[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] affirmed a civil contempt ruling [JURIST report] against former University of South Florida professor Sami al-Arian [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] Friday, rejecting al-Arian's argument that his plea agreement [text, PDF] exempted him from testifying before a Virginia grand jury. Under the agreement, al-Arian pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad [CDI backgrounder] in violation of US law and agreed to be deported after serving his sentence. US District Judge James S. Moody sentenced al-Arian to an additional 18 months in prison for civil contempt. Al-Arian's sentence will be reviewed every six months and could be extended by a judge until he agrees to testify before the grand jury.

On Friday, al-Arian ended his water-only fast [press release], which had began on January 22. Al-Arian's wife told reporters Friday that he had lost about 53 pounds and was physically too weak to walk. Al-Arian was acquitted [JURIST report] in late 2005 of eight of the 17 terrorism-related charges with which he had been accused and the federal jurors could not reach an unanimous verdict on the rest. The outcome dealt a substantial blow to the Bush administration [JURIST report], which had heralded the trial as a triumph for the Patriot Act. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive] Saturday defended proposed constitutional amendments [JURIST report] - including those that will prohibit religious political parties and give the state sweeping power to prosecute terror-related offenses in special courts - as being necessary to shield Egypt from the dangers of religious sectarianism and terrorism. The referendum, slated for Monday, has been widely criticized by opposition parties, human rights groups, and foreign governments. Amnesty International [advocacy website] has condemned the amendments [press release], calling them the "greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years."

On Wednesday, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood [party website; JURIST news archive] announced it planned to boycott the referendum [JURIST report]. On Thursday, Egypt's four largest opposition parties announced similar boycott plans [JURIST report]. On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit [official profile] brushed aside criticism [transcript] of the proposed changes by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile], stating that "only the Egyptian people have the right to say their views on that referendum." Rice had characterized the pending referendum as a "disappointing outcome." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Colombian appellate judge Leonor Perdomo ordered the release of ex-intelligence chief Jorge Noguera [CIP backgrounder] Friday on the grounds that Noguera was "illegally and unconstitutionally being deprived of his freedom" because chief prosecutor Mario Iguaran had not personally issued an arrest request. Perdomo ruled that Iguaran has to personally request ex-intelligence chief's detention because Noguera was a public servant when the crimes were alleged to have been committed. Noguera, who was arrested on Thursday [JURIST report], is accused of murder and conspiracy for allegedly contracting with illegal paramilitary groups [JURIST report] to assassinate political opponents. Iguaran disagreed with the ruling, stating that "[he didn't] think Colombia or the international community can tolerate the message that conspiring with criminals has any relation to one's functions as a public servant."

Noguera, who ran the Colombian Department of Administrative Security [official website, in Spanish] resigned [BBC report] in October 2005 after he was tape-recorded while discussing plans to sell intelligence to paramilitary groups. Several of the people on Noguera's hit list were later killed, including university professor Alfredo Correa de Andreis [Amnesty International backgrounder], who was investigating the paramilitary groups at the time of his death in 2004 [American Anthropological Association protest letter]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The individual records of approximately 90 percent of juvenile inmates in Texas will be examined following allegations by families and community activists that prison officials arbitrarily extended sentences or in retaliation for inmates filing grievances. Commission Special Master Jay Kimbrough, appointed [press release] early this month by Texas Gov. Rick Perry [official profile] to investigate the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) [official website], announced Friday that "[he] had no confidence in the integrity of [the] entire system," and that the comprehensive review will be conducted by a panel composed of community activists, prosecutors and juvenile prison officials. The investigations, which began when allegations of sexual abuse of juvenile inmates by prison officials emerged, found that TYC commission officials failed to intervene despite being aware of the abuse. All members of the commission have since resigned.

On March 16, the TYC approved a Rehabilitation Plan [backgrounder], which includes 24 specific recommendations by Acting Executive Director Ed Owens [official profile], who was voted on by the TYC Board on March 1 following the emergence of the allegations. The TYC currently holds approximately 4,700 inmates from ages 10 to 21. AP has more.

[JURIST] Documents released Friday night by the US Department of Justice [official website] show the direct involvement of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] in a November 27 meeting to fire eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive], contradicting claims made by Gonzales last Tuesday that while he was aware that his then-Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson [profile] was "involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers... [Gonzales] was not involved in seeing any memos, [and] was not involved in any discussions about what was going on." According to the disclosed documents, Gonzales' aides presented a five-step plan to Gonzales for implementing the firings. It is not immediately clear whether Gonzales approved the plan during the meeting or at a subsequent date. The documents show that Sampson's dismissal plan was submitted to the White House on November 15 and was approved by former White House counsel Harriet Miers [official profile] on December 4, three days before the eight US Attorneys received phone calls saying that they were being fired, without explanation.

The Justice Department released more than 280 pages of e-mails, calender pages and memos under Congressional pressure for more details on how the firings were handled, which have been criticized as being politically motivated [JURIST report]. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee authorized subpoenas [JURIST report] for Miers, Sampson, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove [official profile] and several DOJ aides. The Senate Judiciary Committee also authorized subpoenas [JURIST] for the officials to testify and provide documents to that committee. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Iran detained eight British Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines [UK MOD statement] in waters along the disputed Iraq-Iran border Friday, denouncing [IRNA report] the British forces for their "illegal and interventionist" into Iranian territorial waters. British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett [official profile] issued a statement [text] Friday, stating that London had "left the Iranian authorities in no doubt that we expect the immediate and safe return of our service personnel and our boats."

The soldiers were seized at the mouth of a river that Iraq refers to as the Shatt al-Arab [Wikipedia backgrounder] and Iran calls the Arvandrud. Control of the river and its use has been a long-standing source of tension [ICE backgrounder] between the two countries. The Algiers Agreement of 1975 [text], in which both parties recognized the waterway as bi-national and divided at the middle of the waterway, was abrogated by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], which contributed to the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War [Wikipedia backgrounder]. In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were detained by Iran near the same region. The soldiers were released without harm after three days. On Saturday, Iran's official news agency claimed [IRNA report] that the British sailors had "confessed violating Iranian territorial waters." AP has more and provides additional coverage.