[JURIST] An Indian court Friday sentenced to death Yakub Memon, the brother of a man suspected of plotting the 1993 Mumbai bombings [BBC backgrounder, for his role in the attack that killed 257 people and injured more than 700 in India's financial center. Memon's brother Tiger Memon [Wikipedia profile] remains at large. Another brother, Essa Memon, received a life sentence Friday, as did two other Memon relatives connected with the plot.

Thus far the court has sentenced [JURIST report] 12 people to death and 20 to life imprisonment for involvement in the bombings. The trial, which began in 1995, included testimony from 757 witnesses and has resulted in the conviction of over 100 defendants [JURIST report], a figure that public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam described as unprecedented. Thirty-five suspects, including alleged mastermind Dawood Ibrahim [BBC profile], remain at large. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Congress sent an anti-terror bill [PDF text, HR 1 materials] to President George Bush for signature Friday. The bill, based on recommendations by the 9/11 commission [official website], would transfer funds to states and cities found to be at high risk for terrorist attacks. It also includes a provision to screen all air and sea cargo coming into the US within five years. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday by 85-8 [roll call] and the House on Friday by 371-40 [roll call]. Bush has said he will sign the legislation.

Critics have argued that the technology does not exist to efficiently monitor cargo without interrupting trade; as a compromise, the bill allows the Homeland Security secretary to extend the five-year deadline in two-year increments if necessary. The White House has also expressed displeasure with a requirement that intelligence community budgets be made public. AP has more.

[JURIST] Taiwanese Foreign Minister James Huang said Friday that a national referendum [JURIST report] on Taiwan's membership in the United Nations would proceed despite opposition from China. On Monday, the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs rejected Taiwan's fifteenth bid for member state status, reiterating the One-China Policy [Wikipedia backgrounder] and recognizing the People's Republic of China (PRC) [JURIST news archive] as the legitimate government of China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao has characterized Taiwan's latest effort to join the UN as a "separatist act of the 'Taiwan Independence' secessionist forces," [press release], pointing to the UN Charter's requirement that only sovereign states can apply for UN member status [Article 4 text]. The referendum is largely symbolic, and its backers must secure one million signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

Taiwan, which officially refers to itself as the Republic of China (ROC), was kicked out of the UN in 1971 by General Assembly Resolution 2758 [PDF text] and replaced by the PRC as the representative of China. AP has more.

[JURIST] The government of Sudan said Thursday that it will appeal a US court verdict ordering it to pay $7.96 million in compensation to the families of 17 US Navy personnel killed in the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole [Wikipedia backgrounder; US DOD inquiry report; JURIST news archive]. Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi denied that Sudan bore any responsibility for the bombing and said that, as a sovereign state, it could not be tried in a US court. The families had sought $105 million for pain and suffering, but the federal Death on the High Seas Act [text] limits compensation to only economic damages.

In March, Doumar held Sudan liable for the attack a day after the plaintiffs introduced expert testimony [JURIST reports] from four witnesses that al Qaeda could not have accomplished the bombing had Sudan not supported the terrorist organization. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] said Thursday that UN officials will not testify [press release] before the East Timorese-Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) [official website] because the CTF's terms of reference [text] allow for the possibility of amnesty for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Ban, who reiterated the recommendations in the Report of the Secretary-General on justice and reconciliation for Timor-Leste [S/2006/580 text], said that the UN will not participate in any steps that "would support the work of the CTF and thereby further the possible grant of amnesties," and urged East Timor and Indonesia to revise the CTF's terms of reference.

The CTF, established in 2005 by the governments of East Timor and Indonesia, is tasked with reviewing alleged human rights abuses committed in 1999 following a UN-sponsored referendum in which East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. East Timor became independent in May 2002. Kyodo News has more.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Committee [official website] Friday urged the Sudanese government to "take all appropriate measures" to guarantee that all state agents, including the military and armed militias, discontinue "widespread and systematic" violations of human rights. The recommendations, presented in the panel's concluding observations [DOC text], also call on the Sudanese government to end immunities in Sudanese law that protect rights abusers and to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to "ensure that all human rights violations brought to its attention are investigated" and prosecuted. The committee also urged Sudan to take steps to ensure that victims of serious human rights violations are guaranteed reparations.

Earlier in July, Sudan defended its handling of alleged abuses [JURIST report] in Darfur [JURIST news archive], saying its judiciary was capable of handling cases of murder, torture, and rape. Sudan has also denied allegations that the government has collaborated with armed militias, and responded to calls from the ICC chief prosecutor for the arrest of Sudanese war crime suspects by saying that the ICC does not have the jurisdiction [JURIST reports] to prosecute alleged war crimes in Darfur because Sudan has not ratified the ICC's Rome Statute [PDF text]. The UN Human Rights Committee, composed of a panel of 18 independent experts to monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text], issued the observations at the conclusion of its review [90th Session materials] of the recent human rights records of Zambia, Sudan, the Czech Republic, and Grenada. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Edward Nottingham Friday sentenced [press release] former Qwest Communications [corporate website; JURIST news archive] CEO Joseph Nacchio to six years in prison and ordered him to pay the maximum $19 million fine and forfeit of $52 million in assets obtained through insider trading. Nacchio, who was convicted of 19 counts of insider trading [JURIST report] in April, had faced a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count.

Nacchio, who will also be required to serve two years of probation, illegally sold 1.33 million Qwest shares valued at $52 million between April 26 and May 29, 2001 before news of Qwest's accounting scandal broke. In December 2005, prosecutors indicted Nacchio on 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report]. Nacchio and other former Qwest executives are still facing a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] and other civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission (EC) confirmed Friday that its Directorate General for Competition [official website] has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to semiconductor manufacturing giant Intel [corporate website], notifying the company that the EC believes it has abused its dominant position in the x86 architecture [Wikipedia backgrounder] processor market to exclude its biggest rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) [corporate website] from the market. The SO, sent Thursday, alleges that Intel violated [press release] the Treaty of Rome's antitrust prohibitions [Article 82 backgrounder] by providing "substantial rebates" to various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) if the OEMs purchased the majority of their processors from Intel. Intel Senior Vice President and General Counsel Bruce Sewell responded to the allegations Friday, saying that "Intel's conduct has been lawful, pro-competitive, and beneficial to consumers" and that Intel will respond [press release] directly to the EC's concerns. The EC has given the company ten weeks to respond, and may impose fines against Intel if it does not satisfactorily address the EC's concerns.

In January, EC investigators renewed calls for antitrust charges [JURIST report] against Intel after saying in October they had gathered enough evidence for prosecution [JURIST report]. Consumer groups and AMD have repeatedly accused Intel of harming consumers by using coercive business practices to limit competition. AFP has more.

[JURIST] French magistrates have filed preliminary charges of "complicity in slanderous denunciations" against former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin [official profile, in French; JURIST news archive], Villepin's lawyer said Friday. Villepin is accused of ordering a smear campaign against former political rival and current French President Nicolas Sarkozy [official profile; JURIST news archive] as well as being responsible for several anonymous letters sent to a magistrate accusing Sarkozy of owning secret bank accounts used to receive kickbacks from a 1991 frigate sale to Taiwan [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Magistrates believe that Villepin knew that Sarkozy did not own the accounts. Villepin, who has denied the allegations [JURIST report], was also questioned by magistrates on Friday.

Investigators searched Villepin's offices [JURIST report] and home in July. In December 2006, Villepin was questioned [JURIST report] by magistrates for more than 17 hours in connection with the smear investigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The United States and the European Union Thursday signed an agreement [PDF text; EU backgrounder] on the regulation of trans-Atlantic airline passenger data-sharing [JURIST news archive], allowing the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] to continue using passenger data [DHS press release] when the existing interim agreement [JURIST report] expires at the end of July. Under the terms of the new agreement, air carriers will transmit passenger data directly to DHS within 15 minutes of a flight's departure for the US, and DHS will collect 19 pieces of data, which will be stored in an active database for a period of seven years, then eight years thereafter in an archive that can only be accessed under "exceptional circumstances" and under strict conditions. The previous agreement allowed the DHS to collect 34 pieces of information, but did not permit the DHS to retain the data as long.

Under the new agreement, EU citizens will be permitted to seek compensation and redress pursuant to the US Privacy Act [text; JURIST report]. In 2006, the European Court of Justice struck down [JURIST report] an agreement [PDF text] between the US and the EU because the European Commission's finding [decision, PDF] that the US had adequate security measures to protect the passenger data was without legal basis. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Nigerian court sentenced former state governor Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha [BBC profile] Thursday to a total of 12 years in prison after Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty to six counts of corruption and money laundering. Alamieyeseigha, who governed the oil-rich Bayelsa state [official website] from 1999 to 2005, has spent almost two years in custody. He will be eligible for release soon because the judge ordered him to serve the six two-year sentences concurrently. The court also ordered Alamieyeseigha to forfeit stocks valued at $7.9 million and other assets including cash and property.

In 2005, Alamieyeseigha jumped bail and forfeited 1.25 million pounds (approximately $2.5 million) in the UK and fled to Nigeria to escape money-laundering charges. Alamieyeseigha was removed from office by state legislators within weeks of returning to Nigeria, and was arrested on corruption charges [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush signed the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 [PDF text; HR 556 materials] Thursday, expanding the investigative scope [press release] of the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] to include foreign investments in vital infrastructure and energy and adding an additional 45-day review of proposed acquisitions from foreign state-owned entities. Under the new law, foreign investments subject to CFIUS review will require personal approval from the CFIUS chair and senior officials, while all proposed investments subjected to the 45-day review will require presidential authorization. The bill also tasks the Director of National Intelligence with the responsibility of providing a threat analysis of the foreign investments.

The bill stems from congressional criticism [JURIST report] of a proposed acquisition by United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World [corporate website] that would have allowed the company to manage six major US ports in early 2006. The deal eventually fell through [JURIST report], but prompted Congress to pass the legislation to increase the level of scrutiny of foreign investment proposals. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg [official profile] ordered the dismissal of a terror charge [JURIST report] against Dr. Mohammad Haneef [JURIST news archive] Friday. Bugg said that after personally reviewing all materials [JURIST report] in the case, there was insufficient evidence [press release] to establish that Haneef had recklessly provided material support to terrorists by leaving a subscriber identity module (SIM) [Wikipedia backgrounder] with his second cousin, one of the alleged bombers in the attempted June UK car bomb attacks [JURIST report]. Bugg also admitted that a government prosecutor submitted two errors of fact in criminal court proceedings against Haneef, one allegedly caused by the prosecutor's "misunderstanding of the facts" of where the SIM card was discovered and the second caused by incorrect materials submitted to the prosecutor by the Australian Federal Police [official website]. The prosecutor had stated that the SIM card was found in vehicles used in the bombing, and that Haneef had resided with the UK terror suspects, neither of which was true.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Kevin Andrews [official website] has said that Haneef will be released from immigration custody and granted home detention [BBC News report], but has insisted that the evidence and information used to revoke Haneef's work visa remains valid [press release]. Andrews said Friday that "nothing that has been revealed to me in the last 24 or 48 hours" [transcript] has led him to believe that his determination that Haneef was a security threat to Australia was "inappropriate or incorrect" and that the ministry will continue with deportation proceedings against Haneef. Lawyers and rights groups have rebuked the Australian government's handling of the case and Haneef's continued detention. Haneef was granted bail on the criminal charge last week but immediately held under immigration detention [JURIST report] after Andrews revoked Haneef's work visa on the grounds that Haneef had "associations with people who have been involved in criminal conduct." Haneef is currently appealing the visa revocation and deportation at the Federal Court of Australia [official website]. Haneef's next hearing is scheduled for August 8. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former South Africa President F.W. de Klerk [official profile] on Thursday denied having knowledge of or participating in crimes against opposition members [press release, DOC] while he was in office during the apartheid era, adding that South Africa should "look at the future" and refrain from engaging "persecution and retribution." De Clerk, who has refused to apply for amnesty with South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) [official website], made the remarks during a press conference responding to media reports that de Clerk may be indicted for apartheid-era crimes using evidence obtained through a possible plea bargain [SABCnews report] between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and former Minister of Law and Order Adriaan Vlok. Vlok is currently facing attempted murder charges for the poisoning of then-opposition member and current Director-General in the President's office Frank Chikane. Vlok's trial is expected to begin August 17.

De Klerk also reiterated that amnesty for apartheid-era atrocities were a "necklacing" murders [Wikipedia backgrounder], and accused the government of paying little attention to the atrocities committed by anti-apartheid groups. The TRC is authorized to grant amnesty to South Africans who confess and demonstrate remorse for crimes committed during the apartheid era. AP has more.

[JURIST] FBI Director Robert Mueller on Thursday contradicted testimony given by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales earlier this week concerning a 2004 discussion of intelligence activities. Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee [hearing materials] Thursday that there was dissent within the administration concerning the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] expressed during the meeting, but Gonzales said Tuesday that then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey did not express concerns about recertifying the program. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee [transcript] Tuesday, Gonzales insisted that Comey's reservations concerned another undisclosed intelligence program and not the domestic surveillance program as widely reported. Gonzales has also maintained that the March 10, 2004 meeting between administration and eight Congressional leaders did not focus on the reauthorization of the domestic spying program. Gonzales' testimony, however, also appears to contradict [JURIST report] a 2006 memorandum from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which outlines briefings given on the domestic surveillance program and includes the March 2004 meeting.

The same day that Mueller offered his contradictory testimony, Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sent a letter [PDF text] to Solicitor General Paul Clement asking Clement to appoint a special counsel [press release; JURIST report] to investigate whether Gonzales "may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress." White House Press Secretary Tony Snow defended Gonzales [JURIST report] Thursday, saying that Gonzales was speaking "consistently" [briefing transcript] and continues to have the support of President Bush. Snow declined to elaborate when pressed for details of how the contradicting accounts can be reconciled. The New York Times has more.