[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] accused the government of Canada of having "abandoned" its citizen in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] in an open letter [text] Thursday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter urged Harper to press the US for the repatriation of Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive], the sole Canadian in custody at the US military prison. Khadr has been detained since he was arrested in 2002 at age 15. He allegedly threw a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last week, a US military judge dropped all charges against Khadr [JURIST report] before a military commission. Khadr nonetheless remains in custody while the appellate process is debated [JURIST report].

Amnesty said Canada had failed to follow the lead of other Western nations in demanding answers to allegations of humans rights abuses at the prison. The letter was signed by more than a hundred academics and endorsed by 25 current and former Canadian politicians, including former Conservative prime minister Joe Clark and former Liberal Party foreign affairs ministers Bill Graham and Lloyd Axworthy. Current Minister of International Trade David Emerson called the repatriation case for Khadr "premature". CBC News has more.

[JURIST] Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday voted against allowing a statewide vote on a proposed constitutional amendment [text] defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A total of 50 votes were needed to advance the amendment, but only 45 lawmakers supported the proposal, with 151 voting against. Unlike previous joint sessions on the issue, there was no debate. Advocates of the proposal [JURIST report] collected and delivered more than 170,000 signatures to the secretary of state demanding the right to vote on the legality of same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive].

In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage [Globe timeline] with the state high court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health [text; JURIST report]. More than 8,500 gay couples have been married in Massachusetts since May 2004. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] civil rights investigations in the Bush administration have focused on issues of religious freedom and discrimination at the expense of race, the New York Times reported Thursday. As an extreme instance, the Times pointed to DOJ intervention in a case helping a religious group secure the right to "distribute candy canes as part of a religious message that the red stripes represented the blood of Christ." The DOJ Civil Rights Division [official website] has also been active in enforcing a 2000 law that allows houses of worship to be exempt from local zoning restrictions, bringing lawsuits on behalf of churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country. Since 2004, the department has maintained a semi-monthly newsletter [archive] focusing exclusively on religious freedom.

The Times also highlighted unprecedented DOJ hirings [NYT chart] of graduated law students from a new wave of religious-affiliated law schools such as Regent University and Ave Maria [academic websites]. It quoted former DOJ lawyer Rigel Oliveri, who worked in the department during the Clinton and early Bush years, as saying that with increasing political appointee oversight of hiring decisions, "the change in the quality of people who were chosen was very pronounced," compared to previous years when hires from Harvard, Yale and other prestigious top-tier law schools dominated the department. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] President George W. Bush told the Legislative Conference of the Associated Builders and Contractors [organization website] Thursday that he supports an immigration bill amendment to provide $4.4 billion in immediate additional funding for border security [speech transcript], obtained through fines and penalties collected from illegal aliens. Bloomberg reports that several Senators reacted favorably to the proposed funding increase, hoping that it could jump-start the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 [S 1348 summary; JURIST report], which stalled in the Senate [JURIST report] last week. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) [official websites], who proposed the amendment, said that presidential support boosts prospects of the immigration bill passing [Graham press release].

Earlier this month, the Senate narrowly voted to sunset the Y-1 temporary guest worker visa program [JURIST report] after five years. Last month the Senate trimmed the proposed temporary guest worker program [JURIST report] from its previous maximum limit of 600,000 guest workers per year down to 200,000 after bipartisan criticism [JURIST report]. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] A US district judge Thursday rejected a request [JURIST report] by former US vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive] that his prison sentence [JURIST report] for blocking the probe into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity be delayed pending appeal. Libby's lawyers had argued that because his Justice Department superiors recused themselves from the investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald [official profile] did not have the authority to bring charges. In his ruling, Judge Reggie B. Walton [official website] said that without the Special Prosecutor, the only other person who could investigate the actions of the White House would be someone within the White House itself. Walton also rejected an amicus curiae argument from a dozen prominent legal scholars [JURIST report] who said that Fitzgerald was given an unconstitutional amount of unsupervised power.

Since reaching his decision to sentence Libby to two and a half years in prison, slightly shorter than the 3 months recommended by Fitzgerald [JURIST report], Walton said that he has received a number of harassing and threatening letters and phone calls, but these were not taken into his consideration when he ruled against delaying Libby's sentence. Many conservatives have called for President George W. Bush to grant Libby a full pardon. AP has more.

[JURIST] German Chancellor Angela Merkel [official website] Thursday told the lower house of Germany's parliament [official website, in German] that she hopes a road map to an eventual European constitution [JURIST news archive] can be achieved at an EU summit in Brussels next week, but expressed doubts [speech text, in German; press release, in German] that any further progress would be made beyond that. Merkel recognized a number of stumbling blocks that have arisen, including calls from France and Spain [JURIST report] for a "mini-treaty" to replace the originally proposed Constitution for Europe [text]. Germany had wished to place the EU back on track towards ratifying the treaty while holding presidency of the EU [official website], but it relinquishes the role to Portugal at the end of the month.

Another key stumbling block involves the voting system proposed in the 2004 draft constitution. Poland has rejected the "double majority voting system", which is supported by 25 member states, because that system diminishes Poland voting power compared to the 2000 Treaty of Nice [text]. Despite Poland's concerns, Reuters has reported that a German report on EU constitution reforms makes no mention [Reuters report] of the voting system. On Wednesday, Poland's Prime Minister indicated that unless negotiations on the voting system were left open, they would not agree [JURIST report] to any proposed treaty. AFP has more. Bloomberg has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Zimbabwean House of Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, approved the controversial Interception of Communications Bill [PDF text] Wednesday, authorizing the the directors of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization [Wikipedia backgrounder], the military, taxation authority, and the Commissioner of Police to intercept communications across the telephone, the internet, and other electronic communication devices. The bill, which will also allow the government to open conventional mail, requires communication service providers to facilitate the interception and storage of communications at the government's request. Opposition lawmakers from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] criticized the bill, which is expected to receive the approval of the Senate, as an ongoing effort by President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] to consolidate power and crack down on dissent in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive].

On Monday, a rights group accused [press release, PDF; JURIST report] the Zimbabwean government of "interfering with the proper functioning of the administration of justice, the role of lawyers and their independence." Police in Zimbabwe have long been accused of ignoring the rule of law. In May, Zimbabwean police refused to comply with a High Court ruling [JURIST report] requiring police officials to vacate a farm seized by police in March, and responded by ordering more police on to the property. In March, opposition leader and presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was arrested and beaten [JURIST reports] while in police custody. Police officials have routinely ignored court orders and critics have alleged that Mugabe has given tacit approval to their actions. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Peruvian Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo [official website] said Wednesday that Peru will accept a ruling by the Chilean Supreme Court on whether Chile will extradite former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [personal website; JURIST news archive], emphasizing that Peru will not interfere with the judicial proceedings to avoid the appearance that it is politically persecuting Fujimori. Last Friday, Chilean Supreme Court judge Urbano Marin Vallejo ordered the house arrest of Fujimori [JURIST report] pending the Supreme Court's review of a recommendation by Chile's chief prosecutor that Fujimori be extradited [JURIST report] in accordance with a request by Peru [JURIST report].

Fujimori, who was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000, fled from Peru to Japan when corruption and human rights allegations surfaced against him. The Japanese government refused Peruvian requests for Fujimori's arrest and extradition despite an Interpol international warrant [press release] for his arrest. Fujimori was arrested in Chile [JURIST report] in December 2005 after flying in to campaign for the Peruvian presidency despite having been officially banned from holding public office [JURIST report] until 2010. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said in a briefing paper [text] for the European Union (EU) released Thursday that the United Nations had "tarnished its reputation and undermined its legitimacy" by failing to hold individuals in the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) accountable for human rights violations committed by their members. HRW warned the EU against risking its own legitimacy in its own follow-up mission in Kosovo [official website] by failing to "subject its own [human rights] record to independent scrutiny." HRW's Europe and Central Asia director Holly Carter, urged [press release] the EU to "allow real scrutiny of its human rights record from day one." An EU-led mission supervising Kosovo's judiciary, police, and political institutions is expected to take over the current UN/NATO operation under a new plan for Kosovo autonomy [JURIST report] proposed by UN special envoy and former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari [profile]. The plan is still before the UN Security Council.

HRW said a February 2007 incident between UNMIK police and protesters in Pristina that left two protesters dead illustrated the "accountability gap" that has plagued the UN and NATO missions. Amnesty International criticized [Amnesty statement] criticized UNMIK for not conducting a transparent investigation of the incident. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down decisions in three cases Thursday, including the consolidated cases of Davenport v. Washington Education Association and Washington v. Washington Education Association [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], where the Court held that states do not violate the First Amendment by barring a labor union from utilizing non-union worker's dues for political purposes if the workers have not given their affirmative authorization. A Washington state trial court ruled that a union had to ask permission of workers to use their dues for political activity under a Washington state law, a state appeals court reversed - saying the statute placed an undue burden on the union's right to free speech - and the Washington Supreme Court affirmed [opinion text]. Read the Supreme Court's opinion [text] per Justice Scalia, along with a concurrence [text] from Justice Breyer.

In Permanent Mission v. New York, NY [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held 7-2 that foreign governments may be sued for payment of local property taxes on real estate used for diplomatic residences. The Court, noting that "property ownership is not an inherently sovereign function," affirmed the Second Circuit's decision [PDF text] and held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [text] "does not immunize foreign governments from lawsuits to declare the validity of tax liens on property held by the government" for diplomatic residences. Under New York law, real property owned by foreign governments is exempt from taxation if used exclusively for diplomatic offices or quarters for ambassadors or ministers invested with the full power and authority of ambassadors. India and Mongolia, which house their diplomats in the same high-rise buildings in which their missions are located, owe $16.4 million and $2.1 million respectively in tax liens, according to the city. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens.

Finally, in Bowles v. Russell [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court held that a federal appeals court cannot consider an appeal if the time limit for filing had expired, even when the appeal was filed late in reliance on a district court order. The Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit's decision [PDF text] and held that time limits are a jurisdictional requirement and that the Supreme Court "lacks the authority to create equitable exceptions to jurisdictional requirements." Bowles, who was convicted of murder, had failed to file a timely notice of appeal pursuant to the Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(6) [PDF text], which allows a district court to grant a 14-day extension under certain conditions, because a district judge had erroneously given him a 17-day deadline. Read the Court's 5-4 opinion [text] per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Souter.

[JURIST] An Indonesian police spokesman Wednesday confirmed the weekend arrest of leading terrorist suspect Abu Dujana [BBC profile] Wednesday, saying that Dujana was arrested with seven other suspects in a raid that "finished" off the main body of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Dujana, who has successfully evaded Indonesian authorities since the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], is accused of being a key JI leader as well as a skilled bomb-maker and the contact between al-Qaeda and Indonesian Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups.

JI was also responsible for the 2004 bombing of the US embassy in Jakarta and a series of 2005 Bali bombings [Wikipedia backgrounders]. In March 2005, the Indonesian government vowed to ban the group [JURIST report], but has not yet done so despite the urging [JURIST report] of the Australian government, 88 of whose nationals were killed in the 2002 attacks. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] Wednesday published new draft guidelines concerning the use of national security letters (NSL) [CRS backgrounder, PDF; FBI backgrounder] to correct privacy violations [JURIST report] revealed in March by a Department of Justice review. The new guidelines, which enter into effect immediately, require FBI agents to identify the specific information being requested and justify its necessity pursuant to an investigation. Personal information obtained from NSLs will also need to be scrutinized before being entered into FBI databases to ensure only the specifically requested information is used.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported [Washington Post report] that the FBI has committed 1,000 privacy violations since 2002, according to an internal audit. The audit, which sampled only 10% of all national security investigations conducted by the FBI, revealed that privacy regulation violations were more numerous than previously reported by the DOJ's March report. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] Wednesday filed a class action lawsuit [petition, PDF; press release] against federal immigration officials from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the San Diego Correctional Facility (SDCF), and the Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS) [official websites], seeking injunctive and declaratory relief on behalf of immigration detainees who allege that inadequate medical and mental health care at the SDCF have caused "unnecessary suffering [and] avoidable death." The complaint names eleven detainees who have either faced month-long delays or have been outright denied treatment for medical conditions that have resulted in permanent disfigurement. The ACLU alleges that the "incompetence and indifference" of immigration authorities in facilitating necessary medical care violates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against "unnecessary pain and suffering." ACLU National Prison Project [advocacy website] staff attorney Tom Jawetz described the level of care as "horrific, and in stark contrast to American values."

The ACLU says the DIHS's "Covered Services Package" unduly delays treatment as medical staff must obtain affirmative approval from off-site DIHS officials in the form of "medically necessary referrals before treating detainees." The policy, the ACLU says, is rooted in a often-false assumption that immigration detainees are held for relatively short periods of time, while in actual practice, "many detainees spend months or years" waiting for a resolution of their case. The SDCF is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America, Inc. (CCA) [corporate website], the largest private, for-profit provider of detention and corrections services in the United States. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US State Department [official website] Tuesday cited the governments of 16 countries, including 11 predominantly Islamic states, for not making a "significant effort to combat human trafficking" in its annual report [PDF text] on modern-day slavery around the world Tuesday. Although Algeria, Bahrain, Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela were classified as the worst "Tier 3" countries, State Department spokesman Mark P. Lagon nonetheless insisted [statement] human trafficking "plagues every country in one way or another." The report, mandated by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (VTPA) [PDF text], analyzed 164 countries and territories, and ranked 151 of the entities where there have been 100 cases of human trafficking into four categories.

The report classified 32 countries or territories on the "Tier 2 Watch List," a classification for countries that were found to "not fully comply with the VTPA's minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves in compliance" but continue to face a very significant or growing human trafficking problem, including Argentina, China, Egypt, India, Libya, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and others.

Releasing the report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] praised [statement] the efforts of governments in Israel, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brazil, Peru, and Jamaica, which improved from the "Tier 2 Watch List" to "Tier 2," a designation for countries, which includes 75 governments like Greece, Japan, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, and Zimbabwe, "whose governments do not fully comply with minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance." Logan in particular contrasted China's worse ranking with Taiwan, attributing China's resistance in joining the international community "in upholding universal anti-trafficking standards" to a lack of rule of law. Logan says "Taiwan's vibrant civil society and democratic character" has aided its reforms. A total of 28 countries were designated Tier 1, whose governments have been found to fully comply with TVPA standards, including Georgia, Hungary, and Slovenia, which have entered into compliance since the publication of the 2006 report on human trafficking [JURIST]. VOA has more.