[JURIST] The Iraqi Oil Ministry [official website] indicated Sunday that a recently proposed law regulating oil revenues may be in jeopardy. Members of the ministry have expressed doubt that the Kurdish administration in the north of the country [official website] will approve the current draft [JURIST report] despite making positive remarks about the law Saturday. Iraqi legislators delivered the law to Iraq's cabinet [JURIST report] last week.

Negotiations over the legislation have been a source of tension [JURIST report] in Iraq for months as Kurds are adamant about retaining control of Iraq's oil resources [Global Policy backgrounder] in the northern regions. Other government leaders pressed to give the central Iraqi government control over oil revenues and approval rights for any contracts with other countries or international companies to pump oil, since oil revenues are the main source of income to Iraq [JURIST news archive]. Once the cabinet approves the law, it will be moved to the parliament for final revisions and approval. Many see the passing of the law as crucial to developing the country as independent from American influence and the Bush administration has been a key proponent of the law. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] said in a live television interview with Al Jazeera [report] Sunday that he was "savagely tortured by the CIA when kidnapped" [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and taken from Milan to Egypt in 2003. Nasr, who has been at the heart of Italian judicial proceedings [JURIST report] against US and Italian intelligence agents implicated in his alleged kidnapping, did not say in the interview whether he was tortured during his four years of Egyptian imprisonment, although he alleged that previously [JURIST report]. He also personally revealed plans previously disclosed by his lawyer [JURIST report] to sue former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [JURIST news archive] for his participation in the abduction, as well as plans to seek monetary compensation from the US for his suffering.

Nasr was released from prison [JURIST report] earlier this month. The US State Department has refused to comment on his case. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] are filing a claim Monday in the Federal Court of Australia [official website] in an attempt to secure Hicks' release. Hicks' Australian defense team, headed by David McLeod, will charge the government with breaching its duty to protect Hicks, as a citizen, by failing to call for a fair trial. Justice Brian Tamberlin will first rule whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case; McLeod said Sunday that a failure to grant jurisdiction essentially would mean that no court in the world can review US military commissions [JURIST news archive]. McLeod also pointed to the UK's 2005 success in gaining the release [JURIST report] of several of its citizens from Guantanamo as an example of the control the Australian government should demand over its own citizens. If Hicks' team is successful, the court could grant an order for his release.

Hicks is one of three high profile Guantanamo prisoners facing new charges [JURIST report] announced by the US earlier this month. The original charges against Hicks, Canadian Omar Khadr and Yemeni Salim Hamdan [Trial Watch profiles] and other detainees had to be dropped after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system was unconstitutional as initially established by presidential order [JURIST report]. Hicks was picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. US prosecutors claim that he trained at up to four terrorist camps. Last week Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] said that his government will not pardon Hicks [JURIST report] should he be convicted by a US military commission. AAP has more. The Herald Sun has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Virginia General Assembly [official website] passed an unanimous resolution [text] Saturday apologizing for the state's involvement in slavery and the "exploitation of Native Americans". Virginia is the first state to pass such a measure but Missouri legislators are also considering a similar bill.

The Virginia measure was introduced in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the landing point of America's first Africans. The symbolic resolution has no legal effect. AP has more.

[JURIST] Seven more high-profile persons suspected of corruption were arrested in Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] Sunday as government officials announced that trials will begin in March as part of the nation's move to curb the problem. Last week Bangladeshi authorities published a list [JURIST report] of several hundred people suspected of graft; the top 50 suspects, many of whom are prominent public figures, were arrested and given a Sunday deadline to explain why their incomes did not match their current wealth value. Sunday's arrests included several former government ministers, two ex-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) [party website] lawmakers, a regional BNP chief, and a city council commissioner. Thirty-six of the 50 arrested have links to the BNP or the opposition Awami League [party website]. The first round of trials will begin in March as the Anti-Corruption Commission [LCG backgrounder; BBC report] moves forward with investigations. Also on Sunday, former army chief lieutenant general Hasan Mashud Chowdhury stepped in as head of the Commission, following the resignation (Daily Star report) of Supreme Court Justice Sultan Hossain Khan earlier this month.

The anti-corruption crackdown began earlier this month as eight former Bangladeshi ministers were accused of corruption [JURIST report] and 13 other former ministers and senior politicians were arrested in raids on their homes [JURIST report]. Bangladeshi President Iajuddin Ahmed [Wikipedia profile] declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country on January 11 and later cancelled a scheduled national election. The interim military-backed government has promised to hold new elections, but no date has yet been set. Ahmed's January 11 replacement as caretaker government chief, Fakhruddin Ahmed [official profile], has vowed to reform the election commission before a new vote is held. AFP has more.