[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] Wednesday approved [UN News report] a resolution to establish an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate and try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri [JURIST news archive]. The move passed in a 10-0 vote, with China, Russia, Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa abstaining; nine votes were required for passage. The abstaining nations objected in part to the resolution's establishment under Chapter VII of the UN Charter [text], which allows for military enforcement if necessary. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora [BBC profile] earlier this month sent a letter [JURIST report] to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] formally requesting that the UN unilaterally establish the tribunal, as "all possible means" to ratify an agreement to set up the tribunal had failed within the Lebanese parliament; Ban supported Siniora's position despite a preference for Lebanese ratification. The five abstaining nations also voiced reluctance to encroach on Lebanon's sovereignty by ratifying the tribunal agreement on its behalf. Unless first ratified by the Lebanese parliament, the tribunal agreement reached between UN negotiators and Siniora will come into force on June 10. AP has more.

The controversial proposal, supported by Siniora but opposed [JURIST comment] by pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [official profile], has been a source of major disagreement in Lebanon's deeply sectarian political arena. Pro-Syrian speaker of the National Assembly Nabih Berri [official profile] opposes the Hariri tribunal and has refused to convene the National Assembly to prevent ratification. Lahoud responded to Siniora's letter by saying his appeal to the Security Council "would imply a full bypass of the constitutional mechanisms in Lebanon" and would "hamper the court's judicial capacities to hold an impartial trial."

[JURIST] The Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility [official websites] of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have expanded internal investigations [JURIST report] into whether politics played a role in hiring decisions within the department, the DOJ confirmed in a letter [PDF text] sent Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The announcement comes on the heels of last week's testimony [JURIST report] from former DOJ aide Monica Goodling [JURIST news archive] before the House Judiciary Committee on the controversial firings of US attorneys [JURIST news archive]. According to the letter, the DOJ's internal probe will now investigate allegations of improperly politicized hiring decisions of career employees, including members of its Honors Program, Summer Law Intern Program, and Civil Rights Division. Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) applauded [press release] the move as further means to probe the DOJ's "crisis of leadership" which allowed "unprecedented and improper reach of politics into the Department’s professional ranks." Reuters has more.

On May 23 testimony, Goodling contradicted March claims by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [JURIST news archive] that he "was not involved in any discussions" about the firings. She testified that previous Senate Judiciary Committee testimony [JURIST report] by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty was "incomplete or inaccurate in a number of respects" and also admitted to considering applicants based on their politics in violation of federal law. In mid-June, the Senate will debate a resolution of no-confidence [JURIST report] in Gonzales, which ranking Republican Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) believes will be joined by a "sizable number" of Republican members of Congress [JURIST report].

[JURIST] US federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment [press release, PDF] Wednesday charging four current and former partners of "Big-Four" [Wikipedia backgrounder] accounting firm Ernst & Young [corporate website] with tax fraud. The indictment alleges that the defendants created tax shelters through development of "false and fraudulent factual scenarios", and marketed them to individuals with taxable income generally exceeding $10-20 million. The four are charged with a number of violations, including conspiring to defraud the IRS, tax evasion, making false statements, and impeding and impairing the lawful functioning of the IRS. Prosecutors decided against bringing criminal charges against Ernst & Young itself.

Lawyers for the two present Ernst & Young partners, Richard Shapiro and Martin Nissenbaum, said in statements that their clients had not engaged in any wrongdoing, and were cooperating with authorities. Lawyers for former partners Robert Coplan and Brian Vaughn have not yet commented on the case. Reuters has more. The International Herald Tribune has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the US Marine battalion that was accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] in November 2005, went before a military Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder] Wednesday that will determine if he will face a court-martial for charges of dereliction of duty and violating a lawful order. Viewing the aftermath of the attack, Chessani said he did not order an immediate investigation into the deaths because he did not suspect any wrongdoing [JURIST report]. If convicted, Chessani could be sentenced to three years in prison.

Earlier this month, a Marine sergeant who was responsible for casualty reports for the Marine company testified at another Article 32 proceeding that officers ignored his calls to investigate the incident [JURIST report], telling him not to worry about it. Marine lawyer Capt. Randy Stone, also charged with dereliction of duty, has also said that he did not suspect wrongdoing [JURIST report] in the aftermath of the killings. Two other officers have been charged with dereliction for the same reason, and an additional three Marines have been charged with unpremeditated murder. An official report on the incident by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell found "serious misconduct" [JURIST report] on all levels of the US Marine Corps chain of command in connection with the killings. AP has more.

[JURIST] Chief Justice Tulay Tugcu [official profile, in Turkish] of Turkey's Constitutional Court [official website] asked prosecutors Wednesday to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile] for televised comments made Tuesday that Tugcu believes may violate laws against insulting state institutions. During a televised interview on Tuesday, Erdogan called the court's May 1 decision to cancel a presidential vote [JURIST report] for lack of quorum a "disgrace to the justice system." Tugcu said she believed the remarks demonstrated an increasing lack of respect for Turkey's high court. Despite her concerns, Erdogan is unlikely to be prosecuted because parliament, where Erdogan's supporters hold a majority of seats, would first have to vote to revoke his immunity before charges could be brought.

This is not the first time that Erdogan has been questioned for apparent hostility to the Turkish court in connection with its presidential election ruling. He has been under investigation by Turkey's Office of the General Prosecutor [JURIST report] following a lawyer's complaint about another comment made shortly after the court's May 1 decision, where he characterized the ruling as a "bullet aimed at democracy" [JURIST report] and urged the passage of constitutional amendments that would allow for the direct election of the president. Parliament passed those constitutional amendments [JURIST report], but Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer [official profile] ultimately vetoed them [JURIST report] last week. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A Kuwaiti appeals court upheld the acquittal of two former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees Tuesday, agreeing with a lower court that there was insufficient evidence to convict [JURIST report]. The two men, Omar Rajab Amin and Abdullah Kamel al-Kundari [Project Kuwaiti Freedom profiles], spent almost five years in Guantanamo Bay before being repatriated [JURIST report] to Kuwait last September. There they were charged with endangering the emirate's ties to friendly nations by joining al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Amin and al-Kundari both denied the charges, saying they were in Afghanistan to do charity work. The prosecutor has not yet announced if he will appeal the court's ruling to Kuwait's court of cassation [POGAR backgrounder], whose decision is final. Amin and al-Kundari have been free since the March lower court decision. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [press release] in the US District Court for the Northern District of California Wednesday against San Jose-based Boeing [corporate website] subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan [corporate website], alleging that the airline service provider knowingly supported direct flights to secret CIA prisons, facilitating the torture and mistreatment of US detainees. The ACLU alleges that Jeppesen played a key role in the extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] flights by providing a number of vital services including itinerary, route, weather, and fuel planning, as well as obtaining over-flight and landing permits from foreign governments. The ACLU is representing three men who were subjected to the CIA flights: Binyam Muhammad, currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], Abou Elkassim Britel, currently in a Moroccan prison, and Ahmed Agiza, currently in an Egyptian prison.

Binyam Muhammad initially said that he was tortured [JURIST report] in 2005, citing abuse in Pakistan, Morocco, and Afghanistan before his transfer to Guantanamo Bay. He reiterated his claims last year [JURIST report] at a pre-trial appearance before a US military commission, and said that his confession to conspiring to use a "dirty bomb" against the US was the result of Moroccan torture [JURIST report]. The ACLU lawsuit is being brought under the Alien Tort Statute [28 USC 1350 text], which allows civil actions by aliens for torts "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States". AP has more.

[JURIST] The Constitutional Court of the Kingdom of Thailand [official website, in Thai] ordered the dissolution of the political party Thai Rak Thai (TRT) [party website] Wednesday after finding that it committed electoral fraud [JURIST report] during last year's annulled elections in violation of national law. The ruling also bars former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile] and 110 other party officials from holding any political office for five years. Party members were found guilty of bribing smaller political parties in an attempt to influence the outcome of the election.

In the same ruling, the court held that the rival Democratic Party [party websites, in Thai] should not be dissolved after finding it not guilty on similar charges of electoral fraud. The court held that the party neither slandered Thaksin, nor bribed smaller parties to influence poll results. In preparation for a potential backlash resulting from the decision, 15,000 Thai troops were deployed [AFP report] Tuesday throughout the country.

The trial against TRT began in January [JURIST report] for allegedly misusing the independent election commission and illegally paying smaller parties to run candidates against it to satisfy minimum vote requirements. In October, Thai Army Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin [BBC profile], who led the September military coup [JURIST report] against Thaksin, admitted that investigators were struggling to find evidence of corruption [JURIST report] during Thaksin's tenure. Despite this, Sonthi stated that Thaksin would not yet be allowed to return. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Serbia's Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor [official website] Tuesday confirmed an ongoing investigation conducted in cooperation with Croatian authorities against 12 former Serb paramilitary members for their alleged role in the "torture, inhuman treatment, and killing of 70 civilians" in the Croatian town of Lovas. The prosecutor's statement followed a report that Serbian police had arrested seven former Serb paramilitaries in connection with the October 1991 Lovas Massacre [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Serbia [JURIST news archive] has come under increased international pressure from the European Union (UN) [official website] and the United States to prosecute war criminals and arrest war crimes fugitives. On May 15, the chief war crimes prosecutor of Serbia told reporters that the search [JURIST report] for former Bosnian Serb military chief and UN-indicted war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] "has not stopped for even a moment" and hinted at progress following statements by the EU that EU-Serbia pre-membership negotiations could resume depending on Serbia's commitment to bring war crimes suspects to justice. The negotiations were suspended in May 2005 due to the EU's perception that Serbia was failing to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate [official website] released a report [PDF text; press release] Tuesday detailing cases of abuse of New Jersey's eminent domain [JURIST news archive] laws, which the report criticized for being giving "overbroad statutory authority" that allowed the government to take "homes and businesses without meeting the basic principles of fairness enshrined in the New Jersey Constitution." The report cited specific instances of "bogus blight," including one in which a the Long Beach city planners declared an entire neighborhood to be "obsolescent" and "underutilized" based on one city inspector's finding that three homes in the neighborhood were in "poor" condition. The report also described instances of "due process deprivations," in which property owners were not informed that their property may be condemned or were denied a "fair hearing." The Department also found "potential conflicts of interest" with public officials standing to benefit from redevelopment projects being pursued.

This latest report by the Department of the Public Advocate is a follow up to a report [PDF text] released last year. The previous report recommended that legislators enact laws that

tighten the definition of 'blighted-area'; make the process for utilizing eminent domain powers more fair, open and transparent; and require compensation at a level that allows people to remain their own communities.

[JURIST] Former FBI Director William S. Sessions [official profile] Wednesday applauded recent efforts to extend DNA testing, especially for the benefit of prisoners facing the death penalty. In a JURIST op-ed, Sessions said that a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) [official website; JURIST news archive] to expand New York's DNA database and an Ohio Supreme Court decision [PDF text] limiting prosecutorial discretion over post-conviction DNA testing of inmates were "necessary and overdue efforts to protect public safety while pursuing meaningful justice." Sessions recalled an early investigation into the use of DNA evidence performed by the FBI in 1988:

The results of those first 100 tests astonished me. In thirty percent of cases the DNA gathered during the investigation did not match the DNA of the suspect. In three out of ten cases not only did we have the wrong person, but the guilty person was still at large. In capital cases the stakes were unnervingly high: the prospect of executing an innocent person was only slightly more appalling than the prospect of murderers and rapists walking free, unidentified and dangerous.

The statistics today are roughly the same as they were 19 years ago. In approximately 25 percent of cases the genetic evidence recovered during an investigation does not match the DNA of the suspect. Oftentimes this discrepancy is discovered before irreparable harm is done to either the investigation or the suspect; however, too often we learn of our mistake only after time, money, and sometimes lives have been wasted on empty pursuits.

Reviews of state capital punishment systems have been ordered from the bench and governors’ mansions around the country, and with good reason...The delivery of justice also requires competent, well-trained, well-resourced lawyers for defendants in death penalty cases while simultaneously reserving capital punishment for only the most heinous of crimes.

[JURIST] Russia's Office of the Prosecutor-General [official website, in Russian] Wednesday dismissed suggestions by a Russian lawmaker that Andrei Lugovoy [JURIST news archive], currently sought by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CRS) [official website] for the poisoning murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko [BBC profile; BBC timeline], could be extradited to the UK in exchange for Russian billionaire and alleged coup plotter Boris Berezovsky [JURIST news archive], now living in the UK. The Russian government has thusfar refused to extradite Lugovoy on the grounds that Russia's constitution forbids the extradition of its citizens [MFA statement] for alleged crimes committed abroad. Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has said he will try Lugovoy in Russian courts if presented with ample evidence of guilt.

Last Tuesday, the CRS announced it had found sufficient evidence to charge [press release; JURIST report] Lugovoy with murder, and on Tuesday the United Kingdom formally requested Lugovoy's extradition [JURIST report]. Litvinenko and Lugovoy, both former employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) [official website, in Russian], the successor body to the KGB, met on November 1, 2006, hours before Litvinenko fell ill to radioactive poisoning from polonium-210 [CDC backgrounder]. The request for Lugovoy's extradition comes at a period of increasingly tense relations between the United Kingdom and Russia [JURIST news archives]. In April, a Russian lawmaker repeated calls for the United Kingdom to end its grant of political asylum [JURIST report] for Berezovsky. AP has more.

[JURIST] Suspended Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] Tuesday released to reporters a signed affidavit he had filed with the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] detailing how he was detained last March against his will and personally pressured to resign his post by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website] and other military leaders. The affidavit alleges that Musharraf and other officers were in military uniform while they questioned Chaudhry and told him that if he resigned they would "accommodate him." According to the affidavit, Chaudhry told Musharraf that "I have not violated any code of conduct or any law, rule or regulation; I believe that I am myself the guardian of law."

Supreme Court Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said in court Tuesday that the panel of high court judges considering a petition by Chaudhry protesting his suspension would not be influenced by post-judgment possibilities [JURIST report] and would decide the case "on merit." Many Pakistani lawyers and opposition leaders believe Chaudhry's suspension was a bid by Musharraf to undermine judicial independence and continue his eight-year rule in an election year. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith [official profile] Tuesday denied allegations published in The Independent that he advised Army officials to deny UK detainees in Iraq legal protections [Independent report] guaranteed under the Human Rights Act of 1998 (HRA) [text; JURIST news archive] and instead adopt a "pragmatic" approach adhering to the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] when handling detainees. In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Goldsmith characterized the allegations as "ridiculous," but refused to publish his office's advice to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The judicial panel of the House of Lords [official website] is set to rule later this year on whether the Human Rights Act applies in Iraq or is limited to within Britain's territorial jurisdiction. The government is appealing a December 2005 decision by the Court of Appeal that the Human Rights Act should apply to British soldiers overseas [JURIST report]. Goldsmith has argued that the Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) [text], does not apply to British forces operating in Iraq because the United Kingdom does not have full control of Iraq and therefore Iraq was not within the United Kingdom's jurisdiction. MOD has previously argued that the HRA was intended to protect European citizens, not Iraqis, and that applying the HRA in a combat zone would harmfully restrict British soldiers. The Press Association has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for US Vice President Dick Cheney [official profile] instructed the Secret Service to destroy data on who visited his official residence at the Naval Observatory, saying that the information was protected by the Presidential Records Act [text], according to a letter [PDF text] included in a response filed Friday by the US Department of Justice to a lawsuit by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website]. CREW filed the suit seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited Cheney at the residence. Chief counsel for CREW has asserted that the destruction of the data was illegal, saying that the letter proves that "the administration has been...entering into secret agreements in violation of the law."

CREW filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in January seeking compliance with a CREW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to the destruction of White House visitor record logs kept by the Secret Service. In another case, US Justice Department lawyers asked [JURIST report] a federal appeals court in December to overturn an October district court ruling [PDF text] that ordered the Secret Service to release visitor logs [JURIST report] for the personal residence and office of Vice President Cheney in the context of a FOIA request made by the Washington Post during a probe of lobbying practices. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense will not release audio recordings of the March 9 Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) [DOD backgrounder] hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile] at Guantanamo Bay due to concerns that it could be used in terrorist propaganda, a military spokesperson said Tuesday. During his hearing Mohammed said he masterminded the 9/11 attacks [JURIST report; transcript, PDF] and claimed responsibility for 29 other planned terror attacks. DOD has released censored transcripts of the proceeding, editing out Mohammed's allegations that he was tortured while under CIA custody [HRW report]. Audio recordings from the CSRT hearings for several other detainees have been released [JURIST report].

Mohammed and 13 other top terror suspects [DNI profile, PDF] were given closed [JURIST report] CSRT hearings to determine if they qualified as "enemy combatants" [JURIST news archive] subject to indefinite US military detention. In March, several US senators issued a joint statement saying that Mohammed's claims of torture had to be "taken seriously and properly investigated" [JURIST report]. Approximately 385 detainees are currently held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. Pentagon officials say that they plan to try approximately 80 detainees under the framework created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text], and transfer another 80 detainees to other countries. The rest remain in legal limbo. AP has more.

[JURIST] A convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal who escaped from prison presents a threat to the security and judges of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website; HRW backgrounder; JURIST news archive] Meddzida Kreso, president of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Tuesday. Radovan Stankovic [case backgrounder; ICTY indictment, PDF], the first Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect transferred [JURIST report] from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] to the Bosnian court in 2005, escaped from the Foca prison last Friday. Kreso said that Stankovic sent death threats to court judges and prosecutors during his trial.

Stankovic was sentenced to 20 years [press release] for crimes against humanity for committing serial rape, enslavement, and torture of civilians for his role in the enslavement of nine Muslim women in 1992. Stankovic's escape is the latest blow to the creditability of Bosnia and Herzegovina's efforts to prosecute war criminals. Another convicted war criminal, Bosnian Croat Ante Jelavic, sentenced to 10-years in prison [JURIST report] in October 2005, remains a fugitive after skipping bail and is believed to be hiding in Croatia. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Malaysia's Federal Court, the highest court for civil cases, Wednesday rejected an appeal by Lina Joy, who sought to change her religious affiliation on her government registration card from Islam to Christianity. The high court's ruling upheld a lower civil court ruling that Joy must obtain permission to change her religious affiliation from an Islamic Sharia [JURIST news archive] court. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Wednesday that only a Sharia court had the authority to recognize and register Joy's religious conversion. Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz said that Joy "cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion," adding that "she must follow rules." Judge Richard Malajum, the lone dissenter and only non-Muslim who heard the case, characterized it as "unreasonable" to refer Joy to a Sharia court because she could face prosecution for apostasy, which is a crime punishable by fines, jail sentences, caning, or time in "rehabilitation" centers in Malaysia.

Malaysia maintains two parallel justice systems, a secular civil court system and a Sharia justice system. Approximately 58 percent of Malaysia's population of 26 million are ethnic Malays, generally Muslims who fall under the jurisdiction of the Sharia courts. The remaining 40 percent of the population are mainly ethnic Chinese, indigenous, or Indian, and are generally Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, or Taoist/Confucian falling under the jurisdiction of civil courts. The Malaysian constitution [text] has been interpreted to regard all ethnic Malays as Muslim, because Islam is considered to be an intrinsic component of the ethnic identity. Malaysia [JURIST news archive] is officially a secular state, however, it recognizes Islam as the official religion. The constitution was written with particular vagueness in areas of ethnicity and religion to facilitate social harmony despite the deep social cleavages in Malaysian society. AP has more.