[JURIST] Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart [official profile] concluded an investigation [press release; official report] Monday into the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) [official website], finding that the European financial cooperative did not violate Canadian privacy laws [fact sheet] by post-September 11 information-sharing with the US Department of the Treasury [official website]. SWIFT was alleged to have illegally disclosed personal information of some customers of Canadian financial institutions in violation of Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) [text]. Stoddart found that while SWIFT was subject to the terms of PIPEDA, it

did not contravene the Act when it complied with lawful subpoenas served outside the country and disclosed personal information about Canadians to foreign authorities.

[JURIST] New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson [official website] signed into law the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act [Senate Bill 523 text and history] Monday, legalizing medical marijuana [JURIST news archive] in the treatment of certain "eligible conditions and symptoms." Eligible conditions include chronic or debilitating diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and glaucoma. The New Mexico Department of Health [official website] will establish regulations for licensing, production, and distribution, to be monitored by a panel of eight health care professionals. New Mexico Business Weekly has more.

About a dozen US states permit the use of medical marijuana. The US Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich [opinion text; Duke Law case backgrounder] upheld Congress's power to criminalize the growth and personal use of marijuana for medical purposes.

[JURIST] A federal judge on Monday granted former Enron [corporate website; JURIST news archive] vice president Christopher Calger's request to withdraw his July 2005 guilty plea [US DOJ press release] to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The case against Calger was based on the same legal theory that was rejected [JURIST report] in August 2006 by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website]. In that case, the convictions of four former Merrill Lynch [corporate website] executives were overturned when the court found that the executives had acted for the benefit of Enron and not to benefit themselves personally. Calger withdrew his plea under the parallel assertion that the government's theory of fraud relating to the deprivation of honest services is flawed, as he did not personally profit.

Calger faced up to five years in prison under his guilty plea; the government still has the right to re-prosecute the issue. Calger is the second individual to withdraw a guilty plea in the Enron scandal; former Arthur Andersen [corporate website] accountant David Duncan withdrew a plea in December 2005 after the US Supreme Court overturned Anderson's obstruction of justice conviction [JURIST report]. Bloomberg has more. The Houston Chronicle has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A military court in Jordan [JURIST news archive] handed down sentences Monday for six men charged with planning suicide bombings at Queen Alia International Airport [airport website] in Amman and several hotels frequented by Israelis and Americans. None of the defendants are Jordanian citizens and three were tried in absentia and remain at large. Five of the defendants, including leader Mohammed al-Darsi, were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor for their involvement in the planned attacks, while the sixth man was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for his conviction on weapons charges. The court found a seventh man not guilty for lack of evidence. According to the indictment, the defendants possessed extremely powerful explosives that they first planned to detonate in hotels hosting tourists, but later planned to use in the Amman airport arrivals terminal.

The men were convicted under Jordan's controversial 2006 anti-terrorism act [JURIST report], which was passed by Jordan's National Assembly [official website] following a series of 2005 deadly hotel bombings in Amman [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Opposition parties have said the law is tantamount to "martial law" [JURIST report], and a top UN official has encouraged the Jordanian authorities to revisit the legislation [JURIST report] to address rights issues. AP has more.

[JURIST] Italian Judge Renato La Viola ordered an investigation into the actions of Dr. Mario Riccio, the anaesthetist turned off life support for Piergiorgio Welby [advocacy website profile, in Italian], a man who suffered from muscular dystrophy and sought the right to die by euthanasia, according to statements Riccio made to Reuters Monday. Italian prosecutors declined to initiate proceedings against Riccio after completing their own probe into Welby's death [JURIST report], determining that Riccio acted legally [JURIST report] since the Italian constitution [text] affords citizens the right to refuse medical treatment. Euthanasia is illegal in Italy and La Viola will interrogate Riccio in the next 40 days on whether his actions constituted valid refusal of treatment or euthanasia. La Viola has called Riccio a suspect in a consensual murder. If indicted, Riccio could face six to fifteen years' imprisonment.

Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga publicly urged prosecutors to consider Riccio a murder suspect and the Roman Catholic Church has condemned Riccio's actions; however, patients' rights groups, such as Associazione Lucacoscioni [advocacy website, in Italian], stand behind Riccio's actions. Italy's constitutional right to refuse medical treatment, which was recognized [BBC report] in the weeks before Welby's death by a Rome judge, contradicts the Italian medical code, which requires doctors to keep patients alive. The judge said no Italian law can require a doctor to take affirmative measures to end a patient's life, and urged legislators to remedy the contradiction in the constitution and the medical code. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The president of Kyrgyzstan [JURIST news archive] said Monday that the government will begin steps to amend the Kyrgyz constitution. At a meeting with government officials, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [BBC profile] announced the formation of a working group for amendment drafting, and indicated that members of different political parties and officials from throughout the government will be included in the drafting process. Bakiyev's call for constitutional reform comes after his opposition demanded that changes be made.

In January, Bakiyev approved initial constitutional amendments [JURIST report] that would return key powers to the presidency, including the right to appoint cabinet members. Those amendments seemed to contradict a compromise [JURIST report] reached in November that led to the adoption of a new constitution [JURIST report] restricting presidential authority. Itar-Tass has more.

[JURIST] The Moscow City Court upheld a city ban on gay pride parades [JURIST report] in the city on Monday, dismissing an extraordinary appeal by parade organizers challenging a ruling by the Tverskoy district court. Organizers say they are prepared to appeal to the Russian Supreme Court [official website, in Russian], and believe that the high court will be "more objective" in its decision. The parade is currently scheduled for May 27; a valid application for permission to hold the parade due two weeks in advance.

The parade organizers announced in February that they were considering filing a lawsuit against the Moscow city government [official website, in Russian] with the European Court of Human Rights [official website]. In 2006 the parade was held despite a ban upheld by the Moscow Court [JURIST report] and ended in violence when approximately 100 religious and nationalist extremists attacked [Washington Post report] the gay rights activists. Additionally, approximately 200 gay rights supporters were arrested for defying the ban. Another Moscow court ruled in August that bans on such parades are legal [JURIST report], citing safety concerns. MosNews has more. GayRussia.ru has local advocacy coverage.

[JURIST] The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] Monday upheld [ICTY press release] the 20-year prison sentence of former Bosnian Croat soldier Miroslav Bralo [ICTY case backgrounder], dismissing Bralo's appeal alleging the trial chamber failed to consider relevant facts. In its decision [text, PDF; summary], the Appeals Chamber held that Bralo was only repeating the same arguments already made at trial and thus failed to show that the Trial Chamber had made any discernible error.

Bralo was sentenced in 2005 to 20 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] to murder, rape and torture charges stemming from the 1993 Bosnian war [Wikipedia backgrounder]. He initially pleaded not guilty [JURIST report], but later changed his plea [plea agreement, PDF]. ICTY Judge Iain Bonomy [UN profile] said this move, along with Bralo's remorse and voluntary surrender to the war crimes tribunal, served as a mitigating factor reducing Bralo's sentence from a possible 25 years. Bralo belonged to a special Bosnian Croat force known as the Jokers that attacked Muslim villages in central Bosnia during the 1993 conflict and subsequently imprisoned and tortured civilians. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Durban High Court in South Africa [JURIST news archive] ruled [NPA press release] Monday that the country's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website] can seek the release of documents that may be used to file additional corruption charges against former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [party profile; JURIST news archive]. The court specifically granted the NPA's application to request original documents seized by authorities in Mauritius [government website]. NPA officials have reportedly already received copies, but not originals, of the requested documents.

Zuma's corruption trial ended abruptly [JURIST report] in September when the high court judge presiding over the case threw out the charges [JURIST report], saying prosecutors had failed to follow proper procedures. Prosecutors did retain the right to refile the charges against Zuma at a later date. Zuma may still run against South African President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile] in the 2009 presidential election. South Africa's Mail & Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] A divided US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] Monday denied petitions for certiorari [PDF text] in two cases brought by Guantanamo Bay detainees seeking habeas corpus review of their detentions. The petitions for certiorari came in the cases of Boumedienne v. Bush and al Odah v. United States, where the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in February upheld [PDF text; JURIST report] the habeas-stripping provision of the controversial Military Commissions Act [PDF text; JURIST news archive] as applied to "enemy combatants."

Four members of the Court must agree to accept a case, but only three - Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter - voted to grant certiorari and dissented [PDF text] from the Court's decision not to hear the appeal. Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, as well as Chief Justice John Roberts, voted to reject the appeals. Justices Anthony Kennedy and John Paul Stevens filed a separate statement [PDF text] in which they explained they were rejecting the appeals merely on procedural grounds. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Dutch prosecutors Monday sought to introduce documents from the ongoing genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] of Saddam-era Iraqi officials for the gassing deaths of Kurds in the so-called "Anfal" campaign [HRW backgrounder] to oppose an appeal [JURIST report] by a Dutch businessman convicted of selling chemicals used in the attacks. Frans Van Anraat [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was convicted last year of selling raw materials to Iraq that ultimately were used in the 1988 gas attack against Kurds in the town of Halabja [JURIST report] which killed 5,000 people. The Hague Appeals Court is considering two appeals - one by Anraat against his conviction of complicity in war crimes [JURIST report], and one by Dutch prosecutors appealing Anraat's acquittal of complicity in genocide.

Prosecutors sought to introduce a 1992 memo from special security forces of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] granting Anraat an Iraqi passport based on his "valuable services" to Iraq, which included providing "chemical and other rare materials." Anraat maintains that he was unaware that the chemicals would be used for anything other than industrial purposes. The Hague Appeals Court is expected to return a verdict in May. If Anraat's genocide acquittal is reversed, he could face up to 30 years in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority under the Clean Air Act [text; EPA materials] to regulate the emission of "greenhouse gases," such as carbon dioxide, by automobiles. In Massachusetts v. EPA [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], 12 states and several environmental groups sued the EPA arguing that the agency had, according to the court, "abdicated its responsibility under the Clean Air Act" to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The Court first agreed that the plaintiffs had standing to bring the lawsuit and went on to rule that "Because greenhouse gases fit well within the Clean Air Act's capacious definition of 'air pollutant,' we hold that EPA has the statutory authority to regulate the emission of such gases from new motor vehicles." The Court reversed and remanded the federal appeals court decision [PDF text], saying that the EPA improperly "offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change" and holding that the "EPA must ground its reasons for action or inaction in the statute." Read the Court's 5-4 opinion [text] per Justice Stevens, along with a dissent [text] from Chief Justice Roberts and a second dissent [text] from Justice Scalia. Reuters has more.

In a second decision handed down Monday, the Court ruled in Environmental Defense Fund v. Duke Energy Corp. [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] that the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit improperly interpreted Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) [EPA materials] regulations under the Clean Air Act. The appeals court ruled [PDF text] that the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to conform PSD regulations to their New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) [EPA materials] counterparts, and the Supreme Court held that "the Court of Appeals's reading of the 1980 PSD regulations, intended to align them with NSPS, was inconsistent with their terms and effectively invalidated them; any such result must be shown to comport with the Act's restrictions on judicial review of EPA regulations for validity." Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Souter, along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Thomas. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi prosecutors Monday sought the death penalty for Ali Hassan al-Majid [JURIST news archive; BBC profile], the cousin of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] known to Western media as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly using poisonous gas to clear Kurdish villages in the 1980s. Al-Majid is facing charges in a genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] based on the Saddam regime's involvement in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Kurds by using nerve agents and mustard gas during the so-called "Anfal" campaign [HRW backgrounder].

Al-Majid is now the leading defendant [JURIST report] in the trial following Saddam's execution [JURIST report] last year. He and five remaining were on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity; al-Majid is also individually charged with genocide as the mastermind behind the gassing. He has admitted in court [JURIST report] that he gave orders for the destruction and relocation of thousands of Kurds, but says the victims were guerrillas who sympathized with Iran during the Iran-Iraq war [Wikipedia backgrounder] in the 1980s. Reuters has more.

04/02/07 - Wire services say that prosecutors pressed for the hanging of four of the six defendants but urged the release of one for lack of evidence.

[JURIST] Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has submitted an application to be transferred to a prison near his home in South Australia to serve the remainder of his nine-month sentence [JURIST report] after pleading guilty [JURIST report] to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST report] last week. South Australia's Correctional Services Minister Carmel Zollo [official profile] said she was told about the application on Monday and will consider it under the International Transfer of Prisoners Act [text] when all paperwork has been received. The Australian government is awaiting formal documentation from US authorities to move Hicks from the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Once this information is received, the federal government can approach the state government in South Australia to move the process forward, including assessing security requirements and a potential control order [JURIST report].

Meanwhile, South Australian Premier Mike Rann [official profile] has been accused of hypocrisy by Australian Democrats for saying he wants an assurance from the federal government that the state will be safe when Hicks is finally released. Rann is being criticized because his South Australian Labor Party [party website] has been pressing for Hicks' return for the past five years and now that the process is moving forward, he is expressing concern over the issue. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani [official website] Sunday rejected a proposed law [JURIST report] which would return former Baath party [BBC backgrounder] members to their previously held government positions, according to Ahmed Chalabi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], head of the Supreme National Commission for de-Baathification [official website]. The draft law, which was introduced by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [official website, in Arabic; BBC profile] and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile] last month, would allow former members of Saddam Hussein's now-defunct Baath party to return to their government or military jobs or receive pensions if they are denied such jobs. Despite provisions in the proposal that would prevent reemployment of former Baathists who have been charged with, or are sought for, criminal activities, Shiite leaders oppose the draft law as being a "dangerous" undertaking to return former regime members to leadership positions in the government.

Supporters of the draft measure are looking for a way to reinstate [JURIST report] former Baath party members who say they joined due to professional reasons since Hussein only allowed university enrollment, career progression and specialized medical aide to those who were members of his party. Without approval by the Shiite religious leaders, the proposed law has little chance of being passed by the Iraqi National Assembly [official website] since Shiites currently hold 130 of the 275 parliamentary seats and often vote according to advice by their religious leaders. Some Kurds, who were also suppressed by Hussein's Baathist regime, oppose the draft law as well. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] Sunday rejected attempts by the Bush administration to move up the date that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] is scheduled to testify regarding his role in the firings of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive]. White House counselor Dan Bartlett [official profile] urged the US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] to push up Gonzales' testimony from April 17 to next week, but committee chairman Leahy said Gonzales himself chose the mid-April date after declining earlier offered dates, so the schedule would not be changed now.

Meanwhile, comments made by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) [official website] regarding Gonzales' inconsistent explanations of his involvement [JURIST report] in the firings did not resound with confidence in the attorney general. McConnell did not express his own backing of Gonzales, but said President Bush has confidence in Gonzales "at the moment." AP has more.