[JURIST] Iran Sunday dismissed a ruling [JURIST report] by a US federal judge requiring Iran to compensate the families of 241 US military personnel killed in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut [Washington Post backgrounder], calling the ruling "baseless" and "politically motivated." On Friday, US District Judge Royce Lamberth awarded [opinion, PDF] $2.65 billion in compensation to the victims' families, the largest such judgment ever awarded by a US court against a foreign country. An Iranian spokesman said the US court ruling lacks legal value because it was issued unilaterally, and that the court should not have issued the opinion "without listening to the other side's views...and issue verdicts against Iran that are not legally defendable [sic]."

Iran has been blamed for supporting Hezbollah [CFR backgrounder], the militant group behind the bombing, but the country has always denied responsibility. State acceptance of liability for terrorist acts is not totally unprecedented; in 2003, Libya agreed to accept responsibility [US DOS press release] for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight 103 [Wikipedia backgrounder] over Lockerbie, Scotland, and compensate victims' families. AP has more. IRNA has local coverage.

[JURIST] California officials have finished notifying 2.741 paroled sex offenders [JURIST news archive] residing in California that they must move pursuant to Proposition 83 [text, PDF; JURIST news archive], a law prohibiting California sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any place where children regularly gather, such as schools and parks. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [official website] notified all of the offenders four days before a department-imposed deadline, giving the sex offenders 45 days to find legal housing or be sent back to prison for parole violations. In February, a federal judge ruled that Proposition 83 could not be applied retroactively [JURIST report] to more than 90,000 paroled sex offenders because there was nothing in the measure that indicated that intent.

Proposition 83 was approved last November by 70 percent of California voters [results, CA Secretary of State; Yes on 83 advocacy website]. It faced an immediate legal challenge [JURIST report] from unidentified registered sex offenders, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] to prevent the enforcement of the law's residency requirements pending a ruling on the merits. Critics have argued that the bill would create enforcement problems [CACJ statement, PDF] and have encouraged registered sex offenders not to report their addresses. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani security officials have detained more than 2,000 supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile] ahead of Sharif's return from exile, Sharif spokesperson Ahsan Iqbal said Sunday. Sharif, who has been living in exile after being deposed in a 1999 military coup led by current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile], is expected to return to Pakistan [JURIST news archive] on Monday to challenge Musharraf's re-election bid. Pakistani security officials have also barricaded the Islamabad International Airport [official website] to prevent supporters from greeting Sharif, who may be detained upon arrival as the government recently reopened a corruption case [JURIST reports] again him.

In August, the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] ruled that Sharif had an "inalienable right to enter and remain in the country" [JURIST report] as a citizen of Pakistan, notwithstanding his earlier agreement to a 10-year exile with Musharraf's government to avoid charges. Musharraf has seen his popularity decline since he attempted a failed bid to remove Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] from office in March for alleged judicial misconduct. Musharraf's critics have alleged that Chaudhry's attempted dismissal was an attempt to preemptively quash legal objections to Musharraf's re-election bid. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Bolivian Constitutional Assembly [official website, in Spanish] president Silvia Lazarte announced a month-long suspension of constitutional reform talks Friday, citing security concerns after days of violent protests by university students and other opposition members who have demanded the relocation of the Bolivian capital [LA Times report] from the city of La Paz to the historical capital of Sucre. Leftist President Evo Morales [official website, in Spanish; BBC profile] opposes the move, as Morales' Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) [party website, in Spanish; Wikipedia backgrounder] retains greater political support in La Paz. The delay is the latest setback to Morales' pledge to rewrite the constitution, which was originally scheduled to be completed in early-August but has been stalled by a voting scheme dispute [JURIST report].

Morales, elected in 2005 [JURIST report] as Bolivia's first indigenous president, has sought a full rewrite of the country's constitution to facilitate widespread social change. Governors from wealthier provinces have pledged not to cooperate [JURIST report] with the constitutional reform process. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] relied on telecommunication companies to engage in national security surveillance [JURIST news archive] much broader in scope than previously acknowledged, the New York Times reported Sunday. According to documents provided by privacy rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], the FBI used national security letters (NSL) [CRS backgrounder, PDF; FBI backgrounder] to obtain detailed "community of interest" information from telecommunication companies. Community of interest information expands the scope of an investigation from a specific target to other individuals in contact with the target. FBI spokesperson Mike Kortan told the New York Times that the FBI has suspended the use of NSLs and community of interest information pending a review of government surveillance policies.

In July, the FBI and the Department of Justice [official website] announced the proposed launch of two oversight offices dedicated to reviewing [press release; JURIST report] the DOJ's National Security Division [official website] and the FBI's compliance with privacy laws. In March, the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) [official website] released a report [PDF text] finding privacy violations at the FBI [JURIST report]. The review, conducted under the terms of the 2005 Patriot Act renewal legislation, found that the agency had improperly used national security letters. In June, a federal district judge ordered [PDF text; JURIST report] the FBI to release approximately 100,000 pages of documents detailing the FBI's use of NSLs pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act [DOJ backgrounder] request by the EFF. The New York Times has more.