[JURIST] King Abdullah [official profile] of Saudi Arabia has announced a plan to create a supreme court for the country, as well as new appeals and general courts. The new supreme court will replace the current Supreme Judicial Council, which will be relegated to handling issues involving judicial salaries and staffing under a new administrative supreme court. The changes are designed to support increasing codification of Saudi laws and standardization in sentencing.

Saudi courts currently base their rulings on Islamic Sharia law [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive], but where religious doctrine defines no specific punishment for an offense, judges can interpret the law as they see fit. Critics of the system have recently focused on seemingly inconsistent decisions imposing light sentences for some serious crimes and harsh ones for lesser offenses. BBC News has more. ArabianBusiness.com (UAE) has regional coverage.

[JURIST] Bulgaria will not legalize prostitution as previously planned, according to Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, speaking Friday at a Sofia conference on "Legal and Institutional Mechanisms for Combating Trafficking of Women." Bulgarian Prosecutor General Boris Belchev told attendees at the same gathering that although legalization might theoretically yield income for the state, the option was unacceptable. The abrupt policy shift will bring Bulgaria into line with what appears to be a growing anti-prostitution movement in several European countries whose governments are increasingly concerned about human trafficking, which many European rights organizations say prostitution promotes [Coalition Against Trafficking in Women report, PDF]. Finland last year made it illegal to purchase sex from women brought to the country by traffickers and Norway is contemplating a full ban on the illicit sex trade. Sweden has meanwhile sought to suppress prostitution by punishing customers rather than the women themselves [Swedish Ministry of Industry fact sheet, PDF]. Bulgaria at present has no law formally banning or even defining prostitution, although pimping is technically prohibited.

Prostitution is still overtly legal in several European countries, including Hungary which recently began to issue licenses to sex workers [JURIST report] in an effort to bring the trade more out in the open where it can be regulated. The New York Times has more. SofiaEcho.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] The head of a special three-judge panel of Peru's Supreme Court announced Friday that the court would consolidate six separate charges against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] into three "megatrials" and one other trial proceeding. The first trial, set to begin November 26, will look into the 1992 murder of 25 people, including nine students and a professor from La Cantuta University, and the kidnapping of businessman Samuel Dayer and journalist Gustavo Gorriti. If convicted, Fujimori faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $33 million.

Fujimori was transferred to Peru last month following the Supreme Court of Chile's decision [JURIST report] to allow his extradition from that country on human rights and corruption charges. He is accused of approving death squad killings and misusing government funds in Peru during three terms in office from 1990-2000. AP has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A second US Army officer who sat on Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) [DOD materials] at Guantanamo Bay has made an affidavit [PDF text included in declaration] criticizing the panels for being inconsistent and biased towards the government. Attorneys for Adel Hassan Hamad [IHT profile; JURIST commentary], a Sudanese detainee captured in Pakistan in 2002, filed the affidavit in Washington on Friday claiming that the panels determining whether prisoners were properly classified as "enemy combatants" relied upon insufficient evidence and were occasionally overridden by commanders. The name of the officer making the latest allegations was redacted in a copy of the affidavit obtained by AP.

In June, US Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham [NYT profile], a 26-year veteran of military intelligence and formerly a liaison officer between the CSRT and the intelligence agencies, became the first former CSRT member to publicly criticize the tribunals [JURIST report], filing an affidavit [PDF text] in the case of Fawzi al-Odah [Amnesty profile], a Kuwaiti detainee who is currently challenging his status as an "enemy combatant" before the US Supreme Court. The US Department of Justice subsequently rejected Abraham's claims [JURIST report]. CSRTs evaluated the status of 558 detainees at Guantanamo from 2004-2005; the detainees were forced to appear handcuffed before three officers and were not allowed lawyers. Only 38 detainees were found not to qualify for continued detention. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistan's current president and military leader General Pervez Musharraf [official website] won an overwhelming victory in presidential elections Saturday, according to unofficial results. Musharraf collected 252 out of 257 votes in the National Assembly of Pakistan [official website] and so far has won the support of a majority of lawmakers in three of Pakistan's four provinces. Many opposition politicians boycotted the vote in protest, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] may still disqualify Musharraf himself.

The court ruled Friday that the controversial ballot could proceed, but it barred the Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] from officially declaring a winner until the high court issues a ruling on whether Musharraf is in fact an eligible presidential candidate. The earliest the court will be able to issue a ruling is October 17, at which time it will hear legal arguments [JURIST report] filed by opposition party members challenging Musharraf's bid for a another presidential term while still chief of the Army. His current term expires November 15. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile] spoke by phone Friday about their concerns over potential damage to US-Turkey relations if the US House of Representatives passes HR 106 [PDF text], a resolution labeling the World War I-era killings by Turkish soldiers of over one million Armenians [ANI backgrounder] as genocide. While the controversial measure [JURIST news archive; JURIST comment] seems poised to get enough votes in the Democratic-led House to pass next week, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe [official profile] said that Bush believed the matter to be one "for historical inquiry, not legislation." The Turkish government has previously stated that if the resolution were adopted it might retaliate by taking various steps, including denying the US access to air space and strategic military bases within the country.

The extent of current support for HR 106 in the House has interest groups for both sides ratcheting up lobbying efforts for and against the legislation [AP report]. Turkey has traditionally been highly sensitive to the Armenian issue and has fervently refused to categorize [JURIST report] its own actions as genocide. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Benjamin Settle Friday temporarily blocked a second court-martial for US Army Iraq war objector 1st Lt. Ehren Watada [JURIST news archive] that had been scheduled to begin October 9. Settle ruled that a second proceeding would include the harm that the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment [Wex backgrounder] was intended to prevent, and the civilian district court had jurisdiction over the issue because Watada "has exhausted his available military court remedies with respect to his double jeopardy claim ...". AP has more.

Watada, a 28-year-old Honolulu native, publicly refused deployment to Iraq [JURIST report] in July 2006, and was charged by the Army with with four counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and one count of missing movements. His first court-martial was declared a mistrial [JURIST report], but the Army refiled charges [JURIST report] over Watada's argument that the constitutional principle of double jeopardy should prevent the army from refiling charges, as the mistrial was the result of prosecutorial misconduct. In July, a military judge disagreed with Watada and ruled the second court-martial would not constitute double jeopardy [JURIST report]. His case is before the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces [official website], but that court has not yet issued a decision, which prompted Watada to ask the federal district court for relief.

[JURIST] US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [official profile] Friday responded to growing concerns over the conduct of Blackwater security escorts working for the State Department in Iraq by directing [press release] that all Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] vehicles be fitted with security cameras and that all convoys have at least one federal agent present while escorting diplomats. The State Department also pledged to place additional in-house security agents within convoys and record radio transmissions between the vehicles and the US embassy in Baghdad. Rice's orders were based on recommendations from an internal review board [press release] created to investigate Blackwater's security activities in Iraq after company guards were alleged to have killed up to 13 civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on September 16.

The State Department action came on the heels of an official Iraqi investigation [JURIST report] into the incident which called for the Blackwater guards to be tried in Iraqi courts and for victims to be compensated. On Thursday the US House of Representatives passed a bill [JURIST report] that would end the de facto immunity [JURIST report] enjoyed by many private contractors working for the US in Iraq by effectively placing them under US criminal statutes. AP has more.