[JURIST] A senior Thai Justice Ministry official said Thursday that Thailand will renew a probe into the anti-drug campaign of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] during which close to 2,500 people were killed. Thaksin's war on drugs [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] began in 2003 and gained great support from rural voters. The investigation will be headed by former Thai attorney general Kanit na Nakorn and will investigate deaths that many rights groups believe to have been extrajudicial killings by police.

Thaksin, who has been living in exile since his ouster in a September 2006 military coup [JURIST report], is currently facing corruption charges [JURIST report], which are scheduled to be heard [JURIST report] by the Thai Supreme Court on August 14. Last month, Thaksin filed a lawsuit against the Thai Assets Examination Committee (AEC) for its seizure of Thaksin family assets [JURIST reports], demanding that the AEC terminate its freeze of approximately $2.1 billion in assets and seeking an additional $1.7 billion in compensation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A military court-martial jury Thursday found US Marine Corps Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III [JURIST news archive] guilty of murder [press release] for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] was removed from his residence and killed. His body was subsequently arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he had been planting an improvised explosive device. Hutchins was also found guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement and larceny, but acquitted on charges of kidnapping, assault and housebreaking. Prosecutors previously indicated that they would not seek the death penalty, but Hutchins could be sentenced to life in prison.

On Wednesday, a military jury found Marine Cpl. Marshall Magincalda guilty [JURIST report] of conspiracy to commit murder, larceny and housebreaking in the same incident. Five other defendants have pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in Awad's death. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate voted 83-14 [roll call] in favor of a new ethics bill [S 230 text] that will require congressmen and other officials to make public additional information about money involving personal projects and lobbies. The legislation also bans gifts from lobbies to lawmakers, and requires former senators and House-members to wait two years and one year respectively before becoming a Congressional lobbyist. Democrats view the bill as a key portion of their 2006 campaign promise to end corruption in Washington, but some Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) [official website], said that the bill did not go far enough in requiring full disclosure.

The US House of Representatives voted 411-8 in favor [JURIST report] of the House version of the bill last week. Under the new rules, members of Congress will have to disclose donations from lobbyists who "bundle" donations totaling over $15,000. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] held [opinion, PDF] Thursday that insurance policies held by many victims of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] did not cover flood damage caused by the storm. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Carolyn King said that flood damage was excluded from coverage provided by a range of defendant companies and that their policies did not distinguish between floods that were 'acts of god' and floods that were 'acts of man.' King wrote that the court was "bound to enforce the unambiguous terms of [the] insurance contracts as written." An insurance expert had testified that if the court would have ruled for the insured, it could have cost the insurance companies $1 billion.

The case was an appeal of a November decision [PDF text; case information] on the issue of what constitutes flood coverage in insurance policies. US District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. agreed with plaintiffs that the language was ambiguous, but allowed insurance companies, including Allstate, State Farm and Travelers Insurance [corporate websites], to appeal whether there is an innate distinction between floods naturally caused by excessive rainfall and floods caused by the failure of levees. The Fifth Circuit promised to fast-track its decision [JURIST report] in the insurance case after hearing oral arguments in June. AP has more.

[JURIST] Chinese Communist Party discipline commission spokesman Gan Yisheng said Thursday that China's use of capital punishment in political and economic corruption cases is appropriate and effective. Gan justified the punishment saying that it had "been endorsed by the Chinese people and also recognized by the international community."

In July, China executed former State Food and Drug Administration commissioner Zheng Xiaoyu [JURIST report] for accepting $850,000 in bribes during his tenure as head of the agency. China is believed to have the highest execution rate in the world, and has been criticized [JURIST report] by Amnesty International [advocacy website] for not doing enough to remedy human rights abuses. Chinese state media report that the number of death sentences handed down by Chinese courts so far in 2007 is in fact lower than in previous years [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice [official website, in Spanish] Wednesday suspended an order issued by the government's telecommunication commission requiring Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) [media website, in Spanish] to register as a "national audiovisual production service" or face shutdown after agreeing to hear a case on whether cable and satellite television channels are obligated to transmit government-mandated content. The Chamber of Subscription Television, an industry group representing cable and satellite stations, had petitioned the court to clarify an ambiguity in the classification. Television Minister Jesse Chacon has said that RCTV, regardless of how it is disseminated, is considered a national audiovisual production service [Union Radio report, in Spanish].

The commission's order was seen by critics as an effort by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile] to further crackdown on RCTV, the country's oldest independent television station thrown into disarray in May when Chavez denied it a state broadcast license [JURIST report]. The Venezuelan government also seized RCTV's building and broadcasting equipment. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] approved new legislation [HR 2102 materials] on Wednesday shielding reporters from being compelled to disclose confidential sources. Under the bill, journalists could not be forced by prosecutors to reveal their informants unless a court determined that the public interest in disclosure outweighed the public interest in news gathering. Committee chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) [official website] said that the legislation will help to "restore the independence of the press," but some, including senior Republican committee member Lamar Smith (R-TX), say the law would protect the identities of terrorists and tortfeasors. The bill will now travel to debate on the House floor.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has continuously opposed the enactment of a federal reporter shield law, a notion renewed [JURIST report] in June when a DOJ official testified that the current law adequately strikes "a balance between the public's interest in the free dissemination of ideas and information and the public's interest in effective law enforcement and the fair administration of justice." The bill was first proposed in May 2006, partially in response to the controversial 85-day jailing of New York Times journalist Judith Miller [JURIST news archive] after she refused to reveal a source to the federal grand jury investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity [JURIST news archive]. The 2006 bill also met opposition from the Justice Department [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) [official website] issued a report [PDF text] Thursday on the shooting death of Jean Charles de Menezes [advocacy website; BBC profile], an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist by police in July 2005, clearing London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair of any misconduct but concluding that Assistant Commissioner Andrew Hayman [official profiles] misled his colleagues and the public about the killing shortly after it occurred. The IPCC found that:

AC Hayman’s actions in relation to his briefing the [Crime Reporters Association (CRA)] and then misleading the attendees at the 17:00hrs Management Board meeting and sub-meeting led to inaccurate or misleading information being released by the MPS. AC Hayman either misled the public when he briefed the CRA that the deceased was not one of the four or when he allowed the 18:44hrs 22 July press release to state that it was not known if the deceased was one of the four. He could not have believed both inconsistent statements were true.

[JURIST] China's Shanxi province High People's Court announced the conviction of 31 defendants in 18 separate trials for their involvement in the use of slave labor at various brick kilns in the Shanxi and Henan provinces Thursday. The defendants were sentenced to between two to five-years in prison. Four government officials, convicted of dereliction of duty and abuse of authority, were among the 31.

In July, the court announced the completion of 7 trials and verdicts against 29 defendants [JURIST report], sentencing kiln bosses, foremen, and other workers to punishments ranging from 18 month to 9 year prison terms for illegal detention. Two other defendants were found guilty of more serious intentional infliction of injury charges; one received a life prison sentence, while the other was sentenced to death. In late June, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress adopted a new labor contract law [JURIST report] that codifies administrative and criminal penalties for employers and government officials who either abuse or neglect their duties to laborers. AP has more. The People's Daily has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [court rules, PDF; official backgrounder] restricted the government's monitoring of e-mail and telephone conversations of suspected terrorists in foreign countries in a ruling publicly disclosed Thursday. According to US House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-OH) [official website], the ruling limits the ability of US agencies to monitor communications between two suspected terrorists when the communications are on US networks. Some officials worry that this restriction will impair the ability of US agencies to track terrorism abroad.

President George W. Bush has recently pushed for "modernization" [JURIST report] of the governing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] to meet the threat of terrorists who can now use cell phones and the Internet to communicate. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) [official websites] said that Democrats are willing to expand government surveillance [JURIST report] over foreign communications under the FISA, but disagreements with the White House over other issues may stall such amendments. The Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove [official profile] refused to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday during the committee's seventh hearing [witness list] on the Justice Department's firing of US Attorneys [JURIST news archive]. Following President Bush's orders that White House staff not appear [White House letter, PDF], Rove skipped the hearing altogether. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed disappointment [statement] at Rove's absence, saying that Rove "refuses to tell this Committee the truth about his role in targeting well-respected U.S. Attorneys for firing and in seeking to cover up his role and that of his staff in the scandal." Deputy Director of Political Affairs J. Scott Jennings did appear, but stated he was merely there out of respect for the Committee and to avoid a contempt of Congress citation. During Leahy's opening statement [text], the senator thanked Jennings for appearing and said:

His appearance here today contrasts with the failure to appear by Karl Rove, who was also served with subpoenas to produce documents and testify today. Mr. Jennings' appearance shows that the White House's newly minted claim of "immunity" for White House employees is a sham. It is also a shame that this White House continues to act as if it is above the law. That is wrong. The subpoenas authorized by this Committee in connection with its investigation into the mass firings of U.S. Attorneys and the corrosion of federal law enforcement by White House political influence deserve respect and compliance.

[JURIST] UK Conservative Party leader William J. Hague [official website] repeated his earlier call for a general referendum [press release] on the proposed EU Reform Treaty [PDF text; EU materials] during an interview with BBC Radio 4 Thursday, saying that the reform treaty is essentially the same [recorded audio, RAM] as the failed EU Constitution [JURIST report] and threatens to erode British sovereignty without a democratic mandate. Hague also said that the so-called four-non-negotiable "red lines" [JURIST report] introduced by the UK government are "unraveling by the day."

In June, then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the EU did not need a real or de facto constitutional treaty, and insisted that the reform treaty did not amount to a EU constitution. Government officials have also denied that a referendum is necessary, saying that the reform treaty does not contain "constitutional characteristics" and preserves the UK's autonomy in its judicial and foreign affairs. European diplomats are currently working to finalize details of the landmark agreement [JURIST reports; press release] reached between EU members in June. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] convicted two former leaders of Sierra Leone's Civil Defense Forces [SCSL case materials] militia Thursday, finding Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa [TrialWatch profiles] guilty on four counts [press release, PDF] of "murder, cruel treatment, pillage, and collective punishment." Kondewa was also convicted on an additional charge for the recruitment of child combatants under the age of 15. Both defendants were acquitted of crimes against humanity, and are expected to be sentenced in September.

In July, the SCSL sentenced [JURIST report] three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council [MIPT backgrounder] to at least 45 years of imprisonment each for committing rape, murder, mutilation, pillage, and the abduction of thousands of children to fight as soldiers or work as laborers in diamond mines. The verdict in the AFRC case [SCSL materials] was the first judgment handed down by the court. The SCSL has suspended the trial [JURIST report] of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; SCSL case materials] until August 20 to give his new defense team [JURIST report] more time to prepare. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Bangladeshi Appellate Division of the Supreme Court [official backgrounder] ruled Thursday that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed [party profile] can be detained and prosecuted under emergency laws declared by the interim emergency government, overturning the High Court Division's Monday ruling that suspended Hasina's extortion trial [JURIST report]. Hasina's lawyers had argued that she cannot be charged under the new laws because her alleged offenses originate from circumstances dating over eight years ago, before the government came to power in January. The emergency laws [JURIST report], which allow detention without warrants or specific charges, have prevented Hasina from posting bail.

The emergency government [JURIST report], which has the backing of the military, has used its anti-corruption campaign [BBC Q&A; JURIST news archive] to justify the emergency laws, and has also filed tax evasion charges against Hasina's rival, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [UN profile], who is scheduled to appear in court on August 26. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The High Court of Australia [official website] upheld an interim control order against Joseph Terrence Thomas [advocacy website] Thursday, accepting the government's argument [JURIST report] and ruling that the control order provision of a controversial anti-terror law [ANS backgrounder] is constitutional because it is supported by the government's "defense power" [judgment]. Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock [official website] welcomed the ruling, saying on ABC Radio [media website] that the ruling puts the anti-terror laws "beyond doubt."

Thomas, who was detained in Pakistan in 2003, was initially convicted [JURIST report] of receiving funds from an al Qaeda associate, but successfully appealed [JURIST report; judgment] the conviction in August 2006 because authorities interviewed Thomas against his will and denied him access to a lawyer. The Australian government then imposed a control order [JURIST report], which Thomas appealed [JURIST report] last October. Section 51(vi) [text] of the Australian constitution gives the parliament the authority to enact laws for the "control of forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth." AAP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Amy St. Eve [official profile] ruled in Chicago Wednesday that Canadian-born financier and former media mogul Conrad Black [JURIST news archive] may stay out on bail until his November 30 sentencing but denied a request to allow him to return to his home in Toronto. During the bail hearing, prosecutors argued that Black was a flight risk based on allegations that he misled the court while posting collateral for bail. St. Eve disagreed, but would not allow him to return to Canada because of concerns that Black might fight extradition back to the US for sentencing.

The judge ruled in July that he would not have to wait in jail [JURIST report] for the sentencing hearing in November. Black, now a British peer, was accused [indictment, PDF] by the US government of diverting more than $80 million from Hollinger International and its shareholders [JURIST report] during the company's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers. He was found not guilty on separate charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and tax evasion. His conviction on three counts could lead to a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a petition [press release] Wednesday under the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA) [text] challenging the enemy combatant designation of Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, saying the US military violated governing rules of Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) [DOD materials] by failing to present exculpatory evidence during Barre's CSRT review. The petition, which also accuses US personnel at the Bagram Air Force Base [official website] in Afghanistan of abuse, demands that the US government "provide access to critical information and allow CCR attorneys to visit their client," who obtained refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) [official website] prior to his arrest by Pakistani officials on November 1, 2001. According to CCR, Barre worked for an international money transfer company and was detained because "his work phone number appeared on a list of calls made by members of a suspected charitable organization." CCR also says that the UNHCR did not learn that Barre was held in detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] until December 2006.

The CCR petition, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website], relies on the statements of two US military officers involved in the CSRT process. In June, Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a former liaison officer between the CSRT and intelligence agencies, submitted an affidavit saying that the CSRTs were pressured to declare detainees "enemy combatants" [affidavit, PDF; JURIST report] based on vague or incomplete evidence. The Pentagon has denied the allegations [JURIST report]. In July, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled that detainees challenging their designation as enemy combatants [JURIST news archive] are entitled a full review of all evidence [JURIST report], rejecting the Bush administration's argument that the Pentagon should be able to select which evidence is presented to the court and may choose to leave out potentially exculpatory evidence. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Congress of Guatemala [official website, in Spanish] voted to create the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) Wednesday, establishing an independent body [press release, in Spanish] to investigate organized crime and official corruption. The CICIG, which will be funded by voluntary international contributions, will be given independent authority to investigate local Guatemalan institutions. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website], who will appoint the CICIG's commissioner, praised the move [statement; UN News report] as a "clear message" to both the Guatemalan people and the international community that Guatemala is "committed to fight crime and impunity, and to provide security for its citizens." The United States, Sweden, Norway, and Spain have offered to contribute to the CICIG.

Guatemala [JURIST news archive] is a major transit and staging area for narcotics [CIA backgrounder] originating from Colombia destined for the United States through Mexico. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive] sent a letter [PDF text] to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday in response to a request that Gonzales clarify testimony [transcript] provided last week. Gonzales maintained that his testimony was truthful and that apparent contradictions stemmed from confusing language used to distinguish between undisclosed NSA intelligence programs and the domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] called the "terrorist surveillance program." In his letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and top committee Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Gonzales wrote:

First, shortly after 9/11, the President authorized the NSA to undertake a number of highly classified intelligence activities. Second, although the legal bases for these activities varied, all of them were authorized in one presidential order, which was reauthorized approximately every 45 days. Third, before December 2005, the term "Terrorist Surveillance Program" was not used to refer to these activities, collectively or otherwise. It was only in early 2006, as part of the public debate that followed the unauthorized disclosure and the President's acknowledgment of one aspect of the NSA activities, that the term Terrorist Surveillance Program was first used.

At my July 24th public hearing, the Judiciary Committee asked questions about sensitive intelligence matters. In my public testimony, including on July 24th, I have tried to provide frank answers without disclosing classified information. I was discussing only that particular aspect of the NSA activities that the President has publicly acknowledged, and that we have called the Terrorist Surveillance Program, as defined in the DNI's letter. I recognize that the use of the term "Terrorist Surveillance Program" and my shorthand reference to the "program" publicly "described by the President" may have created confusion, particularly for those who are knowledgeable about the NSA activities authorized in the presidential order described by the DNI, and who may be accustomed to thinking of them or referring to them together as a single NSA "program."

In March 2004, when the presidential order was set to expire, the Department of Justice, under Acting Attorney General James Comey, refused to give its approval to reauthorization of the order because of concerns about the legal basis of certain of these NSA activities. As I testified, however, I recall that there was not a serious disagreement between Department and the White House in March 2004 and whether there was a legal basis for the particular activity later called the Terrorist Surveillance Program. That is not to say that the legal issues raised by the Terrorist Surveillance Program were insubstantial; it was an extraordinary activity that presented novel and difficult issues and was, as I understand, the subject of intense deliberations within the Department. In the spring of 2004, after a thorough reexamination of all these activities, Mr. Comey and the Office of Legal Counsel ultimately agreed that the President could direct the NSA to intercept international communications without a court order where the interceptions were targeted at al Qaeda or its affiliates. Other aspects of the NSA activities referenced in the DNI's letter did precipitate very serious disagreement. The nature of these disagreements has been the subject of oversight by the Intelligence Committees, including a closed hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence at which I recently testified.