[JURIST] A Turkish court sentenced a lawyer to life in prison Wednesday for the murder of Turkish Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin [JURIST report] in May 2006. Alparslan Arslan was accused of opening fire in Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State [official website], to protest a February 2006 ruling [JURIST report] by the court permitting a school to deny promotion to a teacher because she wore a religious headscarf. Arslan was also sentenced to two life sentences for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and establishing an armed group.

The shootings immediately prompted widespread protests in Turkey [JURIST report] showing public dismay over the violence. Religious dress [JURIST news archive] has been a controversial issue in Turkey, with the Islamic-oriented ruling Justice and Development Party [party website, in Turkish] demanding that the ban on women wearing headscarves in schools and other public accommodations be lifted while the courts and the military, harking back to secularist policies [Turkish News backgrounder] set in the era of state founder Kemal Ataturk [Turkish News profile], fight to restrict Islamic influence on the nation. Last week, the Turkish parliament voted to ease the ban on Islamic headscarves [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate voted 51-45 [roll call] Wednesday to approve the conference report for an intelligence funding bill [HR 2082 materials], which includes a provision that would restrict CIA interrogators to using only those interrogation techniques explicitly authorized by the 2006 Army Field Manual. Field Manual 2-22.3 [PDF text; press release], Human Intelligence Collector Operations, explicitly prohibits the use of waterboarding [JURIST news archive], electrocution, sensory deprivation, inducing hypothermia, or depriving the subject of food, water, or medical care. The 2006 manual also specifies that the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials] apply to all detainees [JURIST report] and eliminates separate standards for the questioning of prisoners of war and enemy combatants [JURIST news archive]. The US House agreed to the conference report [JURIST report] in December. The conference report [text] represents negotiations between both houses of Congress to reconcile differences between the versions of HR 2028 passed in 2007 by the House of Representatives and the Senate. AP has more.

The proposed restriction on CIA interrogations may face a veto challenge from President George W. Bush, who in July 2007 signed [JURIST report] a controversial executive order [text] that prohibits cruel and inhuman treatment during the interrogation of terror suspects detained by the CIA, but allows "enhanced interrogation techniques" and may exempt the CIA from Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The order does not specify what specific interrogation techniques are now disallowed, but the order prohibits "acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual," and "torture" as defined in 18 USC 2340 [text].

[JURIST] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile; JURIST news archive] discussed ongoing DOJ efforts to promote the rule of law in Iraq [press release; fact sheet, PDF] during his first official trip to Baghdad Wednesday. Mukasey met with three high ranking judiciary officials, including the head of Iraq's Higher Judicial Council Chief Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, to discuss US efforts to aid in the establishment of an independent Iraqi judiciary. AP has more.

US efforts to establish the rule of law in Iraq have met with some criticism. In November 2007, a delegation of lawyers from the Iraqi bar association hand-delivered a letter [JURIST report] to several US lawmakers that criticized the US government for not devoting adequate financial resources to ensure the rule of law in Iraq. Last week, a former senior advisor for legislative framework in the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office told US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in a memo [PDF text; JURIST report] that US officials in the country had "mostly ignored legal culture institutions that address underlying requirements for the very success of the rule of law."

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] plans to try as many as eight suspects on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] communist regime of the 1970s, according to an ECCC planning document reported by AP on Wednesday. The document also indicates that the ECCC plans to propose an increase in the court's budget from $56.3 million to $170 million, allowing it to operate past its originally scheduled completion date in 2009 until March 2011. AP has more.

The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2004, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials. The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. A Cambodian genocide survivor testified [JURIST report] last Friday against former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea [PBS backgrounder] at a pre-trial hearing before the ECCC, marking the first time that a victim has ever taken the stand against a former Khmer Rouge official.

2/16/2008 -- According to an ECCC media alert released Friday, "The recently released information on the revised ECCC budget has caused some confusion regarding the number of possible accused persons to be brought before the ECCC. Although the figure of eight was used as a budget planning figure, it does not represent a restriction, nor a guideline for the judicial work of the court." The ECCC's statement stressed that "The mandate of the ECCC remains senior leaders and most responsible. The total number of accused persons will be a matter for the ECCC Co-Prosecutors and Co-Investigating judges to determine based on careful examination of all available evidence."

[JURIST] EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini [official profile] Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive new border management package [press release; news conference recorded audio] on behalf of the European Commission. The border security improvement initiative includes proposals for the creation of a European Border Surveillance System [press release] to prevent unauthorized border crossings and the development of new tools for an integrated European Border Management Strategy [press release, DOC]. Frattini also proposed an entry/exit system and the introduction of automated border crossing facilities for bona fide travelers. If approved, travelers in and out of the 27-member EU may have to submit fingerprints or other biometric identifiers at borders. The EU Parliament and Council of Ministers must approve the measures before they can become law.

Frattini previously introduced a new package of counter terrorism proposals [JURIST report] in November calling for the implementation of an EU-wide system for the exchange of passenger name records. Frattini said in September that the European Commission was moving forward with plans to establish an EU-wide airline passenger data recording system [JURIST report] despite privacy concerns. In July, the EU and US reached a new agreement on passenger data-sharing [JURIST report] under which air carriers will transmit passenger data directly to the US Department of Homeland Security within 15 minutes of a European flight's departure for the US. AP has more. EUObserver has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A judge for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] said Wednesday that the trial of former Union of Patriotic Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga [ICC materials; BBC profile] will likely be postponed for at least two months to allow defense lawyers sufficient time to prepare their case. In November 2007, the ICC set Lubanga's trial date [decision, PDF; JURIST report] for March 31, 2008, but the judge said Wednesday that issues surrounding the involvement of victims in the trial and the disclosure of evidence by the prosecution seem to warrant granting defense lawyers' request for more time. AP has more.

Lubanga appeared before the ICC in March 2006 after he became the first war crimes suspect to be taken into ICC custody [JURIST reports]. Lubanga is charged [JURIST report] with enlisting child soldiers in Congo's violence-plagued Ituri district [HRW backgrounder]. He has denied the charges against him. The ICC has also taken steps to prosecute Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga [BBC report; ICC materials], who has also been accused [JURIST report] of using child soldiers, and former Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui [ICC materials; JURIST report], who is accused of planning and carrying out an attack against the village of Bogoro in 2003, killing some 200 persons.

[JURIST] A media and financial tycoon who was recently charged with a conspiracy to overthrow the government of the Georgian Republic [JURIST news archive] was found dead in his mansion near London Wednesday. A spokesman for Badri Patarkatsishvili [Reuters profile] said that Patarkatsishvili was believed to have died of heart failure, but police are treating his death as suspicious. In December 2007, Patarkatsishvili told AP he had obtained a tape recording of a Georgian Interior Ministry official discussing a plot to murder him. Patarkatsishvili publicly demanded that the alleged assassination plot be investigated but did not contact police about a specific threat. AP has more.

In January, prosecutors charged Patarkatsishvili with plotting a coup [JURIST report] for allegedly offering a $100 million bribe to a senior police official if he would help him overthrow the government and kidnap the Georgian interior minister. Patarkatsishvili, who was in self-imposed exile in Britain and Israel, denied the charges. Patarkatsishvili was a political rival [VOA report] of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili [official website] in the January 5 elections in which Saakashvili won a landslide victory.

2/14/08 - British investigators said Thursday that preliminary tests indicate that Patarkatsishvili died of natural causes, but that they are waiting for toxicology results before making a final determination of what caused Patarkatsishvili's death. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Wednesday urged [statement; fact sheet] the House of Representatives to immediately pass the version of the FISA Amendments Act [S 2248 materials] passed by the Senate this week. The US Senate voted 68-29 [JURIST report] Tuesday to pass the legislation, which is intended to "modernize" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and replace the temporary Protect America Act [S 1927 materials; JURIST report], currently set to expire February 15. The version approved by the Senate would provide immunity for telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The House version [HR 3773 materials] of the legislation, approved [JURIST report] in November, does not include the immunity provisions. Bush said Wednesday:

I am pleased that last night, Senators approved new legislation that will ensure our intelligence professionals have the tools they need to make us safer -- and they did so by a wide, bipartisan majority. The Senate bill also provides fair and just liability protections for companies that did the right thing and assisted in defending America after the attacks of September the 11th.

In order to be able to discover enemy -- the enemy's plans, we need the cooperation of telecommunication companies. If these companies are subjected to lawsuits that could cost them billions of dollars, they won't participate; they won't help us; they won't help protect America. Liability protection is critical to securing the private sector's cooperation with our intelligence efforts. The Senate has passed a good bill, and has shown that protecting our nation is not a partisan issue. And I congratulate the senators.

Unfortunately, the House has failed to pass a good bill. And now House leaders say they want still more time to reach agreement with the Senate on a final bill. They make this claim even though it is clear that the Senate bill, the bill passed last night, has significant bipartisan support in the House.

Congress has had over six months to discuss and deliberate. The time for debate is over. I will not accept any temporary extension. House members have had plenty of time to pass a good bill. They have already been given a two-week extension beyond the deadline they set for themselves. If Republicans and Democrats in the Senate can come together on a good piece of legislation, there is no reason why Republicans and Democrats in the House cannot pass the Senate bill immediately.

The House's failure to pass the bipartisan Senate bill would jeopardize the security of our citizens. As Director [of National Intelligence Mike] McConnell has told me, without this law, our ability to prevent new attacks will be weakened. And it will become harder for us to uncover terrorist plots. We must not allow this to happen. It is time for Congress to ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. It is time for Congress to pass a law that provides a long-term foundation to protect our country. And they must do so immediately.

[JURIST] The UK will likely not have a written constitution for another 10 to 20 years, UK Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor Jack Straw [official profile] said in a BBC radio interview [recorded audio] Wednesday. Straw confirmed that the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in the process of drafting a new "Bill of Rights and Responsibilities," but said that this bill would not serve as a new written constitution, which he indicated would require codifying existing rights and responsibilities and holding a national referendum. Brown has described the as-yet-undrafted bill of rights as part of a process [JURIST report] of "moving towards a written constitution" for the UK. Straw also said that the proposed UK written constitution would be different from an American-style constitution and that Britons have developed an innate understanding of their rights even without one enumerating document. The Guardian has more.

The UK currently has no single overarching constitutional document or rights charter, although its working "unwritten constitution" includes a variety of fundamental documents such as the Magna Carta [text]. The opposition Liberal Democrats have long pushed for a written constitution, but the idea has only recently gained support among Labour and Conservative [JURIST report] party leaders. A British Bill of Rights would supplement but not replace the 1998 Human Rights Act [text] implementing for the UK the European Convention on Human Rights.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Council of Representatives [official website, in Arabic] passed an amnesty law [JURIST report] as part of a package of legislation approved Wednesday, a day after speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani threatened to disband the legislature [JURIST report] when Shi'ite and Sunni lawmakers walked out on budget hearings. In addition to the amnesty law that would release roughly 5,000 prisoners, lawmakers approved a 2008 budget and passed a bill that details the relationship between Iraq's central and local governments.

The walkout, which was sparked by divisions between Kurdish and other lawmakers over what percentage of the national income [JURIST report] should be reserved for the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, could have precipitated a significant set-back for the government. Earlier this week US Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised the Iraqi government for recently passing a law allowing the reentry of former Baathists into government [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Real estate businesses have filed a lawsuit against the New York City Campaign Finance Board [official website] claiming that a new law that greatly restricts the amount that city businesses can donate to city campaigns violates the US Constitution. The suit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] on Monday, alleges that the new campaign finance rules [NYCCFB FAQ] discriminate against minorities, who rely on financial backing from businesses for campaigns, and runs counter to the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The city argues that the law was formulated to help those without connections to wealthy business lobbyists by leveling the playing field.

The new rules, which took effect this month, reduce the amount that businesses can contribute from $4,950 to $400 in mayoral campaigns and from $2,950 to $250 in City Council campaigns. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Danish newspaper Jyllands-Poste [media website] reprinted a cartoon [image] Wednesday drawn by Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard one day after Danish police arrested three people [JURIST report] suspected in a plot to murder Westergaard for his characterization of Muhammad. Westergaard was one of 12 cartoonists who published cartoons [Le Monde slideshow] of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in 2005 that sparked widespread protests across the Islamic world. Several other Danish newspapers also reprinted Westergaard's depiction Wednesday, accompanied by statements defending freedom of speech and the public's right to see the cause of the backlash.

The Muhammad cartoon controversy [JURIST report] led to a number of international lawsuits and arrests alleging defamation of character and disruption of the peace. A French court in March 2007 dismissed charges [JURIST report] against Charlie-Hebdo> magazine and its director after the court found that the defendants had not purposely meant to offend Muslims. In September, Bangladeshi authorities arrested [JURIST report] cartoonist Arifur Rahman and suspended the publication of weekly satire magazine Alpin after it reprinted the cartoon. Last month, a former newspaper editor in Belarus was sentenced to three years in prison [JURIST report] for reprinting the cartoons in the Zhoda newspaper. AP has more.

[JURIST] The National Parliament of East Timor [official website] voted Wednesday to extend the state of emergency [AP report] imposed this week after attacks against President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao [BBC profiles], during which Horta was critically wounded and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed. The parliament voted to extend the state of emergency until February 23 in order to restore peace to the country following Monday's assassination attempts and to quell any future violence feared after the death of Reinado, who had led previous revolts against the government and who drew wide support from some members of the ruling coalition. East-Timorese prosecutors said Wednesday that the government was ready to issue 18 arrest warrants for those believed to have aided in the attacks.

Gusmao was the first named president of East Timor [JURIST news archive] following a 1999 UN-sponsored referendum in which the country voted for independence from Indonesia. He was appointed Prime Minister by Horta in 2007. In 2006, East Timor descended into violence and a state of emergency rule when former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri [BBC profile] dismissed 600 striking members of the armed forces, causing riots [BBC report] in April and continued violence throughout May [JURIST report] which left 37 dead. Alkatiri resigned in June 2006 and an independent United Nations commission later recommended criminal investigations [JURIST report] into Alkatiri and other government officials for their role in the violence. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate on Tuesday voted 68-29 [roll call] in favor of the FISA Amendments Act [S 2248 materials], legislation intended to replace the temporary Protect America Act in modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Protect America Act [S 1927 materials; JURIST report] is currently set to expire February 15. The bill passed by the Senate Tuesday would provide immunity for telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The House version [HR 3773 materials] of the legislation, approved in November [JURIST report], did not include the provisions on immunity, and House Republicans are now pressing for a vote on the Senate bill to side-step potentially difficult negotiations to reconcile differences between the versions. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) sent a letter [PDF text; press release] to White House Counsel Fred Fielding Tuesday, maintaining his position against the granting of retroactive immunity to telecom companies. Conyers said that there was no reason for such a broad grant of amnesty.

Congress has mulled the controversial issue of telecom immunity while working on long-term legislation to "modernize" the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text]; the Bush administration has indicated it will veto [JURIST report] any legislation passed without a telecom liability protection. On Tuesday, the Senate approved by voice vote an increase in the power of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) [official backgrounder] to monitor the government's eavesdropping on American citizens. Current law allows the US government to eavesdrop inside of the US without court approval as long as one end of a conversation is reasonably perceived to have been outside of the US; the amendment will extend the court order requirement to Americans located overseas. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Guatemalan Congress [official website] voted to restore the death penalty Tuesday, passing a bill [press release, in Spanish] that ends a six-year moratorium on executions imposed by the Constitutional Court [official website] in 2002. Under the new law, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom [official profile] will have to decide whether to grant clemency to the 24 inmates currently on death row or to order their executions to take place. Each prison sentence would be commuted to 50 years, which is the maximum sentence permitted under Guatemalan law. Colom, sworn into office last month [AP report], is an opponent of the death penalty and will have 30 days to grant clemency individually to each inmate.

In 2002, former President Alfonso Portillo [Wikipedia profile] directed the Constitutional Court to set the capital punishment moratorium in Guatemala [JURIST news archive], concluding that a 1892 law permitting commutation was unclear as to which part of the government had jurisdiction to grant clemency. The Constitutional Court granted the moratorium, stating that it was Congress' job to amend the law. IANS has more.