[JURIST] The interim government of Thailand [JURIST news archive] has proposed an internal security bill that would allow the military to remain a political force even after the election of a civilian-run government, according to critics Tuesday. The proposal would transform the army chief into the head of Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) [Wikipedia backgrounder] and would grant the ISOC the power to bar public demonstrations, hold detainees without charge for up to 30 days, and carry out warrantless searches. Critics like Anselmo Lee of the Thailand-based human rights organization Forum-Asia [advocacy website] suggest the bill is an attempt by the interim military-backed government to hold onto its political clout for the future. The current government maintains its intent is only to preserve internal security in Thailand. The bill must be approved the National Legislative Assembly before becoming law.

The interim government has led the country since the September 2006 bloodless coup [JURIST report] which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The government of Thailand [JURIST news archive] announced Tuesday it was abandoning a law that allowed the cabinet to censor political or controversial Internet sites based solely on the Minister of Communication's discretion. Now Internet websites can now only be censored by court order. The country's ban on popular video-sharing website YouTube [corporate website] will remain.

In April, Thailand banned access [JURIST report] to YouTube for hosting a video depicting Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [Wikipedia profile] as a clown with feet pasted over his head, an insulting image in Thai culture that can amount to a criminal offense. The video, less than a minute long, received more than 16,000 viewers. The Thai government briefly considered suing YouTube parent company Google, Inc. [corporate website], but abandoned [JURIST report] the idea after the company agreed to remove the offensive video. ABC Australia has more.

[JURIST] International participants promised more than $360 million in aid to help build up Afghanistan's ailing judicial system at a conference of UN members and Afghan leaders that concluded in Rome Tuesday. Despite the pledge, judiciary problems were overshadowed by concerns over civilian casualties caused by NATO troops in the region [ISAF official website] operating against Taliban guerrillas. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer [official profile] stressed the difference between accidental civilian deaths and the purposeful terrorist actions of the Taliban and other extremists. According to the Afghan government, more than 45 civilians were killed over the weekend in a bombing led by UN forces in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

The pledged funds will be used to train judges and rebuild prisons and other facilities vital to Afghanistan's judicial infrastructure. Conference leaders did not release the amounts pledged by the participant nations, but Canada's CTV reported that Canada has committed to $30 million [CTV report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Federal prosecutors disclosed Tuesday that they will seek the death penalty [Notice of Intent, PDF] if a conviction is secured against former US soldier Steven D. Green [JURIST news archive], the alleged key player in the Mahmudiya rape-murder case [JURIST news archive]. Green is believed to have masterminded the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in March 2006. He entered a plea of not guilty [JURIST report] in November, following a three month delay [JURIST report] requested by prosecutors. Green is being tried in federal court [docket] because he was discharged from military service due to a personality disorder before the charges arose.

Four soldiers [JURIST report] who were still serving in the military when the allegations broke were court-martialed for their involvement. Spc. James P. Barker and Sgt. Paul E. Cortez [JURIST reports] received prison sentences of 90 and 100 years respectively after they pleaded guilty to participating in the attack. Pfc. Bryan Howard, who allegedly played a smaller role, plead guilty [JURIST report] in March to conspiracy to commit rape and premeditated murder and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and faces up to 15 years in prison. Pfc. Jesse Spielman's court-martial began in April. AP has more.

[JURIST] President George W. Bush said Tuesday afternoon that, although he believed the jury verdict in the perjury case against former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [defense website; JURIST news archive] should stand, it was conceivable that he could pardon Libby in the future [transcript]. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said at an earlier press briefing that the avenue is always open for people to petition the president [transcript] for a pardon, and that Bush consulted a large number of senior officials before deciding on commuting Libby's sentence [Grant of Executive Clemency; JURIST report]. Snow denied allegations that the commutation was a political act, saying that the president is "getting pounded on the right because he didn't do a full pardon." He also said that there was no communication between Bush and Libby, but could not say for sure that the same was true of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush commuted Libby's prison sentence the same day that the federal appeals court overseeing the case unanimously rejected [order, PDF; JURIST report] Libby's request [filing, PDF] to delay the start of his prison sentence pending his appeal [JURIST report]. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald took issue [JURIST report] with Bush's statement [text] that Libby's 30 month prison sentence [JURIST report] was "excessive," saying it "was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencing which occur every day throughout this country." Fitzgerald said he will continue to seek preservation of Libby's conviction throughout the appeals process. Libby's lawyer has indicated that appeals will continue, saying that Libby still maintains his innocence [statement]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The mother of Joseph Lewis Clark, a convicted murderer whose 2006 execution took approximately 90 minutes [CantonRep report], Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against Director Terry Collins [official profile] of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction [official website] and a dozen members of the execution team, arguing that the lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. Irma Clark is acting on her son's behalf as executor of his estate; she is seeking at least $150,000 in damages and further changes to Ohio's death penalty procedures. Joseph Clark shouted "It don't work" repeatedly as the execution team struggled to find a vein suitable for injecting the three drug cocktail that has found widespread use in capital punishment [JURIST news archive]. Alongside Irma Clark at the news conference was Michael Manning, brother of Joseph Clark's victim, David. AP reported Manning as saying that his "head was spinning" as he realized Clark was in pain during the procedure.

Ohio changed its lethal injection procedures less than two months after Clark's execution and resumed the death penalty [JURIST reports] later that summer. Despite the changes, the execution of Christopher Newton this past May was also marked by extensive delays [Pravda/AP report], as the execution team took two hours to find a vein suitable for administering the drugs. The time delays were so long, Newton even needed a bathroom break. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio [advocacy website] is currently investigating [press release] the execution. AP has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court [official website; JURIST news archive] marked the fifth anniversary of its establishment Monday. Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] noted that in that time the court has substantially raised local awareness of the right to be protected from war crimes. In an interview with the UN News Service, he said that the large number of simultaneous investigations into regions such as Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo [JURIST news archives] will bring some of the worst perpetrators of war crimes to justice. Despite the slow pace of investigations, he emphasized that those responsible for the Darfur [JURIST news archive] crisis were destined to be "in the dock in The Hague." The UN News Service has more.

The ICC was established in 2002 with the adoption of the Rome Statute [UN website]. One hundred four countries are now parties to the court. In honoring the anniversary, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon [official website] asked for all states who are not yet parties to consider joining [statement], calling the court "one of the major achievements in international law during the past century."

[JURIST] Judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] entered pleas of not guilty on behalf of Bosnian Serb war crimes indictee Zdravko Tolimir [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] Tuesday, after Tolimir refused to enter a plea for the second time since his initial appearance before the ICTY on June 4. Tolimir, charged [indictment, PDF] with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and various other crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive], is challenging the legality of his arrest [JURIST report] and has accused the ICTY of barring him from obtaining his preferred counsel. ICTY prosecutors have objected to Tolimir's selection because that lawyer is currently representing another defendant.

Tolimir was extradited to The Hague [JURIST report] in June after being arrested by Bosnian police. Four of the 161 suspects indicted by the ICTY remain fugitives, including Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile]. The ICTY is expected to finish its work by 2010. AP has more.

[JURIST] East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta [BBC profile] has said that he will ask the Court of Appeal to issue an advisory opinion on whether an amnesty law [AAP report] passed by East Timor's National Parliament last month is consistent with East Timor's constitution and international law, saying Monday that he would not sign the law if the court found it to be incompatible with either source. If approved by Horta, the controversial measure would grant clemency for crimes like larceny, crimes against state security, firearm offenses, theft, property damages under $10,000, and traffic violations committed between April 2006 and 2007.

The National Parliament passed the law on the grounds that the East Timorese judiciary has struggled to prosecute thousands of cases stemming from militia and gang violence that ravaged East Timor [JURIST news archive] in April and May 2006. Critics of the measure worry that clemency may incite public anger and additional violence. In March, former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato was found guilty of promoting violence during the riots [JURIST report] and was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for arming the militias [JURIST report]. AAP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Lewis Kaplan [official profile] indicated Monday that he may reconsider a 2006 ruling in which he threatened to dismiss all charges in an ongoing criminal tax shelters case [JURIST report] against former employees of the accounting firm KPMG [corporate] because federal prosecutors violated constitutional rights of the defendants [JURIST report] by pressuring KPMG to not pay for their legal fees. Prosecutors, who had threatened to indict the firm if it continued to provide legal costs for the defendants, last week proposed dismissing charges against 12 of the 18 defendants so that the prosecution could continue. The proposal prompted Kaplan to say that he might not remedy the prosecutors' conduct by dismissing the case, although he remains undecided on the matter.

Last July, Kaplan suppressed statements made by two partners [order, PDF; JURIST report] because prosecutors had improperly coerced the defendants with excessive financial pressure and also forced KPMG to threaten to fire employees that did not cooperate with the investigation. The defendants are accused of setting up tax shelters, costing the US government an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue. KPMG has admitted the illegality of the tax shelters and has taken full responsibility [JURIST report], agreeing to pay the International Revenue Service a $456 million fine [JURIST report] to avoid criminal prosecution. KPMG also agreed to be supervised by a former SEC chairman for a period of three years. The International Herald Tribune has more.

[JURIST] Missouri Governor Matt Blunt [official website] Monday announced the signing of a bill [HB 820 text] intended to protect the identities of individuals [press release] who provide direct support for the administration of the death penalty, formally prohibiting the disclosure of executioners' identities and creating a civil cause of action to recover damages against anyone who discloses an executioner's identity. The law, which was signed in private by Blunt last Saturday, will also prohibit any licensing board or department from taking punitive actions against individuals who participated in a lawful execution. Critics of the bill allege that it erodes the transparency of the death penalty [JURIST news archive] process and inhibits essential oversight, while supporters say the bill is necessary to protect individuals from being personally harassed for doing their jobs.

In June, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled unanimously that Missouri's lethal injection procedures do not violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment [opinion, PDF; JURIST report]. The decision paved the way for the resumption of executions, which had been effectively suspended [JURIST report] since February 2006 after an inmate challenged the procedure in federal court. The Missouri Department of Corrections [official website] says that it has executed 66 inmates since 1976. AP has more.

[JURIST] Kurdish security forces "routinely torture and deny basic due process to detainees" [press release] in northern Iraq, according to a report [PDF text] released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. The report found that the Asayish security forces, which are maintained separately by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [party websites], have detained hundreds of terrorist suspects without due process for up to five years.

According to the report:

Human Rights Watch found that in the vast majority of Asayish detainee cases the Kurdistan authorities did not charge detainees with offenses, allow them access to a lawyer, bring them before an investigative judge, provide a mechanism by which they could appeal their detentions, or bring them to trial within a reasonable time period. Of the detainees held on suspicion of having committed serious felonies, including premeditated murder, Human Rights Watch found several cases where courts had acquitted defendants but they remained in detention, or persons had already served their terms of imprisonment but continued to be held. Most had no knowledge of their legal status, how long they would continue to be held, or what was to become of them.

Detainees reported a wide range of abuse, including beatings using implements such as cables, hosepipes, wooden sticks, and metal rods. Detainees also described how Asayish agents put them in stress positions for prolonged periods, and kept them blindfolded and handcuffed continuously for several days at a stretch. The vast majority of detainees with whom Human Rights Watch spoke also reported that they were held in solitary confinement for extended periods.

[JURIST] The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website; JURIST news archive] formally suspended the trial against former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; SCSL case materials] Monday, ordering [PDF text] the prosecution to resume its case on August 20. Taylor attended [Reuters report] Tuesday's court session, marking the first time he appeared in court since his trial began in June. Taylor has been boycotting the proceedings [JURIST report], demanding that the SCSL obtain a British Queen's Counsel on his behalf after he fired his court-appointed lawyer before the prosecution presented their opening arguments. Presiding Judge Julia Sebutinde [official profile] has ordered the addition of four people to Taylor's defense team and that a new lead counsel be appointed by July 31. The addition came as a response to Taylor's accusations that his single court-appointed lawyer was unfairly outnumbered by the prosecution team. Sebutinde said [transcript; PDF] Tuesday that the additional trial delay, requested by both the prosecution and defense [JURIST report], was granted because:

The Chamber agrees that to compel Duty Counsel to represent the accused during this one week, without affording him adequate administrative support or time to prepare, would indeed amount to a violation of Mr Taylor's fair-trial rights in as far as counsel could not be expected to effectively cross-examine the witnesses, Prosecution witnesses, nor effectively challenge the Prosecution evidence.

It will be remembered that the Trial Chamber did, as early as March 2007 and on several occasions after that, warn of unlikely due delay emanating from the failure of the Registry to address and resolve Mr Taylor's representation and investigative requirements in good time before the start of the trial. Thus, while the Chamber generally frowns upon undue delay of these proceedings, we are mindful of our overriding obligation to conduct a fair trial and to guarantee the statutory rights of Mr Taylor, who, in this case, should not be penalised for the laxity of the Registry.

Furthermore, the Trial Chamber is of the view that the alternative proposed by the Prosecutor; namely, that of calling the experts today to give their evidence in-chief and then to postpone their cross-examination until August when a new Defence team is in place, would also not be in the interests of justice or of a fair trial.

It is for all the above reasons that the Trial Chamber agreed to review its earlier order of 25th June 2007 and granted the joint request and postponed this trial to 20th August 2007, when the Prosecution case is then expected to recommence and a new Defence team is expected to be in place and ready to effectively represent the accused without further undue delay.

[JURIST] A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] brought by the New York Times against the US Defense and Justice Departments, ruling that the departments were not required to disclose classified records on the government's warrantless wiretapping program [JURIST report] sought by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act [text]. US District Judge Richard M. Berman ruled last Thursday that the classified material sought fell under the attorney-client and presidential communications privileges, both exemptions under FOIA. The New York Times is also seeking material that is not classified, and Berman has yet to make a decision on whether the DOJ and DOD have properly withheld those records.

The Times filed the lawsuit last year after the departments failed to release requested documents regarding the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program. The newspaper broke the story in late 2005, reporting that the government has secretly eavesdropped on domestic phone conversations without court approval [JURIST report], and submitted a FOIA request for internal e-mails, memos and names of those spied upon through the program. AP has more.

[JURIST] Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed [press release, PDF] the Legal Arizona Workers Act [AZ HB 2779 materials] Monday, legislation that requires employers to verify that employees are in the United States legally. In what Napolitano called "the most aggressive action in the country against employers who knowingly or intentionally hire undocumented workers," employers who violate the law could have their business licence suspended or, after a second offense, permanently revoked. In her signing statement [PDF text], Napolitano, however, noted several problems with the new Arizona law, including the omission of an anti-discrimination clause and the lack of a "license revocation exception for businesses servicing critical infrastructure," among others.

The governor also condemned the federal government for failing to pass immigration reform legislation [JURIST news archive], saying:

Immigration is a federal responsibility, but I signed House Bill 2779 because it is now abundantly clear that Congress finds itself incapable of coping with the comprehensive immigration reforms our country needs. I signed it, too, out of the realization that the flow of illegal immigration into our state is due to the constant demand of some employers for cheap, undocumented labor....

Because of Congress' failure to act, states like Arizona have no choice but to take strong action to discourage the further flow of illegal immigration through our borders. I renew my call to Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Now that Arizona has acted, other states are likely to follow. For our country to have a uniform and uniformly enforced immigration law, the United States Congress must act swiftly and definitively to solve this problem at the national level.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Cabinet has approved a revised draft oil law [JURIST news archive] and the Iraqi Parliament will begin debating the proposal Wednesday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday. Several amendments to the draft law were made after an earlier version of the law was opposed in parliament [JURIST report]. Kurdish lawmakers said in April that they would vote against [JURIST report] the law because some provisions of the bill violated an earlier agreement. The Kurds first agreed to support the draft bill [JURIST report] after lengthy negotiations [JURIST report], but the bill was later amended to give almost 93 percent of Iraq's proven oil reserves to the state-owned Iraq National Oil Company.

The Iraqi government spokesperson did not specify what new amendments have been made to the draft law, but said that Cabinet approval was unanimous. Negotiations over the legislation have been a source of tension [JURIST report] in Iraq for months as Kurds are adamant about retaining control of Iraq's oil resources [Global Policy backgrounder] in the northern regions. Other government leaders have pushed for giving the central Iraqi government control over oil revenues and approval rights for any contracts with other countries or international companies to pump oil, since oil revenues are the main source of income to Iraq [JURIST news archive]. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [official website] has questioned President Bush's classification of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 30-month sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice as "excessive" [statement], saying Monday that Libby's sentence "was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country." Bush's comment accompanied his commutation of Libby's prison sentence [clemency grant; JURIST report]; Bush did not pardon Libby and left his $250,000 fine and court-ordered two years of supervised release intact. In a statement [E&P report] Monday, Fitzgerald said:

We fully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative.

We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as 'excessive.' The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.