[JURIST] The Bangladesh Supreme Court [official website] ruled on Thursday that the extortion trial of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina [party profile; JURIST news archive] could continue, rejecting arguments by Hasina's lawyers that she could not be tried under the current state of emergency rules because the alleged crimes occurred before the national state of emergency [JURIST report] was declared last January. Hasina was formally charged [JURIST report] in Dhaka earlier this month with two counts of extortion for taking nearly $1.16 million from two businessmen while in office between 1996 and 2001. In October, Hasina denied the accusations [JURIST report] during questioning by officials. A verdict is expected to be handed down within 60 days. If convicted, Hasina would be banned from running for office for 10 years. Reuters has more.

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 due to concerns that fraud would mar scheduled national elections. Both Hasina's sister, Shaikh Rehana, and her cousin, Shaikh Selim, a former minister in her cabinet, have been charged with extortion as well. Hasina's rival, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia [profile], was charged with corruption [JURIST report] in September 2007.

[JURIST] Dutch parliamentarians called for changes to the country’s terrorism laws Thursday in response to a Wednesday appeals court decision overturning the convictions of seven men [JURIST report] suspected of belonging to the Dutch Muslim Hofstad Network [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The Hague Appeals Court dismissed charges that the men were part of a terrorist network that included Muslim extremist Mohammed Bouyeri [Wikipedia profile], who confessed to the 2004 murder [JURIST report] of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh [Wikipedia profile]. Fred Teeven, a former justice ministry official and a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy [party website, in Dutch] criticized current Dutch anti-terror law for restricting justice ministry officials from effectively convicting members of groups like the Hofstad Network. Haersma Buma of the Christian Democrats [party website, in Dutch] also pushed for reform, saying that he would back changes to the law if the Council of State, the highest court in the Netherlands, upholds the appeal court's decision. Dutch prosecutors at the Public Prosecution Service [official website, in English] expressed disappointment in the ruling and said it would study the verdicts carefully before deciding whether to appeal the case to the Council of State.

The Hague Appeals Court declined to classify the Hofstad Network as a terrorist organization because it had no lasting and structured cooperation and members did not share a common ideology. In response to rising terrorism activity, the Dutch parliament [official website] amended the country's terrorism laws in 2006, approving an anti-terror bill [JURIST report] that dramatically lowered the amount of evidence needed for Dutch police to arrest terror suspects and allowed officials to hold suspects for up to two weeks without charge. DutchNews has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush will request an additional $200 million dollars in federal funding to help state and local authorities combat violent crime, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile] announced Thursday in remarks [full text] to the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC. The earmarked funds will be used to strengthen the Department of Justice's Violent Crime Reduction Partnership, a program that combines federal and state resources for crime-prevention and prisoner re-entry initiatives. Although the $200 million is a significant increase over the $75 million earmarked for the program in 2007 [DOJ press release], many mayors expressed concern that the money would only be enough to bolster existing programs and would likely not cover the cost of hiring any new police officers. Mukasey also warned against the potential dangers associated with implementing a December 2007 decision by the US Sentencing Commission [official website] to retroactively reduce penalties for crack cocaine offenders [JURIST report; press release] that was handed down last month. He said that as many as 1,600 inmates may be eligible for immediate release, many of whom may be violent offenders or have failed to complete community re-entry programs, although some mayors said the released prisoners would be more likely to be nonviolent offenders.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released statistics [FBI fact sheet; JURIST report] earlier this month that showed that although violent crimes in the first half of 2007 were generally down for the first time in two years, small cities and rural areas did see a rise in violent offenses. Mayors have long requested help from Washington to battle budget cuts that have limited the size of the police forces in their cities, as well as rising gang activity. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Turkey Thursday lifted a nationwide ban imposed last week on the popular video-sharing website YouTube [corporate website]. Last week, a Turkish court ordered Turk Telecom [corporate website] to block access to YouTube [JURIST report] in reported response to video clips insulting the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [Turkish News profile]. It was not immediately clear whether access to the website was resumed because the controversial clips were removed. A Turkish court issued a similar order [JURIST report] in March 2007 in response to a “virtual war” on YouTube between Turkey and Greece, in which citizens of both countries posted videos mocking each other. AP has more.

In Turkey, insulting Ataturk is an imprisonable offense. Similarly, "insulting the Turkish identity" is also a serious crime under the controversial Article 301 [Amnesty backgrounder; JURIST news archive] of Turkey's penal code [text, in Turkish]. Critics say Turkey has used Article 301 to silence government critics [OSCE review of the Draft Turkish Penal Code, PDF], which has presented a stumbling block [JURIST report] to the country’s proposed accession to the European Union.

[JURIST] The US Senate on Thursday voted 60-36 [roll call] against an amendment [Leahy press release] to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Bill [S 2248 materials; JURIST news archive] which would have incorporated several changes to the legislation that were previously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill is designed to revise and extend the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] so as to - among other things - expand the oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [official backgrounder], giving it greater powers to monitor the government's use of eavesdropping on American citizens. Currently, the temporary Protect America Act [S 1927 materials; JURIST report] expands FISA to allow the US government to eavesdrop inside of the US without court approval as long as one end of a telephone or computer conversation is reasonably perceived to have been outside of the US. That act is set to sunset on February 1 and both President George W. Bush [press release] and Vice President Dick Cheney [JURIST report] have recently called for Congressional action to do away with the need for future renewals by making FISA permanent. They have also urged Congress to amend FISA to grant immunity to telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive], saying that government agencies did not have the resources to fight terror without cooperation from private telecom providers. Bush has threatened to veto any revised surveillance bill that does not include the immunity provisions. The version of the legislation rejected by the Senate Thursday did not contain an immunity provision. AP has more.

Meanwhile, congressional leaders announced Thursday that the White House has agreed to release documents pertaining to the government's warrantless domestic surveillance program to members of the House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. The announcement ends months of heated discussion between Congress and the White House regarding the government's use of secret wiretapping, which culminated last fall when the White House refused to comply with subpoenas [JURIST report] demanding the release of the FISA documents. Bush had agreed in October [JURIST report] to allow Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to see the documents. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] will not overturn its rejection [press release; JURIST report] of California's request for a waiver that would have allowed it to impose stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards on cars and light trucks, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson testified [recorded video] Thursday in front of the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works [official website]. Johnson reiterated the EPA's opinion that it is preferable to implement a single, unified national standard for greenhouse gas regulation, as opposed to a state-by-state network of regulations, and pointed to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 [HR 6 materials; WH fact sheet], signed into law in December by President George W. Bush. The act will require automakers to reach an industry-wide average fuel efficiency for cars, SUVs and small trucks of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Earlier this week, the EPA denied a request [JURIST report] for full explanation of the emissions waiver rejection. AP has more.

Johnson's testimony at the hearing [committee materials] was requested by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) [official profile] after her environmental committee opened an investigation into the EPA's rejection. According to excerpts of documents [text] turned over to the Senate Committee by the EPA following the waiver rejection, EPA officials had told Johnson that California had met the "compelling and extraordinary conditions" requisite to justify the federal waiver, in contrast to the EPA's December statement when it denied the waiver that California didn't have "compelling and extraordinary conditions." Boxer responded to the documents, saying:

As our investigation of the EPA record continues, it is clear that EPA's own experts told Administrator Johnson that California's case for the waiver is solid. His decision was not supported by the facts, by the law, by the science, or by precedent. [Thursday's] hearing provides an important opportunity to closely question the Administrator on this unconscionable decision. I look forward to the reversal of this decision as soon as possible.

[JURIST] Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party and the key opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) [party websites] agreed Thursday to lift a ban on women wearing headscarves [JURIST report] in universities and public offices. The agreement is in response to recent calls [JURIST report] from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan [IHT backgrounder] for the government to lift the ban immediately and not wait for a proposed amendment to the constitution [text]. Erdogan has repeatedly called for an end to the ban, saying it effectively denies some Muslim women access to higher education [JURIST report], but Turkish secularists believe that his insistence on ending the ban is a political statement against secular principles. Opponents say the ban on headscarves is necessary to protect the separation of religion and state. The Turkish parliament must vote on lifting the ban, though a date for a vote has not yet been set.

Traditionally worn by Muslim women, headscarves and other forms of religious dress [JURIST news archive] are banned from many public places in modern Turkey, a majority Muslim country despite official secularism. In 2006, a Turkish court acquitted [JURIST report] retired archaeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig [personal website] of charges of insulting religion after postulating in her book that headscarves were originally worn before the founding of Islam by ancient Mesopotamian priestesses who initiated young men into sex. The case also drew criticism from the International Association for Assyriology (IAA) [group website; IAA appeal] and from the European Union, which had warned Turkey that its laws infringing freedom of expression may delay its entry into the union. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Comment: Lifting Turkey's headscarf ban: freedom of choice, or Islamist Trojan horse?

[JURIST] The Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) [official website, in Japanese] on Thursday issued guidelines for police behavior during suspect interrogations. The Japanese police have frequently been accused of forcing confessions from suspects [BBC report] using questionable or overly aggressive tactics; in one case, police pressured an innocent man into admitting to committing a rape, a confession that ultimately earned him two years in prison until the actual perpetrator was caught. The guidelines mark the first attempt by the body to curb such abuses. The guidelines include prohibitions against touching, threatening, bribing or verbally harassing suspects. Interrogations are now also limited to only eight hours in length. Police departments will also be required to install one-way mirrors in interrogation rooms so that outside observers can monitor the process, and to establish an internal supervising board to investigate complaints.

Critics have long decried the Japanese justice system's reliance on confessions, which they say allows prosecutors to push cases forward without collecting compelling evidence. More than 99 percent of cases in Japan [JURIST news archive] that go to court end in conviction, but defendants usually receive much lighter sentences if they confess. Some lawyers said that the new guidelines do not do enough to protect suspects, insisting that defense lawyers should be allowed to be present during interrogation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council [official website] Thursday adopted a resolution [draft text, PDF] criticizing Israel for recent military attacks and a week-long blockade [JURIST report] against the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip that the Council says amount to human rights violations. The resolution, passed by a 30-1 vote with 15 Western states abstaining, calls the military attacks on Palestinian areas "grave violations of the human and humanitarian rights of the Palestinian civilians therein" that "undermine international efforts" in the region. The resolution also:

2. Calls for urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying Power, Israel, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the series of incessant and repeated Israeli military attacks and incursions therein and the siege of the occupied Gaza Strip;

3. Demands that the occupying Power, Israel, lift immediately the siege it has imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip, restore continued supply of fuel, food and medicine and reopen the border crossings;

4. Calls for immediate protection of the Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in compliance with human rights law and international humanitarian law;

5. Urges all parties concerned to respect the rules of human rights law and international humanitarian law and to refrain from violence against the civilian population...

[JURIST] UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Thursday unveiled the Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 [draft text, PDF; bill materials; BBC Q&A], which among other proposals to strengthen the country's terrorism laws includes a provision increasing the number of days a terror suspect can be detained without charge to 42 days, up from the current limit of 28. The Home Office described the bill [press release] as "designed to address the constantly changing threat posed to the UK by the violent extremists." In addition to the increased pre-charge detention period [JURIST news archive], the bill also proposes:

• granting the government more power to gather and share information for counter-terrorism purposes;
  
• allowing police to question terror suspects after they have been charged;
  
• enhancing sentences for terror offenses;
  
• strengthening monitoring of convicted terrorists;
  
• amending the definition of "terrorism;"
  
• expanding the use of DNA in terrorism investigations; and
  
• amending UK law on asset freezing proceedings under United Nations terrorism orders.

[JURIST] US Marine 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson [defense website] will face court-martial in May on charges of making false official statements and obstruction of justice in connection to the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive] in November 2005. During Grayson's Wednesday arraignment [press release] at Camp Pendleton, a military judge set a trial date of May 28. Grayson did not enter a plea on the charges [JURIST report], which also include attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps.

A defense lawyer for Grayson, an intelligence officer accused of mishandling an investigation into the killings, said in September 2007 that Grayson rejected a plea offer [JURIST report] from military prosecutors requiring him to admit attempting to cover up the killings in exchange for prosecutors dropping all charges. He is accused of allegedly ordering a subordinate to delete photographic evidence [JURIST report] taken hours after the killings to keep it out of a report being prepared for top-ranking officers and a reporter. Eight Marines were initially charged in connection to the Haditha incident, though charges have since been dropped against four. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich [advocacy website], leader of the squad implicated in the killings, will face court-martial in February [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Lead contractor Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff [corporate website] has agreed to a $458 million settlement to end an inquiry stemming from a July 10, 2006 ceiling panel collapse in Boston's $15 billion Big Dig [official website] tunnel project that killed one person, officials said Wednesday. In July 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board [official website] concluded that the ceiling collapse was most likely caused [press release; report, PDF] by the "inappropriate use of an epoxy anchor adhesive" by construction contractors Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and Gannett Fleming, Inc [corporate website]. A US Attorney told reporters that the settlement did not shield Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff from liability for any possible "future catastrophic events" over the next ten years that cause between $50 and $100 million in damages. Reuters has more.

In September 2007, an anchoring and fastening product manufacturer pleaded not guilty [AG press release; JURIST report] to criminal charges stemming from the collapse. Power Fasteners [corporate website] was indicted [press release; JURIST report] on one count of involuntary manslaughter based on allegations that Powers was aware that the wrong kind of its epoxy product was being used to anchor three-ton cement ceiling tiles but failed to alert project managers either through marketing materials or when specifically asked. Powers has maintained that it was unaware that its epoxy product would be used to support the ceiling of the tunnel. The charge against Power Fasteners was the first criminal action taken in connection with the collapse.

[JURIST] A federal judge ruled [opinion, PDF; ADF press release] Wednesday that the state of Missouri cannot deny an anti-abortion group's application for a specialty license plate with an anti-abortion message, holding that the Missouri law that allowed the denial was unconstitutionally vague. Choose Life of Missouri [advocacy website] had applied to get specialty license plates with the message "Choose Life," but its application was rejected when two senators on the license plate approval committee objected. In Missouri, specialty license plates must be approved by a panel consisting of seven senators, seven representatives and three non-voting state officials. US District Judge Scott Wright also found the Missouri law unconstitutional because it did not include protections against state officials denying application based on viewpoint discrimination. The Missouri attorney general's office has not decided whether it will appeal the decision. The Kansas City Star has more.

Abortion [JURIST news archive] is a hot-button issue in Missouri, where the legislature is dominated by an anti-abortion majority. In May, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously upheld [opinion; JURIST report] a 2005 law that allows parents to sue people who help their minor daughters get an abortion without parental consent. Planned Parenthood had challenged the law on the basis that it infringed the group's First Amendment right to free speech by blocking it from disseminating information or counseling clients about abortion. In April, the US Supreme Court issued an order [PDF text; JURIST report] vacating a 2005 decision [PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit striking down Missouri's 1999 "partial birth" abortion ban [JURIST report]. The Supreme Court's ruling followed its earlier decision in Gonzales v. Carhart [text; JURIST report] upholding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 [PDF text].

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush issued an executive order [text; press release] Wednesday "reforming how the United States reviews national security concerns that may arise from foreign investments." The executive order is designed to implement the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 [PDF text; HR 556 materials], which expands the investigative scope of the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) [official website] to include foreign investments in vital infrastructure and energy and adding an additional 45-day review of proposed acquisitions from foreign state-owned entities. Foreign investments subject to CFIUS review will require personal approval from the CFIUS chair and senior officials, while all proposed investments subjected to the 45-day review will require presidential authorization.

The law, passed by Congress [JURIST report] in July, stems from congressional criticism [JURIST report] of a proposed acquisition by United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World [corporate website] that would have allowed the company to manage six major US ports in early 2006. The deal eventually fell through [JURIST report], but prompted Congress to pass the legislation to increase the level of scrutiny of foreign investment proposals. AP has more. The Washington Times has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Canadian government ceased transferring Afghan detainees from Canadian to Afghan custody in November [press release, PDF] after Canadian monitors in Afghanistan discovered evidence of torture, according to a Canadian Justice Department letter [PDF text] sent this week to two advocacy groups suing the government to halt further transfers. In the letter, made public Wednesday, a Justice Department official wrote:

Canadian authorities were informed on November 5, 2007, by Canada's monitoring team, of a credible allegation of mistreatment pertaining to one Canadian-transferred detainee held in an Afghan detention facility. As a consequence there have been no transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities since that date. The allegation is under investigation by the Afghan authorities. Canada will resume transferring detainees when it believes it can do so in accordance with its international legal obligations.

[JURIST] The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) [official website] on Wednesday called the European Union and United Nations' practice of blacklisting terror suspects from interstate travel "completely arbitrary" [CoE press release] and urged member states of both organizations to amend their blacklisting practice to "preserve the credibility of the international fight against terrorism." Rapporteur Dick Marty reported [text] that the lists violate basic human rights by not informing individuals or groups when they've been added to the blacklist or giving them an opportunity to respond to the allegations, noting that 370 people world-wide have had their assets frozen by the UN list. In November, PACE made similar criticisms [JURIST report] of blacklisting procedures used by the UN Security Council and the European Union, adopting the draft version [text; press release] of Wednesday's report. EUobserver has more.

In July 2007, the European Court of First Instance overturned [judgment; JURIST report] the EU's decision [Council Decision 2006/379/EC text, PDF] to freeze the assets of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Jose Maria Sison [MIPT profile] and the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa Foundation [judgment], finding that the Council did not give its reasons or provide an opportunity for the plaintiffs to challenge the legal basis or evidence to justify the seizure. In December 2006, the European Court of First Instance annulled the asset freeze [JURIST report] of Iranian opposition government People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) [organization website, in Farsi]. The judgment prompted the Council of the European Union to revise [press release, PDF; JURIST report] the procedures used in establishing and maintaining the EU's terror lists.