[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] Wednesday criticized Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps, and centers run by State Security Investigations (SSI). In a new report [text] the international human rights organization said:

Around 18,000 administrative detainees – people held without charge or trial under orders issued by the Interior Ministry – are languishing in Egypt’s jails in degrading and inhumane conditions. Torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detention, and grossly unfair trials before emergency and military courts have all been key features of Egypt’s 40-year state of emergency and counter-terrorism campaign. Some [detainees] have died as a result of torture.

[JURIST] Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko [official website; BBC profile; JURIST news archive] announced Wednesday that he would freeze his controversial April 2 decree [transcript of televised statement; decree text] ordering the dissoluton of parliament and new elections on May 27 in an attempt to end a constitutional confrontation with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile]. The freeze would allow parliament to continue operating, but early elections would be called on a date to be negotiated. Yanukovych, who had initially called on Yushchenko to cancel the decree, indicated on Wednesday that he would accept a compromise freeze. Yanukovych and other leaders of the Ukrainian parliament [official website] appealed to the Constitutional Court [JURIST report] last week after Yushchenko issued the decree. On Tuesday the Constitutional Court [official website] delayed a scheduled hearing on the decree's legality until April 17, claiming public threats against judges and political pressure impeded a scheduled hearing. Several judges also asked the state to provide them with bodyguards, and indirectly blamed Yushchenko for the pressure campaign.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych were fierce rivals in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election [JURIST report], and the two men have clashed over parliamentary attempts to expand the cabinet's power since Yushchenko reluctantly accepted Yanukovych as prime minister [JURIST reports] last June. Attempts to negotiate proved unsuccessful, and Yushchenko subsequently threatened to prosecute officials [JURIST reports] who disobeyed his decree. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate Wednesday approved the Stem Cell Enhancement Act of 2007 [S.5 materials] by a margin of 63-34 [roll call], despite a Tuesday warning from President Bush that he would veto the bill [PDF policy statement; JURIST report]. The House of Representatives is expected to adopt the Senate bill, which would subsidize stem cell research [JURIST news archive], in place of its own legislation in the coming weeks. Also on Tuesday, the Senate approved the HOPE Act [S.30 materials], a bill to fund studies on embryos incapable of further development, by a margin of 70-28 [roll call]. Bush had previously announced his support [PDF policy statement] for that measure. AP has more.

In July, Bush vetoed [JURIST report] the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 [PDF text; HR 810 summary], saying he would not provide federal funding for stem cell research because many consider the destruction of embryos to be murder [press briefing].

[JURIST] The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official website; BBC profile] on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the long list of Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] that Palestinian militants have demanded be freed in exchange for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit [Times backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Olmert and senior officials met Tuesday to discuss the list, which purportedly includes high-profile Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat [BBC profiles]. Saasat is the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [organization website], a radical group suspected of carrying out the 2001 assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister. Israel's Security Cabinet will discuss the list further this coming Sunday. Palestinian officials said President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] would meet with Olmert next week.

Shalit was captured in Gaza [JURIST report] last June, and his detention helped spark a 34-day conflict [JURIST news archive] in the region last summer. Palestinian militants have demanded the large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners from the beginning, but negotiations have not been successful to date. In November 2006, Olmert said that Israel was willing to release many Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in exchange for Shalit's freedom, including long-term Palestinian detainees. Israel says Shalit's release is a precondition to any serious peace conditions. AP has more.

[JURIST] Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] authorities announced Wednesday that opposition leader and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed [Wikipedia profile] has been charged with four counts of murder arising from the deaths of four protesters during political turmoil in October. In all, 46 people were charged following a murder investigation that was prompted by a complaint filed by the Jamaat Islami party [Wikipedia backgrounder], one of the four parties that supports Wajed's main political rival Khaleda Zia [Virtual Bangladesh profile]. Wajed's alleged role in the killings is unclear. AFP has more.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency January 11 [JURIST report] and later indefinitely postponed elections scheduled for January 22 after the collapse of a caretaker government in the face of violent protests over election procedures. In the wake of the emergency declaration Bangladeshi authorities detained over 2500 people and have raided the homes of several political leaders, making multiple arrests [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora [BBC profile] Wednesday sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking the UN to establish a tribunal [JURIST news archive] to investigate the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanon parliament sent the UN a similar petition [JURIST report] last week over the objections of the country's pro-Syria opposition. Parliament speaker Nabih Berri [Wikipedia profile], a Syrian ally and opposition leader, has refused to allow a parliamentary vote on the tribunal until the idea is approved by President Emile Lahoud [official website], another pro-Syria politician. The President and the opposition say they agree to the tribunal in principle, but insist that some might use the investigation for what they term "political ends."

The UN tribunal proposal was approved [JURIST report] last November by a divided cabinet, but Lahoud has refused [JURIST report] to sign off on it. Ban said last week that it is too soon to establish a tribunal by UN Security Council mandate. Instead, he hopes to build a consensus within the Lebanese government. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A US military Special Operations Command [official website] company will be investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) [official website] for using "excessive force" during a March 4 incident [US Central Command press release] in Afghanistan, an anonymous defense official told AP Wednesday. A US military commander referred the case to the NCIS after his own investigation revealed that the Marines may have fired on Afghani civilians after a bomb-rigged truck was driven into a Marine convoy in the Nangahar province. At least 12 civilians may have died in the aftermath, though a US military spokesperson said several of the casualties may be attributed to gunshots fired by the attackers.

Afghanistan is conducting an independent probe into the incident. Army Maj. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III, the investigating officer, began the investigation after pulling the 120 Marine convoy out of Afghanistan. AP has more.

[JURIST] Cuban President Fidel Castro [official profile] issued a statement [text] Tuesday condemning a US district court ruling freeing an anti-Castro militant on bail [JURIST report] prior to his May 11 trial on charges that he lied in his attempt to become a US citizen. Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; additional materials; JURIST news archive] is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for allegedly plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder; additional materials] in which 73 Cuban nationals were killed. Carriles is now awaiting trial [JURIST report] after his 2005 arrest [JURIST report] in Texas on illegal immigration charges. The ailing Cuban leader said in a text distributed by the Cuban Foreign Ministry:

The instructions for the verdict issued by Judge Kathleen Cardone, of the El Paso Federal Court last Friday, granting Luis Posada Carriles freedom on bail, could only have come from the White House.

It was President Bush himself who ignored at all times the criminal and terrorist nature of the defendant who was protected with a simple accusation of immigration violation leveled at him. The reply is brutal. The government of the United States and its most representative institutions had already decided to release the monster.

[JURIST] John M. "Mike" McConnell [official profile], who succeeded John Negroponte as US Director of National Intelligence in February, is reportedly circulating proposed amendments to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text] to respond to FISA's perceived inflexibility and inability to respond to the threat of terrorism. The proposed amendments, released ahead of a Senate Intelligence Committee [official website] hearing on the issue scheduled for April 17, were foreshadowed by a speech delivered by McConnell [JURIST report] last week, where he noted that "the terrorists that came here and operated here prior to 9/11, so long as they were here legally and so long as they did not break the law, they were mostly invisible to us." AP is reporting that the proposed changes would include:

• monitoring foreign nationals without approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [FJC backgrounder];
  
• revising the standards of proof required for intelligence organizations to obtain phone call and email information through FISC court orders;
  
• extending the validity of FISA surveillance warrants from 120 days to one year;
  
• granting phone companies civil immunity from privacy invasion lawsuits related to their cooperation with governmental terrorist surveillance programs; and
  
• extending from 72 hours to one week the time frame in which intelligence officers may conduct surveillance without a FISC court order in emergency situations.

[JURIST] Six Egyptian human rights organizations issued a report Tuesday alleging that only five percent of Egyptian citizens participated in last month's constitutional referendum [JURIST report], far lower than the 27 percent voting rate announced by Egyptian Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei, and that the vote was marred by fraud. Seventy-six percent of those casting ballots voted in favor of 34 amendments [JURIST report] to the country's constitution [text]. The vote was boycotted [JURIST report] by the country's main opposition party. The rights groups criticized not only the low voter turnout, but also raised fraud allegations of ballot stuffing and voter intimidation and said the substance of the amendments merely cements President Hosny Mubarak's hold on power and grants the police wide-ranging arrest powers, among other complaints.

President Mubarak [official profile; JURIST news archive] has defended the amendments [JURIST report] as necessary to "stop the exploitation of religion and illegal political power" in Egypt. AP has more.

[JURIST] Claims of clergy sex abuse [JURIST news archive] levied against the US Roman Catholic Church decreased for the second year in a row and recent cases involving claimants under age 18 have dropped significantly, according to an annual report [PDF text; press release] released Wednesday by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops [official website]. The survey, compiled by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University [official website], cites figures from nearly all 195 dioceses in the US and reports that claims dropped from 1,092 in 2004 to 783 in 2005 [JURIST report] to 714 in 2006, only 17 of which were from people under 18. Money spent by the dioceses and religious orders on support, settlements and litigation fees also dropped from $467 million to $399 million last year.

The report measures the US dioceses' compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People [text], drafted in 2002 in response to widespread reports of sexual abuse committed by clergymen. The report, however, has been criticized since an accompanying independent audit included only 11 full, on-site visits to US dioceses and no reviews of personnel files. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Washington State House of Representatives [official website] on Tuesday approved a domestic partnership bill (SB 5336) [PDF text; bill summary] by a vote of 63-35 that grants same-sex couples hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights when there is no will, and the power to authorize medical procedures, such as organ donation and autopsies. Although the legislation stops short of allowing same-sex couples to marry and affording additional rights that accompany marriage, it is a significant step toward the legalization of same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive]. The bill, passed by the Washington State Senate [JURIST report] in March, would establish a domestic partnership registry under which couples can qualify for certain rights if they share a home, are at least 18 years old, and they are not in a domestic partnership or marriage with another person. The legislation also allows heterosexual couples to qualify for domestic partnership status if at least one of the partners is over 62 years old. Opponents of the measure claim it erodes the institution of marriage, but the bill's supporters stressed the importance of granting equal rights to same-sex couples. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire [official website] is expected to sign the measure into law.

Last year Washington passed a landmark gay civil rights act [JURIST report] sponsored by openly gay Sen. Ed Murray (D) [official website], which rewrote Washington's Civil Rights Act to include the phrase "sexual orientation" among the classes of people protected from discrimination in housing, lending, and employment. Murray also sponsored the domestic partnership bill. AP has more. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has local coverage.

[JURIST] Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signed off on legislation [SB 634 materials] Tuesday that will award Maryland's ten votes in the US Electoral College [NARA materials] to the national popular vote winner in presidential elections, instead of the recipient of the most votes in Maryland. The legislation will only take effect, however, if a majority of the states representing the total 538 electoral votes adopt similar laws. The bill's sponsor, state Senator Jamie Raskin, told AP that the move to a popular vote system "will reawaken politics in every part of the country," even Maryland, a state presidential candidates usually sidestep because of the belief that it will always vote for the Democratic candidate.

The Maryland Senate [General Assembly website] passed the measure [JURIST report] in March by a vote of 29-17. Other states are also considering the plan as a way to avoid a situation where a candidate wins the popular vote but loses the election, as happened with Democrat Al Gore in 2000. AP has more.