[JURIST] Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy [profile] filed an emergency motion Monday seeking to block a district court ruling finding her in contempt of court [PDF text; JURIST report] for refusing to disclose government sources who provided information about former US Army germ-warfare researcher Dr. Steven J. Hatfill [Washington Post profile]. In his ruling Friday, US District Judge Reggie Walton ordered that, beginning Tuesday, Locy pay a fine of $500 a day; the fine will increase to $1000 a day after one week and then up to $5000 a day after two weeks. Hatfill refused to delay the sanctions until Locy can file an appeal and also ruled that Locy cannot accept reimbursement for the monetary sanctions. In an emergency motion [PDF text] to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking a stay of Walton's order, Locy's lawyers called Walton's order "vastly overbroad" and said that Locy has asserted her constitutional right not to testify "in good faith."

Locy, now a journalism professor at West Virginia University, has refused to cooperate in Hatfill's suit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its alleged violation of the US Privacy Act [text], arguing that the information Hatfill is seeking has not been demonstrated to be central to the lawsuit. Hatfill was identified as a "person of interest" in the investigations of the 2001 anthrax attacks [GWU backgrounder]. He contends that FBI and DOJ officials violated federal privacy laws [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] by providing personal information and information about the investigation to journalists. Locy and former CBS reporter James Stewart have refused to comply with orders to reveal their sources, saying that Hatfill's own lawyer revealed his identity in connection with the investigation. Walton has not yet decided whether to hold Stewart in contempt. AP has more.

Editor's Note: Toni Locy served as a JURIST student staff member while pursuing her MSL at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2006-07.

[JURIST] A Dutch appeals court Monday overturned the conviction of Dutch businessman Guus Kouwenhoven [BBC profile] for violating a UN embargo against the government of former Liberian President Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. In 2006, a lower court convicted [JURIST report] Kouwenhoven of violating the embargo, but acquitted him of war crimes, ruling that he did not have direct knowledge of the atrocities committed during the Liberian civil war. The appeals court cited insufficient evidence and found that some witness testimony was contradictory. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

Kouwenhoven's Oriental Trading Co. had been accused of trading guns for timber [Radio Netherlands report] to assist Taylor in destabilizing Sierra Leone in a bid to gain access to diamond stockpiles. The UN Security Council released a 2001 report [PDF text] banning Kouwenhoven from traveling, accusing him of breaching Security Council Resolution 1343 [PDF text], the embargo against the Taylor regime, and of being "someone who supported the efforts of ex-President Taylor in destabilising Sierra Leone to gain illegal access to its diamonds."

[JURIST] A German lawmaker has launched a challenge to the new EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text], asking that Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website] rule on whether it is legal, according to Monday media reports. A lawyer for Peter Gauweiler [personal website, in German] of the Christian Social Union [party website] told German news magazine Focus that the treaty would weaken national parliaments [Focus report, in German].

The court challenge may delay German approval of the treaty past the deadline for it to enter into effect in January 2009, as German President Horst Kohler [official website, in German] is unlikely to approve the document while the case is pending. The German parliament is currently scheduled to ratify the treaty in May. EUobserver has more.

[JURIST] Registry officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] met Monday with a delegation of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) [MIPT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] to discuss procedural matters regarding the prosecution of several LRA leaders. The ICC said that the meeting was only to discuss procedural issues [press release]:

As a neutral organ that facilitates fair trial, the Registry does not engage in substantive discussions with any of the parties on the merits of cases before the Court. Rather, the Registry is responsible for defence counsel matters and for receiving and distributing all documents and materials used in proceedings before the Court.

The Registry is also responsible for providing support, assistance and information to defence counsel, including the necessary facilities for the direct performance of counsel's duties.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] Monday to enforce subpoenas seeking information from former White House legal counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten [official profiles] regarding the US Attorneys firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) said Monday:

It is extremely rare that Congress must litigate in order to enforce subpoenas and no compromise can be reached. Unfortunately, this administration simply will not negotiate towards a compromise resolution so we must proceed.

[JURIST] A Mauritanian detainee held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] has threatened to sue US officials, alleging that he has been tortured in US custody. Lawyers for Mohamed Ould Sillahi [Amnesty International profile] told Reuters Monday that Sillahi was also tortured by officials in Jordan and Mauritania [JURIST news archives], whom he is also threatening to sue, after his arrest in 2001 and before he was handed over to US authorities in 2002. Sillahi said that he has been held for six years without charge and has been denied access to the legal counsel of his choice.

A 2007 Wall Street Journal report [text] said that Sillahi had been accused by other terror detainees of helping to recruit the terror cell behind the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive], but that a senior US military prosecutor had refused to prosecute him, believing that some statements made by Sillahi were obtained under torture. An official with the Mauritanian foreign ministry told Reuters that Mauritania has requested that Sillahi and another Mauritanian detainee at Guantanamo be returned to their home country. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Chinese prosecutors increased the number of corruption convictions against government officials by 30 percent in the past five years, according to a Monday report by Chinese Procurator-General Jia Chunwang [official profile, in Chinese] at the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress. Jia, who has headed the Supreme People's Procuratorate [official website, in Chinese] since 2003, said that prosecutors investigated 209,487 and convicted 116,627 individuals for corruption since 2003. Jia also highlighted other accomplishments, including increased prosecutorial discretion in not issuing arrest warrants or indictments for certain minor offenses.

China has recently taken a hard line on corruption, punishing several officials with lengthy prison terms and the death penalty [JURIST report]. In January, the Communist Party of China [official backgrounder] issued a list of "10 taboos" [JURIST report] for public officials as part of the government's attempt to fight corruption ahead of a reshuffling of provincial leadership posts. In December, a former prosecutor received a suspended death sentence [JURIST report] after being convicted of accepting bribes and embezzling money. Last September, a former official of the Agricultural Bank of China was executed [JURIST report] for taking bribes and embezzling nearly $2 million. AFP has more. Xinhua has local coverage, in Chinese.

[JURIST] A court in the Philippines acquitted Imelda Marcos and two co-defendants of 32 counts of illegal fund transfers Monday, ending a 17-year criminal trial in which prosecutors accused the widow of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos [official profile] of illegally transferring up to $863 million to Swiss bank accounts. Marcos, who is accused along with her husband of having looted the Filipino economy of up to $10 billion through embezzlement schemes, is also facing civil charges.

Last June, a Philippine court acquitted [JURIST report] Imelda Marcos of five tax evasion charges, finding that the prosecution failed to demonstrate criminal intent in Marcos' failure to pay income and estate taxes between 1985 and 1989. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos fled the Philippines in 1986 following a popular coup supported by the military [BBC backgrounder]. Approximately $1.24 billion dollars have been recovered, with assets valued up to $4.4 billion in the Philippines and nearly $80 million abroad being pursued by up to 600 lawsuits. AP has more. CBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Thai prosecutors formally filed new corruption charges Monday against former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and other high-level officials, accusing Thaksin and the officials of illegally approving and operating funds from the state lottery. The military-appointed Assets Examination Committee has frozen nearly $2 billion of Thaksin's assets and is seeking up to $500 million in compensation from Thaksin. Thaksin and his wife Pojamarn Shinawatra are scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday on separate corruption allegations [JURIST report] stemming from a 2003 land purchase by Pojamarn from the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund [official website].

In February, Thaksin returned to Thailand [JURIST report] 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 immediately arrested Thaksin upon his return and later released him on bail. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official websites] have launched a criminal investigation into troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial [corporate website], according to a New York Times report Sunday. Federal authorities are investigating whether Countrywide criminally misrepresented its financial condition. The FBI is also cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] in investigating whether lenders violated securities laws in the private mortgage bond market [BBC backgrounder].

Bank of America is in the process of acquiring [Bloomberg report] Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in the US. Lenders across the United States are facing additional scrutiny from state and federal officials in the wake of the sharp increase of home foreclosures on high-risk borrowers. The New York Times has more. Reuters has additional coverage.