[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Belarus Friday ordered a former newspaper editor who had been had been sentenced [JURIST report] to three years in prison for reprinting cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] to be released, his lawyer said. Alexander Sdvizhkov, former deputy editor of Belarus newspaper Zhoda, had been convicted of inciting religious hatred, but was released Friday after the court reduced his sentence to three months, which he has already served.

The move has been interpreted as an attempt to improve relations with the West. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] has recently sought to improve his country's ties with western nations, but the US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarus pending the release of all political prisoners. After Sdvizhkov's release, two other high-profile political prisoners remain in custody, including Alexander Kozulin [CFR profile and interview], who was sentenced [JURIST report] to prison for leading unauthorized protests after challenging Lukashenko for the presidency in 2006. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) [official website] has been indicted [press release] on charges that include extortion, money laundering, and wire fraud in connection with a complex land scheme, according to an indictment [PDF text] released Friday at a Phoenix press conference [recorded audio]. If convicted, Renzi could face thousands in fines and prison time.

Prosecutors allege Renzi used his position on the House Natural Resources Committee [official website] to block federal land transfer deals unless land owned by Texas real estate investor James W. Sandlin was included. In exchange, Renzi allegedly received over $700,000 in payoffs. Sandlin was also indicted on charges of extortion, fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US government has granted final approval to the first stretch of "virtual fencing" [JURIST report], which will run for 28 miles along the US-Mexico border [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] southwest of Tucson, Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday at a briefing [transcript] on Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Efforts. The virtual fence, part of the Secure Border Initiative [DHS fact sheet] developed to control illegal immigration and drug smuggling, includes 98-foot unmanned towers equipped with radar, sensors and cameras. Computer software glitches had delayed the testing and use of the fence [AP report] until Boeing, the technology's creator, largely fixed the problems [DHS press release] in early December 2007.

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey spoke at the same press briefing Friday and said that the DOJ and DHS had approved a new rule to increase civil fines against employers who violate federal immigration law [transcript; press release]. The new rule takes effect on March 27. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] has launched an internal probe [press release] into whether top department officials improperly approved the CIA's use of waterboarding [JURIST news archive], according to documents released Friday. The DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility investigation, which a DOJ spokesperson said has been ongoing for years, is part of a larger inquiry into the Bybee memo [PDF text, PBS backgrounder], a controversial document in which the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel defined torture as physical pain equivalent in "intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily functions, or even death." The Bybee memo was disavowed [JURIST report] by the White House in 2004.

Earlier this month, CIA Director Michael Hayden [official profile] told the US House Intelligence Committee that he had officially prohibited CIA agents from using waterboarding in 2006, but that the technique has not been used in almost five years. Hayden suggested that a recent Supreme Court decision on the status of detainees [JURIST report] and new laws passed since the 2002 and 2003 waterboarding incidents had made the practice illegal, in contrast to White House statements [JURIST report] earlier this month that defended the legality of the technique. AP has more.

[JURIST] Turkish President Abdullah Gul [official profile] Friday approved amendments to the country's constitution [text] that will ease a current ban on Islamic headscarves [JURIST report] in universities. Gul's office said in a statement that the amendments did not conflict with the country's "basic principles." Opposition parties have said they will appeal to the nation's Constitutional Court [official website, in Turkish], and many critics say that ending the ban is intended as a political statement against secular principles.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey [official website] earlier this month passed [JURIST report] the amendments by a final vote of 403-107. Headscarves and other forms of Muslim traditional religious dress [JURIST news archive] are banned from many public places in modern Turkey, a majority Muslim country despite official secularism. BBC News has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The European Commission (EC) [official website], the executive branch of the European Union, is still awaiting appropriate responses from Romania and Poland regarding allegations that they assisted the CIA in operating secret prisons [JURIST news archives] for terror suspects, an EC spokesperson said Friday. The spokesperson said that Romania has sent a response, but that it was not complete to the satisfaction of EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini [official website]; Poland has not responded at all. Frattini sent reminders to both countries last month, after sending them letters in July 2007 seeking details.

The allegations against the two countries came in a June 2007 report [text; JURIST report] to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [official website] by Swiss Senator Dick Marty [personal website; JURIST news archive] that accused numerous European governments of cooperating with CIA rendition flights and hosting secret prisons. On Friday, Marty responded [press statement] to a Thursday admission [JURIST report] by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband that two US planes landed on the UK Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia in 2002 to refuel during extraordinary rendition flights [JURIST news archive]:

Yet more denials prove to be untrue. Further admissions will undoubtedly confirm the facts established by the Council of Europe. The truth is on the march. I call on the parliaments and the courts of the countries named in the Parliamentary Assembly resolutions to step up their efforts to shed full light on this matter. I deplore the lack of resolve of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to associate themselves with this search for the truth, a truth that must be established to ensure that there will never again be abuses of this kind in Europe.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] Friday upheld [opinion, PDF] the dismissal [JURIST report] of a case brought by approximately three million Vietnamese plaintiffs against more than 30 American chemical companies for producing and supplying defoliants, including Agent Orange [VA materials, JURIST news archive], that US forces used during the Vietnam war. The Court also ruled Friday in another defoliant case brought against chemical companies by US veterans of the Vietnam war and their relatives, holding that the case had been properly removed to federal court and upholding [opinions, PDF] the district court's finding of summary judgment for the defendants.

Defoliants like Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam during the war to destroy forest cover and render crops unusable. The plaintiffs in these cases argued that the companies were aware that defoliants, which often contained dioxin [NIH backgrounder; WHO backgrounder] - a known teratogen and suspected carcinogen, were harmful but continued to supply the approximately 18 million gallons used by the US military in Vietnam. Reuters has more. Dow Jones Newswires has additional coverage.

[JURIST] David Bermingham, one of three British bankers known as the NatWest Three [JURIST news archive] was sentenced to over three years in prison Friday after pleading guilty [JURIST report] in November to one count of wire fraud. Bermingham, along with Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, was indicted on seven counts of wire fraud [indictment, PDF] for entering into a secret agreement with former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow [Houston Chronicle profile] to defraud National Westminster Bank of $19 million while keeping $7 million for themselves. Under the terms of their plea deal, the three agreed to each serve a 37-month sentence, repay the $7.3 million they are believed to have fraudulently earned from the deal, and subject himself to a civil suit in Britain brought by the bankers' former employer. Darby and Mulgrew are due to be sentenced later Friday. Reuters has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

The three were extradited to the US pursuant to an extradition treaty that subsequently came under heavy criticism [JURIST reports] in the UK Parliament as "lopsided." The 2003 US-UK Extradition Treaty [PDF text; Statewatch backgrounder], incorporated into UK law through the Extradition Act [text], requires only a showing of prima facie evidence by the requesting country, a lower evidentiary standard than probable cause.

2:38 PM ET - All three bankers have now been sentenced to 37 months in prison. The Houston Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website] on Friday upheld the sentences [press release, PDF] of three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council [MIPT backgrounder; SCSL case materials] who were convicted of crimes against humanity. In July 2007, the court sentenced [JURIST report] Brima Bazzy Kamara to 45 years in prison, while Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu [TrialWatch profiles] were each sentenced to 50 years after being convicted of crimes committed while leading the militia that took over Sierra Leone's government in 1997.

The three men were convicted [JURIST report] in June 2007 of crimes against humanity including collective punishments, murder, rape, conscripting or enlisting child soldiers, enslavement, and pillage. The verdict, which came more than two years after the trial started [JURIST report], was the first ever conviction on the recruitment and use of child soldiers by an international tribunal. Reuters has more.

3/4/08 - The full text of the appeals judgment [part 1, PDF; part 2, PDF] has now been made available by the court. A summary [PDF text] is also available.

[JURIST] Delegates failed to agree on a binding treaty banning cluster bombs [ICRC materials; JURIST news archive] by the end of a five-day conference organized by Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) [advocacy website] in New Zealand Friday, but have agreed to continue negotiations at a May conference in Dublin. By Friday, conference organizers said that 82 countries had signed the so-called Wellington Declaration [PDF text], acknowledging that cluster bombs should be banned and pledging to continue talks toward that end. Cluster bomb opponents hope that the Wellington Declaration could lead to a binding ban at the Dublin conference, even if the leading producers of cluster munitions - the US, Russia and China - do not join the pact. A week-long meeting of parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons [PDF text] last November similarly concluded [JURIST report] without delegates reaching an agreement on a legally binding ban on cluster munitions. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.

Cluster munitions have been used by at least 23 countries; at least 34 nations have produced more than 200 different types of cluster munitions. In June, the US said it will not support a cluster munitions ban [JURIST report] but that it is open to negotiations to reduce the humanitarian impact by requiring the increased reliability, accuracy and visibility of unexploded munitions. Last February, 46 of 49 countries participating in the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty [press release] to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. Romania, Poland and Japan refused to sign the Oslo Declaration [PDF text]. The United States, Russia, Israel, and China chose not to attend the conference. Cluster munitions are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal [CMC backgrounder] under multiple provisions of Protocol I [text] of the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials].

[JURIST] The National Parliament of East Timor voted Friday to further extend the country's state of emergency [AP report], which was set to expire Saturday, by an additional 30 days. Last week, the parliament extended the state of emergency [JURIST report] in response to attacks against East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao [BBC profiles]. East Timor's attorney general said last week that 12 arrest warrants have been issued [JURIST report] for suspects in the attacks, and that the government was preparing warrants for an additional 5 suspects. Horta was critically wounded and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the attacks. Reinado has led previous revolts against the government and drew wide support from some members of the ruling coalition. The state of emergency was imposed to restore peace following the assassination attempts and to quell any future violence feared after the death of Reinado. AP has more.

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.

[JURIST] The British House of Commons approved an order [text] Thursday extending until March 2009 provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 [HO materials] regarding control orders, which impose restrictions on uncharged terror suspects. The measure was approved by a margin of 267-60. The UK's counter-terrorism law ombudsman said in his third annual report [PDF text; press release] Monday that individual control orders should not exceed two years [JURIST report] in duration except under extraordinary circumstances. Lord Carlile of Berriew found that the current system of control orders is "a justifiable and proportional safety valve for the proper protection of civil society," but argued that time limits should be imposed on the length of control orders.

Control orders [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] allow the British government to impose house arrest and electronic surveillance on suspects and to forbid them from using mobile phones and the Internet when there is not enough evidence to prosecute. They were first introduced [JURIST report] by the government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005 and, apart from being politically controversial, have already run into problems in the courts [JURIST report]. The UK Law Lords ruled [JURIST report] in a series of decisions in October that the government can continue to impose control orders on terror suspects in lieu of detention, but said that some elements of the orders issued under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 violate human rights. AP has more.

[JURIST] James Tobin [SourceWatch profile], President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, was acquitted [opinion, PDF] Thursday of federal telephone harassment charges for his alleged role in a 2002 phone-jamming scheme. In his ruling Thursday, US District Judge Steven McAuliffe said he was "constrained" by an earlier appeals court ruling [text; JURIST report] overturning Tobin's previous conviction. Tobin was convicted and sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment [JURIST report] in 2006 for his involvement in jamming phone lines to block Democratic voting drives [JURIST report] during the 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire, but the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit remanded the case to the district court because no intent to harass was alleged, proved, or disputed by the parties. Tobin has maintained his innocence throughout the case, claiming to have no knowledge of the 800 hang-up phone calls that were placed to interfere with Democratic get-out-the-vote campaigns. Republican candidate Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) [official website] won the 2002 Senate election by less than five percentage points. AP has more. The Union Leader has local coverage.

Allen Raymond, former president of Republican consulting group GOP Marketplace, received a five month sentence, and Chuck McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party was sentenced to seven months in prison and $2,000 in fines [JURIST reports] in 2005 in connection with the scheme. McGee admitted that he paid a Virginia telemarketing company more than $15,000 to jam Democratic Party phone lines with computer-generated calls. In 2006, Shaun Hansen, former owner of the telemarketing firm Mylo Enterprises Inc., pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to two federal counts of conspiracy to commit interstate telephone harassment. A civil lawsuit brought by the New Hampshire Democratic Party against the New Hampshire Republican State Committee was settled [JURIST reports] in 2006 for $135,000.