[JURIST] The US House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct [official website] concluded Friday that although Republican leaders did not break any ethics rules [PDF report] in addressing the misconduct of disgraced ex-Congressman Mark Foley [Congressional profile], they nonetheless failed to protect young pages from inappropriate communications. Following an investigation [JURIST report], the panel found that House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) [official website] most likely received at least two emails detailing Foley's abuses, but did not act on the claims for fear of creating scandal.

Committee leaders Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), said the report reflects the bipartisan conclusions of a four-member investigative panel. Foley's behavior is currently the subject of a Florida criminal investigation [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The number of journalists imprisoned for their writings increased for the second year in a row in 2006 and one-third of those jailed are Internet journalists or bloggers, according to a new worldwide report [text] from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website]. The CPJ report notes that of the 134 journalists imprisoned around the world in 2006, 49 chose to publish on the Internet. Most Internet journalists are jailed by their authoritarian governments for treasonous or "anti-state" allegations and, according to CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon, the numbers show that "authoritarian states are becoming more determined to control the Internet."

China leads the world with 31 imprisoned journalists [JURIST news archive], 19 of which are held in relation to information they published on the Internet. Behind China, Cuba and Eritrea round out the top three states with most imprisoned journalists. The US currently has three journalists imprisoned including AP photographer Bilal Hussein [AP report] and Aljazerra cameraman Sami al-Haj [CPJ report]. According to CPJ statistics, the first journalist imprisoned for publishing on the Internet was jailed in 1997. AP has more.

[JURIST] US government lawyers asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; ACLU case file] against outgoing US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] in connection with alleged torture and abused by US personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing Rumsfeld is entitled to immunity. The ACLU and Human Rights First sued Rumsfeld [JURIST report] and other military officials in 2005 on behalf of eight former detainees [ACLU profiles]. The suit asserts that Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for abuses and that his actions violated the US Constitution, federal statutes and international law. DOJ lawyers argued Friday that detainees held overseas do not have constitutional rights and therefore an exception to the general rule of immunity which allows suit when an official violates a plaintiff's constitutional rights does not apply.

US District Judge Thomas F. Hogan seemed skeptical of giving Rumsfeld immunity from the allegations, but also acknowledged that allowing the civil lawsuit to proceed would be unprecedented. He promised to rule quickly in the case. Rumsfeld resigned [JURIST report] from his position last month pending the confirmation of his successor. His resignation was quickly followed by the filing of a war crimes complaint [JURIST report] against him under Germany's universal jurisdiction laws. AP has more.

[JURIST] War crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj [BBC profile; ICTY case backgrounder] agreed to end his nearly month-long hunger strike [JURIST report] Friday after an appeals chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] ruled that Seselj could represent himself during trial. Last month, the ICTY stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself [JURIST report] after he failed to appear in court, despite an earlier appeals court ruling that he could represent himself [JURIST report] provided he not engage in courtroom antics that "substantially obstruct the proper and expeditious proceedings in his case."

In a ruling [PDF text; press release] Friday:

The Appeals Chamber ruled that all trial proceedings in this case following the order of the Trial Chamber directing the Registry to appoint standby counsel are set aside. The trial of Seselj is suspended until such time as he is fit enough to fully participate in the proceeding as a self-represented accused.

In addressing Seselj's appeal, the Appeals Chamber found that, while appreciating the efforts of the Trial Chamber to ensure the fair and expeditious conduct of this trial, the Trial Chamber abused its discretion by immediately ordering the imposition of standby counsel, without first establishing additional obstructionist behaviour on the part of Seselj warranting that imposition. By so doing, the Trial Chamber failed to give Seselj a real opportunity to show to the Trial Chamber that despite his conduct in pre-trial, and the conduct leading up to the imposition of assigned counsel, he now understood that in order to be permitted to conduct his defence, he would have to comply with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal and that he was willing to do so. It was this opportunity that the Appeals Chamber Decision intended to accord to Seselj.

The Appeals Chamber reversed the Impugned Decision assigning counsel to Seselj and directed the Trial Chamber not to impose standby counsel unless Seselj exhibits obstructionist behaviour fully satisfying the Trial Chamber that, in order to ensure a fair and expeditious trial, Seselj requires the assistance of standby counsel. The Appeals Chamber ruled that, should a time come when the Trial Chamber felt justified in making such a decision, the Rule 44 list of Counsel should initially be provided to Seselj and he should be permitted to select standby counsel from that list. The Appeals Chamber placed similar conditions of restraint on the exercise by the Trial Chamber of its discretion to impose assigned counsel in the future should Seselj fail to abide by the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence as a self-represented accused and behave in a way that persistently obstructs the proceedings.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the Western District of Michigan [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that the Michigan Department of Corrections [official website] in contempt of court for failing to conform with medical care requirements mandated by the court in a prior ruling. The court ordered [injunction, PDF] the department to correct its medication and staff deficiencies on or before February 1, 2007, and submit a staffing plan within 90 days, or face $2 million in fines. Judge Richard Enslen wrote that the court would not deny "an injunction to inmates who plainly proved an unsafe, life-threatening condition" and that a prisoner "does not deserve... a de facto and unauthorized death penalty at the hands of a callous and dysfunctional health care system" within the prison.

Michigan's Department of Corrections is under federal oversight after lawsuits brought by the ACLU National Prison Project [advocacy website] highlighted gross failures by the department in providing patients in prison with adequate care. In November, the court ordered the department [JURIST report] to "immediately cease and desist from the practice of using any form of punitive mechanical restraints" following the death of a mentally ill inmate who spent four days naked inside a hot, isolated cell due to hyperthermia and dehydration. In July 2005, a federal judge ordered independent oversight [JURIST report] of the prison health care system in California after previously describing it as "terrible." AP has more.

[JURIST] An internal investigation has found that French police officers improperly handled a case that sparked weeks of rioting [JURIST news archive] outside Paris and around the country late last year, a lawyer involved in the case said Thursday. The mass rioting began in the poor Paris suburbs in October 2005 after two immigrant youths - one from Tunisia and one from sub-Saharan Africa - were electrocuted in a Paris electrical sub-station where they had fled after allegedly being pursued by police. A lawyer for one of the victim's families said Thursday that an internal police investigation has concluded that officers did in fact pursue the two boys, despite initial denials from police officials, and that police acted with a "lack of thought." AP has more. Le Monde has local coverage, in French.

The ensuing riots began in Paris and soon spread to poor immigrant neighborhoods in cities around the country, prompting the government to authorize emergency powers [JURIST report] for local governments struggling to control the violence. The state of emergency was only lifted [JURIST report] in January 2006.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: France | Op-ed: French Riots: A Failure of the Elite, Not the Republic

[JURIST] A first group of more than 40 detainees held at the US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] were transferred Thursday to a new $37 million dollar maximum-security prison [JURIST report] built [JURIST report] by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root [JURIST news archive] designed to minimize detainee contact and protect guards from attack. Military officials at the naval base say that isolating the prisoners will improve prison safety. The new prison, which contains 178 cells, will allow the US military to phase out an older facility constructed in 2004, which currently houses "least compliant" prisoners. The US military says that detainees' compliance status is not determined by their cooperation during interrogation [JURIST report], but is rather based on their compliance with facility rules.

An estimated 430 detainees, fewer than a dozen of which been charged with crimes, are held at the Guantanamo Bay, where their status as enemy combatants [JURIST news archive] has been reviewed by US military Combatant Status Review Tribunals [DOD materials]. CSRT proceedings were recently characterized as "show trials" [PDF text; JURIST report] by a Seton Hall Law School study which analyzed transcripts and recordings of 393 detainee hearings. The report noted that the government did not present witnesses at the hearings, denied all detainee requests to examine classified evidence against them, and denied all requests for defense witnesses not housed at Guantanamo Bay. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Indonesian Constitutional Court [official website] on Friday overturned as unconstitutional a 2004 law establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission [ICTJ backgrounder, PDF] in Indonesia [JURIST news archive] to investigate, compensate, and resolve many human rights violations that occurred during the 1966-1998 authoritarian regime of former President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile; JURIST news archive]. Three parts of the 46-article law were challenged by a coalition of human rights groups, but the court rejected the entire law, holding that immunity from prosecution can only be given to people who have admitted to violating human rights, and that immunity could only be granted by the president, not the commission. The court also held that "it is legally illogical [to allow the requesting of] compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and amnesty... simultaneously" to the commission before it has conducted any investigation to determine if "gross human rights violations actually occurred." The ruling is a setback to victims and family members seeking compensation and information concerning the human rights abuses, but it does not prevent the Indonesian government from exploring other legal avenues to resolve past human rights abuses.

Although the legislation was passed by in September 2004, the commission is still not established. The government was still at the early stages of member selection before Friday's ruling. Reuters has more. The Jakarta Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Nigerian Supreme Court has ruled that an attempt to remove regional governor Rasheed Ladoja from his position was unconstitutional. Ladoja, governor of Nigeria's Oyo state, was impeached [BBC report] in January 2006 after being accused of corruption and abusing his office. He challenged the impeachment in court, and the nation's high court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that constitutional procedure was not followed in the attempt to remove Ladoja from office. Further details of the supreme court's decision are expected to be released next year. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo [official profile; BBC profile] welcomed the ruling [statement] and ordered the country's police to ensure that the court's decision is immediately enforced.

Five Nigerian governors have been impeached during the past year in an attempt to crack down on corruption [BBC report]. As many as two-thirds of the nation's governors are under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [official website]. In October, Obasanjo declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the state of Ekiti [government website] after Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose's impeachment, which Obasanjo called "unconstitutional." AFP has more.

[JURIST] Italian lawmakers are planning to draft legislation that would give some legal recognition to same-sex unions [JURIST news archive], officials from the Italian Senate [official website] said Thursday. Senate leaders have requested that a bill be drafted by January 31 that would give legal status to unions of all unmarried couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, for tax purposes and otherwise.

The new center-left government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi [official website; BBC profile] promised before taking office last May to consider recognizing civil unions. The government's position has already prompted condemnation from the Vatican [JURIST report], with Pope Benedict denouncing any legal recognition of same-sex couples. AFP has more. AKI has local coverage.