[JURIST] The US Court of Military Commission Review [DOD materials] Monday reinstated terrorism charges against Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive]. In June, a military commission judge dropped charges [order, PDF; JURIST report] against Khadr, ruling that the court had no jurisdiction because a Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] had found that Khadr was an "enemy combatant," not an "unlawful enemy combatant" as required under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text]. The appeals court held that the distinction was purely semantic and that the military tribunal system still had the authority to try Khadr.

Khadr was detained in Afghanistan in 2002 after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban. He was only 15 at the time. After earlier proceedings against him were effectively quashed by the US Supreme Court's rejection of presidentially-established military commissions as unconstitutional he was formally recharged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April under the new Military Commissions Act with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Israeli Attorney General announced Monday that he was opening an investigation into a real estate purchase made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official website]. The criminal probe centers on a Jerusalem apartment for which Olmert paid the value of 320,000 American dollars. Olmert is accused of receiving the apartment at a substantially reduced price in exchange for helping a construction company obtain illegal building permits. Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz [official profile] authorized the initial investigation to determine whether a further probe is warranted.

This is not the first time Olmert has been investigated for questionable deals. In April, Olmert was investigated for improperly favoring his supporters [JURIST report] in distributing business grants when he was trade minister in 2001. Olmert has also endured accusations that he promoted the interests of two business associates during the 2005 state sale of Bank Leumi [corporate website]. In January, the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced plans to launch an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations surrounding Olmert's involvement with the sale of Bank Leumi. Throughout the scandals, Olmert has maintained that he has done nothing wrong. AFP has more. Xinhua has additional coverage.

[JURIST] South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile] suspended National Prosecuting Authority chief Vusi Pikoli Monday, citing a strained relationship between Pikoli and his superior, Minister of Justice Bridget Mabandla [official website], as the primary motive for the suspension. Pikoli was appointed to lead an elite corruption fighting agency in 2005, but last May complained before parliament of attacks against his office by the ruling political party, the African National Congress [official website].

Mbeki's brief statement emphasized that government functioning "will not be compromised, especially within the context of the collective challenge to fight crime." South Africa [CIA backgrounder; JURIST news archive] has one of the highest crime rates in the world, averaging 50 murders a day. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Former Argentinean military officer Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro [Desaparecidos profile] has been sentenced [press release] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to six months in jail for one count of visa fraud, US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official website] said Monday. According to ICE, he will likely be deported to Argentina when his US sentence is complete, where he faces charges of torture, kidnapping, and murder for his role in Argentina's 1976-83 Dirty War [Global Security backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. If convicted of those charges, he faces up to life in prison.

Barreiro was arrested [JURIST report] in April for violating US immigration laws, along with two former Peruvian military officials, Telmo Ricardo Hurtado and Juan Manuel Rivera-Rondon. All three are suspected of war atrocities in their home countries, with Barreiro being accused of having served as the chief interrogator at La Perla [IPS report], a clandestine prison, where thousands of suspected dissidents and government opponents were tortured and killed. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors began court proceedings Monday against former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile], bringing the government's civil corruption lawsuit [JURIST report] against Suharto for allegedly embezzling $440 million between 1974 and 1998 from the Yayasan Supersemar [official website], a state-funded academic scholarship fund. The court proceedings began after prosecutors for the government failed [JURIST report] to reach a settlement earlier this month. Indonesian law requires that parties try mediation to resolve civil disputes before courts may proceed with a case. Suharto's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon has said that the negotiations failed because government prosecutors insisted on terms identical with their suit.

The civil suit is the latest effort by the Indonesian government to hold Suharto accountable for his 32-year reign, which ended in 1998 after public discontent amid the Asian financial crisis erupted into violent protests. Government lawyers are seeking to recover the $440 million in state funds, and an additional $1.1 billion in damages. In January, Indonesian Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh announced plans to bring the civil action against Suharto after dropping criminal charges of corruption because Suharto has been rendered unable to speak or write [JURIST reports] as a result of several strokes. ABC News has more.

[JURIST] The American Bar Association death penalty assessment team [ABA materials] has recommended [news release] a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio, in a report [PDF text; executive summary, PDF] released Monday that cited major flaws in the state's administration of capital punishment [JURIST news archive]. The assessment team, composed of Ohio lawmakers, judges, and law professors, studied the state's death penalty system for approximately 30 months before releasing the report, which only recommends a moratorium until "problems can be corrected and fairness assured." The panel identified several problems [ABA fact sheet, DOC] including inadequate and inconsistent court-appointed representation, inadequate appellate review of claims of error, racial discrepancies in sentencing, and no implementation of the US Supreme Court ruling against executing the mentally retarded [Atkins v. Virginia text]. The ABA hopes that the report will encourage Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland [official website] to impose a moratorium until the report can be reviewed and the state can implement the report's recommendations. Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association executive director John Murphy on Monday called the report a "mugging of [the Ohio] justice system."

The Ohio assessment is one of several that the ABA has conducted since 2001. An assessment panel has also identified problems with death penalty practices in Georgia and Alabama [JURIST reports]. The ABA will next review capital punishment in Pennsylvania. AP has more.

[JURIST] Violent crime in the US has increased for the second year in a row, according to the 2006 Crime in the United States report [text; press release] released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation [official website] Monday. The FBI reported that violent crime rose by 1.9 percent in 2006, with the homicide rate increasing 1.8 percent and the number of robberies increasing by 7.2 percent. There were some violent crimes that declined in 2006, including the estimated number of rapes, which declined by 2 percent. In contrast to the violent crime statistics, FBI data showed an overall decline in the amount of property crime by a measure of 2.8 percent.

The FBI in June released the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2006 [text; JURIST report], which estimated a violent crime increase of only 1.3 percent. The 2005 Annual Report on Violent Crime [text; JURIST report] found that violent crimes had increased for the first time since 2001. The upward trend in violent crime [JURIST report] was initially disclosed in May by FBI Assistant Director of Public Affairs John Miller [official profile], who told AP that mid-sized American cities had been particularly affected. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US federal judges have expressed concern about the salary gap between federal judges and lawyers in the private sector, saying that judges are resigning in greater numbers than ever before due to inadequate pay, USA Today reported Monday. According to the Federal Judicial Pay Increase Fact Sheet [text] from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the pay for federal judges when adjusted for inflation has actually declined by nearly 25 percent since 1969, whereas the pay for the average US worker has increased by over 18 percent. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has proposed the Federal Judicial Salary Restoration Act of 2007 [S 1638 text, PDF], which would substantially increase the salary for a federal judge. When introducing the bill in June, Leahy said [PDF text]:

This bill would demonstrate our respect and appreciation for our hardworking Federal judges by authorizing an immediate and substantial increase in judicial salaries. Our bill recognizes the important constitutional role judges play in administering justice, interpreting our laws, and providing the ultimate check and balance in our system of government. It is time Congress treated the Federal judiciary with the respect that a co-equal branch of government deserves.

[JURIST] The military government in Myanmar [JURIST news archive] on Monday threatened to punish the thousands of monks who have been leading protests against the government [BBC Q&A]. The monks are protesting rights abuses by the government, including the detention of demonstrators who peacefully protested a sharp rise in fuel prices in August. Tens of thousands of citizens have joined the marching monks in what has become the largest demonstration in the country since a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

In August, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official website] issued a statement urging Myanmar [JURIST report] to immediately release demonstrators, saying that allowing citizens to peacefully express themselves will help foster both democracy and reconciliation in Myanmar. Earlier this month, the US also criticized [JURIST report] the rights situation in Myanmar, with President George W. Bush saying that it was "inexcusable" for the recently-concluded constitutional convention in Myanmar to have excluded opposition party members. Myanmar has been governed without a constitution since the military regime took power in 1988. Talks on a new national charter have been underway for 14 years. It is not yet clear who will draft the actual constitution or how that process will occur, but the Myanmar government has pledged to put the resulting document to a vote in a national referendum. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein's cousin and former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], also known as Chemical Ali, ordered the execution of 25 villagers at a time as he crushed a Shi'a uprising [HRW backgrounder] in southern Iraq following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, according to testimony Monday in the crimes against humanity trial [JURIST report] ongoing at the Iraqi High Tribunal. A witness speaking from behind a curtain testified that his son was among those executed. The witness said that al-Majid ordered the executions of about 200 people, in batches of 25 at a time; the bodies were later found in a mass grave. Al-Majid responded that he was not even in Basra at the time. Monday's session of the trial opened with al-Majid and another defendant asking for an adjournment, saying their lawyers were afraid to attend court and had asked for protection from the US military. The request was refused.

Al-Majid and 14 other former Saddam Hussein-era officials are on trial for their role in the government's violent response to the uprising, during which tens of thousands of civilians were killed. They are charged with crimes against humanity and could face the death penalty. Al-Majid has already been sentenced to death [JURIST report] for his role in the 1988 Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder] that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Kurds. The Iraqi High Tribunal's Appeals Chamber upheld the death sentences [JURIST report] of three defendants in the Anfal case, including al-Majid, on September 4; Iraqi law requires the executions to take place within 30 days of the court ruling. The new case is the third in a series of trials involving Hussein-era officials [JURIST news archive]. The first was the Dujail case [BBC timeline] involving crimes against humanity committed in that Iraqi town in 1982, which resulted in the hangings of Hussein and his co-defendants. AFP has more.

[JURIST] A group of experts presented an interim report [press release] to the United Nations Human Rights Council [official website] on the situation in Darfur Monday, citing continued human rights violations. The report noted that the government of Sudan demonstrated cooperation [press release] during the period under review and has partially implemented some recommendations. Since other recommendations remain without implementation, the group concluded that it was "not in a position to report that a clear impact on the ground has been identified." The group expressed concern about the ongoing serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights and called on the Sudanese government to "address impunity, and to call on all parties to end violence against civilians, especially women, children, internally displaced persons, those with disabilities and humanitarian workers." A report with a detailed description and analysis of the status of the implementation of the group's recommendations in Darfur [JURIST news archive] will be presented in a final report to the Human Rights Council in December 2007. AFP has more.

The investigation by the group of experts was authorized [JURIST report] by a Human Rights Council Resolution in March 2007. In July, The UN Human Rights Committee [official website] urged [DOC text; JURIST report] 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. Earlier in July, Sudan defended its handling of alleged abuses [JURIST report] in Darfur, 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].

[JURIST] The Israeli cabinet decided Sunday to release 90 Palestinians [press release] currently imprisoned by Israel this week in an attempt to sway Palestinian opinion, including that of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile], on Israel [JURIST news archive]. Aides to Abbas, however, said that the release of a mere 90 of the 11,000 Palestinians detained by Israel is not enough in light of the years of failed peace talks between the two groups. The cabinet considered 100 names for release, 10 of which were rejected for security reasons.

Israel released 255 Palestinian prisoners [JURIST report] in July after the government determined that the detainees were not directly involved [press release] in the killing or wounding of Israelis. Similar to the current proposed release, the prisoners were released this summer as a gesture of goodwill in an effort to strengthen the moderate Fatah against the more-hardline Hamas [BBC backgrounder], which violently took over the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder] in June. Palestinian infighting between the Islamist-Hamas and the secular-Fatah has established two parallel Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association nominated former judge Wajeehuddin Ahmed on Monday to run in the upcoming presidential election against current Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile]. Musharraf's eligibility to run is still being contested, despite the Supreme Court of Pakistan's dismissal of three petitions against Musharraf's re-election campaign [AP report]. Ahmed was one of the few judges to stand in opposition to Musharraf by resigning from the Supreme Court [IANS report] in 1999 when the president suspended the constitution of the dismissed government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The lawyers group urged the government not to create difficulties for the nomination, which is due to the Election Commission on September 27.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan is still considering seven petitions against Musharraf's bid for re-election, which the Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association has protested [JURIST report], saying that Musharraf's dual role as president and army chief is illegal. Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir Malik has said that the group's goal is to secure Musharraf's resignation [JURIST report] and to restore the 1973 Constitution [text]. Earlier this year Pakistani lawyers led a four-month campaign to reinstate suspended Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive] after Musharraf suspended him in March for alleged judicial misconduct. Chaudhry was reinstated in July, with all charges of misconduct [JURIST reports] dismissed. IRNA has more.