[JURIST] US District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction [PDF text] Wednesday blocking the implementation of new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] regulations [PDF text] intended to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain US employment. The ruling follows Breyer's extension of a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] blocking the implementation of the new rules last week. 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. In Wednesday's ruling, Breyer found that there was an immediate threat of harm to the plaintiffs, a coalition of labor and business groups, that would result from the application of the new rules, which warranted blocking DHS from implementing the rules until the case has been decided.

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. Reuters has more. The Los Angeles Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US military forces in Iraq released 60 detainees Wednesday as part of Operation Lion's Paw [press release], an ongoing effort to increase the number of Iraqi detainees released daily to at least 50 [JURIST report] during the month of Ramadan, which ends Saturday. Organized by the Iraqi government and the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) [official website], the program requires that detainees be screened by a special review process to determine that they are no longer a threat before they are released under the Pledge Program, described by MNF-I as an effort "to deter detainees from engaging in misconduct after their release and enhances the relationship between the Iraqi courts and Coalition forces by incorporating Iraqi judges into the detainee release process." The detainees are required to take an oath before promising to lead a peaceful life, and during Wednesday's session, several of the detainees interrupted the presiding Iraqi judge to say that they had been unjustly detained.

US forces still hold more than 25,000 Iraqis in custody and about 10,000 more total detainees than one year ago. Deputy Commander of Detainee Operations Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone told AP that the military is currently taking 60 people per day into custody across Iraq. Most are held for about one year. The increase in detainees, largely attributed to new security plans [AFPS report] instituted in February, has contributed to overcrowding in Iraq prisons [JURIST report] and rising allegations of detainee abuse [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday approved [chairman statement] a resolution labeling the World War I-era killings of over one million Armenians by Turkish soldiers [ANI backgrounder; Turkish DC Embassy backgrounder] as genocide. The resolution now goes to the House floor, where a vote is expected in mid-November. US President George W. Bush expressed disappointment [press briefing] over the committee decision, worrying that it might damage US relations with Turkey, a key supporter in the war on terror. Bush urged the House to reject the bill when it comes to a vote.

Turkey has long objected [JURIST comment] to any attempts to classify the 1915 killings as a genocide. On Sunday, Turkish head of Parliament Koksal Toptan warned [JURIST report] US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that passage of the resolution [H Res 106 materials; PDF text] could hurt US-Turkish diplomatic relations. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [BBC profile] spoke by phone Friday about their concerns over the resolution [JURIST report], and interest groups on both sides of the debate have been ratcheting up lobbying efforts [AP report] in anticipation of the House vote. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Senate confirmation hearings for US Attorney General nominee Michael B. Mukasey [WH fact sheet; PBWT profile] will begin October 17 [press release], Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Wednesday. Leahy has already outlined for Mukasey several issues of "concern" [letter, PDF; JURIST report], including:

how you would ensure the independence of federal law enforcement from political pressure, what steps you would take to restore morale at the Department and the public's trust in the Department, and whether you would uphold constitutional checks on Executive power.

[JURIST] Former US President Jimmy Carter [official profile; JURIST news archive] said Wednesday that under the Bush administration the United States "for the first time in my lifetime has abandoned the basic principles of human rights". He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview [recorded video]: "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to these people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused." Responding directly to the latest White House assertions in the face of newly-disclosed Department of Justice memos that the US does not use torture [JURIST reports], the former Democratic chief executive said "that's not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture...[Y]ou can make your own definition of torture and say you don't violate it." Asked if he thought the US had in fact used torture in the Bush years, Carter countered: "I don't think it. I know it. Certainly." He added, however, that he did not think formal charges or trials of administration officials were appropriate ways of addressing the problem, preferring electoral change. CNN has more.

Carter, co-founder along with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter of the Carter Center [advocacy website] on human rights, has recently been highly critical of the Republican Bush administration on issues such as domestic surveillance [JURIST report], the Iraq war [JURIST report], and the Guantanamo Bay military prison [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] Wednesday conducted an evidentiary hearing in the decade-old Indian Trust case [Cobell v. Norton litigation website; JURIST news archive]. The class-action suit involves the alleged mismanagement by the US Department of the Interior [official website] of American Indian money [DOI Indian Trust Fund website], including lease and sales revenues, permit fees and interest, received and held for Native Americans by the US government over the last 120 years. DOI Associate Deputy Secretary James Cason [DOI press release] told the court that the government has so far spent over $127 million in a good-faith effort to present timely historical accountings of the disputed trust lands. Cason pointed to limited investigatory funds from Congress as the source of DOI delays. AP has more.

In March, the Native American plaintiffs rejected [JURIST report] a $7 billion settlement proposal from the US government. Some read the offer as a governmental acknowledgment of liability, but DOI officials disputed that interpretation. The plaintiffs criticized the settlement offer as "pennies on the dollar" in respect of the value of their claim as well as for its attempt to preclude further claims.

[JURIST] France Wednesday formally agreed to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances when it ratified [press release, in French] a provision of the European Convention on Human Rights [text; death penalty dossier]. Since its 2003 inception, Protocol 13 [text], designed to allow signatories to "take the final step in order to abolish the death penalty in all circumstances," has been adopted by 40 of the 47 members of the Council of Europe (COE) [official website]. The remaining seven states have instituted moratoria on executions. France's ratification coincided with the European Day against the Death Penalty, celebrated on October 10. COE Secretary General Terry Davis explained [speech text]:

The abolition of the death penalty in Europe is the pinnacle of our progress in the defence of human dignity and human rights. The European Day against the Death Penalty will help us to make progress towards the day, in a not too distant future, when the death penalty will be eradicated throughout the world.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice filed notice [PDF text] Tuesday that it will appeal last month's district court decision [opinion, PDF] that found provisions of the USA Patriot Act [JURIST news archive] to be unconstitutional [JURIST report]. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used the Patriot Act to search the home and office of Brandon Mayfield [JURIST news archive], the Oregon lawyer who was arrested [JURIST report] and detained for two weeks in May 2004 after the FBI mistakenly concluded that his fingerprints matched [JURIST report] those found on a bag containing detonators used in the 2004 Madrid train bombings [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Judge Anne Aiken of the District of Oregon said that by searching and bugging Mayfield's home and office to build a case against Mayfield, instead of merely to gather intelligence, the government violated his Fourth Amendment [text] rights.

Mayfield settled [agreement text, PDF; JURIST report] a personal lawsuit against the government for $2 million dollars and a formal apology [PDF text]. Over government objections, he later successfully argued that he retained the right to challenge provisions of the Patriot Act for violating his civil rights. The Justice Department's appeal will be heard in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Medellin v. Texas [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-984, where the court considered whether the Bush administration has the authority to direct a state court to comply with a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Jose Ernesto Medellin [ASIL backgrounder], a Mexican national sentenced to death in Texas for raping and murdering two teenage girls, appealed a November 2006 ruling [text; JURIST report] from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that President Bush "exceeded his constitutional authority" by ordering state court rehearings [JURIST report] for 51 Mexican nationals convicted in US courts. The president's February 2005 memorandum [text] instructed the Texas courts to follow a March 2004 ICJ decision [materials] that held that Medellin and the other Mexican nationals tried in US courts had been denied their Vienna Convention on Consular Relations [PDF text] right to contact the Mexican consulate for legal assistance and that the US was obligated to grant review and reconsideration of their convictions and sentences. During Wednesday's arguments, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested that US courts should abide by the ICJ decision, as the US had "voluntarily complied" with the Vienna Convention. Justice Antonin Scalia questioned whether and on what basis the ICJ has decisional power over US courts.

Medellin's habeas corpus petition argued that the US had breached his right to contact the Mexican consulate under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention. Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that Article 36 does not create judicially enforceable rights for individual foreigners detained in the US; an appeal of that decision is expected to be filed with the Supreme Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] Many female human rights activists in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] have been repeatedly arrested, unlawfully detained, and subjected to beatings at the hands of police, according to the preliminary results of surveys conducted by the advocacy group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) [advocacy website]. The WOZA report released Tuesday showed that from an initial sample of 397 WOZA members, 73 percent said they were arrested more than once, 40 percent said they were tortured while in police custody, and 26 percent said they were tortured badly enough that they subsequently required medical care. Many of the women said that while in custody they were forced to strip naked before being beaten. Some women also reported that their infant children were with them during their detentions and beatings.

Numerous international human rights groups have called for global attention to the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. In July, Amnesty International [advocacy website] released a report [text] that found human rights in Zimbabwe to be in a rapid decline since the start of the country's economic slump in 2000. The Amnesty report documented the additional hardships faced by female rights advocates in the country, saying that such women are often "held in deplorable conditions," where they are subjected to beatings as well as "sexist verbal abuse and derogatory accusations." In August, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged African nations to intervene and deploy observers [JURIST report]. That same month, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum [advocacy website] said that the number of rights abuses were on pace to reaching a record high [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Wednesday called for Congress to make permanent [press release] the expansion of surveillance powers granted in August's Protect America Act [S 1927 materials], adding that he would not sign any eavesdropping bill that does not grant retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies facing lawsuits related to government eavesdropping that was conducted without a court order. Bush's demand comes a day after House Democrats introduced [JURIST report] the RESTORE Act of 2007 ("Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective Act of 2007") [draft text, PDF; summary, PDF], which would replace the Protect America Act as an update to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive]. The temporary Protect America Act [RESTORE vs. PAA comparison, PDF] is set to expire in February. Its six-month lifespan was a compromise that allowed it to be passed [JURIST report] before Congress left for a summer break.

The RESTORE Act would allow for greater oversight of government wiretapping and reaffirm that FISA warrants are required when domestic communications are targeted. Bush characterized the changes as a step backward, but expressed optimism that his administration could find a common ground with Congress. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) [official website] recognized before Bush's statement that Bush would likely demand immunity for telecommunications companies, and indicated that Democrats may be willing to compromise [AP report] on that front. AP has more.

[JURIST] Myanmar opposition protester Win Shwe died while being interrogated by junta authorities, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) [advocacy website] said Wednesday. The Thailand-based group said that Win Shwe died while being tortured [press release] and that his body was cremated at the detention facility. AAPP also said that the leader of the opposition 88 Generation Students [Asia Times backgrounder] Hla Myo Naung was arrested for his involvement in the recent mass protests. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe [official profile] criticized Myanmar for the death and said that the US may impose new sanctions if the human rights situation in Myanmar does not improve.

Opposition leaders Tuesday renewed calls for unconditional talks [JURIST report] between democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile] and the ruling military junta, urging the government to drop its condition that Suu Kyi abandon support for international sanctions [JURIST report] against the regime. AP has more.

[JURIST] Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Zdravko Tolimir [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] said in a Wednesday letter to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] that he is in "excellent" health and that the ICTY registrar has exaggerated the severity his condition. The registrar expressed concern [submission, PDF; JURIST report] last week that Tolimir was suffering from a brain aneurysm and serious heart condition, describing the situation as "fragile and highly alarming" and recommending that the tribunal investigate Tolimir's health and determine whether he remains competent to represent himself at trial. Tolimir alleged that the registrar was trying to deprive him of his right to defend himself by asking the tribunal to review his competency.

Tolimir was arrested [JURIST report] in May by Bosnian police and was extradited to The Hague [JURIST report] in June. The ICTY may have expressed special concern over his health after war crimes suspect Slobodan Milosovic died from heart failure [JURIST report] in 2006 while in detention at The Hague. AP has more.

[JURIST] US and Iraqi officials said Wednesday that they have launched an investigation into Iraqi civilian deaths believed to be caused by armed guards working for security and defense company Unity Resources Group [corporate website]. Two women were killed in shootings that occurred on Tuesday in Baghdad. Unity was hired by US-based RTI International [corporate website] to provide security services in Iraq for RTI. US officials said that RTI is under contract with the US government, but that the government had no responsibility in arranging security for the company.

An Iraqi government investigation [JURIST report] into a separate shooting last month found that that Blackwater USA [corporate website] private security guards deliberately shot Iraqi civilians during a September shooting incident and recommended that the government seek extradition [JURIST reports] of the Blackwater agents implicated in the shooting. In response to domestic outrage, the Iraqi Interior Ministry proposed draft legislation [JURIST report] last month to place private security contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has passed a bill to effectively end the "de facto immunity" [JURIST reports] enjoyed by many private contractors working for the US in Iraq and expand US court jurisdiction to all US civilian contractors working in combat zones. US contractors are currently not subject to prosecution in Iraqi courts due to an exemption [PDF text] granted in the days of the Coalition Provisional Authority. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday affirmed a federal appeals court ruling [order, PDF] that the parents of a disabled child are entitled to reimbursement for the costs of private school education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) [text], even though the child never attended public school. In Board of Education of the City of New York v. Tom F. [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court split 4-4 and upheld the lower court ruling in a brief per curiam opinion which does not set precedent on the issue. Justice Kennedy did not take part in consideration of the case.

Tom F. was awarded continued tuition reimbursement under IDEA after his disabled child spent two years attending private school following Tom F's successful challenge to the New York public school district's Individualized Education Plan for his son as inadequate. The trial court reversed the administrative ruling, holding that the child was not entitled to tuition reimbursement because he had not previously received education services from a public agency. In reversing the trial court, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld [order, PDF] the reimbursement mandated by the administrative body stating that IDEA did not preclude tuition reimbursement in this situation. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.

[JURIST] An Argentinean court sentenced former military chaplain Christian von Wernich [Trial Watch profile] Tuesday to life imprisonment for participating in seven homicides, 34 cases of torture and 42 cases of kidnapping during the Argentina's Dirty War [Global Security backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Von Wernich is the third person to be convicted of crimes against humanity after the Argentinean Supreme Court declared amnesty laws passed in the 1990s to be unconstitutional; he is also the first member of the clergy to face trial. During the Dirty War of 1976-1983, between 9,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared, allegedly with tacit support from the Catholic Church. Over 50 witnesses testified against von Wernich, who was accused of using his visits to prisoners in clandestine detention centers as a method of gathering information for the military police. Von Wernich denied that he ever abused his position as a priest. The Argentinean government expressed its satisfaction [La Nacion report] with the decision on Wednesday, and Bishop Martin Elizalde circulated a letter of apology [La Nacion report] on behalf of the church. AP has more. La Nacion has local coverage.

Last year, former chief police investigator Miguel Etchecolatz [JURIST report] and former police officer Julio Simon were convicted of crimes against humanity during the Dirty War. Additionally, a federal court revoked the pardons [JURIST report] of former military president Jorge Videla and former naval officer Emilio Eduardo Massera [Trial Watch profiles] in April. Among those facing trials in the near future are former president Reynaldo Bignone [JURIST report] and former naval officer Hector Febres. Ricardo Miguel Cavallo [JURIST news archives], another former naval officer, faces charges in Spain.

[JURIST] Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] has filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, challenging the US Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) [DOD materials] decision to send Khadr's case back to a military tribunal, Khadr's lawyers said Tuesday. Last week, the CMCR refused to reconsider its September ruling [JURIST reports] that the charges against Khadr could be reinstated, after a military commission judge dropped the charges [JURIST report] in June. Col. Peter Brownback reasoned that the court had no jurisdiction because a Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal [DOD materials] had found that Khadr was an "enemy combatant," but not an "unlawful enemy combatant" under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text]. The appeals court overturned Brownback's decision and directed him to hear evidence concerning, and ultimately decide, Khadr's "unlawful enemy combatant" status.

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 Military Commissions Act with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed the War Profiteering Prevention Act of 2007 [HR 400 materials] Tuesday, a bill creating new criminal provisions to govern fraud conducted by private defense contractors against the US government. The measure, passed by a vote of 375-3 [roll call], "amends the federal criminal code to prohibit profiteering and fraud involving a contract or the provision of goods or services in connection with a mission of the U.S. Government overseas," according to the CRS summary [text] of the bill. US Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) [official website], who sponsored the bill, said [press release] Tuesday that he introduced the bill to prevent defense contractors from viewing "the U.S. occupation of Iraq ... as 'Open Season' on the American taxpayer." Persons found guilty of knowingly defrauding the US or a provisional authority in connection with a US mission overseas would be subject to a 20-year prison sentence and a fine of $1 million or twice the profits that resulted from the fraudulent activity.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved [press release] a similar bill [S 119 materials] earlier this year, but that measure has not yet come up for a vote on the Senate floor. AP has more.