[JURIST] China's National People's Congress (NPC) [official website] Sunday adopted a draft amendment to the country's Law on Lawyers [text] that will grant defense lawyers more power in criminal prosecutions. The amendment, the first since the original law's implementation in 1997, includes a loosening of restrictions on face-to-face meetings between lawyers and their clients, increased access to court documents and case files, and more flexibility in independently gathering and collecting evidence. The reforms also prohibit the state from conducting surveillance of the defendants meeting their lawyers, and grants defense lawyers legal immunity for statements in court provided that statements do not constitute slander or threaten national security.

A set of reforms to the Law on Lawyers was initially presented [JURIST report] to Chinese legislators in June, but at that time it included a provision that "Apart from cases related to state secrets, criminal lawyers can meet clients after judicial organs conduct the initial interrogation or other coercive measures." The proviso was dropped [JURIST report] in a new version of the law sent to the the Standing Committee of the NPC in August. A spokesman for the NPC Law Committee said that the change had been motivated by human rights concerns. Beijing has been especially sensitive to actual and potential rights-related criticism in the run-up to the scheduled 2008 Beijing Olympics [JURIST news archive; official website]. Xinhua has more.

[JURIST] Two websites with ties to Yemen's government Sunday denied earlier assertions that Jamal al-Badawi [MIPT profile], one of the masterminds behind the 2000 terror attack [US DOD press briefing] on the USS Cole [official website; JURIST news archive], had been set free. Yemeni security officials said Thursday that Al-Badawi, who along with 22 others escaped from a prison in 2004, was released after turning himself in earlier this month and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The White House sharply criticized the reported release, with a spokesman from the US National Security Council describing Yemen's move as "deeply disappointing." An unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman quoted on the website of the country's ruling National Congress Party as well as another site associated with the Defense Ministry has nonethless said that "Jamal al-Badawi...is now a detainee of the Interior Ministry and is under investigation by the concerned authorities."

The BBC reported on Saturday that al-Badawi, who was sentenced to death in 2004 for his role in the bombing, would "be kept under effective house arrest after pledging allegiance to Yemen's president." Badawi was sentenced to death in 2004 for his role in the bombing, which killed 17 US sailors. After learning of his escape in 2006, the FBI added Badawi to its Most Wanted Terrorists list with a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) [official website; JURIST news archive] has relaunched its investigations into atrocities committed in the region's civil wars that ended in 2003. The commission began its work in October last year, but it stalled [JURIST reports] in June for lack of funding. It has since received funds from the United Nations Development Program and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) [official websites]. TRC Executive Director Nathaniel Kwabo [official profile] hopes Liberians will come forward to shed light on the bloody conflicts.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is currently on trial in the The Hague before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] for crimes against humanity. Taylor is accused of masterminding and funding intertwined civil wars in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone through the sale of so-called "conflict diamonds." VOA News has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has urged fellow Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi and President Jalal Talabani [profiles] to press the Iraqi parliament to pardon Iraqi detainees not classified as "dangerous elements" linked to the insurgency, according to AP Sunday. Of the 25,000 Iraqis now are being held by the US, 90 percent are believed to be Sunnis. In a letter, Al-Hashemi also expressed concerns about the treatment accorded many detainees and delays they have encountered in having their cases resolved.

Al-Hashemi has spent the last few weeks in a high-profile tour of prisons in Iraq, drawing criticism from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [BBC profile], who has threatened to ban government officials from such visits. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former US Guantanamo Bay chief military prosecutor Col. Morris Davis [official profile, PDF] said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Saturday that politics is interfering with Guantanamo prosecutions [WSJ report]. Davis said that recently-approved rules governing prosecutions at Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] result in the chief prosecutor reporting [PDF memo text] via the Legal Advisor to the Convening Authority to the Pentagon general counsel [PDF memo text], a presidential appointee. Davis said he filed an internal complaint about this structure, but the complaint was rejected. Shortly thereafter, he resigned [JURIST report] in protest.

Davis was the lead prosecutor in the military commission case against Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive], who made a plea bargain [JURIST report] in March. Davis claims the plea bargain was politically motivated to avoid domestic political embarrassment for Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile]. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer [official profile] has denied [JURIST report] allegations that the Australian government was involved in negotiating the plea bargain.

[JURIST] Canada's minority Conservative Party [party website] government introduced legislation Friday that would require Muslim women wearing a veil to show their faces before voting. Bill C-6 [text] on "visual identification of voters" is said to be designed to combat voter fraud. If adopted, the new law could be enforced by Elections Canada [official website] staff taking voters to separate rooms to show their faces before voting. The bill provides an exception for facial bandages; in that case, voters would be required to present two proofs of identity or be accompanied by a qualified elector able to vouch for them. The Quebec provincial government [official website] followed suit Saturday, announcing it too plans to introduce legislation that would ban fully veiled women from voting [AFP report].

The veiled voting issue came to a head in March ahead of scheduled byelections in Quebec when Quebec's chief electoral officer [official website] refused to allow Muslim women to vote without showing their faces [CBC report]. The move was criticized as offensive by Muslim rights groups and was overruled by Elections Canada, provoking a public clash between the head of that agency and the government [JURIST reports] of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Canadian chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand said at the time that despite government assertions to the contrary there was nothing in the then-latest legislation on voting procedures that required voters to show their faces; the new bill is intended to make that requirement clear.

Traditional Muslim face-covering garb and other religious dress [JURIST news archive] have recently become controversial in Canada as elsewhere in the West as lawmakers struggle to balance individual rights to practice religion with security concerns. CanWest has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Peru [official website, in Spanish] has convicted former Peruvian economy minister Jorge Baca Campodonico of embezzlement, according to the government's official gazette Saturday. Campodonico diverted $59.4 million from government funds to failing private bank Banco Latino. His three year prison sentence was suspended, but he has to pay 2 million nuevo sols [approximately US $666,000] in civil reparations and is banned from holding public office in Peru [JURIST archive] for one year. He has appealed the court's ruling.

Campodonico served under former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who is awaiting multiple trials [JURIST report] on charges of corruption and human rights violations. After serving under Fujimori, Campodonico worked for the International Monetary Fund [official website]. He was detained [NYT report] in 2003 in Argentina and extradited to Peru earlier this year. AP has more. El Peruano has local coverage.