[JURIST] US President George W. Bush signed [press release] an anti-terror bill [PDF text, HR 1 materials] Friday that implements recommendations by the 9/11 commission [official website]. The measure will transfer funds to states and cities found to be at high risk for terrorist attacks and also includes a provision to screen all air and sea cargo coming into the US within five years. Bush criticized the bill for providing billions of dollars for grants and other programs he deemed unnecessary and promised that he would not ask for that money in his 2009 budget request.

The bill passed [JURIST report] the Senate last Thursday by a 85-8 vote [roll call] and the House last Friday by a 371-40 vote [roll call]. Critics 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. AP has more.

[JURIST] A military jury in Camp Pendleton, California, Friday sentenced [press release] US Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, III to 15 years in prison for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] in Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Hutchins was convicted [JURIST report] Thursday of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. He is the first and only Marine convicted of murder in connection to the Hamdania incident.

Earlier Friday, a military jury sentenced US Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda [advocacy website] to 448 days confinement [press release; JURIST report] and demoted him to private for his role in the Hamdania incident. Magincalda, who was convicted [JURIST report] of conspiracy to murder, larceny and housebreaking, and acquitted of more serious charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, and making a false official statement, will not serve any additional time in detention as he has been in pre-trial confinement for the last 450 days. Five defendants have pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in the death of Awad, who was removed from his residence and killed, then arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he were planting an improvised explosive device. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pojamarn Shinwatra, wife of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], filed a lawsuit Friday at the Bangkok Civil Court against the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) [Wikipedia backgrounder], alleging that the AEC's seizure of $86 million of her assets was arbitrary and unfair. The AEC has seized approximately $2.1 billion in family assets [JURIST report] belonging to Thaksin and Pojamarn.

Thaksin, who filed a similar lawsuit [JURIST report] against the AEC last month, has been living in exile since his ouster in a September 2006 military coup [JURIST report]. Thaksin is currently facing corruption charges [JURIST report], which are scheduled to be heard [JURIST report] by the Thai Supreme Court August 14. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush [official profile] asked urged Congress Friday to pass legislation [statement; fact sheet] "modernizing" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive], calling on members of Congress to postpone their scheduled August recess until the legislation is submitted to the White House for Bush's signature. Bush also threatened to veto any legislation Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell [official profile] thinks does not give the intelligence community what it "needs to prevent an attack on the country." Also Friday, officials indicated that the White House would agree to judicial scrutiny of foreign intelligence activities in exchange for greater government surveillance powers over foreign communications.

Bush stressed the need for modernizing FISA [JURIST report] in his weekly radio address last weekend, saying that the new legislation is necessary to meet threats from terrorists who can now use cell phones and the Internet to communicate. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that Democrats are willing to expand government surveillance [JURIST report] over foreign communications under the FISA, but that disagreements with the White House over other issues remained. AP has more.

Breaking News: House Democrats said Friday that talks about expanding FISA have broken down, but White House officials say negotiations are ongoing. AP has more.

[JURIST] A military jury sentenced US Marine Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda [advocacy website] to 448 days confinement [press release] and demoted Magincalda to private Friday for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad [Wikipedia profile] in Hamdania [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Magincalda, who was convicted [JURIST report] Wednesday of conspiracy to murder, larceny and housebreaking, and acquitted of more serious charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, and making a false official statement, will not serve any additional time in detention as he has been in pre-trial confinement for the last 450 days.

Five defendants have pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in the death of Awad, who was removed from his residence and killed, then arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he were planting an improvised explosive device. On Thursday, a military jury convicted Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins, III [JURIST report] of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. Hutchins could face life in prison. AP has more.

[JURIST] Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama said Thursday that Rwanda has signed extradition treaties with countries in Africa, Europe, and North America following its abolition of the death penalty [JURIST report] in July. The law ending the death penalty, which took effect July 25, was largely motivated by Rwanda's desire to receive extradited suspects accused of crimes in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Death sentences issued before the new law took effect were commuted to life imprisonment or life imprisonment with special provisions, which prevents early release unless a prisoner has already served at least 20 years. A Ministry of Justice [official website] official indicated that those convicted of crimes like genocide, crimes against humanity, acts of terrorism resulting in death, rape of children, sexual torture, torture resulting in death, and the murder or other killings conducted with dehumanizing acts on dead bodies may be subjected to special provisions, which require detention in isolation.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website], which is expected to complete its work by December 2008, has began the process of transferring genocide cases [JURIST report] to Rwandan courts after the abolishment of the death penalty. IRIN has more.

[JURIST] The UK parliament's Joint Committee on the Draft Climate Change Bill [official website] urged parliament to amend the draft climate change bill [PDF text] to include the monitoring and analysis of all greenhouse emissions instead of only carbon dioxide in a report [PDF text] released Friday. The committee also recommended that the draft bill be amended to include the monitoring, reporting, and projection of international aviation emissions.

The draft bill, which currently sets a target to reduce emissions by at least 60 percent by 2050, was unveiled in March [JURIST report] with the hope that it would encourage other countries, including the US, to adopt similar changes to confront the threat of climate change. To date, 171 parties have ratified the Kyoto Protocol [UNFCCC backgrounder], which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by developed and developing nations beyond 2012 [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled [PDF text] Friday that the FBI's conduct during an 18-hour raid on the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) [official profile; JURIST news archive] was unconstitutional, finding that the "compelled disclosure of privileged material to the Executive during execution of the search warrant" violated the Speech or Debate Clause [text] because the FBI searched through privilege materials without giving Jefferson an opportunity to review the materials. The court overturned a lower court ruling [JURIST report] and ordered the return of legislative documents, which the court determined to be privileged, but refused Jefferson's request for the return of non-privileged documents because Jefferson has not demonstrated that the "operations of his office have been disrupted as a result of not having the original versions of non-privileged documents." The court also barred the FBI agents who executed the search from disclosing the privileged or "political sensitive and non-responsive items." Jefferson's arguments [JURIST report] were supported by amicus briefs submitted by former Reps. Tom Foley (D-WA) and Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

In June, Jefferson pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges [DOJ press release] under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [DOJ materials], including bribery, racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Jefferson is accused of accepting approximately $500,000 in bribes from numerous companies in the US and Africa and faces a maximum sentence of 235 years in prison if he is convicted on all counts. Jefferson's trial is scheduled to begin on January 16, 2008. Last January, former Jefferson aide Brett Pfeffer pleaded guilty [DOJ press release] to bribery charges for his role in the scheme. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit lifted a stay [order, PDF] Thursday on the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha [BBC profile] to Algeria. The court instead put Belbacha's appeal on an expedited schedule. Belbacha is appealing a district judge's decision [AP report] to deny his motion to stay his transfer to Algeria.

Belbacha filed the motion [JURIST report] Monday because he says that he will be tortured and perhaps killed if returned to Algeria. His lawyers have asked for help from the UK, where Belbacha lived for three years, but British officials will only intervene in cases involving British citizens. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] on Friday ordered the release on bail of jailed opposition leader Javed Hashmi pending his appeal of his 2004 conviction [BBC report] for allegedly inciting mutiny in the armed forces, forgery and defamation by circulating an unsigned letter allegedly written by army officers opposed to President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistani military operations in Kashmir. Hashmi, the leader of the opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the Pakistan Muslim League-N [party website], was serving a 23 year prison term concurrently and was expected to be released in 2011.

The ruling, issued by a panel of three justices including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive], is seen as the latest setback to Musharraf's bid to extend his eight-year rule by another five years later this year. On Tuesday, Musharraf publicly accepted the judgment of the judiciary to reinstate the suspended chief justice, who resumed his duties [JURIST report] on the high court after it dismissed all charges of misconduct [order]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] Friday rejected calls for an independent judicial inquiry into the Australian government's handling of the terror case against Dr. Mohammad Haneef [JURIST news archive], calling it a political "stunt" [transcript] by opposition Labour Party leader Kevin Rupp [official profile]. During an interview with Sky News, Howard also welcomed the High Court of Australia's Thursday ruling upholding the constitutionality of control orders [JURIST report] against a terror suspect, calling it a "great litmus test" that demonstrated that a controversial anti-terror law [ANS backgrounder] was "soundly based."

Howard has refused to apologize [JURIST report] for the Australian government's handling of Haneef's case, saying that Haneef was not "victimized" despite being detained as a terrorist suspect for 25 days. On Wednesday, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty indicated that the Australian Federal Police was continuing with an investigation into Haneef [JURIST report] and may submit a new brief of evidence against Haneef to prosecutors. Haneef has not been implicated by UK authorities in June's attempted UK car bomb attacks [JURIST report], and was allowed to travel to India after prosecutors dropped the terror charge [JURIST report] against Haneef due to insufficient evidence. PTI has more.

[JURIST] Chilean authorities on Thursday announced the capture of former Gen. Raul Iturriaga Neumann, a former high-ranking intelligence official with the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) [FAS backgrounder] during the reign of former dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Neumann, who has been a fugitive since June, has been convicted for the 1974 disappearance of political activist Luis Dagoberto San Martin and sentenced to five years in prison.

Pinochet, who died [JURIST report] last December without ever facing trial, ruled from 1973 to 1990 after staging a coup that displaced democratically elected President Salvador Allende [BBC profile]. The Los Angeles Times has more.

[JURIST] China is increasing its control over human rights activists [press release] and other political dissidents ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics [official website], Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] reported Thursday. HRW says that leaders in the Communist Party of China (CPC), fearing potential embarrassment brought on by activists highlighting political and social problems, have also attempted to silence independent media coverage. HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said that "political repress is not in keeping with the behavior of a responsible power and Olympic host," and urged the Chinese government against wasting the "unique opportunity to use the 2008 Games to demonstrate to the world it is serious about improving the rights situation in China." Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia reported Friday the arrest of approximately 220 people [RFA report] for their role in protests relating to the exile of Dalai Lama [BBC profile].

On Thursday, CPC discipline commission spokesperson Gan Yisheng defended China's use of capital punishment [JURIST report] in political and economic corruption cases as being appropriate and effective. Amnesty International [advocacy website] criticized China in April for not doing enough to address human rights abuses [JURIST report]. AP has more.