on language content. The FCC also renewed charges against "The 2003 Billboard Music Awards" and "The 2002 Billboard Music Awards." According to the FCC order [PDF text; press release, PDF], the FCC dismissed the charges relating to the "The Early Show," deferring "to CBS's characterization of the program segment as a news interview" and concluding "regardless of whether such language would be actionable in the context of an entertainment program, that the complained-of material is neither actionably indecent nor profane in this context." The FCC upheld its charges against the "Billboard Music Awards" stating that "the use of offensive language by participants…was indecent and profane."

In April, ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox filed appeals [JURIST report] contesting the original FCC indecency rulings against the shows. The networks argued that the indecency findings for "fleeting" or "unintentional" profanities were inappropriate and that the FCC's inconsistent rulings chilled free speech in violation of the First Amendment. In July, CBS filed an additional appeal on the FCC decision to fine it $550,000 [JURIST reports] for an incident in the 2004 Super Bowl broadcast when performer Janet Jackson experienced what was later euphemistically labeled a "wardrobe malfunction" [Wikipedia backgrounder] that briefly exposed one of her breasts. A decision has not yet been made on that appeal. AP has more.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] was back in court Tuesday as the genocide trial against him resumed for the alleged killing of 100,000 Kurds in the late 1980s during the so-called "Anfal" campaign [HRW backgrounder]. Hussein entered the court calmly, two days after being sentenced to death JURIST report] in a separate case for crimes against humanity [charging instrument, PDF] committed in the Iraqi town of Dujail [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline]. Tuesday's testimony began with a witness detailing his surrender to Iraqi soldiers after being told he was granted immunity, which proved to be a false promise when guards began shooting at him and 32 other men. Though not as outspoken as in past trial sessions, Hussein did challenge the testimony of one witness and also made a statement calling for forgiveness and reconciliation.

Last week, Khalil al-Dulaimi, chief defense counsel for Saddam, made an appearance in court with demands to end the defense lawyers' boycott of the trial [JURIST news archive], but stormed out [JURIST report] after the presiding judge told him that Arab and foreign lawyers may only appear as advisors to Hussein. AP has more.

[JURIST] Dhiren Barot [BBC profile], a British man who pleaded guilty to planning a series of bombs on US and British targets, was sentenced to life in prison [Met press release] Tuesday. Barot was accused of planning several attacks, including the "Gas Limo Project" [Times report] to blow up three limousines filled with explosives in underground parking garages in Britain. Justice Butterfield of the Woolwich Crown Court handed down the sentence, saying a successful execution of Barot's plans would have resulted in a catastrophe on a "colossal and unprecedented scale." Prosecutors presented evidence [BBC backgrounder] that Barot wrote a proposal to obtain approval and funding for the plan from al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan. Barot pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to conspiracy charges for his involvement in the plot last month, but his seven co-defendants maintain their innocence.

Prosecutors also said Barot planned to detonate a bomb below the River Thames in an attempt to immerse the London subway system in water. In addition to attacks planned throughout the UK, prosecutors alleged that Barot planned to attack the International Monetary Fund and World Bank [official websites] buildings in Washington DC, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York City, and the Prudential [corporate websites] buildings in Newark, New Jersey. Barot was indicted [text; JURIST report] in New York for the US-related bomb plans last April, along with two other men. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Iraqi government's DeBaathification Commission [official website] plans to submit a proposal to Iraq's parliament that would allow most members of Saddam Hussein's now-defunct Baath Party [BBC backgrounder] to be reinstated to public life, the commission's executive director said Tuesday. The commission was set up with the approval of the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority [official website] in 2003 and its early agenda was rooting out members of Hussein's Baath party from positions of power in the Iraqi government, prompting the forced removal [JURIST report] of nearly 30,000 Baathists from public life. The Bush administration, however, has urged the Iraqi government to shift the commission to promote "accountability and reconciliation" in the interests of countering the growing insurgency in the country.

DeBaathification Commission Executive Director Ali Faysal al-Lami said the group plans to propose that only 1,500 of the most senior Baath party members not be allowed to return to their posts. The committee has been criticized for the wide ban on Baath members without taking into account those who joined the former party due to necessity rather than actual beliefs in the Baathist platform. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland called Tuesday for a freeze on the use of controversial cluster munitions [FAS backgrounder; JURIST news archive] at the outset of the Third Review Conference [official website; US delegation website] in Geneva on the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons [text; ACA backgrounder], which already bans or limits the use of incendiary weapons, mines and booby-traps, blinding laser weapons and other devices deemed to cause inhumane injuries. In a statement, Egeland said:

This freeze is essential until the international community puts in place effective legal instruments to address urgent humanitarian concerns about their use...Ultimately, as long as there is no effective ban, these weapons will continue to disproportionately affect civilians, maiming and killing women, children and other vulnerable groups. The states gathered for the Review Conference should commit to immediately freeze the use of cluster munitions and strengthen existing international humanitarian law.

[JURIST] Former Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka [Wikipedia profile] was ordered Tuesday to stand trial for allegedly attempting to incite a military mutiny in November 2000 after rebel Counter Revolutionary Warfare [Wikipedia backgrounder] soldiers attempted to remove military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama [Wikipedia profile], leading to a gun battle that resulted in the deaths of eight servicemen. Bainimarama had taken control of Fiji [government website; BBC timeline; JURIST news archive] and declared an interim military government in late May 2000 in response to what he considered an ineffectual response by the country's president to an attempted coup [JURIST report] led by Fijian nationalist George Speight [BBC profile] against the government of Fiji's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry [BBC profile], who had been elected head of the tiny Pacific island nation in 1999. Bainimarama handed control of the government to a new civilian president in July 2000, but continued to exercise influence afterwards.

Fiji Supreme Court Justice Gerard Winter rejected a petition by Rabuka's defense team to stay the proceedings because the alleged attempted mutiny occurred six years ago. The trial could get underway as early as Wednesday, but on Tuesday Winter barred reporters from covering it, or even reporting on the legal arguments made at the pre-trial hearing. Rabuka himself came to power in 1987 after he led a successful military coup [BBC timeline] by walking into the Parliament building and seizing control; Fiji's Supreme Court now sits in the former Parliament building that Rabuka stormed in 1987. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Nancy Edmunds Monday dismissed [ruling, PDF] a lawsuit [complaint, DOC; JURIST report] brought by US House Democrats challenging the validity of a $39 billion deficit-reduction bill. The plaintiffs argued that the measure was invalid since the Senate and House approved two different versions. The version approved by the Senate [PDF text] indicated that Medicare [official website] would be able to rent certain types of medical equipment for 13 months, but the version put before the House [text] said the rentals could last for 36 months, which was a $2 billion discrepancy. The White House and Republican leaders said the mistake was purely technical due to a clerk's error, but 11 House Democrats led by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) [official website], the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee [official website], filed the lawsuit contending the bill should be voided because the House was not given an opportunity to vote on the same legislation considered by the Senate.

The US Department of Justice [official website] moved to dismiss the suit [JURIST report], arguing the House representatives did not have standing to sue since they were not renting the medical equipment and were not in "any way personally affected or injured" by the clerical error. Earlier this year, a federal judge also dismissed [text, PDF] a similar lawsuit filed [JURIST report] by Public Citizen [advocacy website] which argued that the bill was unconstitutional due to the different versions. The law was signed by President Bush [press release; fact sheet] in February. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson [advocacy website] on Monday pleaded guilty [press release] to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with the April 26 death of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] in Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. In accordance with his plea agreement [JURIST report], Jackson testified Monday that Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III [JURIST report] devised the plot to kidnap and kill Awad and ordered the seven Marines and one Navy corpsman charged [JURIST report] to "stick to the story" that the soldiers found Awad planting a roadside bomb before they killed him. Jackson will be sentenced on November 16 and is eligible to receive a 15-year prison term, which will likely be reduced due to the deal he struck with prosecutors.

Two other military personnel, US Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka and US Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos [JURIST reports], have also pleaded guilty in exchange for testimony, and both have also named Hutchins as the mastermind of the plan. Four of the eight initially charged still face courts-martial [JURIST report], and a decision as to whether Hutchins will face court-martial is still pending. AP has more.