[JURIST] Hundreds of email documents released by the US Department of Justice [official website] late Monday show that, contrary to its earlier claims, the White House was deeply involved in discussions to fire eight US Attorneys last year, according to ABC News. There are no emails directly from US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile], who reportedly does not use email, but the DOJ said former chief of staff Kyle Sampson [official press release] kept him informed of all developments. Gonzales is scheduled to testify April 17 before the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] about his handling of the dismissals.

An email conversation [text] released by the DOJ last week indicated that White House advisor Karl Rove [official profile] originally mentioned the possibility of firing all 93 US Attorneys [JURIST report] in January 2005, contradicting the White House's previous assertion that the idea first came from former White House counsel Harriet Miers [official profile]. In an email from Sampson at the Justice Department to Gonzales, former-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch [appointment announcement] and Colin Newman of the White House Counsel's Office, Sampson said that Rove had asked whether the administration planned to fire all US Attorneys. Sampson said that the White House Counsel's Office planned to fire "underperforming" Attorneys, further stating that the majority of US Attorneys are "are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies." ABC News has more.

[JURIST] Chiquita Brands International, Inc. [corporate website] pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release] Monday to one count of engaging in transactions with a specially-designated global terrorist organization after admitting to deals with Colombian terrorists. The Cincinnati-based company is charged with having paid approximately $1.7 million to Colombian terrorist group United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) [CDI backgrounder; organization website, in Spanish] between 1997 and 2004 to protect its banana harvesting operations in Colombia. According to prosecutors, Chiquita also paid protection money to the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) [CDI backgrounders].

Under the terms of the agreement made last week, Chiquita will pay a fine of $25 million [JURIST report], payable in five equal annual installments with interest, and will continue to cooperate with the government in any continuing investigation into the matter. As previously disclosed, Chiquita had recorded a reserve in 2006 for the full $25 million fine amount in anticipation of reaching a settlement with the government. In a statement late last week Chiquota said that "The payments made by the company were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees. Nevertheless, we recognized – and acted upon – our legal obligation to inform the DOJ of this admittedly difficult situation. The agreement reached with the DOJ...is in the best interests of the company." The agreement is subject to approval and acceptance by the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] and, if not accepted by US District Judge Royce Lamberth [official profile], Chiquita could pay up to $100 million in fines when it faces sentencing on June 1. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Air Force Maj. Gen. Robertus Remkes [official profile], Director of Strategy, Policy and Assessments at US European Command [official website], has expressed concern about negative military repercussions if the US House of Representatives passes resolution HR 106, [text, PDF; key excerpts] identifying the World War I-era killings by Turkish soldiers of over one million Armenians [ANI backgrounder] as genocide. Turkey [JURIST news archive], which produces much of the equipment used by US forces in Afghanistan, disputes the number of deaths and denies [JURIST report] they were due to war crimes or genocide. Remkes says that approval of the resolution could sour relations [JURIST report] between the US and Turkey and cause Turkey to revoke permission to use its air space and US military bases in the country.

Lawmakers in several countries have introduced resolutions identifying the Armenian deaths as genocide, including France, which deferred consideration [JURIST report] of a measure following threats of sanctions from the Turkish government. The US House could vote on its resolution [JURIST report] as early as April. Stars and Stripes has more.

[JURIST] State Farm Insurance [corporate website] will accelerate settlement payouts to Mississippi Gulf Coast residents whose homes were affected by Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive], according to Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale [official profile] Monday. Dale told Reuters that after the court delayed certifying a proposed settlement, he negotiated with State Farm "to bring closure for coastal homeowners." State Farm had originally reported that it would no longer write new policies to insure Mississippi home owners when the settlement was delayed, but Dale said his the resolution would discourage State Farm, Mississippi's largest insurer, from leaving the state. The agreement makes millions of additional dollars available to insured homeowners in three coastal counties.

In February, State Farm filed to have a judge removed [JURIST report] from a Katrina class action lawsuit for bias. In January, a Mississippi jury held State Farm liable for $2.5 million dollars in punitive damages [JURIST report] for rejecting a Katrina claim that State Farm said was due to wind before the storm rather than the hurricane itself. In the same month, State Farm agreed to settle with hundreds of Mississippi homeowners, but the judge rejected the proposed settlement [JURIST reports]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] will be hanged Tuesday, according to Iraqi legal sources quoted by wire services Monday afternoon. The Iraqi government has scheduled the execution despite defense lawyers' contention that the government must wait at least 30 days after sentencing to execute a defendant. Ramadan, found guilty [JURIST report] with Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) [official website] in November for his role in the reprisal killings of 148 Shiites at Dujail, lost [JURIST report] an appeal [text; JURIST report] of his sentence last week. He was originally given a life sentence, but after intervention by the appeals panel the trial court in February ordered the death penalty [JURIST report].

Following the failed appeal Ramadan's Rome-based lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano sent a letter [text] to Gen. David Petraeus [official profile], commanding general of the Multi-National Force Iraq, urging him to intervene and prevent Ramadan's transfer from US to Iraqi custody. Di Stefano has also petitioned [text] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has expressed opposition to the death penalty, to intervene and commute Ramadan's sentence. In an e-mail to JURIST late Monday, Di Stefano, formerly one of lawyers representing Saddam Hussein, said he had already moved to prosecute Saddam trial chief judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman [JURIST news archive] in the UK after he was alleged to have sought asylum there, and would "prosecute any and all that have been involved in the execution of my clients."

Last week, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers [official website] Leandro Despouy urged [JURIST report] the Iraqi government not to execute Ramadan because of "grave shortcomings" in his legal process. In February, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Phillip Alston [university profile] also called [JURIST report] on the government to suspend the execution because of judicial misconduct. Reuters has more.

9:32 PM ET - Ramadan lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano issued a statement [text] Monday night saying in part:

I have tonight written a further letter to General Petraeus in Baghdad as well as Dr. Rice at the US State Department and an urgent fax to President Talabani. As a matter of law (which actually is not at all applied in Iraq) no execution can take place without (a) the approval of President Talabani and (b) without President Talabani having ruled on my application to commute the sentence to life imprisonment....

I can also confirm that Taha Ramadan has indeed telephoned and spoke to his family. I last saw him on 8th March 2007 and boy was he firm and strong although I know he had the look of facing death in the eyes. He will die with dignity which is more than can be said for those that are responsible for state-sponsored murder.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense reported [AFPS report] Monday that Guantanamo detainee Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash admitted to collaborating on the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Kenya [Wikipedia backgrounder] and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole [Wikipedia backgrounder; US DOD inquiry report; JURIST news archive] at a Guantanamo Bay military hearing last week. According to the hearing transcript [PDF text], bin Attash said he "participated in the buying or purchasing of the explosives...[and] put together the plan for the operation." AP has more.

Last week, suspected terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] said during his own status hearing that he had masterminded the 9/11 attacks [JURIST report] and claimed responsibility for some 30 other terror attacks. Hearings on whether Mohammed and 13 other top terror suspects [DNI profile, PDF] qualify as "enemy combatants" [CFR backgrounder] began last Friday. Among the other 13 suspects are Abu Zubaydah [BBC profile], Ramzi bin al-Shibh [Wikipedia profile], and Riduan Isamuddin [Wikipedia profile].

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Monday in Morse v. Frederick [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-278 [docket], where the court must decide whether a student's First Amendment [text] rights had been violated when a principal suspended him after he displayed a banner with the message "Bong hits 4 Jesus" during a televised parade on a school day. The principal's attorney argued that the administrator acted reasonably and in line with the district's anti-drug policies, arguing that a decision against them would leave schools unable to stop students from promoting the use of drugs. Opposing counsel argued that a holding in favor of the principal will unreasonably restrict students' rights of free speech. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] held [opinion, PDF] in March 2006 that because the principal could not reasonably predict "material interference with school activities" as a result of the speech, he was not permitted to restrict the speech. Justice Breyer said during argument that although he is concerned about encouraging students to test the limits of free speech, a ruling against the student could unduly limit those rights. AP has more.

The court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] in the case of Wilkie v. Robbins [Duke Law case backgrounder; merits brief], 06-219 [docket], in which the court will consider whether officials of the Bureau of Land Management [official website] can be held liable under under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) [text] and Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics [opinion, text] for trying to gain a reciprocal right-of-way through private property connected with public lands. The US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] held that the government officials' alleged wrongful use of lawful authority to procure a right-of-way runs counter to established law.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Colorado [official website] began jury selection Monday in the trial [materials; docket] of former Qwest Communications [corporate website] CEO Joseph Nacchio [AP profile]. Nacchio was indicted on 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report] in December 2005 for allegedly selling off more than $100 million in Qwest stock in conjunction with the Denver-based telephone service provider's accounting scandal. Nacchio faces up to ten years in prison and a $1 million fine for each of the 42 counts. The trial may last as long as eight weeks. AP has more.

Nacchio and other executives also face a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] and civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission [JURIST report]. Another former Qwest employee, ex-Vice President Marc Weisberg, pleaded guilty to wire fraud [JURIST report] in December 2005 and agreed to help prosecutors build a case against Nacchio.

[JURIST] British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh [Wikipedia profile], who was sentenced to death [JURIST report] in July 2002 for kidnapping and murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl [DPF profile; JURIST news archive], will use a Guantanamo Bay detainee's confession to support his appeal, his lawyer said Monday. Omar's lawyer said he plans to substantiate his client's appeal by introducing the military status hearing transcript [text, PDF] released last week in which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] confessed [JURIST report] that he personally "decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl" during a hearing at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The claim is so far unsubstantiated.

Three of Omar's co-conspirators were also sentenced to life in prison in Pakistan in connection with Pearl's kidnapping and murder in 2002. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US President George Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profiles] may one day face war crimes charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive] at The Hague, according to ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile; BBC profile]. Moreno-Ocampo said Sunday that the ICC could investigate allegations of war crimes stemming from the conduct of coalition forces in Iraq [JURIST news archive], so long as Iraq agrees to ratify the Rome Statute [PDF text] and accede to ICC jurisdiction. Hamid al-Bayati [official profile], Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, said the country is considering joining the ICC.

Britain is one of the State Parties to the Rome Statute [list] but the US has historically opposed the ICC, making it unlikely Bush or any other American citizens could face trial at the Hague. The UK Sunday Telegraph has more.

[JURIST] A coalition of NGOs appealed to the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) Monday, urging it to reconsider its requirement that participating international lawyers in the Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] genocide trials join and pay a membership fee. The question of fees was left unresolved after judges appointed to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] reached agreement [JURIST report] Friday on the most pressing points of contention over the Khmer Rouge genocide trial rules [2006 draft rules, PDF] after a 10-day meeting [JURIST report; press release, PDF]. The ECCC has already called [press release, PDF] the fees "unacceptable" as severely limiting "the right of accused and victims to select counsel of their choice." If the issue is not resolved, the ECCC judges may boycott a plenary meeting to finalize the rules. The trials were scheduled to begin in mid-2007 before being delayed for several months [JURIST report] due to disagreements over the rules governing the trials.

Cambodia's 1975-79 Khmer Rouge [MIPT backgrounder] regime was responsible for the deaths of over 1.7 million people from genocide, disease and malnutrition. The ECCC was created to investigate and prosecute instances of human rights violations by a 2001 agreement between Cambodia and the UN. Prosecutors are expected to indict about 10 defendants, including Kang Khek Leu [Trial Watch profile] and other surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders. AP has more.

[JURIST] The constitutional crisis in Pakistan over President Pervez Musharraf's suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official profile; JURIST news archive] deepened Monday with the resignation [Reuters report] of seven of the country's judges, including a top judge in Pakistan's populous Punjab province. Meanwhile protests sparked by the suspension continued [DPA report] across Pakistan for a ninth day as the Pakistan Supreme Court held a hearing whether Chaudhry was mistreated when he was allegedly pushed into a car when he refused to get in to be taken to a Supreme Judicial Council [governing constitutional provisions] for a hearing [JURIST report] Tuesday on the unspecified "misconduct" which is said to have prompted his removal.

Pakistani lawyers staged a one-hour symbolic strike Monday and several hundred marched against the suspension in Karachi. Lawyers have boycotted the courts [JURIST report] since Chaudhry's suspension, and street protests [JURIST report] have resulted in injuries and arrests. Hundreds of Pakistani lawyers in business suits clashed [JURIST report] with police Saturday in Lahore, throwing rocks after riot police fired teargas to disrupt a gathering. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US military lawyer for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archives] said Monday that his client was sedated for 24 hours last month before being told about new charges against him. Maj. Michael Mori [Wikipedia profile] said Hicks was given a drug to ease his complaints of stomach pain, but while the medicine took effect, a US official began speaking to him about additional charges that Hicks did not have the ability to comprehend. A US Defense Department official said the allegations are being investigated, but reiterated that Hicks has received humane treatment since he was taken into custody in 2001. AFP has more.

Meanwhile, another of Hicks' lawyers said that Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website], Attorney-General Philip Ruddock [official profile] and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official profile] could all be called as witnesses in Hicks' civil lawsuit [JURIST report] against the Australian government. The Federal Court of Australia will hold a hearing [JURIST report] on May 17 on Hicks' claim that the government breached its duty to protect Hicks, as a citizen, by failing to call for a fair trial. Hicks was charged last month with providing material support to terrorists [JURIST report]. Defense lawyer David McLeod said he is hopeful that the Australian lawsuit will result in Hicks being brought back to Australia before his military commission trial begins. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) [advocacy website] urged the US and Afghanistan governments Sunday to establish a better legal framework to guide US military actions in the fight against the Taliban, criticizing US forces for civilian deaths in Afghanistan. The AIHRC said the Afghanistan Constitution [text] and the six international human rights treaties that the country has signed are not detailed enough to govern military actions in the country. An AIHRC commissioner called on the governments who supply soldiers fighting in Afghanistan to take responsibility for civilian deaths, saying a compensation fund created by the US for victims was not enough. Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has also been criticized for not having enough leverage to protect his citizens [JURIST report] against US military operations.

The AIHRC's comments follow accusations of wrongdoing [HRW report] against US soldiers by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website], which earlier this month denounced US forces for the deaths of over 20 civilians in recent months. HRW said US warplanes dropped a bomb on a house killing a family of nine Afghans and criticized US soldiers for indiscriminately shooting into a crowd of people resulting in 16 civilian deaths. US Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the US forces in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive], said the Taliban should instead be blamed for initially firing at US forces from civilian areas. While no official data has been released on civilian deaths since the war in Afghanistan [Wikipedia backgrounder] began in 2001, HRW estimates that over 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed since January 2006 alone. IRIN has more.