[JURIST] One in every 100 US adults is currently in prison, according to a report [PDF text; press release] released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States (PCS) [organization website]. The report found that males were 17 times more likely than females to be imprisoned, and that African Americans and Hispanics faced significantly higher incarceration rates than Caucasians. Since 1987, the national prison population has nearly tripled and state spending on corrections has skyrocketed to $44 billion per year, increases that the report attributed to the prevalence of stiffer sentences for nonviolent crimes and repeat offenders during the 1980s and 90s. In all, the nation's prisons house roughly 1.6 million inmates, more than any other country in the world. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

Rising numbers of inmates in US prisons has been a concern for years. The US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) [official website] reported late last year that nationwide over two million people were in prison or jail in 2006 [JURIST report], with a total of 7.2 million people behind bars, on probation or on parole. The US prison and jail population added prisoners [press release; JURIST report] at a rate of 2.6 percent and more than 1,000 new inmates a week from mid-2004 to mid-2005, according to another 2006 BJS report [summary; PDF text]. A report [PDF text] released in November 2007 by the JFA Institute [advocacy website] concluded that the US prison population is currently eight times as high as it was in 1970 [JURIST report].

[JURIST] US Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) [official website] Thursday called for the US Justice Department to launch a grand jury investigation to determine if misdemeanor contempt of Congress charges [H Res 979 materials] should be prosecuted against former White House legal counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten [official profiles] for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into the US Attorneys firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. Pelosi made the request in letters [text] sent to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey and US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey Taylor, saying to Mukasey:

There is no authority by which persons may wholly ignore a subpoena and fail to appear as directed because a President unilaterally instructs them to do so. Even if a subpoenaed witness intends to assert a privilege in response to questions, the witness is not at liberty to disregard the subpoena and fail to appear at the required time and place. Surely, your Department would not tolerate that type of action if the witness were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury. Short of a formal assertion of executive privilege, which cannot be made in this case, there is no authority that permits a President to advise anyone to ignore a duly issued congressional subpoena for documents.

Your press spokesman has stated that you will "act promptly" to review this matter and reach a final decision. We will appreciate your acting with appropriate dispatch on this important matter. I strongly urge you to reconsider your position and to ensure that our nation is operating under the rule of law and not at presidential whim. If, however, you intend to persist in preventing Mr. Taylor from carrying out his statutory obligation to present this matter to the grand jury in the District of Columbia, we respectfully request that you inform us of that decision within one week from today, so that the House may proceed with a civil enforcement suit in federal district court.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday upheld [order, PDF; ACLU press release] a district court's denial [JURIST report] of an emergency injunction to block enforcement of an Arizona law that penalizes employers who hire illegal immigrants while opponents of the law argue their case [ACLU materials] before the appellate court. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed a lawsuit and application for a temporary restraining order [PDF texts] against the Legal Arizona Workers Act [AZHB 2779 text, PDF; Arizona Republic backgrounder] in December 2007, alleging that the Act could either cause irreparable injury or undue hardship to state employers if allowed to operate during trial.

The Legal Arizona Workers Act, which went into effect on January 1, allows the Superior Courts of Arizona to suspend or revoke the business licenses of businesses that intentionally or knowingly employ illegal immigrants. Under the law, employers will be required to check the legal status of new hires using E-Verify [DHS backgrounder], a free online federal program that checks names and identification documents to determine employment eligibility. A district court upheld the law [JURIST report] earlier this month after having previously dismissed [PDF text; JURIST report] an earlier lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against the new law filed by the ACLU and other civil rights groups. When Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the legislation [JURIST report] in July, she called the law "the most aggressive action in the country against employers who knowingly or intentionally hire undocumented workers." AP has more.

[JURIST] Serbian Justice Minister Dusan Petrovic [official profile, in Serbian] signed an extradition request [press release] Thursday for the widow and son of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive]. Mirjana Markovic [BBC profile] and her son Marko currently reside in Russia but are wanted in Serbia on charges [JURIST report] related their alleged involvement in a cigarette smuggling ring in the early 1990s. Markovic and her son have denied the allegations but refuse to return to Serbia to face charges. A spokesman for the Russian Federal Migration Service said that Markovic and Milosevic were granted refugee status in March 2006 in accordance with a UN convention. Serbian prosecutors said earlier this month that the two could be tried in absentia [JURIST report].

In July 2006, a Serbian court reissued an international arrest warrant for Markovic because she had on multiple occasions failed to appear in court [JURIST reports] to face abuse of power charges. Slobodan Milosevic died from heart failure [JURIST report] in March 2006 while in detention at The Hague. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque [official profile, in Spanish] signed two international human rights treaties on Thursday, making Cuba party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [texts]. Both treaties build upon ideas contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [text], to which Cuba is already a signatory. In December 2007, Perez announced plans to sign the treaties [JURIST report] and also said that Cuba would begin allowing UN observers to monitor its human rights [VOA report] beginning in 2009. AP has more.

TheCuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) [El Pais backgrounder, in Spanish] noted in January that although the number of political prisoners in Cuba [JURIST archive] has decreased from 283 at the end of 2006 to to 234 at the end of 2007, human rights abuses continue [JURIST report] in the communist Caribbean state.

[JURIST] A key witness in the war crimes trial [JURIST report] of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [SCSL case materials; JURIST news archive] has been moved into hiding after being threatened for testifying before the Special Court for Sierra Leone [official website], chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp said Thursday. Varmuyan Sherif, one of Taylor's former bodyguards, testified in January that Taylor had supplied weapons, cash and gear to militia involved in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war [BBC backgrounder], which ended in 2002. Other potential witnesses have also received threats, while still others have testified in closed door sessions for fear of retaliation from Taylor's supporters. AP has more.

Also Thursday, Rapp said in an AFP interview [AFP report] that he was close to seizing $600 million of Taylor's assets, thought to have been stolen from the Liberian treasury or obtained from trafficking in blood diamonds. Rapp said he is working with a special team from the British government to ensure that the assets are distributed to victims in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In July 2007, the Liberian government submitted a draft bill [JURIST report] to the country's legislature to authorize the government to seek foreign assistance to track, freeze and confiscate Taylor's funds, properties and assets. Taylor faces eleven charges [indictment, PDF], including murder, rape, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone [JURIST news archive].

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Thursday ruled against the deportation [judgment; press release] of former Tunisian terror suspect Nassim Saadi, finding that evidence provided by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch showed that he would likely be subjected to torture in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text] if returned to Tunisia:

143. In the present case the Court has had regard, firstly, to the reports of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Tunisia ... which describe a disturbing situation. The conclusions of those reports are corroborated by the report of the US State Department ... In particular, these reports mention numerous and regular cases of torture and ill-treatment meted out to persons accused under the 2003 Prevention of Terrorism Act. The practices reported - said to be often inflicted on persons in police custody with the aim of extorting confessions - include hanging from the ceiling, threats of rape, administration of electric shocks, immersion of the head in water, beatings and cigarette burns, all of these being practices which undoubtedly reach the level of severity required by Article 3. It is reported that allegations of torture and ill-treatment are not investigated by the competent Tunisian authorities, that they refuse to follow up complaints and that they regularly use confessions obtained under duress to secure convictions ... Bearing in mind the authority and reputation of the authors of these reports, the seriousness of the investigations by means of which they were compiled, the fact that on the points in question their conclusions are consistent with each other and that those conclusions are corroborated in substance by numerous other sources ... the Court does not doubt their reliability. Moreover, the respondent Government have not adduced any evidence or reports capable of rebutting the assertions made in the sources cited by the applicant. ...

146. In these circumstances, the Court considers that in the present case substantial grounds have been shown for believing that there is a real risk that the applicant would be subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention if he were to be deported to Tunisia. ...

148. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that even if, as they did not do in the present case, the Tunisian authorities had given the diplomatic assurances requested by Italy, that would not have absolved the Court from the obligation to examine whether such assurances provided, in their practical application, a sufficient guarantee that the applicant would be protected against the risk of treatment prohibited by the Convention ... The weight to be given to assurances from the receiving State depends, in each case, on the circumstances obtaining at the material time.

[JURIST] An Indonesian court Thursday dismissed a civil corruption case against Tommy Suharto [BBC report], the youngest son of former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile; JURIST news archive]. The court also awarded some $550,000 to Suharto on a counter-claim for damages. Lawyers for Suharto argued that the case should be dismissed because related criminal charges had been dropped, but prosecutors argued that the law permits a civil suit even where a defendant was not criminally liable.

Prosecutors brought the suit [JURIST report] in November 2007 to recover an alleged $55 million in losses related to a land exchange scam from the mid-1990s, in which Tommy Suharto allegedly traded inexpensive swamp land to government-run logistics agency Bulog [official website] in return for high value real estate in Jakarta. In October 2006, Tommy Suharto was released from prison by court order [JURIST report] after serving a sentence for hiring a hitman to kill a Supreme Court judge [BBC report] who had found him guilty in an earlier corruption case. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Afghan Deputy Chief Judge Mohammed Omar Ishaqzai said that Afghan journalism student Sayad Parwaz Kambaksh should be permitted to appeal a death sentence that resulted from a trial where he says he was not represented by a lawyer [JURIST report], the Independent reported Thursday. Kambaksh was sentenced to death [JURIST report] in January for distributing papers questioning gender roles under Islamic practice. Ishaqzai, who heads the court that sentenced Kambaksh but had no involvement in the trial, said that Kambaksh should be permitted to appeal the case in Kabul, and chided the Afghan Senate for prematurely approving Kambaksh's death sentence because Kambaksh had not yet exhausted his right to appeals. The Independent has more.

Kambaksh was convicted of blasphemy for distributing papers questioning why Islam permits men to have up to four wives while women cannot have multiple husbands. The closed court invoked Article 130 of the Afghanistan Constitution [text] to sentence Kambaksh to death, a penalty for blasphemy consistent with Hanafi [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] law. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has received international pressure to pardon Kambaksh, but said earlier this month that he would not intervene during the pendency of Kambaksh's appeal [JURIST reports]. Afghan Supreme Court Justice Bahauddin Baha said last week that the appeals hearing would be held in open court and that Kambaksh will be allowed to choose his own defense lawyer for the proceeding.

[JURIST] A 28-mile "virtual fence" [JURIST report] along the US-Mexico border [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], known as Project 28, has been placed on hold due to technical issues, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said during a joint hearing [materials] Wednesday before two subcommittees of the House Committee on Homeland Security [official website]. Richard Stana of the GAO testified [PDF text] that Border Patrol officials have said that Project 28 "is not an optimal system," saying that:

Border Patrol agents from the Tucson sector provided examples of Project 28 capabilities that do not adequately support Border Patrol operations because of their design. As noted earlier in this statement, Border Patrol agents have had difficulties using the laptops mounted into agent vehicles to provide them with COP information... Project 28, an early technology project, resulted in a product that did not fully meet user needs and the project's design will not be used as the basis for future SBInet development.

[JURIST] Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] returned to Thailand Thursday from self-imposed exile to face corruption charges laid against him after he was ousted in a military coup [JURIST report] in September 2006. Thai authorities arrested Thaksin immediately upon his return and later released him on bail [Bangkok Post report]. Thai investigators formally asked state prosecutors earlier this month to bring new charges [JURIST report] against Thaksin and his wife Pojamarn Shinawatra for allegedly concealing assets. Pojamarn returned to Thailand from self-imposed exile [JURIST report] last month to face corruption and fraud charges.

A Thai court issued an arrest warrant for Thaksin and his wife in August and a second warrant in September [JURIST reports]. Thaksin and Pojamarn have been accused of abuse of power for personal gain [JURIST report], conflict of interest violations, and dereliction of duty for personal gain in charges stemming from a 2003 land purchase by Pojaman from the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund [official website]. Both have previously refused to return to Thailand to face charges because they do not expect to receive a fair trial [JURIST report]. While Thaksin was banned from politics for five years following 2006 coup, his opponents fear that his return to Thailand will allow him to influence politics with many Thaksin supporters sitting in Thailand's parliament. Thaksin has promised [Bangkok Post report] not to get involved in politics. BBC News has more. The Bangkok Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] Chadian President Idriss Deby [official website, in French; BBC profile] agreed to an international investigation [statement, in French] into allegations of abuse of power during a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy [BBC profile] Wednesday. The decision follows accusations [JURIST report] leveled by Amnesty International [advocacy website] that 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 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. During Sarkozy's one-day visit to Chad, Sarkozy also encouraged Deby to pardon six French aid workers convicted in Chad in December of attempting to kidnap [JURIST reports] 103 African children. Deby said earlier in February that he is prepared to pardon the French citizens [JURIST report]. AP has more.

Earlier this month, Deby 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] Egyptian police arrested 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood [party website; FAS backgrounder] Wednesday, following the arrest of 17 members on Tuesday. Muslim Brotherhood members believe the arrests targeted potential candidates for the upcoming April 8 provincial council elections [MB report]. Egypt's provincial councils administer local municipal government services. These municipal elections were originally scheduled for 2006, but the Egyptian legislature passed a law [JURIST report] to delay the elections for two years after the Muslim Brotherhood made a strong showing in the 2005 parliamentary elections. Last Wednesday, Egyptian police arrested 70 members, following the arrest of 51 members [JURIST reports] last Sunday. AP has more.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition party in Egypt [JURIST news archive] and more than 600 of its members have been detained this year alone. Its members run officially as independents because the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has criticized [press release] Egypt for repressing the group in a manner that "flouts fundamental human rights and freedoms." The Egyptian government accuses the organization of trying to create an Islamic theocracy through violence.

ALSO ON JURIST  Comment: Arrest of Muslim Brotherhood supporters illustrates limits to democracy in Egypt