[JURIST] The New York-based Sikh Coalition [advocacy website] Saturday expressed concern [press release] at a new US Transportation and Security Administration [official website] policy that subjects Sikhs to heightened screening procedures at US airports, including mandatory turban pat downs. On Friday TSA officials told the Coalition that in a Guidance memo issued to 43,000 TSA screeners nationwide that it had specifically included the turban [statement, DOC] - worn by Sikhs as a article of faith [Sikh Coalition backgrounder] - as an example of a type of headwear that could potentially hide non-metallic threat items warranting increased scrutiny. The new TSA Guidance amends an earlier one [text, PDF] issued in the wake of September 11 which recognized that "Sikhs view their turbans as an important connection to God that covers a very private and personal part of the body. Accordingly, removal of a turban is considered one of the most invasive acts imaginable."

The Sikh Coalition said it believed that "the most precious article of our faith has [now] become part of a government-mandated profile of a person who is a terrorist threat", and called the new TSA procedure "disturbingly vague":

Screeners have personal discretion to subject a Sikh to additional screening, a turban pat-down, or to remove the turban. With 43,000 TSA screeners nationwide, and minimal cultural competency training, the Sikh Coalition is concerned that this will lead to religious profiling.

[JURIST] Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed Law and Justice Minister Wasi Zafar [official profile] and moved him to another cabinet portfolio in the wake of the reinstatement of suspended Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive]. State television announced the move Saturday. Chaudhry's July reinstatement [JURIST report] by order of the Supreme Court was a major embarrassment to the Musharraf regime, and Zafar did not defend the controversial government position during the crisis.

Many Pakistani lawyers and opposition leaders alleged that Chaudhry's March suspension was an indirect bid by Musharraf to forestall any legal challenges if Musharraf sought to extend his eight-year rule by another five years later this year. Musharraf's ability to do this successfully was further complicated earlier this week by a Supreme Court order allowing former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return to the country [JURIST report], effectively ending the 10-year exile imposed on Sharif after he was deposed by Musharraf in a 1999 military coup. PTI has more.

[JURIST] Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa [official website, in Spanish; JURIST news archive] said in a radio address Saturday that he expected lawmakers in the country's congress to reject a request from Ecuador's Supreme Court to lift his immunity so that a defamation case against him could proceed. Correa said "I have faith that the lawmakers will act in accordance with the law, with justice, and will deny lifting the president's immunity." Ecuador's unicameral National Congress [official website, in Spanish] is currently dominated by Correa supporters after half its members were dismissed and replaced earlier this year in a controversy over a then-pending constitutional referendum [JURIST reports].

The defamation suit against Correa was brought by a former aide to an ex-government minister who leaked a video in which the minister was shown discussing manipulation of bond prices. The minister later said he allowed shooting of the video to document corruption. The leak precipitated a scandal over the government's debt management program [JURIST report], prompting Correa to label the aide a "swine" and "mentally unbalanced." Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] A Chinese draft law on criminal suspects' rights to meet with defense lawyers after questioning has been broadened to include cases involving state secrets, according to Chinese state media. A set of reforms to China's Law on Lawyers [text, PDF] was initially presented [JURIST report] to Chinese legislators in June, but at that time it included a provision that "Apart from cases related to state secrets, criminal lawyers can meet clients after judicial organs conduct the initial interrogation or other coercive measures." The proviso was dropped in the new version of the law sent to the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) [official website, in Chinese] on Friday. A spokesman for the NPC Law Committee said that the change had been motivated by human rights concerns. Beijing has been especially sensitive to actual and potential rights-related criticism in the run-up to the scheduled 2008 Beijing Olympics [JURIST news archive; official website].

The draft legal practice law, the first amendment to the Law on Lawyers since its implementation in 1997, also gives lawyers more power to collect evidence by themselves, and to ask courts to force witnesses to testify. Lawyers are specifically protected by a provision giving them immunity from prosecution for opinions expressed or remarks made in court. UPI has more. China Daily has local coverage.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] Saturday urged [press release] the interim government of Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] to respect international human rights standards as it enforces a curfew and seeks to police demonstrations. The government imposed the curfew [JURIST report] Wednesday after three days of student protests resulted in hundreds of injuries and one death. Protesters called for an end to emergency laws [JURIST report] which have been in place since January. The curfew will remain in effect indefinitely. HRW insisted that "anyone detained under the emergency regulations must be charged with a cognizable criminal offense or released, and that anyone mistreated in detention should be able to seek and obtain an effective remedy before competent authorities." Reuters has more.

The interim government 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 former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [UN profile] and extortion charges against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed [party profile]. Human Rights Watch claims that more than 250,000 people have been detained in the country since the caretaker government took over in January in the face of pre-electoral unrest. Scheduled national elections were later suspended.