[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] defended his role in the firings of federal prosecutors [JURIST news archive] Friday, admitting that there has been some confusion but that his involvement in the matter was limited to signing off on recommendations made by his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson [official profile]. Gonzales told reporters that his motivations for the decisions "were not based on improper reasons." Sampson, who resigned earlier this month [DOJ press release], told the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Thursday that the prosecutors were fired for political reasons [JURIST report] rather than for poor performance as the Justice Department has claimed [JURIST report]. Sampson also said Gonzales did more than merely follow his recommendations, and that Gonzales and former White House counsel Harriet Miers [official profile] were deeply involved in the firings.

In Friday's White House press briefing White House spokesperson Dana Perino contradicted earlier speculation, and told reporters that despite any reports to the contrary, the President has "100 percent confidence" in Gonzales [press briefing transcript]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Judge Arthur Hunter [JURIST news archive] of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court [official website] issued a delayed order for the release and suspension of prosecution for as many as 42 criminal defendants Friday in light of the fact that the city's public defender's office [official website] does not have the resources to adequately represent the indigent suspects. If Hunter's order stands, the release would take place on April 18th. While the suspects' prosecution would be suspended, the charges would not be dismissed. Hunter said that Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] could not be used as an excuse for the scarcity of funding for the indigent defense program, citing a statewide budget surplus. New Orleans' indigent defense program, funded almost entirely from traffic court fines, shrank from over 40 lawyers to six in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Hunter first threatened to release prisoners [JURIST report] last July. He released several defendants facing prosecution [JURIST report] for misdemeanor drug possession last October because of the strained system. While most of the defendants affected by Friday's order are charged with drug crimes, several have been charged with more violent crimes, such as armed robbery and sexual assault. AP has more.

[JURIST] Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri [DOD profile, PDF page 7; JURIST news archive], the suspected mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing [DOD inquiry report; JURIST news archive] and a Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee, said his confession to the attacks was coerced through five years of torture, according to transcripts [text, PDF] released Friday. The transcripts from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD backgrounder] hearing do not provide any details of the alleged torture, and sections of transcript were redacted, but al-Nashiri did say that his alleged torturers were American and not Yemeni. When asked if he was under any pressure or duress at his hearing, he said "No. Not today." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told the Associated Press that al-Nashiri's allegations of torture would be investigated.

Al-Nashiri has already been convicted and sentenced to death [JURIST report] after a trial in absentia in Yemen [CIA backgrounder], the site of the USS Cole attack. He is one of the 14 "high value" detainees [DNI profiles, PDF] moved from secret overseas CIA prisons [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks violated federal rules against sharing non-public endangered species information with private industry groups, according to an investigative report released Thursday. Julie MacDonald, who joined the Bush administration in 2002, admitted that she gave internal US Interior Department [official website] and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] information to private groups including the Pacific Legal Foundation and the California Farm Bureau Federation [advocacy websites]. The investigation into MacDonald's activities also uncovered two emails that she sent to individuals with e-mail addresses ending in "chevrontexaco.com."

US Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney [official profile] conducted the investigation into MacDonald's activities and documented comments by other US Interior Department officials who characterized MacDonald as favoring developers by "manipulating science" in an effort to meet her policy goals as a political appointee. US Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) [official website], chairman of the US House Natural Resources Committee [official website], officially released Devaney's report and said he plans to conduct a hearing in May to address concerns "on whether politics is infiltrating decisions" by governmental officials on environmental issues. AP has more.

[JURIST] A ground-breaking UN disabilities rights treaty [JURIST news archive] opened for signature [UN press release] Friday. The treaty would protect the 650 million persons living with disabilities worldwide [UN fact sheet] and is expected to be signed by more than 70 countries. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [official website; text] holds that all disabled people should be treated as full-fledged citizens and completely integrated into society. To come into force the Convention requires 20 state parties or countries to ratify the pact. Jamaica is set to be the first country to ratify the treaty, expected to pass by the end of 2007.

The treaty also includes an Optional Protocol [Protocol text], which is expected to be signed by 40 countries. The Protocol grants individuals the right to petition a committee of experts for violations of the Convention after all national procedures have been exhausted. UN News Centre has more.

[JURIST] Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) [official profile] said Friday he plans to reverse the restrictions placed on stem cell research by former governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney [official profile; JURIST news archive]. Patrick emphasized during a meeting with the state Life Sciences Collaborative that "life sciences should be guided by science, not ideological politics."

He also announced his intention to ask the Massachusetts Public Health Council [official website] to revisit the stem cell policy it approved last August. The 2005 stem cell law [bill text], which banned embryo farming and prohibited district attorneys from charging scientists who conducted embryonic stem cell research, was vetoed by the former governor [JURIST report]. Romney's subsequent restrictions placed additional limits on embryo research. Patrick said reversing Romney's stem cell limitations will restore the legislature's intent. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council [official website] passed a resolution Friday calling on Sudan [JURIST news archive] to allow a group of rights experts to visit the region of Darfur [JURIST news archive], but did not actually criticize the Sudanese government for the atrocities occurring there. The resolution passed by consensus without a vote by the 47-nation council after Germany agreed to delete language holding the Sudanese government responsible for attacks on civilians, widespread violence, and the destruction of villages. The council noted receipt of a report [text; JURIST report] blaming the government for the situation in Darfur, but did not officially accept the report's findings in the resolution.

While the resolution did not criticize Sudan's government for previously refusing to issue visas [JURIST report] to the report's authors, led by Nobel peace laureate Jody Williams [Nobel Foundation profile], it calls on the government to allow another group to visit the Darfur region. Khartoum refused to issue visas to the prior group because it claimed one of the experts was biased, but said it would cooperate with the new investigation. Since civil war broke out in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003, over 200,000 people have died there. AP has more.

[JURIST] New US Defense Secretary Robert Gates [official profile] said Thursday that the White House and Congress should collaborate to close the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] by transferring the more dangerous detainees elsewhere. Gates told the US House Defense Appropriations Committee [official website] that less than 100 of the 385 total prisoners held at Guantanamo are considered "hard-core" threats to the US. Legislators agreed the prison camp harms US credibility with international allies, but asked Gates to gather more information on the possibility of moving the more dangerous prisoners to military prisons over the long term. Shortly after taking office Gates privately argued [JURIST report] that the Guantanamo Bay prison should be shut down, but his proposal was rejected by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney, and ultimately by the President himself.

Gates' comments coincided with the release of a transcript [PDF text] documenting a hearing involving Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi [GlobalSecurity profile], who has admitted to receiving thousands of dollars from 9/11 hijackers shortly before the attacks. He was allegedly one of two main facilitators who assisted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] in managing the finances of the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Hawsawi is being investigated by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD backgrounder] as one of 14 "high-value" Guantanamo detainees to determine if they should be tried [JURIST report] for war crimes as enemy combatants [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The judge presiding over the military commission [JURIST news archive] for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive] said Friday that Hicks would be be subject to a maximum seven-year prison sentence under the terms of his plea bargain. The judge's comments came the day after the chief prosecutor in the case, USAF Col. Morris Davis [official profile, PDF], said that that he was planning to ask for a sentence "substantially less" than 20 years [AP report]. Hicks was due in court Friday to enter his guilty plea [JURIST report] under oath, which requires him to confess to specific instances of providing support for al Qaeda. He is expected to serve his sentence in Australia [JURIST report].

Davis had indicated earlier that he planned to seek a sentence of 20 years for Hicks, and would possibly consider the five years Hicks has already been detained as time served toward the total sentence. Hicks pleaded guilty Monday to a charge [JURIST report] of supporting terrorism following the unexpected disqualification of two of his three lawyers. Australian Greens leader Bob Brown [personal website] compared the military commission process to show trials conducted in the former Soviet Union [press release]. Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] has said that the tribunal was "fundamentally flawed" [press release]. Hicks is the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried [JURIST report] under the new Military Commissions Act [text, PDF]. AP has more.

11:28 AM ET - AP is reporting that the military judge has now formally convicted Hicks of providing material support for terrorism.

[JURIST] Thailand Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont [BBC profile; official website] declined a request to declare a state of emergency in Bangkok Friday, although he said he had not ruled out the possibility of doing so in the future. Military officials had sought the declaration to crack down on critics of the interim government; emergency powers would have allowed the government to ban public gatherings, impose curfews and censor the local media. Surayud also hinted for the first time that general elections will occur in December and a referendum on the new constitution [JURIST news archive] will be held no later than September. Thailand [JURIST news archive] is presently governed by an interim constitution [JURIST report] imposed by military leaders. Anti-coup protesters have hosted rallies against the coup and increased pressure on the interim-government to restore democracy.

Surayad, a former career military officer, was appointed by Thai military generals in October of last year following the September 19 bloodless coup by the Royal Thai Army [JURIST report]. In October, one of the coup leaders admitted that Thai investigators were struggling to find evidence of corruption against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], the ostensible reason for Thaksin's overthrow. On Monday, criminal tax evasion charges were filed against Thaksin's wife [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] on Friday executed six Islamic militants convicted in the 2005 murders of two judges [JURIST report]. Authorities previously stated that the executions were scheduled to occur in April [JURIST report]. The six militants, members of the banned Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh [SATP backgrounders] who admitted attacking judges because they want to replace the secular legal system with Sharia law [CFR backgrounder], had unsuccessfully appealed for clemency from Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed [official profile] earlier this month after the Supreme Court [official website] rejected their appeal in November.

The Court had previously stayed the execution [JURIST report] of the militants, who were sentenced to die [JURIST report] by hanging in May 2006. Seven men were convicted for their role in the killings, but one remains at large. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court in Vietnam [JURIST news archive] sentenced dissident Catholic priest Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly [Amnesty backgrounder] to eight years' imprisonment Friday for distributing anti-government documents and communicating with foreign pro-democracy activists. Ly had been accused of "harming national security" by advocating boycotts of Vietnam's upcoming national assembly elections, creating unsanctioned political parties, and trying to unseat the government. Officials said that Ly had been plotting to join his Vietnam Progression Party [party website] with foreign activists. During the trial, Ly shouted slogans against the Communist Party of Vietnam [party website] and was removed from the courtroom. Ly also publicly acknowledged that he did produce political materials, but maintained that his actions were not criminal and that he would "continue to fight for democratic values" in Vietnam. The court also handed out sentences, ranging from five years' imprisonment to 18-month suspended sentence, to four other co-defendants, none of whom were represented by lawyers.

Ly, who spent 10 years in prison for his political activism, was granted amnesty in early 2005. On February 5, two human rights lawyers in Vietnam were arrested [JURIST report] after hosting a public discussion on human rights law. Pro-democracy groups in Vietnam have increasingly begun to work together, although the Vietnamese government has worked to keep news of the groups out of the press. Last year, the US and Vietnam ended a three-year suspension [JURIST report] on talks regarding human rights and religious freedoms [HRW backgrounder] in the country, which began when the US canceled the annual Human Rights Dialogue with the Government of Vietnam in 2003 due to a lack of progress on the issues. AP has more.