[JURIST] Chief of the South African Police Services Jackie Selebi [official profile] resigned as president of INTERPOL [official website] on Sunday, in the wake of news that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website] of South Africa would be filing charges of corruption [JURIST report] against him. In his brief letter of resignation [PDF text], Selebi wrote that he did not want the charges against him to tarnish INTERPOL's reputation, and a media release [text] from the global police group quoted INTERPOL's secretary general Robert Noble [official profile] defending Selebi and the organization:

Based on my experience of working with Mr Selebi in his capacity as Delegate, Vice President and ultimately President of the organization, he has always conducted himself and acted in a way to enhance global security and police co-operation worldwide... Corruption is one of the most serious offences that any police official can be accused of and INTERPOL has taken a number of significant steps to help law enforcement in our member countries investigate and fight this type of crime... INTERPOL believes that any such allegations should be prosecuted thoroughly, and the proper manner is for charges to be brought promptly before a court of law and not through media leaks and speculation.

[JURIST] Croatian lawmaker Branimir Glavas [personal website; Trial Watch profile], charged with committing war crimes against Serbs during the 1991 Serbo-Croatian war [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], was stripped of his parliamentary immunity on Saturday so that lawyers could proceed with his prosecution. Glavas, formerly a prominent member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union [official website], was released from jail on Friday when the Zagreb District Court ruled that the formation of the new parliament – to which he was re-elected in November 2007 elections [JURIST news archive] – automatically re-conferred immunity status to the now-opposition lawmaker. Although the parliament suspended Glavas' immunity from court proceedings, it allowed him to retain his immunity from imprisonment, and he was set free on Friday on his own recognizance.

The Croatian Parliament [official website] originally stripped Glavas of his immunity for war crimes prosecution in May 2006 and he had remained in detention until Friday's decision. Glavas has maintained his innocence and even staged a 40-day hunger strike in 2006 when he was detained [JURIST report] after the criminal investigation against him initially opened. He also faces another war crimes investigation in Zagreb for the murder of two Serbs in a separate incident in Osijek. AP has more. Javno has local coverage.

[JURIST] Ousted Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Rana Bhagwandas [JURIST news archive] was placed under house arrest Saturday for urging members of the Karachi Bar Association to boycott judges who had taken oaths of office under President Pervez Musharraf's now-abrogated Provisional Constitutional Order [text] following his November 3 declaration of emergency rule [JURIST report]. It was the second time Bhagwandas had been placed under house arrest. Last month he was released from detention to join his family in Karachi. He told reporters over the phone that he does not know how long his latest detention will last, but he expressed confidence that the superior court judges dismissed en masse by Musharraf after his emergency proclamation will be reinstated. PTI has more.

Also Saturday, ousted Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry[JURIST news archive], also under virtual house arrest, refused another request by Pakistani officials to vacate his official residence in Islamabad. Chaudhry has resisted attempts to move him before. He pointed to a provision that gives a judge six months to vacate his official residence, but also reiterated that he is still the legitimate Chief Justice of Pakistan and is entitled to remain in his official residence until retirement. PTI has more.

[JURIST] Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [party profile; JURIST news archive] was formally charged with extortion in Dhaka on Sunday. Hasina and co-defendant Sheikh Selim, a former Minister of Government, are accused of extorting around $1.16 million from two businessmen while in office. Reuters cited court officials as saying that her trial will begin January 17, and that a verdict should he handed down within 60 days. In October, Hasina denied the accusations [JURIST report] during questioning by officials. If convicted, she would be banned from running for office for 10 years.

The current interim government in Bangladesh, led by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed [official website; TIME interview] has arrested over 170 high-profile citizens since the military-backed government declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] last January due to concerns that fraud would mar scheduled national elections scheduled. Hasina's rival, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [profile], has also been charged with corruption [JURIST report]. Hasina was prime minister between 1996 and 2001 and is the the leader of the opposition Awami League [party website]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell [official profile] said in an article published in the New Yorker [media website] Sunday that waterboarding [JURIST news archive], the controversial interrogation technique simulating drowning allegedly used against detainees by the CIA, was torture as far as he was concerned. The question of whether waterboarding is in fact illegal torture dogged now-Attorney General Michael Mukasey in his recent confirmation hearings, and he ultimately refused to take a definitive stand [JURIST report] on the matter. "[W]hether it's torture by anybody else's definition," McConnell declared, "for me it would be torture."

This latest take on waterboarding comes in the wake of CIA's call for the Department of Justice [official websites] to conduct an investigation [JURIST report] into whether former CIA agent John Kiriakou's statements to several news organizations purporting to confirm the CIA's use of waterboarding constituted an illegal release of classified information. The CIA is also embroiled in a controversy about agency destruction of videotapes [JURIST news archive] that supposedly showed "enhanced" interrogation techniques used against two "high value" detainees believed to have been waterboarded. AP has more.