[JURIST] The Parliament of Kenya [official website] Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a power-sharing agreement [JURIST report] between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] and opposition leader Raila Odinga [campaign profile]. The Kenya Accord and Reconciliation Act 2008 [text], intended to end violence sparked by the country's disputed 2007 presidential election [JURIST report], names Odinga as the nation's first Prime Minister. The agreement has been praised by the US State Department and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who helped broker the deal. Reuters has more. CNN has additional coverage.

The controversial presidential vote sparked simmering ethnic tensions in the country, where Kibaki has long been accused of using his position to favor members of the Kikuyu tribe. Fueling accusations of malfeasance, Kibaki won the December 27 election despite early opinion polls that placed rival candidate Odinga in the lead. Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets following the election, which prompted the government to temporarily ban public rallies and institute a curfew in Nairobi, the capital city. Human Rights Watch reports that over 1,000 people have been killed and 500,000 displaced since protests began. Odinga's opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement filed a formal complaint [JURIST report] in January with the International Criminal Court [official website], alleging that Kibaki's administration committed crimes against humanity while using force against demonstrators.

[JURIST] Nepalese police arrested 50 protesters Tuesday after roughly 200 Tibetan exiles demonstrated near the country's UN headquarters in Katmandu, demanding a UN investigation into China's recent crackdown against pro-Tibet protests [BBC backgrounder]. The protesters, who were arrested after refusing to leave the site, began a hunger strike early Tuesday and were later joined by monks, forming the third demonstration this week [AP report] by Tibetan exiles against Chinese rule. Chinese state media later reported that 105 protesters in Tibet itself had surrendered to police [AP report].

The protests, which began last Monday, escalated into violence Friday as protesters attacked police vehicles, non-Tibetans migrants, and businesses. On Sunday, the Chinese government blocked Internet access [JURIST report] to the video-sharing website YouTube after videos of the recent government crackdown appeared on the site. Rights groups have criticized China for ongoing human rights violations [HRW materials] targeted at Tibetans, and many call for the total independence [advocacy website] of the currently "semi-autonomous" region. The Dalai Lama, who accused China Sunday of committing "cultural genocide" [JURIST report] in Tibet, has encouraged the protests but said he will step down [AFP report] if the violence worsens. AP has more.

[JURIST] Judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf after his declaration of emergency rule [text; JURIST report] last November can only be reinstated if the newly elected members of the National Assembly of Pakistan [official website] strike down constitutional changes Musharraf introduced following the dismissals, Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum said Tuesday. Qayyum said that reinstating the judges would require a constitutional amendment with a two-thirds majority vote. Reuters has more.

The new coalition government [JURIST report] formed by the Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League [party websites] has vowed to establish a fully independent judiciary, saying that they will work together to reinstate judges [JURIST reports] who were dismissed by Musharraf last year, with legislation to be brought forward within 30 days of parliament's opening.

[JURIST] Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] said in an affidavit released Tuesday that US interrogators in Afghanistan threatened him with rape, physically abused him, and forced him to swear to false statements. The 63-item statement, signed by Khadr on February 22, was heavily redacted by the US military before its release, omitting many of the specific details of his alleged mistreatment. Khadr's Navy-appointed military lawyer said the abuse allegations cast doubt on the validity of statements Khadr made during interrogation. It was revealed last week that one of Khadr's interrogators was a already pleaded guilty [JURIST reports] to charges related to the mistreatment of another detainee In Afghanistan who died. AP has more. The Canadian Press has additional coverage.

Khadr, now 21, faces life imprisonment after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2002. He was charged [charge sheet, PDF; JURIST report] in April 2007 with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. Khadr is one of four [JURIST report] Guantanamo detainees that have been prosecuted under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text].

ALSO ON JURIST  Comment: Detained like me: the Guantanamo ordeal of Omar Khadr [Moazzam Begg]

[JURIST] The War Crimes Chamber [HRW backgrounder] of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] Tuesday indicted [press release; case materials] a Bosnian Serb ex-soldier for crimes against humanity allegedly committed against Muslims in the Bosnian war of the early 1990s. Miodrag Nikacevic is accused of raping two Muslim women in April and June 1992, and is also alleged to have participated in the abduction and unlawful detention of a Muslim civilian in the Foca Correctional Facility. Nikacevic was ordered into custody [press release] in February. Reuters has more.

Last month, the War Crimes Chamber convicted two former prison officials [JURIST report] for the systematic abuse of detainees at the Foca prison during the Bosnian war. The War Crimes Chamber was set up to alleviate the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], and will continue to hear cases as the ICTY winds down in 2010.

[JURIST] A German state administrative court Tuesday upheld [press release, in German] a ban on teachers wearing religious headscarves [JURIST news archive] during school. The court in the federal district of Baden-Wuerttemberg [government website] ruled that the teacher who brought the lawsuit had violated her obligation to keep religious expression out of the classroom by wearing a headscarf in class. The ruling overturns a 2006 ruling [JURIST report] by a lower court that held Muslim teachers could wear headscarves since Catholic nuns could wear habits while teaching. Deutsche Welle has more.

Headscarves are prohibited in nine of the 16 German states, including in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria [JURIST reports]. Baden-Wuerttemberg initially banned headscarves from schools in 2004 [JURIST report], becoming the first state in Germany to do so.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] Tuesday rejected an appeal by three former Enron Broadband Services [JURIST news archive] executives seeking the dismissal of remaining charges after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts in their 2005 fraud trial. Former VP Scott Yeager, former senior VP Rex Shelby, and former CEO Joseph Hirko [Houston Chronicle profiles] were initially indicted [PDF text] by federal prosecutors on 164 criminal counts for allegedly overstating the value of the broadband division's software and network to inflate the value of Enron's stock. They were acquitted [JURIST report] on various charges in 2005, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts, and prosecutors later re-indicted [JURIST report] the defendants. Defense lawyers argued [JURIST report] that there is no basis for the remaining charges or for a retrial, but the Fifth Circuit ruled that a jury could find the men guilty of other charges despite their acquittals.

Yeager was acquitted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and security fraud, while Shelby and Hirko were acquitted of some insider trading and money laundering charges. Federal prosecutors may seek to pursue the remaining insider trading and money laundering charges against Yeager, and, in a separate case, conspiracy, wire fraud, and security fraud charges against Shelby and Hirko. The Houston Chronicle has more.

[JURIST] Chief Human Rights Officer Norah Niland of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan [official website] Tuesday called on the Afghan government to do more to protect human rights and see that human rights violators are brought to justice. Speaking at a press conference [transcript] in Kabul, Niland said a general sense that human rights violators could operate with impunity was undermining Afghans' faith in the state. He also urged the international community to take a more active role in addressing underlying problems in Afghanistan, including poverty, gender inequality and violence against women, and violence against civilians in war zones:

As elsewhere, the key ingredients for progress on human rights include vision, leadership, and the commitment of all concerned stakeholders. The relationship between the citizen and the state is the key, but everyone has a role to play in advancing human rights. Building an environment that is conducive to respect for human rights is fundamental to a peaceful and democratic society.

...

The first issue addressed in the report is the profound level of poverty that blights the lives of many Afghans. Everyone has the right to a dignified life. Poverty is disempowering. It is often rooted in oppressive and abusive practices and structures. Poverty can be crippling and it often puts lives at risk. We are all aware of the statistics here in Afghanistan that throw a harsh light on the human rights deficit in this country. Of course it is clear that there have been some helpful gains such as gains in the right to education or health or improved prospects of employment, including women outside their homes and these are of course most welcome. However it is clear that we need much more stronger commitment - investment of political will and resources – are needed to reduce, for example, maternal mortality and infant mortality rates which pose a big challenge to the right to life.

Grinding poverty is an issue for large segments of Afghan society; it is of particular concern in relation to Afghan women and girls. Life is better for some Afghan women and girls. It is better for those who are now able to go to school, can work outside the home, or have access to basic health care. However, deep-rooted social, economic and political discrimination persists. It takes time everywhere to achieve gender equality but the severity of the situation here in Afghanistan, demands much stronger commitments and more concerted action than is currently the case. High levels of violence against women and girls is a major concern, challenging such patterns should be a high priority of everyone, not just the concern of those who are directly victimised.

[JURIST] The trial [HRW case history] of Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia [advocacy blog] began Tuesday on charges of inciting subversion of state power [JURIST news archive]. Hu was formally charged last month after he made public [JURIST reports] letters and recordings from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges. Two local lawyers told AP that they were not allowed into the hearing due to the "sensitive" nature of the case. Foreign diplomats were also declined entry. AP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

Hu supporter Teng Biao, a lawyer who has defended political dissidents, was released by the Chinese government earlier this month after spending two days in custody. In September 2007, Teng and Hu wrote an open letter [text] requesting that the international community investigate China's promises to improve its human rights record. In November 2007, rights group Dui Hua [advocacy website] reported that the number of political arrests in China more than doubled in 2006 and the country has been harshly criticized in recent months for cracking down on human rights activists and political dissidents [JURIST reports] ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

[JURIST] Rights groups Tuesday marked the anniversary of a March 2003 crackdown on dissidents in Cuba by calling for the release of political prisoners detained during that round-up. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website; CPJ report], Human Rights First (HRF) [advocacy website; press release] and other groups urged new Cuban President Raul Castro [JURIST report] to release 55 detainees still in custody. Seventy-five journalists, librarians and freedom activists were origially detained; 16 were later released for medical reasons in 2004 and four were released to Spain [JURIST reports] last month. CPJ called on Cuba to

- Immediately and unconditionally release all imprisoned journalists.
- Vacate the convictions of the nine journalists who were released on medical parole since the 2003 crackdown.
- Ensure the proper care of all journalists in government custody. We hold the government responsible for the health and welfare of those incarcerated.
- Fully meet its commitments under the recently signed International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by allowing journalists to work freely and without fear of reprisal.

[JURIST] French "rogue trader" Jerome Kerviel [BBC profile] was released from prison Tuesday after a French court ordered that he be freed while the investigation continues into fraudulent activity allegedly conducted by Kerviel while employed at French Bank Societe Generale [corporate website]. The court ordered Kerviel not to leave the country or communicate with a number of former colleagues. The New York Times has more.

Kerviel had been in custody [JURIST report] since February 8 when the Paris appeals court granted a request by prosecutors to hold Kerviel in "provisional detention." 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 about Kerviel's unauthorized transactions. A second banker was detained [JURIST report] last week in connection with the investigation.

[JURIST] Lawyers for four Kuwaiti Guantanamo Bay detainees have asked the US Court of Military Commission Review [official website] to order prosecutors not to speak to detainees without the consent of their lawyers. In an emergency petition filed with the court last week, the lawyers accused prosecutors of violating ethics rules that require a lawyer to gain the opposing lawyer's permission before speaking with their clients. Chief Prosecutor Army Col. Lawrence Morris [official profile] said that prosecutors may contact the Kuwaiti detainees because the lawyers do not represent them before the military commissions system. AP has more.

Last week, the US Department of Defense charged [JURIST report] Afghan Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Kamin [DOD materials] with providing material support to terrorism, making him the fourteenth detainee to be charged under the 2006 Military Commissions Act [PDF text].

[JURIST] Beleaguered investment bank Bear Stearns [corporate website] was hit with two major lawsuits Monday in the wake of its announced acquisition [press release] by JPMorgan Chase [corporate website]. The first suit [complaint, PDF], filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website], alleged that some of the company's officers and directors - including Chairman James Cayne, CEO Alan Schwartz and former CEO Alan Greenberg - publicly misrepresented Bear Stearns's financial health, which artificially inflated the company's market value and caused real economic loss to investors in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [text]. It additionally requested class action status on behalf of all stockholders who purchased Bear Stearns stock between December 14, 2006 and March 14, 2008. The complaint identified several public statements by the company or its executives during the class period allegedly misrepresenting the "truth about Bear Stearns' exposure to mortgage-related liability, its profitability and its actual business prospects going forward," including an August 3, 2007 press release that addressed Standard & Poor's outlook for Bear Stearns.

Also on Monday, a Bear Stearns employee seeking class action status filed a complaint in the same court alleging that directors breached their fiduciary duties to the company's employees in connection with its employee stock ownership plan. The lawsuit claimed that the directors offered Bear Stearns stock as an option for plan participants and invested retirement funds in Bear Stearns stock despite knowing that the company's stock price was inflated and would result in substantial losses. The complaint also claimed that the company failed to disclose information that employees needed in order to make informed decisions about their participation in the retirement plan. Bloomberg has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Bear Stearns stock dropped precipitously last week after it was announced that the US Federal Reserve had provided it with emergency funds to avoid insolvency; on Sunday, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had reached a deal with the company to buy it out [merger agreement text, PDF] for $236 million, about $2 per share, a fraction of its prior market price.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments Tuesday in District of Columbia v. Heller [Duke Law case backgrounder; merit briefs], 07-290, a case where the Court considered whether the Second Amendment [text] to the US constitution prohibits the District of Columbia from banning private handgun possession. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled against the handgun ban [PDF text; JURIST report] last year, saying that the 30-year-old ban was unconstitutional. The Washington, DC mayor and attorney general appealed [JURIST report] the federal appeals court ruling to the US Supreme Court.

The justices seemed to agree Tuesday that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to possess guns rather than only for service in a militia, but there was less consensus on whether the District of Columbia's ban passes constitutional muster. Heller represents the first time the Supreme Court has analyzed the Second Amendment in nearly 70 years. The Court last directly addressed the Second Amendment in 1939 in US v. Miller [text]. AP has more.

4:40 PM ET - The transcript [PDF text] of Tuesday's oral argument is now available.

[JURIST] The National Assembly of Armenia [official website] voted during an emergency session [press release] Monday to place restrictions on rallies and demonstrations. By a vote of 90-6, the parliament empowered the government to ban rallies if a "trustworthy" report indicates that a demonstration would pose a risk to "national security, public order, or violate citizens' constitutional rights." Opposition members say that the new measures are directed at stifling their rallies against the recent presidential election, which they say was plagued by fraud.

Last week, Armenian President Robert Kocharian [official website] issued a decree lifting media restrictions put in place during a state of emergency [JURIST reports] declared after last month's contested election. Many media restrictions remain in place, however, and the government is accused of censoring material deemed to be critical of its policies [RFE/RL report]. Kocharian declared the state of emergency on March 1 after protesters demonstrated against the result of the February 19 presidential election in which Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan [official profile], a Kocharian ally, was declared the winner [BBC report]. Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court of Armenia rejected a challenge [JURIST report] brought by opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian [campaign website] against the election results, ruling that although polling discrepancies existed they did not affect the election's outcome. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California [official website] filed charges [PDF text; press release] on Monday against San Francisco Bay maritime pilot John Joseph Cota for allegedly causing the negligent discharge of approximately 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil in San Francisco Bay. Cota, who was piloting the M/V Cosco Busan on November 7, 2007 when it collided with the San Francisco Bay bridge, is accused of failing to pilot a collision free course; failing to adequately review navigational charts, the ship's navigational equipment, and the location of the Bay's aids to navigation with the ship's captain and crew prior to departure; failing to proceed at a safe speed during the voyage in limited visibility; and other acts of negligence. Cota is facing two counts under the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act [texts].

The US Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board [official websites] launched investigations [JURIST report] last November following the accident. A Coast Guard captain said that a preliminary investigation indicated that the ship collided with the Bay Bridge due to human error. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that Washington's system for primary elections does not violate the First Amendment right of freedom of association. The decision came in the consolidated cases of Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party and Washington v. Washington State Republican Party [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], challenges to Initiative 872 [PDF text], which instituted a "top two" primary system in 2004. The system allows voters to select any candidate in the primary, with the top two vote-getters facing off in the November election, even if they are from the same party.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held [PDF text] that the initiative violated First Amendment rights of state political parties, but the Supreme Court reversed:

Because I–872 does not on its face impose a severe burden on political parties' associational rights, and because respondents' arguments to the contrary rest on factual assumptions about voter confusion that can be evaluated only in the context of an as-applied challenge, we reverse.

Respondents ask this Court to invalidate a popularly enacted election process that has never been carried out. Immediately after implementing regulations were enacted, respondents obtained a permanent injunction against the enforcement of I–872. The First Amendment does not require this extraordinary and precipitous nullification of the will of the people. Because I–872 does not on its face provide for the nomination of candidates or compel political parties to associate with or endorse candidates, and because there is no basis in this facial challenge for presuming that candidates' party-preference designations will confuse voters, I–872 does not on its face severely burden respondents' associational rights. We accordingly hold that I–872 is facially constitutional.

[JURIST] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has submitted incomplete and inaccurate information to be added to the US government's consolidated terrorist watchlist [FBI FAQ] over the last three years, according to a report [PDF text] released Monday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) [official website]. The audit, conducted between June and October 2007, found that:

the FBI was not always providing updated nominations when new information became known about a nominated individual. We also found that the FBI was not always removing records from the watchlist when it was appropriate to do so. Moreover, FBI headquarters officials reported that watchlist nomination submissions from field offices were often incomplete or contained inaccuracies, headquarters officials reported that watchlist nomination submissions from field offices were often incomplete or contained inaccuracies, which caused delays in the processing of nominations. We concluded that the FBI should require its Supervisory Special Agents (SSA) to review all nominations submitted by their case agents for accuracy and completeness. These individuals should also be responsible for helping to ensure that case agents create nominations for all individuals who meet the FBI's threshold for nomination.

[JURIST] The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] has ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) [JURIST news archive] does not enjoy sovereign immunity and can be sued in Israeli courts for its alleged involvements in terrorism. The ministry, in a statement [text] released Sunday, said that Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni [BBC profile] made the findings and that the Foreign Ministry's legal advisor has submitted the necessary paperwork to allow 55 different cases against the Palestinian Authority to proceed. PA Foreign Minister and government spokesperson Riad Malki criticized the ruling, saying that Israeli courts did not have jurisdiction over the PA. Malki also condemned the ruling as being contrary to the peace process and negotiations.

In April 2006, an Israeli district court ruled that Israeli courts did not have legal jurisdiction over the PA [JURIST report] because it met the requirements necessary for state status. The Israeli Supreme Court later ruled that the Foreign Ministry should determine whether the PA is entitled to immunity from prosecution. The PA has been criticized for its prolonged and systematic failure to uphold and enforce the law [JURIST report] and prevent repeated attacks against Israeli targets. AP has more.

[JURIST] UN special police forces on Monday retook the UN courthouse recently occupied by Serbian protesters demonstrating against Kosovo's declaration of independence [text; JURIST report] last month. The Serbian group took control [JURIST report] of the courthouse in the northern city of Mitrovica on Friday, demanding a deal with UN authorities. Thousands of protesters gathered outside the courthouse Monday to continue demonstrations against an independent Kosovo, prompting clashes with police. Over 50 protesters were arrested [CBC report] in connection with the occupation of the courthouse.

A regional UN representative initially held talks with Serb leaders over the situation, but those talks broke down over the weekend. Kosovo Serbs had been holding daily protests in front of the courthouse since Kosovo declared its independence in February. Serbs consider the territory of Kosovo to be Serbia's historic and religious heartland and the Serbian government in Belgrade has insisted that Kosovo's declaration of independence is illegal under international law. AP has more.

11:00 AM ET - KFOR [official website], the Kosovo peacekeeping force led by NATO, put Mitrovica under "military law" Tuesday after a UN police officer was killed during Monday's riots. Reuters has more.