[JURIST] Legal advisers to the 27 countries belonging to the European Union (EU) [official website] agreed Tuesday that the proposed EU Reform Treaty [PDF text; EU materials] is ready for approval. The new treaty, which will replace the failed EU constitution [JURIST news archive], will be the topic of discussion at a meeting in Luxembourg on October 15, and could potentially gain full EU approval at a summit in Lisbon later in the month. Portugal, which took over the EU Presidency [official website] on July 1, is hoping to have member states sign the treaty at a December summit and complete the ratification process before the June 2009 European parliamentary elections.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende [official profile] last month announced [JURIST report] that the Netherlands would not hold a general referendum on the proposed treaty because the pact had "no constitutional aspirations." British officials have adopted a similar position [JURIST report]. EU leaders reached initial agreement [JURIST report] on the reform treaty in June. The original draft constitution failed as it did not receive unanimous approval among all EU states. Voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda in 2005. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson [official profile] Tuesday said [speech text; press release] that he intends to introduce legislation to criminalize identity theft and assist law enforcement officials in apprehending criminals before they can use stolen identities to commit fraud. Currently, Canada's Criminal Code [text, in English] criminalizes identity fraud, impersonation, and forgery, but does not cover preliminary steps of obtaining, possessing, and trafficking identity information. "Identity theft" [Justice Canada backgrounder] typically refers to these preliminary acts, while "identity fraud" relates to the subsequent deceptive use of that information for various crimes. The new legislation would focus on criminalizing acts committed in preparation of engaging in identity fraud. Reuters has more.

Identity theft has become an increasingly hot topic in a variety of jurisdictions. In February, in the US, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) [official websites] introduced a bill [press release] designed to protect the personal information of American consumers by increasing criminal penalties for identity theft and requiring institutions that maintain personal data to disclose when they suffer a breach affecting personal security information.

[JURIST] Founder and chief executive of Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] Erik Prince testified in a hearing [recorded video] Tuesday before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee [official website] that employees of his security firm have "distinguished records" and have never intentionally killed civilians. His testimony came one day after the FBI announced [JURIST report] that it would send a team of investigators to Iraq to study the circumstances surrounding a September shooting incident [JURIST report] involving Blackwater employees that left 11 Iraqi civilians dead. The pending investigation precluded discussions of the incident during Tuesday's hearing, but not those related to other allegations of misconduct by Blackwater and the overall performance of the firm in Iraq and Afghanistan, as outlined in a report [PDF text] released Monday by the committee. The report revealed Blackwater has been involved in an estimated 1.4 shootings a week in Iraq since 2005. Although private security firms are only authorized to use defensive force by the US State Department, Blackwater employees fired the first shots in more than 80 percent of the 195 incidents.

In response to domestic outrage over the Blackwater killings, the Iraqi Interior Ministry is proposing draft legislation to be submitted to the Iraqi parliament that places private security contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction. The Iraqi judiciary is also considering whether to proceed with a criminal prosecution [JURIST report]. CNN has more.

[JURIST] Pakistan agreed Tuesday to drop pending corruption charges [JURIST report] against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC profile], permitting Bhutto to enter the country for talks between her Pakistani People's Party [party website] and President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Musharraf is seeking Bhutto's endorsement as he faces a controversial re-election October 6. Bhutto left the country in 1999 in the face of corruption allegations after her government collapsed. She still retains wide support in her party, the largest in Pakistan, but risks losing popularity with the Pakistani public if she reaches any kind of agreement with Musharraf, who later in 1999 ousted a democratically elected government led by Bhutto successor Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile] in a military coup.

Musharraf's re-election bid has been widely criticized for violating a constitutional ban on holding dual roles as president and army chief; 85 opposition members of parliament resigned Tuesday in protest. Legal challenges [JURIST report] to Musharraf's candidacy remain, though Musharraf has said that he will step down as head of the army should he be re-elected as president. On Tuesday, Musharraf designated Lieutenant-General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as his successor as army chief "after the post falls vacant." The Pakistani People's Party has not taken an official stance on the election. VOA has more.

[JURIST] Israel [JURIST news archive] released 29 Palestinian detainees and returned them to Gaza Tuesday, adding to Monday's return [JURIST report] of 57 prisoners to the West Bank for a total of 86 prisoners released this week. The releases are meant as a gesture of good will toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas [BBC profile] on the eve of a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official website] in preparation for a US-sponsored November peace conference. Last week, the Israeli cabinet approved the release of 90 Palestinians [JURIST report]; none of the freed prisoners were members of Hamas [BBC backgrounder] or were convicted of terrorism-related murder.

This week's prisoner release was the second in recent months. 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. As in the current release, the prisoners were released in an effort to strengthen the moderate Fatah against more-hardline Hamas, which violently took over the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounders] in June. Palestinian infighting between the Islamist-Hamas and the secular-Fatah has established two parallel Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza. Some 11,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli prisons. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in Kimbrough v. United States [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-6330, in which the Court considered whether a district judge, in seeking to impose a sentence that is "sufficient but not greater than necessary," should have discretion to sentence a defendant to a prison term lesser than what is recommended by federal guidelines. US District Judge Raymond A. Jackson sentenced crack and powder cocaine dealer Derrick Kimbrough to 15 years in prison, despite the 19 to 22-year standard found in the U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines [USSC materials]. Critics have said the Federal Sentencing Guidelines treat races unequally, as powder cocaine dealers face the same sentence as a crack cocaine dealer who traffics 1/100th the amount. The vast majority of crack cocaine defendants are black. In sentencing Kimbrough to 15 years, the judge called the higher sentence "ridiculous." The Fourth Circuit vacated Kimbrough's lesser sentence [opinion, PDF] and remanded for resentencing, holding that district court judges do not have authority to undercut the guidelines based on personal objections to perceived disparities.

The Court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] in Gall v. United States [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-7949, in which another circuit court ordered resentencing of a defendant originally sentenced below the guidelines. The Eighth Circuit ruled that it was unreasonable for a drug dealer selling MDMA, or ecstasy, to be sentenced below the guideline amount [opinion, PDF] without any special circumstances in the case. Gall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute MDMA and was sentenced only to probation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The South African Constitutional Court [official website] Tuesday dismissed [press release] the final appeal of businessman Schabir Shaik, a former business associate of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [ANC party profile], who was seeking to have his 2005 conviction for fraud and corruption [JURIST report] overturned. The court found [judgment text, PDF] no merit in Shaik's allegations that his trial was unfair. The Court did rule that Shaik can challenge the confiscation of certain assets allegedly associated with his crimes. AFP has more.

Shaik applied for leave to appeal [JURIST report] his conviction and 15-year jail sentence in December 2006 after the South African Supreme Court of Appeals [official website] upheld the conviction [JURIST report] in November. Shaik's appeal hearing before the Constitutional Court [JURIST report] began in May 2007.

[JURIST] Jack Landman Goldsmith [faculty profile], former head of the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel [official website] and now a Harvard Law School professor, testified [hearing notice] before the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Tuesday that he "could not find the legal support for" portions of the Bush Administration's controversial domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive] during his tenure with DOJ. Goldsmith nonetheless said he was not at liberty to disclose the legal rationale used to justify implementation and operation of the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program [DOJ fact sheet] run by the National Security Agency [official website] and declined to describe the constitutional principles he believes the program violates.

Goldsmith served as an assistant US attorney general between 2003 and 2004. Goldsmith also confirmed Tuesday that he was present when former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confronted [JURIST news archive] former US Attorney General John Ashcroft [official profile; JURIST news archive] in his hospital room in March 2004 to obtain reauthorization of the warrantless wiretapping program and said Ashcroft denied Gonzales' request, saying that the program was illegal. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Director of Administration of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive], the court established to try former Khmer Rouge leaders, agreed late Monday to make public the text of a controversial audit [PDF text] of the ECCC's human resources practices. The audit was authorized [JURIST report] by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [official website] in February 2007 in response to corruption allegations [press release]. Although the contents of such audits are rarely disclosed, the Cambodian administration of the ECCC chose to release the findings [press release] because of speculation caused by a statement [text] published on the UNDP website September 25, summarizing its findings. The audit criticizes the recruitment techniques and qualifications of Cambodian ECCC staff members and suggests the possibility of retracting UN support for the tribunal.

The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2005, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians who died between 1975 and 1979. BBC News has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa [official website, in Spanish; personal website] said Monday that he plans to disband the Ecuadorean congress and rewrite the country's constitution [text, in Spanish]. Correa's statement comes only a day after unofficial results in the Constitutional Assembly elections indicated a landslide victory [JURIST report] for his leftist coalition. Correa plans to push for a constitution free of foreign influence and to institute reforms to restrain powerful political parties [JURIST report], increase government accountability, and hold regional, rather than national, elections.

Correa proposed convening a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution after a referendum to rewrite [JURIST report] the current constitution was overwhelmingly passed in April. The assembly will begin drafting on October 31, although the final proposal will not take effect unless it garners a majority vote in a 2008 national referendum. Critics fear that Correa will follow the lead of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile] in using the assembly to expand presidential power [JURIST report]. In April, the congress dismissed the prior constitutional tribunal judges after they ordered the reinstatement of 50 lawmakers [JURIST report] who were dismissed [JURIST report] in February by the country's electoral tribunal for allegedly interfering in the referendum. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly [official profile] of the US District for the District of Columbia ruled [PDF text; National Security Archives press release] Monday that the National Archives cannot rely on an executive order by President George W. Bush that permits former presidents and vice-presidents to delay the release of administration records. Executive Order 13,233 [text], issued by Bush in November 2001 purportedly to further implement the Presidential Records Act of 1978 [text], provided that former presidents and vice-presidents had the power to review presidential papers and documents before their release to the public under the Freedom of Information Act [text]. The power to publish presidential records rests in the National Archives [official website], which has awaited approval by former presidents or their designated representatives before releasing documents.

In finding that the order is "not necessary to preserve any constitutionally-based privilege," Kollar-Kotelly wrote:

While presumably a former president must have some time to review documents for privilege, as a former president may at very least be heard to assert claims of executive privilege, ... the Court does not find any support for the proposition that removing discretion from the [National Archives] with respect to what constitutes a reasonable time for said review after 30 days has expired would somehow threaten a former president's ability to make privilege determinations.

[JURIST] Former US Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick [BBC profile] was released on parole Monday from a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was incarcerated for three years after pleading guilty [JURIST report] to abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq [JURIST news archive]. Frederick pleaded guilty to five charges [text] of abusing inmates in 2004, including conspiracy, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault and committing an indecent act. He was sentenced [JURIST report] to 10 years' confinement and reduced to the rank of private. He also forfeited all military pay and benefits and was dishonorably discharged. The sentence was later reduced to eight years per Frederick's plea agreement. Frederick's attorney noted that his early release stemmed from Frederick's testimony in the trial of Lt. Col. Steven Jordan [CBS profile], who was reprimanded [JURIST report] last month following his conviction [JURIST report] for disobeying an order not to discuss the investigation into allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Photographs [JURIST report] of US interrogators abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib surfaced in April 2004 and substantiated allegations of abuse at the facility. The scandal damaged the US Army's and government's reputations across the world, especially in the Middle East. Frederick, who admitted to punching and stomping on detainees as well as forcing them to masturbate in photographs and threatening electrocution, claims the Army hierarchy created an environment of abuse and, in some cases, ordered the specific tactics used. Former Abu Ghraib commander Janis Karpinski has alleged [JURIST report] that former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [official profile] personally ordered "making prisoners stand for long periods, sleep deprivation ... [and] playing music at full volume" at Abu Ghraib. The White House has denied [JURIST report] that President Bush had knowledge of the abuse before the publication of the photographs, despite allegations to the contrary by retired US Army Major General Antonio Taguba [NPR profile], who investigated [report, PDF] the abuse in 2004. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers representing the opposition Pakistani Peoples Party [party website] filed new petitions at the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] Tuesday challenging President Pervez Musharraf's bid to run for another term in office. The opposition members argue that the Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] should not have formally accepted Musharraf's nomination [JURIST report] as a presidential candidate because of his dual role as president and army chief. The petitioners also argued that Musharraf should not be able to avoid a general election by seeking re-election from the outgoing National Assembly and provincial assemblies.

Also Tuesday, opposition leaders submitted the formal resignation of 85 of 342 members of the National Assembly of Pakistan [official website] in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the upcoming October 6 election. The Pakistani high court ruled [JURIST report] last week that Musharraf should be allowed to run for another term, but the new lawsuits rely on a recent rule change [press release] by the election commission affecting Musharraf's ability to run which has not yet been directly considered by the court. AP has more. Xinhua has additional coverage.

1:56 PM ET - Musharraf has previously said that he will step down as head of the army should he be re-elected as president, and on Tuesday designated Lieutenant-General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as his successor "after the post falls vacant." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern District of California extended a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] Monday blocking the implementation of a new US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations [PDF text] intended to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain US employment. The stricter rules, announced [JURIST report; DHS transcript] in August and originally slated to take effect in September, require employers who receive notices from the Social Security Administration (SSA) [official website] informing them of non-matching records between an employee's name and social security number to resolve any discrepancy within 90 days, dismiss the employee, or face up to $10,000 in fines for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Breyer said that he was concerned about the large burden the new rules place on employers.

The lawsuit [ACLU materials] challenging the new regulations, brought by employers, unions, and the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website], argues that errors in the SSA's database may cause legally employed persons to lose their jobs and that the rules impose a substantial burden on employers. In August, US District Judge Maxine M. Chesney said that the lawsuit highlighted the fact that there was "serious question" about whether DHS overreached in making the rules, and directed the SSA not to send out a mailing to approximately 140,000 employers advising them that there were discrepancies in their particular employment records. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] UN special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari met with opposition leader and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive] and with top Myanmar military leader Senior General Than Shwe [BBC profile] during separate meetings Tuesday to discuss the rising political crisis in Myanmar, according to reports from foreign diplomats. Suu Kyi was released from house arrest [JURIST report] on Sunday for a short meeting with Gambari, but was not allowed to meet with Shwe or any other military junta leaders at that time. Gambari has faced criticism from the self-styled Myanmar government in exile in Bangkok, saying Gambari's mission in Myanmar has been too weak and that the visit cannot be "fruitful" unless Gambari can arrange a meeting between Suu Kyi and Shwe.

Last Wednesday, the Myanmar government began a crackdown against protesters [JURIST report], arresting hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating against human rights abuses by the military government. On Thursday, Myanmar authorities raided several Buddhist monasteries, detaining monks [JURIST report] the junta believed to be leading the demonstrations. At least 10 people have been killed by government soldiers shooting into crowds; protests subsided over the weekend as troops effectively locked down Myanmar's major cities. While the junta government reports only 10 deaths, dissident groups claim that 200 people have been executed and 6,000 detained. Recent reports by the UK Daily Mail indicate that the executions of protesters in fact number in the thousands [CBC report], and that security forces have been ordered to carry out the massacre of monks in Myanmar. AP has more.

[JURIST] London's Metropolitan Police Service [official website] mistakenly killed Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes '[advocacy website; BBC profile] because of a flawed plan to carry out an anti-terrorism operation after the July 21 London transit bombing attempts [JURIST report] in 2005, prosecutor Clare Montgomery argued during opening statements Monday in the trial of the London police for breaches of health and safety laws that allegedly led to de Menezes' death. Montgomery outlined several mistakes made by London police during their botched anti-terrorism operation [UK Times timeline], saying that the public was "needlessly put at risk and Jean Charles was killed as a result." Of the most grievous errors, Montgomery argued, London police had to wait for more than four hours for a firearms unit to arrive to arrest a suspected suicide bomber, police were confused over whether de Menezes was the subject they were looking for, and the operation control room was in a state of chaos, causing police commanders in the control room to issue contradictory orders to the surveillance team following de Menezes. London police admit that shooting de Menezes was a mistake, but deny misconduct, which could lead to an unlimited fine if found to have occurred.

Menezes was mistakenly killed by police [JURIST report] in 2005 who thought they were pursuing a suspect in the bombing attempts. In May this year, the UK Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) [official website] said that the officers who shot Menezes would not face disciplinary action [IPCC report] after British prosecutors decided not to bring individual charges [JURIST report] against them. The IPCC issued a report [PDF text; JURIST report] in August clearing Police Commissioner Ian Blair of any misconduct but concluding that Assistant Commissioner Andrew Hayman [official profiles] misled his colleagues and the public about the shooting shortly after it occurred. The UK Times has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] asked the US Court of Military Commission Review [DOD materials] Monday to reconsider last month's decision [PDF text; JURIST report] reinstating charges against Khadr. In June, military judge Col. Peter Brownback dropped terrorism charges [order, PDF; JURIST report] against Khadr, ruling that the court had no jurisdiction because a Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] 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 reversed that ruling, finding that the distinction was purely semantic and that the military judge has the power to hear evidence concerning, and ultimately decide, Khadr's "unlawful enemy combatant" status. Khadr's lawyers argued Monday that e-mails written by Brownback indicate that he will make a hasty and "fundamentally unfair" decision concerning Khadr's status. The Pentagon said last week that it expects prosecutors in the Khadr and other military commissions cases to quickly move toward trial [JURIST report].

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. The Globe and Mail has more.