[JURIST] The US Senate voted 53-40 [roll call] late Thursday evening to confirm former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey [WH profile; JURIST news archive] as the 81st attorney general of the United States. The nomination was backed by the Senate Judiciary Committee [JURIST report] earlier this week by an 11-8 vote. Much of the opposition to Mukasey's nomination [JURIST report] has centered on his refusal to unequivocally denounce waterboarding [JURIST news archive] as torture. Mukasey's supporters, however, have praised Mukasey's promises for greater Justice Department independence [JURIST report] from the executive.

After he is sworn in, Mukasey will succeed former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [JURIST news archive] whose resignation [JURIST report] took effect in September. Gonzales resigned from his post after months of controversy over the Justice Department's handling of the firings of eight US Attorneys [JURIST news archive] and subsequent allegations that he may have perjured himself [JURIST report] in testimony before Congress.

[JURIST] Pakistani lawyers detained by the government under the declaration of emergency rule [PDF text] issued earlier this month by President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile] are being tortured, according to Asma Jahangir [official profile, PDF] head of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan [advocacy website] and UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. In a statement issued Thursday, Jahangir, who is herself under house arrest [order], said:

I am fortunate to be under house arrest, while my colleagues are suffering. The Musharraf government has declared martial law to settle scores with lawyers and judges. While the terrorists remain on the loose and continue to occupy more space in Pakistan, senior lawyers are being tortured....

In particular, the cases of Muneer A Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan, Tariq Mahmood and Ali Ahmed Kurd are serious. Mr Malik, the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and leader of the lawyers' movement, has been shifted to the notorious Attack Fort. He is being tortured and is under the custody of military intelligence. Tariq Mahmood, another former president of the Association, was imprisoned in Adiala jail. No one was allowed to see him and it is reported that he has been shifted to an unknown place. Mr Kurd, former vice chair of the Pakistan Bar Council, is in the custody of military intelligence and is being kept at an undisclosed place. Mr Ahsan is being kept in Adiayala jail in solitary confinement.

[JURIST] A resolution [DOC text] calling for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty has been introduced before the United Nations General Assembly. Over 70 states [co-sponsor list, XLS] have backed the proposal, which will be voted on by the Assembly next week. The draft resolution states that capital punishment "undermines human dignity," that "there is no conclusive evidence of the death penalty's deterrent value" and that "any miscarriage or failure of justice in [its] implementation is irreversible and irreparable." Two previous attempts to abolish the death penalty failed to win a majority in the 192-member assembly. This time, however, the resolution calls for a suspension, rather than a complete abolition, of capital punishment. BBC News has more.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed support [JURIST report] for the international trend towards abolishing the death penalty earlier this year. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has also championed the cause [JURIST report] in recent months, calling on all countries in late September to institute a moratorium on capital punishment. Prodi has noted that support for the resolution has gained ground in Europe, despite a recent decision by Poland to reject plans [CNSNews report] for a European Union "day against the death penalty" [press release; JURIST report]. Some 88 countries ban capital punishment [Amnesty International list], while 69 still use it. Six countries - China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States - account for approximately 90 percent of all executions.

[JURIST] Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld life sentences handed down to three former Nazi SS officers for their role in a massacre during WWII that left hundreds of Italian villagers in Tuscany dead. All three men are in their 80s and were members of an SS regiment that surrounded the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema in August 1944 and slaughtered 560 civilians [DW backgrounder], many of them women and children. It is doubtful that any of the men will actually serve their sentence as a result of their age and the unlikely possibility of extradition from Germany to Italy. The court also required the men to reimburse the court for the cost of the proceedings.

Ten other former members of the SS regiment were convicted and sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] for their roles in the massacre in June 2005. Italian authorities began their investigation into the atrocity several years ago when they discovered Allied reports of the killings, which were supposedly meant to weed out partisans seeking refuge within the village. Reuters has more. Il Messagerro has local coverage, in Italian.

[JURIST] The military junta in Myanmar [JURIST news archive] Thursday agreed to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile] to meet with fellow members of her political party Friday for the first time in three years. The announcement came after UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari [official profile] left the country following his six-day visit [UN press release] during which he met with Suu Kyi [JURIST report]. Gambari subsequently released a statement [text] on behalf of Suu Kyi, her first since 2003:

In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the Government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard.

In full awareness of the essential role of political parties in democratic societies, in deep appreciation of the sacrifices of the members of my party and in my position as General Secretary, I will be guided by the policies and wishes of the National League for Democracy. However, in this time of vital need for democratic solidarity and national unity, it is my duty to give constant and serious considerations to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible, in particular those of our ethnic nationality races.

To that end, I am committed to pursue the path of dialogue constructively and invite the Government and all relevant parties to join me in this spirit.

[JURIST] Malcolm W. Nance, a former Navy interrogation instructor and counterterrorism intelligence specialist, said Thursday that the practice of waterboarding [JURIST news archive] "is torture and should be banned," during a hearing [notice] held by the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the US House Judiciary Committee [official website]. Nance said he both underwent waterboarding during his own Navy training and practiced the method on other special forces trainees, but said that harsh interrogation methods were unreliable for eliciting accurate information. Nance expressed similar opposition to waterboarding in an October post [text] to the Small Wars Journal blog. Amrit Singh, a staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website], also testified in opposition to the practice at the hearing Thursday as the ACLU outlined ways the federal government has already declared waterboarding to be illegal [press release]. Another witness, Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, had agreed to testify that waterboarding hindered the prosecution of suspected terrorists, but said that he had been prevented from testifying by the Department of Defense [AP report].

Waterboarding became a key issue in the confirmation of US Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey [WH profile; JURIST news archive] when Mukasey refused to say that the practice constituted torture. The US Senate Judiciary Committee voted [JURIST report] 11-8 Tuesday to support Mukasey for the next US attorney general, but several senators, including committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), objected [JURIST report] to his refusal to unequivocally denounce waterboarding as torture. Mukasey's nomination [SJC materials] now goes to the full US Senate for a final vote. AP has more.

[JURIST] The man believed to be the commander of the Irish Republican Army [BBC backgrounder] was arrested Wednesday night and charged Thursday with nine counts of tax evasion, totaling $3.7 million. Thomas "Slab" Murphy [Wikipedia profile] is believed to be the chief of staff of the IRA. He was arrested by detectives from the Criminal Assets Bureau [official backgroudner], a division of the Irish police force, after attending a soccer match. Murphy was arraigned at the Ardee District Court in County Louth, before Judge Flan Brennan, and despite urging by the prosecutors, Brennan freed Murphy on bail. Murphy was released on the stipulations that he surrender his Irish passport, report daily to a local police station, and appear in court next Wednesday. Murphy has been brought to court many times, but up until this point he was released without charges.

Murphy is said to be an IRA fuel and weapons smuggler who received aid from Libya. Libya reportedly supplied more than 100 tons of weaponry to the IRA through the 1980s and beyond. Murphy has been in hiding since March 2006, when British and Irish security forces uncovered a large fuel smuggling operation at his farm which straddles the border of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. AP has more. The Irish Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] The UK Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) [official website] Thursday published a report [PDF text; press release] on its investigation into the fatal shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes [advocacy website; BBC profile] in a London Tube station by officers of the Metropolitan Police Service who mistakenly believed he was a suspect in the 2005 London transit bombing attempts [JURIST report]. The IPCC report criticized Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair [official profile] for allegedly attempting to thwart its investigation. Blair nevertheless reaffirmed his commitment [statement] Thursday to remain on the job despite increased calls for his resignation from both Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. The IPCC also offered 16 recommendations [text] for changes to the police service, including reviewing existing policies and procedures pertaining to the use of firearms, surveillance operations, and post-incident management. Reuters has more.

Last Thursday, a London jury found [JURIST report] that the Metropolitan Police violated laws relating to health and public safety [Met press release] when it shot and killed [JURIST report] de Menezes in a London Tube station in 2005, believing him to be a suicide bomber. The prosecution argued that due to several mistakes made by London police during their botched anti-terrorism operation [BBC timeline], the public was "needlessly put at risk" [BBC report], with Menezes killed as a result. The Met Police was fined £175,000 with an additional £385,000 in fees. The jury said that operation commander Cressida Dick bore "no personal culpability," despite the prosecution's arguments that she was responsible for controlling her officers.

[JURIST] Zimbabwean Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele has been charged with corrupt conduct for allegedly contacting a fugitive, Zimbabwean police said Thursday. Gula-Ndebele is charged with violating the Criminal Law (Codification Reform) Act for doing "anything contrary to or inconsistent with a duty as a Public Officer" and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the corruption charges. While fugitive former banking executive James Mushore was on the Zimbabwean police's wanted list, Gula-Ndebele allegedly met with and informed him that he would not be arrested if he returned to the country.

Political analysts have suggested the charges are politically motivated after Gula-Ndebele's reported conflict with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa concerning the reported plans by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Justice [official website] to decrease the power of the attorney general's office. Reuters has more. The Financial Gazette has local coverage.

[JURIST] The man who shot and paralyzed former Alabama Governor George Wallace [ADAH profile] in 1972 will be released from a Maryland prison Friday, according to an alert from an automated victim-notification system Thursday. Prison officials have refused to publicly confirm the release date due to security reasons. Arthur Bremer [PBS profile], who has served 35 years of his 53-year term, is being released due to good behavior and his working a part-time job in prison.

Prison officials first reported in late August that Bremer would be released this year. The Alabama Attorney General's Office said that it would try to prevent the early release [JURIST report], but Maryland officials warned that any such effort would fail due to Maryland state regulations. Bremer has never expressed any remorse for the shooting, calling Wallace a "segregratonist dinosaur." In his diary, Bremer wrote that his primary motivation for the shooting was not opposition to Wallace's pro-segregation politics, but a desire to become notorious. Wallace died in 1998. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Russian Supreme Court [official website, in Russian] ruled Thursday that Tsar Nicholas II [Wikipedia profile] and his family were murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918 [eyewitness account], and therefore not eligible for legal rehabilitation. The decision upholds a September determination [JURIST report] by Russia's Prosecutor General [official website, in Russian] which said that the Tsar could not be rehabilitated, as he was not executed following a formal sentencing by a court or "extrajudicial body." The Prosecutor General's office took control of the case in May after several Russian courts also refused to declare the execution a political killing [JURIST report].

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanov [personal website, in Russian], currently living in Spain, has led efforts to exonerate the tsar of Soviet-era criminal charges allegedly brought against him. Romanov's lawyer said that the family will appeal the case to the Presidium of the Supreme Court, Russia's highest legal body, and, if that attempt fails, then to the European Court of Human Rights [official website]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner [official website] dedicated a new monument to victims of the 1976-83 Dirty War [Global Security backgrounder] in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. The monument, on which the names of thousands of victims are engraved, sits beside the Rio de la Plata, where drugged prisoners who were suspected of "subversion" were thrown to their deaths. Kirchner used the occasion to urge Argentinian courts to move along trials against former members of the military regime more quickly. The president also promised that his wife and successor to the presidency, Cristina Fernandez [BBC profile], will continue his policy of pushing for accountability.

Only a handful of those who participated in crimes against humanity during the Dirty War have faced trial thus far. In October, former military chaplain and Catholic priest Christian von Wernich was convicted of crimes against humanity [JURIST report], and former police officials Miguel Etchecolatz [JURIST report] and Julio Simon were convicted last year. Hector Febres, a former director of the detention center at the Navy Mechanics School [BBC backgrounder], is currently facing trial [JURIST report], and former president Reynaldo Bignone [JURIST report] will be tried in the near future. In April, a federal court revoked the pardons [JURIST report] of Jorge Videla and Emilio Eduardo Massera [Trial Watch profiles], and Ricardo Miguel Cavallo [JURIST news archives] faces charges in Spain. AP has more. Prensa Latina has additional coverage, in Spanish.

[JURIST] South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal [official website] ruled Thursday that warrants for documents seized from former Deputy President Jacob Zuma [advocacy website; party profile] were lawfully obtained, and could be used against him in any potential corruption trial. The court heard arguments in the case [JURIST report], filed by the country's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website], in September. The decision overturns a 2006 lower court ruling that the documents were inadmissible because police did not follow proper procedures in obtaining the warrants.

The NPA has alleged that Zuma received bribes from arms manufacturer Thint, a subsidiary of the France-based Thales Group [corporate website]. Zuma, who was reinstated [JURIST report] as the African National Congress [party website] deputy president after being acquitted of rape charges [JURIST report] last year, has indicated his intention to run against South African President Thabo Mbeki [BBC profile] in the 2009 presidential election. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani prosecutors on Thursday charged four activists with treason, the first such charges brought under the declaration of emergency rule [PDF text] implemented by President Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile] on Saturday. The four activists, who are in detention following a series of arrests made this week by Pakistani police, were charged with making anti-Musharraf speeches in the southern city of Karachi. The four activists could be subject to the death penalty if convicted.

Also Thursday, Pakistan state media quoted Musharraf as promising that presidential elections, currently scheduled for January, will be delayed for no more than one month. Thursday's statement is a departure from government statements made earlier this week indicating that the elections could be delayed for as long as one year depending on the duration of the emergency rule. AP has more.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday immediately rejected [JURIST report; order, PDF] Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule, which is similar in effect to martial law, causing Musharraf to dismiss controversial Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and install a new chief justice [JURIST report]. The new chief justice promptly voided [JURIST report] Chaudhry's efforts to block the emergency order.

On Saturday and Sunday, police detained [JURIST report] hundreds of lawyers, rights activists and opposition figures protesting the emergency orders, and on Monday, fired tear gas at protesters in Lahore [JURIST report]. Pakistani police Tuesday arrested some 50 lawyers [JURIST report] at the Lahore High Court who were involved in the protests. On Wednesday, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto urged supporters to rally [AP report] against emergency rule planned for Friday despite the government's ban on protests and its threat to end any demonstration.

[JURIST] US military forces in Iraq released 500 detainees at a joint ceremony with the Iraqi government on Thursday at Camp Victory outside Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [JURIST news archive], speaking to the newly released detainees on Thursday, said the release is part of an effort to harmonize relations between the Shiite and Sunni populations. Sunnis claim that as many as 90 percent of all detainees are Sunnis, which they attribute to the high number of Shiites serving in the official security forces.

During the Islamic month of Ramadan, which ended in early October, the Iraqi government and the Multi-National Force – Iraq [official website] stepped up the detainee release program, increasing the number of Iraqis released daily to 50 [JURIST report]. US forces still hold more than 25,000 Iraqis in custody and about 10,000 more total detainees than one year ago. 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] Serb nationalist leader and war crimes defendant Vojislav Seselj [BBC profile; ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] used his opening statement at his trial Thursday to call the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "illegal and illegitimate," and accused the court of an impermissible bias against Serb defendants. Seselj, accused of establishing rogue paramilitary units responsible for massacring and otherwise persecuting Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan conflict, also accused the ICTY of inflating the number of Muslims massacred by the Serbs in 1995. According to Seselj, the Serbs only massacred 1,000 Bosnian Muslims, not the 7,000 to 8,000 alleged by the ICTY. AP has more.

The ICTY has charged Seselj [indictment, PDF; pre-trial brief, PDF] with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes. Last year, Seselj agreed to end his nearly month-long hunger strike [JURIST reports] after an ICTY appeals chamber ruled that Seselj could represent himself during trial. The ICTY had previously stripped Seselj of his right to defend himself [JURIST report] after he failed to appear in court, despite an earlier appeals court ruling that he could represent himself [JURIST report] provided he not engage in courtroom antics that "substantially obstruct the proper and expeditious proceedings in his case." During the prosecution's opening statement Wednesday on the first day of Seselj's trial [JURIST report], Seselj was accused of inciting atrocities through hateful speeches he made during the Balkan Wars. He is the founder of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party [party website, in Serbian].

[JURIST] Bangladesh police on Wednesday arrested an associate of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [UN profile] on suspicion of instigating street demonstrations in violation of the ban on assembly, one of the freedoms restricted in January when the military government declared a state of emergency [JURIST report; advocacy backgrounder]. Hannan Shah, a former military officer and an outspoken member of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which is led by the incarcerated Zia, was previously arrested in May [Financial Express report] on extortion charges, but was released in July after posting bail. BBC News has more.

The new interim government has arrested over 150 high-profile citizens since declaring a state of emergency in January due to concerns that fraud would mar national elections scheduled for January 22. Zia has been charged with corruption [JURIST report], and her rival, former PM Sheikh Hasina Wajed [party profile] has been charged by Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission [governing statute, PDF] with six counts of murder, corruption, and most recently, bribery [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti [official website] filed suit in state court Wednesday against the state's six largest insurance companies, including Allstate and State Farm, alleging the companies conspired to fix payouts for damages related to Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] in violation of the Louisiana Monopolization Act. According to Foti's statement, as reported by the Times-Picayune:

This alleged scheme gave insurers an unjust advantage over policyholders, which they used before, during and after one of the greatest disasters this country has ever suffered, by reaping huge profits from the misfortunes of persons whom they pledged to protect from the risk of loss. I believe this unjust advantage resulted in the unjust enrichment of themselves to the detriment of the state, policyholders and commerce in Louisiana. But to be clear, these abuses were not new to the recent hurricanes.

[JURIST] The Russian Foreign Ministry [official website] on Thursday denounced the state of emergency [JURIST report] imposed Wednesday in the neighboring Georgian Republic as "a gross violation of human rights and democratic freedom." Russia urged the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the international community to call on Georgia to "fully respect human rights and settle domestic policy" in accordance with the Georgian constitution [PDF text] and the country's laws.

After several days of protests, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree Wednesday temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili [official website] has blamed Russian spy agencies for instigating the protests [speech text], though the Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed those claims [statement]:

The spirit of Saakashvili's speech boils down to but one thing: in the face of an external threat, the citizens of Georgia supposedly must forgive the president all his sins and resign themselves to his "establishing order heavy-handedly."

Moscow regards this fresh escapade of the Georgian authorities as a politically irresponsible provocation. An adequate answer will be given to it. However, Russia will remain true to its commitments to assist settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts and to defend the Russian citizens living there. The main thing is to see that the calculations of certain Tbilisi leaders to solve the conflicts by force are not brought to fruition. We will not succumb to the mounting provocations, and will remain a reliable guarantor of peace and order in the region, acting in full accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law.