[JURIST] At least eleven people have reportedly died and several dozen others have sustained injuries in Pakistan [JURIST news archive] in conjunction with a Saturday rally in Karachi in support of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive]. Activists had gathered to protest the decision of President Pervez Musharraf [official website] to suspend Chaudhry amid ongoing violence in the country. AP has more.

Chaudhry was technically made "non-functional" [JURIST report] by a March 9 order of Musharraf. No specifics were provided at the time of his suspension but documents subsequently disclosed [JURIST report] suggest he was officially removed on suspicion of misusing his influence to get his son jobs and promotions. Lawyers and opposition leaders critical of the move consider the suspension an assault on the independence of the country's judiciary and an indirect bid by Musharraf to continue his eight-year rule in an election year. Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) began an inquiry into Chaudhry's alleged misconduct, but the investigation was suspended [JURIST report] Monday after Chaudhry appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the SJC lacked competence to try him. The Supreme Court Tuesday created a special panel of judges [JURIST report] to hear the challenge.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] Friday withdrew one of its proposals for tightened restrictions [proposed protective order, PDF] on contact between lawyers and their clients at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] outlined [JURIST report] in an earlier DOJ filing with the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Backtracking on a three-visit cap between detainees [JURIST news archive] and their lawyers, DOJ lawyers said they continue to endorse other proposed restrictions including allowing lawyers to visit a detainee only once in order to obtain authorization for legal representation and subjecting mail sent to detainees by their lawyers to review by intelligence officers and military lawyers not involved in the prosecution of a particular detainee's case.

The controversial attorney-client restriction proposals drafted late late summer after the first Guantanamo suicides were advanced in the case involving Afghan detainee Haji Bismullah [Wikipedia profile]. The DOJ proposal [motion, PDF; brief, PDF] drew immediate criticism from lawyers representing detainees and from the American Bar Association [JURIST report]. Last week, Rear Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, said he supports so-called "habeas visits" of lawyers with detainees at the facility and no longer considers the proposed visit restrictions necessary [JURIST report]. The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] has scheduled arguments for Tuesday in Bismullah's case. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Poland's Constitutional Tribunal [official website] Friday struck down portions of the country's so-called Lustration Law [RFE backgrounder; BI backgrounder on "lustration" generally] passed in October 2006 requiring over 700,000 Polish professionals - academics [IPN announcement], journalists, lawyers, diplomats and managers of state-owned companies - to file affidavits swearing they they never co-operated with the country's Communist-era secret police. The high court ruled that the government of Poland [JURIST news archive] can neither require citizens to make such declarations nor publish a list of alleged Soviet collaborators. Poland was governed by a Soviet-installed Communist regime from 1945-1989 [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Polish President Lech Kaczynski [official website] had advocated for the Lustration Law and said "the issue is not closed" Friday after the court's ruling. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski [official profile], the president's twin brother, said Thursday that the judges of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal [profiles] could be charged [JURIST report] if they acted improperly in ruling on the legality of the law. AP has more.