[JURIST] Nigeria [JURIST news archive] has secretly carried out at least seven state executions [press release] in recent years despite official denials, Amnesty International claimed Monday in a new report. The executed men, who were all hanged, were generally tried without representation and not given any opportunity to appeal their convictions. Amnesty accused Nigeria of "misleading the world," and called on the country to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. BBC News has more.

Last month, Nigeria voted against a UN General Assembly Third Committee [official website] resolution to place a worldwide moratorium [press release] on the death penalty [JURIST news archive]. The UN summary of the committee meeting quoted Nigeria's representative as saying that

the death penalty was still on his country’s statute books for national security reasons and as a deterrent against serious crimes. Inferences contained in the draft could not be accepted. Capital punishment in Nigeria was meted out for the most serious offences, where human life had been taken or the security of the State threatened. There had been no cases of capital punishment in recent years in Nigeria. In essence, a moratorium on the death penalty should not be imposed by any group of States. Any moratorium should be on basis of negotiation and agreement. The draft resolution fell short of that. Nigeria found the degree of division on the issue disturbing. In view of the draft resolution’s controversial nature and attempts to impose it on Member States, the Nigerian delegation would vote against the draft.

[JURIST] The alleged head of Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive] went to trial in Indonesia Monday. Zarkasih [BBC profile] is charged with training and equipping JI members as well as conspiracy to commit terrorism. He could face the death penalty if convicted. BBC News has more.

JI was responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], in which 202 people died, as well as other terror attacks across Asia. Zarkasih and fellow JT ringleader Abu Dujana [BBC profile], who was was arrested [JURIST report] in June, are believed to have protected Malaysian fugitive Noordin Top, who was connected to the 2002 bombings. JI was also responsible for the 2004 bombing of the US embassy in Jakarta and a series of 2005 Bali bombings [Wikipedia backgrounders].

[JURIST] A federal judge ruled [opinion, PDF; order, PDF] Monday that White House visitor logs are public documents [press release], rejecting a Bush administration bid to have the logs treated as confidential presidential records. Visitor logs are compiled by the Secret Service, and thus subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] requests; the Bush administration had ordered that the logs be submitted to the White House, so that they would fall outside the domain of FOIA. Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [advocacy website] brought the lawsuit, seeking logs regarding the White House visits of prominent conservative religious figures, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. AP has more.

In October, US District Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the Secret Service to release visitor logs [JURIST report] for the personal residence and office of Vice-President Dick Cheney. The order was issued following a lawsuit by the Washington Post, which requested the logs in June while researching White House ties to political lobbyists. The Justice Department filed an appeal against the order [JURIST report] last week.

12/18/2007 - In a second ruling [PDF text] issued Monday by US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the judge said that CREW could not seek an injunction [press release] preventing the Secret Service from destroying visitor logs after they are turned over to the White House.

[JURIST] Former Uruguay military dictator and army chief Gregorio Alvarez [Wikipedia backgrounder] was charged Monday with crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the country's 1973-85 period of military rule [LOC backgrounder] and specifically for his alleged role in the secret transfers of several political prisoners in 1978, who disappeared and are presumed dead. He faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty. Alvarez has denied any involvement in the disappearances, as well as any knowledge of Operation Condor [BBC report], a co-ordinated effort by South American dictators to dispose of members of "subversive" groups during the 1970s.

Last year, eight former Uruguay police and military officers were indicted [JURIST report] on counts of kidnapping and conspiracy related to the 1976 disappearances of five members of a Uruguayan leftist group who fled to Argentina and were detained by police. A 1986 amnesty law [text] and individual pardons have prevented suspects from being brought to trial in the past. The current process in Uruguay mirrors a similar struggle in Argentina [JURIST news archive], which has recently brought suspects to trial for crimes committed during its own military dictatorship. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Incoming Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez [personal website, in Spanish] Monday dismissed Argentinian coast guard head Carlos Fernandez, one week after former Argentinian coast guard officer and torture suspect Hector Febres was found dead [AP report] in his military jail cell with high levels of cyanide in his blood. Febres went to trial in October [JURIST report] on charges of kidnapping and torturing four people at the Navy Mechanics School [BBC backgrounder] during Argentina's Dirty War [Global Security backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. He was the first person to face trial for human rights violations at the school, the largest secret prison run by the Argentinian military during the 1976-83 Dirty War campaign. The trial's verdict had been expected this past Friday and if convicted, Febres would have faced life in prison. His wife and two grown children were detained for questioning [AP report] following his death.

Last month, outgoing Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner dedicated a new monument [JURIST report] to victims of the Dirty War, on which the names of thousands of victims are engraved. The monument 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 former president also promised that Cristina Fernandez, his wife and successor to the presidency, would continue his policy of pushing for accountability. Fernandez, elected in October, was sworn into office [AP report] last Monday, the same day Febres was found dead. AP has more. La Nacion has local coverage.

[JURIST] The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] has amended the controversial Public Order and Security Act [PDF text], according to Monday media reports. The law prohibits public political gatherings without prior police approval. If police turn down a party's application to hold a rally, the party can appeal its case to the Minister of Home Affairs [official website], whom opposition forces say is biased as a member of the ruling party. Under the new amendments, political parties will be able to appeal to a magistrate instead. Police will also be required to explain their reasons for denying rally permits. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF [Wikipedia backgrounder] party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change [party website] agreed to the amendments after a summit mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

In the past, Zimbabwe has used the Public Order and Security Act to crack down on anti-government protests. In May, police in Harare arrested [JURIST report] members of the National Constitutional Assembly [official website] who protested against proposed amendments to the Zimbabwean Constitution [PDF text], later passed and signed into law [JURIST report], which essentially allow Mugabe to pick his successor. That same month, Zimbabwean police broke up a rally of about 50 lawyers who had gathered to protest the the arrest and imprisonment of two human rights advocates; the lawyers argued that the Public Order and Security Act exempted them from a general ban against demonstrations [JURIST reports]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iran [JURIST news archive] has charged women's rights activists Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi with acting "against national security" by allegedly participating in terrorist acts, an Iranian judge said Sunday. The two women were arrested [RFE/RL report] in October and are accused of having connections to Kurdish leftist group Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) [Global Security backgrounder] and of using their feminist advocacy as a front for terror activity. Iranian officials denied that their arrest was related to their opposition to "discriminatory" laws against women. Safarzadeh and Abdi were arrested following their involvement with a campaign to help collect one million signatures [advocacy website] protesting Iran's interpretation of Sharia law [BBC backgrounder], under which women must obtain their male guardian's permission to work or travel, are prohibited from serving as judges, and their testimony is given only half the value of a man's. Amnesty International [advocacy website] has called for action [amnesty report] against their detention, saying that they were detained "solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association."

Last June, hundreds of women's rights activists participated in peaceful demonstrations [RFE/RL report] in Tehran protesting Iranian laws that discriminate against women. The protests turned violent when police detained more than 70 people. Several leading women's rights activists were sentenced for "acting against national security" and "advertising against the system," including activist Delaram Ali [advocacy profile; personal blog], who was sentenced to 34 months in prison and 10 lashes [JURIST report]. Ali's sentenced was temporarily suspended [JURIST report] last month while officials decide whether to review her case. Five other women involved in the demonstration were given jail terms of up to a year, with suspended sentences of up to three years. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Former Hollinger International President David Radler [JURIST news archive] was sentenced Monday by a US federal judge to 29 months in prison. Radler pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in 2005 to one count of mail fraud after agreeing to serve as a witness against the company's former Chairman and CEO Conrad Black [CBC profile], who was convicted earlier this year of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced [JURIST reports] last week to 78 months in prison. Radler, Black and other Hollinger executives were prosecuted in the United States in connection to allegations [indictment, PDF] that they diverted more than $80 million from Hollinger International and its shareholders [JURIST report] during the company's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers.

Radler, also the former publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, must also pay a $250,000 fine. US District Judge Amy St. Eve ordered Radler to surrender to a Pennsylvania prison on February 25. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Prosecutors in Malaysia on Monday dropped attempted murder charges [JURIST report] brought against 26 ethnic Indians for their role in anti-discrimination demonstrations [TIME report] held last month. The defendants have instead pleaded guilty to lesser charges of illegal assembly, mischief and damaging property. They face a maximum of five years in prison and will be sentenced on December 27. The attempted murder charges, which stemmed from an injury to a police officer, carried a possible 20-year prison sentence. Reuters has more.

The November 25 rally was sparked by complaints that the predominantly Malay Muslim government economically discriminates against ethnic Indians and other minorities. Three Hindu activists originally arrested before the protest and charged with sedition were subsequently released [BBC reports]. Earlier in November, Malaysian police cracked down [JURIST report] on demonstrators participating in an unauthorized election reform rally held by electoral rights group Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections [advocacy website], firing tear gas and water cannons at protesters.

[JURIST] New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine on Monday signed into law [press release] a bill ending the use of capital punishment [PDF text], making New Jersey the first state to abolish the use of the death penalty since the US Supreme Court reinstated it nationally in 1976. The legislation was passed by the New Jersey Assembly last week, just days after being approved by the state Senate [JURIST reports]. During Monday's signing ceremony [press release], Corzine said:

Today New Jersey evolves. This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder. I have been moved by the passionate views on both sides of this issue, and I firmly believe that replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole best captures our State's highest values and reflects our best efforts to search for true justice.

[JURIST] The Bush administration has proposed a draft regulation that would give political appointees in the Defense Department a role in the promotion of military lawyers working as members of the Judge Advocate General Corps, the Boston Globe reported over the weekend. Some 4,000 lawyers work as JAGs across the military, and their hirings and promotions are currently determined by a board of military officers. Under the proposed regulation, first circulated by the Pentagon in November and recently obtained by the Globe, decisions on hiring and promotion would be made in "coordination" with that branch of the military's general counsel, a political appointee, and the Pentagon. Critics of the proposal say that increased politicization of the promotion process would prevent JAGs from giving honest opinions on the legality of administration policy, especially regarding interrogation and the treatment of detainees. Tensions between political appointees and Pentagon military lawyers have in the past led to recriminations over scandals such as Abu Ghraib [JURIST report], and the insertion of a political appointee into the prosecution process for detainees at Guantanamo Bay led in October to the resignation of the top military prosecutor [JURIST reports] in charge of the war crimes trials there.

The proposal is not yet final, and a decision whether to adopt the regulations, which also revise promotion procedures for all commissioned officers in the military, is expected by early next year. The Boston Globe has more.

[JURIST] The ranking member of the US House Select Committee on Intelligence [official website] said Sunday that the committee would proceed with its investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes [JURIST report] showing the interrogation of terror suspects, despite the Justice Department's advice that the CIA not cooperate with the probe and request that the committee delay its investigation pending the Justice Department's own investigation [JURIST reports] into the circumstances surrounding the tapes' destruction. In an appearance on Fox News Sunday [transcript], Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said that it was important to hold the intelligence community accountable:

WALLACE: On Friday, the Justice Department moved to block congressional investigations of the destruction of these CIA tapes, saying that it would jeopardize its own probe.

Congressman Hoekstra, does that mean your committee is going to stand down?

HOEKSTRA: No, I don't think so. I think what we're going to do is we want to hold the community accountable for what's happened with these tapes. I think we will issue subpoenas.

And once these witness appear in front of the committee, then I think we'll have to make the decision as to whether we're going to provide them with immunity or not. But our investigation should move forward.

WALLACE: So you're going to defy the letter that you got from the Justice Department.

HOEKSTRA: I think so. I mean, obviously, I need to talk with the chairman of the committee about that, but that directionally is where I would like to go, absolutely.

WALLACE: Why?

HOEKSTRA: Because I think it's important for Congress to hold this community accountable. You know, this community did not tell — the CIA did not tell us about the existence of these tapes. They did not tell us that they were going to be destroyed.

There's a constitutional responsibility for them to keep Congress informed, and they have not, and we need to hold them accountable. The parts of this investigation that are being handled by justice — that's a different issue.

But we need to hold them accountable because they did not respond and they did not perform the way we expected them to.