[JURIST] The US must do more to meet its obligations to fight racial discrimination under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [text], UN rights experts from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [official website] said Thursday in a scheduled session to review US compliance with the treaty. Committee expert Linos-Alexander Sicilianos [official profile, PDF] said that police brutality against minorities continues to be a problem in the US, and that since Sept. 11, immigrants and refugees especially have been subjected to a broad range of human rights violations. Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch [advocacy websites] filed their own reports [CERD materials; JURIST report] with the panel, with the former expressing serious concerns about the "the discriminatory treatment of non-US nationals held by the US military in the context of the so-called 'war on terror.'"

CERD is charged with periodically reviewing the performance of the 173 countries that have signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The United States last appeared before CERD in 2001 [CERD concluding observations]. AP has more.

[JURIST] French judges Thursday questioned a trader tied to the alleged French "rogue trader" Jerome Kerviel [BBC profile], who made $73 billion worth of unauthorized trades [AP timeline] while working for French bank Societe Generale [corporate website]. The man, who worked for Societe Generale affiliate Fimat [bank website], was originally questioned [JURIST report] by French authorities earlier this month and has since been named an assisted witness in the case against Kerviel, a designation that allows him to testify in the presence of a lawyer. The judges' questions focused on 1,600 pages of instant messaging texts exchanged between the two men from September 2007 to January 2008. Kerviel was also questioned separately by the judges on Thursday for the third time since he was charged [JURIST report] with forgery, breach of trust, and fraud last month.

Kirviel has been in custody [JURIST report] since February 8 when the Paris appeals court granted a request by prosecutors to hold Kerviel in "provisional detention" to prevent him from fleeing the country or communicating with any possible accomplices during the investigation. Societe Generale, which lost $7 billion when it was forced to unload the fraudulent positions, described the methods Kerviel supposedly used to commit the fraud in an explanatory note [PDF text]. Kerviel has maintained that he acted alone, but also says that he is being made a scapegoat [Telegraph report] by the bank, which he alleges was aware of his activities. Additionally, BusinessWeek reports [text] that the Eurex derivatives exchange [exchange website] warned Societe Generale in November 2007 about Kerviel's unauthorized transactions. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Serbian demonstrators set fire to the US Embassy in Belgrade [official website] Thursday after a massive street demonstration that drew an estimated 150,000 people to protest Kosovo's weekend unilateral declaration of independence [text; JURIST report]. The United States formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state [JURIST report] on Monday, despite strong opposition from both the Serbian government and minority Kosovo Serbs. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, but an Embassy spokesperson said that a burned body, apparently a protester, was discovered inside the building. Demonstrators also attacked the nearby Croatian Embassy and pelted the Canadian Embassy [official website] across the street with rocks. Canada has not yet announced its decision on recognition.

Great Britain, France, and Germany also recognized Kosovo's independence Monday, but Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, and Romania have said they will not endorse the new state. The Serbian government, which immediately denounced the unilateral declaration as illegal [press release], said Monday it would never recognize Kosovo as an independent entity. The Serbian Interior Ministry has also filed treason charges [JURIST report] against Kosovo's prime minister, president and speaker of parliament for their roles in organizing the declaration of independence. AP has more. CBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush Thursday reiterated his call for Congress to extend the temporary Protect America Act [S 1927 materials; JURIST report], which expired on Saturday without an agreement in Congress on replacement legislation, and said he can foresee "no compromise" with Congressional Democrats on the issue of immunity for telecommunications companies [JURIST report] from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. The Senate passed [JURIST report] the FISA Amendments Act [S 2248 materials] on February 13, but the House of Representatives did not approve the bill before leaving for a 12-day recess. The version approved by the Senate provides immunity for telecommunications companies, while the House version [HR 3773 materials] of the legislation, approved [JURIST report] in November, does not include the immunity provisions. AP has more.

The FISA Amendments Act, supplementary to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text], would make it easier for the government to monitor foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. In the absence of new legislation, the government can get an order from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor calls and e-mails, set up under FISA. Amendment supporters have rejected this option, saying it creates too much red tape. Strong critics of the legislation, including Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) [official website], have deplored its retroactive grant of immunity to participating telecom companies as an effective endorsement of warrantless wiretapping contrary to the rule of law [transcript; recorded video].

[JURIST] Pakistan’s two main opposition parties have agreed to form a coalition government and to work together towards the reinstatement of ousted Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and other dismissed superior court judges, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], head of the Pakistan Muslim League [party website], and Asif Zardari [BBC profile], new leader of the Pakistan People’s Party [party website], announced at a Thursday press conference. The two parties won approximately 60 percent of the 272 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan [official website] in last Monday's parliamentary election. Chaudhry himself broke a long silence under virtual house arrest [DNA Report], telling a gathering of Karachi lawyers by telephone that he will resume his duties as Chief Justice as soon as he is released from his official residence. BBC News has more.

Chaudhry has been under virtual house arrest [JURIST report] since November. Chaudhry was ousted as the country anticipated a Supreme Court ruling [JURIST report] on whether Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had been eligible to run for re-election as Pakistan's president while still army chief. He and the other ousted judges have since been formally retired [JURIST report], although they and their supporters insist that they still legally hold office under Pakistan's constitution.

[JURIST] Former Guantanamo Bay chief military prosecutor Col. Morris Davis [official profile, PDF] told AP Thursday that he has agreed to appear as a defense witness in the military commission trial of Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive]. In October 2007, Davis resigned [JURIST report; JURIST op-ed] from his position at Guantanamo Bay, saying that politics were interfering with the prosecutions process. In a Wednesday interview [text] with The Nation, Morris alleged that Pentagon general counsel William Haynes [official profile] told him that none of the detainees could be acquitted, implying that the tribunal process may be rigged. Hamdan's lawyers plan to argue at a preliminary hearing in April that this alleged political interference violates the rules governing war crimes trials established by the 2006 Military Commissions Act [PDF text]. AP has more. UPI has additional coverage.

In October 2007, Davis told the New York Times that he was pressured to use classified evidence [JURIST report] against defendants in closed war crimes trials for detainees. Also in October, Davis said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Guantanamo prosecutions were becoming politicized [WSJ report; JURIST report]. Davis said that recently approved rules governing prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] result in the chief prosecutor reporting [PDF memo text] via the Legal Advisor to the Convening Authority to the Pentagon general counsel [PDF memo text], a presidential appointee. Davis said he filed an internal complaint about this structure, but the complaint was rejected.

[JURIST] Former Rwandan Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana [TrialWatch profile] Wednesday pleaded not guilty [ICTR press release] to charges [indictment, DOC] relating to Rwanda's 1994 genocide in his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Nzabonimana was arrested [JURIST report] Monday in Tanzania and faces charges of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitements to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. The UN News Centre has more.

The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict [HRW backgrounder] between Hutus and Tutsis in which approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died.

[JURIST] A military jury in Hawaii convicted US Army Specialist Christopher P. Shore on Wednesday of aggravated assault on charges stemming from the June 23, 2007 killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], but acquitted him on charges of third-degree murder. Shore could be sentenced to a maximum eight-year prison sentence, as well as receive a dishonorable discharge and be demoted to the army's lowest pay grade. Shore originally faced charges of premeditated murder of the unspecified "Iraqi national," but those charges were later reduced. His court-martial began [JURIST report] Tuesday. BBC News has more.

During his Article 32 hearing [JAG backgrounder; KHNL report] in October, Shore's lawyer painted Army Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales [advocacy website], also accused in the Kirkuk killing, as sadistic and out of control. Shore testified that when Corrales ordered him to shoot the unarmed Iraqi civilian, he intentionally missed. Corrales was charged [JURIST report; press release] in July with the more serious offense of premeditated murder and waived his right to an Article 32 hearing. If convicted, Corrales could face the death penalty.

[JURIST] UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband [official profile; BBC profile] said Thursday that two US planes landed on the UK territory of Diego Garcia in 2002 to refuel during extraordinary rendition flights [JURIST news archive]. Miliband apologized [text] for previously denying that such stops had been made, saying that:

Contrary to earlier explicit assurances that Diego Garcia had not been used for rendition flights, recent US investigations have now revealed two occasions, both in 2002, when this had in fact occurred. An error in the earlier US records search meant that these cases did not come to light. In both cases a US plane with a single detainee on board refueled at the US facility in Diego Garcia. The detainees did not leave the plane, and the US Government has assured us that no US detainees have ever been held on Diego Garcia. US investigations show no record of any other rendition through Diego Garcia or any other Overseas Territory or through the UK itself since then.

Yesterday US and UK legal teams discussed the issue, and I spoke myself with Secretary Rice. We both agree that the mistakes made in these two cases are not acceptable, and she shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light.

There has been speculation in the press over the years that CIA had a holding facility on Diego Garcia. That is false. There have also been allegations that we transport detainees for the purpose of torture. That, too, is false. Torture is against our laws and our values. And, given our mission, CIA could have no interest in a process destined to produce bad intelligence.

[JURIST] The government of Chad [JURIST news archive] is using the current state of emergency [JURIST report] to clamp down on journalists and members of peaceful opposition parties, Amnesty International [advocacy website] said Wednesday. Amnesty said that the government has arrested at least three opposition members [press release] and that some newspapers in Chad have ceased publishing due to potential censorship, with many journalists fleeing the country. AP has more.

Chadian President Idriss Deby [official website, in French; BBC profile] last week declared a state of emergency [text, in French] throughout Chad, citing increased violence between government forces and rebels in the capital city of N'Djamena. The order bans most public meetings, imposes a curfew, authorizes government censorship of the press, and allows regional governments to regulate travel. The recent fighting in Chad is the most recent eruption of longstanding hostilities between the Chadian government and several rebel groups seeking to depose Deby. An estimated 20,000 civilians have fled the capital [NYT report] since violence escalated earlier this month. The UN Security Council has condemned the fighting [press release; JURIST report] and urged neighboring countries to help stop the rebel forces.

[JURIST] TIME magazine [media website] on Thursday asked the Supreme Court of Indonesia to reconsider its August 2007 decision [JURIST report] awarding former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile; JURIST news archive] $106 million in damages in Suharto's defamation suit against the publication. Suharto sued TIME over a 1999 article [text] that said Suharto had hidden billions of dollars in foreign banks. The Supreme Court overturned two lower court decisions against Suharto, ordering TIME to pay damages and publish a formal apology in Indonesian newspapers and its own magazine. TIME announced last month that it was ready to file the appeal [JURIST report].

Suharto, who ruled Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, died [JURIST report] in late January. Indonesian government lawyers are currently pursuing a civil corruption case [JURIST report] against his estate in connection to allegations that he embezzled $440 million from the Yayasan Supersemar [official website], a state-funded scholarship fund, between 1974 and 1998. Earlier criminal corruption charges were dropped in 2006 because Suharto was rendered unable to speak or write [JURIST reports] as a result of several strokes. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov [Kommersant profile, JURIST news archive] was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison by Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky District Court Wednesday, after being convicted on charges of fraud and abuse of office [JURIST report] earlier in the week. He was convicted for his involvement in a corruption scheme which misappropriated $31 million in US aid designated to upgrade unsafe Russian RBMK nuclear reactors [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. Adamov, who continues to assert his innocence and faced a possible nine-year sentence, has indicated he will appeal the decision.

Adamov was arrested [JURIST report] in Switzerland in 2005 on a US warrant on charges of fraud and money laundering; also implicated was Russian nuclear engineer Mark M. Kaushansky. Despite repeated US extradition requests, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that Adamov should be tried in Russia [JURIST report] because he is a Russian citizen and his crimes were allegedly committed in Russia. In August 2006, Adamov's case was thrown out due to factual errors in court filings [JURIST report]; the latest proceedings began in April 2007. Kaushansky, who immigrated to the United States in 1979, was extradited to the US and was sentenced to 15 months in prison [JURIST report] last June. AP has more.

[JURIST] Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday appealed the UK Home Office's approval of his extradition [JURIST report] to the US on charges of supporting terrorism, arguing that UK courts should review the evidence against Abu Hamza before he is extradited. Abu Hamza, currently serving a seven-year sentence in the UK [JURIST report] for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims, faces US charges [PDF text; JURIST report] of attempting to establish terrorist training camps in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen, and helping terror training in Afghanistan. A British court ruled in favor of extradition [JURIST report] in November but final approval from UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith [official profile] was required before Abu Hamza could be deported. Abu Hamza would have been deported within four weeks of the Home Office [official website] approval if no appeal had been filed.

The US initially sought extradition [BBC report] in February 2006, but hearings were delayed while Abu Hamza appealed his UK conviction. The US renewed its extradition efforts [JURIST report] in May 2007, after the UK House of Lords denied Abu Hamza's request to continue his court appeals. AP has more.

[JURIST] Pakistani police in Karachi used tear gas against lawyers rallying for the restoration of ousted Pakistani superior court judges on Thursday, soon after now-dismissed Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] addressed them by telephone from his official residence in Islamabad, where he is still under house arrest. Chaudhry spoke to lawyers at the Sindh High Court Bar Association [official website], saying that the newly elected Pakistani parliament [JURIST report], now controlled by parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf, should restore judges dismissed by the president after his November proclamation of emergency. Meanwhile hundreds of lawyers demonstrated against Musharraf in other cities throughout the country, but no reported incidents with police occurred other than in Karachi.

The head of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association said Wednesday that lawyers would resume protests [JURIST report] unless the ousted judges were reinstated. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] approved a resolution [Res. 1800 text] Wednesday authorizing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint four additional judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. The Security Council unanimously approved the measure to enable the ICTY to try all defendants by the end of 2008. The resolution allows the president of the ICTY to appoint four additional temporary judges, bringing the total number of ad litem judges to 16. The four additional ad litem judges may only serve for the duration of year, resigning their posts in December. The increased number will allow the ICTY to hear up to eight cases simultaneously.

Under the ICTY's completion strategy [ICTY materials], all trials are supposed to finish this year, and all appeals are scheduled to finish by the end of 2010. In 2005, ICTY officials expressed concern [JURIST report] that the ICTY would miss the 2008 deadline to wrap up all of the criminal trials, blaming Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian leaders for failing to turn over key fugitives. The UN News Centre has more.