[JURIST] Four Thai prosecutors traveled to London Friday to discuss the extradition of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on corruption charges [JURIST report], in order to discuss what evidence is necessary in UK courts to extradite Thaksin and his wife. The Thai lawyers said they would not file a request for Thaksin's extradition during the trip, but would instead discuss the bi-lateral extradition treaty [PDF text] between the UK and Thailand. Even if an extradition bid is unsuccessful, the Assets Examination Committee has said it intends to proceed with civil litigation against Thaksin in absentia.

Thaksin and his wife Pojamarn have been accused of abuse of power for personal gain [JURIST report], conflict of interest violations, and dereliction of duty for personal gain in charges stemming from a 2003 land purchase by Pojamarn from the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund [official website]. Thai courts have issued multiple arrest warrants for them, including one for "evading prosecution" [JURIST reports]. Prior to serving as prime minister, Thaksin made a fortune in the telecommunications industry. BBC News has more. From Thailand, the Nation has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Sterling Heights Police and Fire Retirement System, a public Michigan pension fund, has filed a derivative action [press release] alleging misconduct by Mattel [corporate website], including failing to report toy defects to federal regulators, and in the case of one current and three former directors, engaging in insider trading. The lawsuit claims that Mattel's board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by allowing the company to purposely delay reports to the Consumer and Safety Product Commission (CPSC) [official website], which provides a 24-hour reporting period, of safety hazards in its toys in order to prevent a downturn in the value of the company's stock. Mattel has recalled approximately 21 million toys since August because they contained illegal lead paint or magnets that could become detached and cause injuries to children. The derivative suit calls for compensatory and other damages for harm suffered by the corporation due to Mattel's alleged failure to prevent the distribution and production of hazardous toys and the lapses in reporting. The suit also alleges that four directors violated laws against insider trading by dumping approximately $33 million in stock from January through May 2007 in Mattel stock in advance of public disclosure of the safety problems. While Mattel has not responded publicly yet to the lawsuit, it has told the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce [official website] that the stock sales by corporate directors occurred before the discovery of safety hazards in June. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the Court of Chancery of Delaware [official website], on behalf of the pension fund, which owns 23,600 Mattel shares.

Since announcing recalls of approximately 21 million toys, Mattel has also been sued in several class action and personal injury lawsuits filed by consumers alleging harm to children who came in contact with the recalled toys and requesting that Mattel pay for testing of the potentially affected children. The New York Times has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that he would appoint [press release] Judge Mohamed Amin El Mahdi, Judge Erik Mose and Nicolas Michel [official profiles] to the selection panel that will recommend the judges and chief prosecutor for the new Special Tribunal for Lebanon [UN materials]. El Mahdi has served on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mose is a presiding judge with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Michel is currently the UN legal counsel and under-secretary-general for legal affairs. The selection panel will recommend four Lebanese judges, seven international judges and the tribunal's chief prosecutor to Ban, who will make final appointments.

The UN Security Council unilaterally established the tribunal [JURIST report; UN News report] in May after a divided Lebanese government failed to agree on a proposal. The tribunal will investigate [JURIST report] and try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 as well as in 17 other attempted and successful political assassinations in Lebanon. The UN News Service has more.

[JURIST] Myanmar's military government Friday rejected a UN Security Council [official website] denunciation [statement text; press release] of its use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and its accompanying call on the government to release political prisoners and negotiate with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive; BBC profile]. The junta said September's actions against protesters were not of international concern, and insisted on continuing with its seven-step plan to democratic rule. So far, only the first step has been completed with the drafting of guidelines for a new constitution [JURIST report]. Critics contend that the drafting was essentially staged by the junta.

The Myanmar government began cracking down on protesters [JURIST report] late last month, arresting hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating against human rights abuses by the military government. Government authorities subsequently raided several Buddhist monasteries, detaining monks [JURIST report] the junta believed to have led the demonstrations. While the junta reported only 10 deaths in the protests, dissident groups claim that some hundred and perhaps even thousands of people have been executed and over 6,000 detained. AP has more.

[JURIST] California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] signed a bill [AB1723 text, PDF] Thursday designed to increase funding to legal aid representation for low-income residents of California. The new law, which will take effect in January 2008, will enable banks to invest money from lawyers' client trust funds (IOLTA accounts) in higher interest-yielding accounts than those currently used. Client trust accounts, which are pooled together to generate a larger amount of interest, contain monies, such as damages, that are held for a short time until the court determines the appropriate amounts to be paid to the client. The Legal Aid Services Trust Fund Program of the State Bar of California [official website] collects the interest and allocates it among nonprofit organizations, including legal aid providers. While the accounts currently generate roughly $10 million of interest per year, the new law could greatly increase that amount,and would add to the roughly $200 million per year provided by the state to legal aid programs, from federal, state and private funds.

Low income residents are guaranteed representation in criminal matters, but the state is not required to provide representation for civil matters, which fall to legal aid groups. The legal aid provided through these funds includes representation in areas of housing, family law, domestic violence, health, disability, and foster care. Despite its various sources of funding, legal representation for indigent people falls far short of the need, according to the bill's author, California Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) [official website]. Jones cited a state commission's recent report that in California there is currently one lawyer for every 8,361 poor people, as opposed to one for every 240 members of the general population. The bill is expected to broaden the numbers of poor who are able to access legal aid. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] The Taiwan High Court [official website, English version] opened proceedings Friday in the corruption trial of Ma Ying-jeou [personal website, in Chinese], the opposition presidential candidate in the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election. Ma was acquitted [JURIST report] of the corruption charges by the Taipei District Court, but the Taipei High Prosecutors Office [official website, English version] appealed that decision to the High Court.

Ma was indicted [JURIST report] in February, but has consistently denied the charges [JURIST report] that he engaged in corruption while serving as mayor of Taipei. He is accused of misappropriating a special discretionary expense fund for his personal use, but Ma has argued that his actions were legitimate because he used the money to fund municipal events and pay city employees. Allegations of corruption have recently been raised against other Taiwanese officials, including Vice President Annette Lu [JURIST report]. AFP has more. Radio Taiwan International has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] on Friday agreed to review a "reconciliation ordinance" [JURIST report] that granted amnesty to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC profile] and paved the way for a power-sharing agreement between Bhutto and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile]. The agreement reached between the two political rivals [BBC backgrounder] clears the way for Bhutto to return to Pakistan from self-exile in London and Dubai to campaign in parliamentary elections for prime minister later this year. The ordinance also applies to similar charges against politicians who were charged, but not convicted, of corruption between 1988 and 1999. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said civilians granted amnesty under the ordinance will "not be entitled to claim any protection if this court concludes that the ordinance and its provisions are beyond the constitution."

Musharraf won an overwhelming victory in presidential elections [JURIST report] on Saturday, according to unofficial results. The Supreme Court barred the Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] from officially declaring a winner until the high court issues a ruling on whether Musharraf was in fact eligible as a presidential candidate. The Court will hear legal arguments [JURIST report] filed by opposition party members challenging Musharraf's bid for another presidential term while still chief of the army on October 17. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] threatened to withdraw Russia from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty [US DOS backgrounder] Friday unless the treaty is expanded to include neighboring countries such as China, India and Pakistan. The treaty, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987, requires signatories to disarm their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment. Putin has asserted that Russia cannot remain a signatory to the treaty if neighboring countries can continue to develop their own intermediate-range weapons.

Putin's comments came just before a meeting in Moscow between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov [official profiles]. During the talks, the US rejected [AFP report] Russia's request for the US to freeze plans for an anti-missile defense shield in central Europe. In June, Russia also threatened to withdraw [JURIST report] from the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty [text; backgrounder] amid tensions between the US and Russia over the anti-missile defense proposal, which Russia perceives to be a threat to Russian national security. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The Arizona Supreme Court [official website] indefinitely stayed the execution of a man on death row Thursday, saying it will wait until the US Supreme Court reviews whether lethal injection is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment in Baze v. Rees (07-5439) [docket; cert. petition]. The Arizona Supreme Court has already ruled that the state's lethal injection method is constitutional, but stayed the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan [AZ DOC materials] pending the US Supreme Court's consideration of Baze because its method is so similar to the one under review.

Arizona, like many other states, uses a controversial three-drug mixture [DPIC backgrounder] of an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer and a substance to stop the heart. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in the Baze case that the state's current method of lethal injection, the same method Arizona uses, does not violate the constitution [JURIST report] because the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment "does not require a complete absence of pain." Several constitutional challenges [JURIST news archive] to the procedure have arisen across the country, arguing that the first drug fails to make the inmate fully unconscious, thereby making the inmate suffer excruciating pain when the heart-stopping drug is injected. AP has more. The Arizona Republic has local coverage.

[JURIST] El Salvador defended its 1993 amnesty law in a hearing [recorded video] Wednesday before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] dealing with the country's failure to investigate the 1980 murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero [BBC backgrounder]. Representatives of the Salvadoran government maintained that the amnesty law has prevented compliance with a 2000 IACHR report [text] recommending that the state investigate the archbishop's death, of which the IACHR declared El Salvador responsible. The government defended the law, saying that it allowed the country to make a peaceful transition to democracy after its 1980-1992 civil war [PBS backgrounder].

Romero was assassinated by a death squad while saying mass in San Salvador. An outspoken critic of the military junta, his death is viewed as one of the catalysts of the war, which left over 70,000 people dead. In 2004, a federal court in the United States held Alvaro Saravia liable [CJA case backgrounder] for Romero's murder and ordered him to pay $10 million in damages to the archbishop's family. While other suits have been brought [JURIST report] against former Salvadoran state agents in US courts, human rights groups contend that the amnesty laws [ISP report] have undermined the rule of law and led to impunity in El Salvador. El Pais has more.

[JURIST] A private advocacy group requested a temporary restraining order [press release; motion, PDF; motion exhibits, PDF] Thursday to compel the White House to save back-up disks of all e-mails relating to the Bush administration. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] sued the Executive Office of the President and the National Archives and Records Administration last month over their alleged failure to preserve e-mails [complaint, PDF; press release] throughout the Bush administration. The lawsuit arose from millions of e-mails that have been deleted from White House servers and now only exist on back-up tapes, if they exist at all. The CREW motion seeks an order "to prevent any further document destruction."

Thus far, the White House has refused to confirm that they have maintained e-mail records since the beginning of the Bush administration, as they are required to do, according to CREW executive director Melanie Sloan. The US Department of Justice has been unresponsive about what back-up tapes the White House maintained, although it has stated that the White House has maintained all back-up tapes since CREW filed suit last month. The issue of missing e-mails has been an ongoing controversy in the Bush administration, arising first during the CIA leak investigation [JURIST news archive] into the revelation of Valerie Plame's identity, and again this year during controversy over the firings of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Over 2,000 people died while being arrested [press release] by various US state and local law enforcement officers between 2003 and 2005, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported [PDF text; statistics] Thursday, including over 1,000 deaths caused by the law enforcement officers themselves. The report, which was required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act [PDF text], showed a 13 percent increase in the number of deaths from 2003 to 2005. Drugs and alcohol caused 13 percent of the deaths, while suicide, accidental injuries, illnesses and natural causes rounded out the rest of the deaths. Most of the deaths caused by law enforcement officers were gun related deaths, with most of the victims being suspects of violent crime. In addition, 380 law enforcement officers died during arrests over the same time period, most of them accidentally.

The report studied 40 million arrests with the number of arrest-related deaths representing less than one ten-thousandth of one percent of deaths. The DOJ studied the period from the onset of law enforcement officers trying to arrest the suspect until the suspect was booked, with most of the deaths occurring at the scene of arrest. The DOJ used questionnaires, completed by 47 states and the District of Columbia, required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act as a condition for receiving federal correctional grants. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The Tunisian government Thursday condemned torture as "reprehensible," criticizing US District Judge Gladys Kessler for blocking the transfer [JURIST report] of a Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee to Tunisia because he faced a threat of torture. In her decision last week, Kessler granted a preliminary injunction [order, PDF] preventing the Defense Department from transferring Mohammed Abdul Rahman [Wikipedia profile] until the Supreme Court rules in a case currently on its docket concerning the rights of Guantanamo detainees [JURIST report].

Human Rights Watch reported earlier this month that Tunisian officials were abusing two former Guantanamo Bay detainees [JURIST report] since their transfer [JURIST report] in June. Since 2002, approximately 435 detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo and approximately 330 detainees remain [press release], ten of whom are from Tunisia. AP has more.