[JURIST] Belarusian district courts Wednesday sentenced at least 55 demonstrators for participating in a banned "Freedom Day" rally [BBC report] in Minsk to protest against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile]. "Freedom Day" first began as a celebration of Belarus' 1918 declaration of independence but has in recent years become a protest against Lukashenko's authoritarian policies. Some protesters, including journalists, were sentenced to three to 15 days in jail while others were fined as much as $500. Officials at the Belarus Interior Ministry said that a total of 70 people face charges of public disorder.

The US State Department severely criticized Belarus' human rights record [JURIST report] earlier this month, and Belarus opposition leaders suggested that Tuesday's protests will only worsen the country's relations with the West. The UN General Assembly Third Committee and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights [JURIST reports] have similarly denounced Belarus for human rights abuses. Lukashenko 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, including opposition leader Alexander Kozulin [JURIST report]. Reuters has more. AP has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The Bush administration has filed an appeal of a ruling [PDF text] by a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit invalidating new less-stringent mercury emissions rules issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website]. In February, the panel ruled [JURIST report] that the "cap-and-trade" policy, to be implemented in 2010 by the EPA to regulate electrical power plant mercury emissions, is effectively invalid. The policy would permit power plants whose mercury emissions exceed the regulatory cap to buy "credits" from other power plants whose emissions fall below the cap. The ruling also struck down the EPA's decision to remove coal- and oil-fueled power plants from the list of utilities subject to the strictest emissions controls. In a Monday filing, the Bush administration asked for an en banc review by the full US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official website]. AP has more.

The original lawsuit [JURIST report] was brought by a coalition of 16 states that argued that the mercury pollution rules would endanger children living near power plants that buy credits to pollute over the EPA limit. The EPA argued that its Clean Air Mercury Rule [EPA backgrounder; JURIST report] would result in a more than 70 percent reduction in mercury emissions from utilities.

[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors Wednesday recommended that two alleged leaders of the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) [CFR backgrounder; JURIST news archive] be given life sentences if found guilty on terrorism charges. Prosecutors also asked the court to officially outlaw the group. Zarkasih and Abu Dujana [BBC profiles] went on trial [JURIST report] in December, charged with training and equipping JI members as well as conspiracy to commit terrorism.

Dujana, who was arrested [JURIST report] in June, has confessed to leading the JI's military wing, which has claimed responsibility for the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy [BBC report] in Jakarta and a series of 2005 Bali bombings [BBC report]. He has been charged with possessing explosives as well as assisting and harboring two men wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali night club bombings [GlobalSecurity backgrounder ; JURIST news archive]. Australia's ABC News has more.

[JURIST] A court in Egypt [JURIST news archive] Wednesday sentenced the former editor of weekly newspaper al-Dustour [media website, in Arabic] to six months in prison after convicting him on charges of spreading "rumors" about the health of Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [official profile] in an August newspaper report. Ibrahim Eissa [al-Ahram profile] originally faced a maximum sentence of three years in jail when his trial began [JURIST report] in Cairo in October 2007. Eissa told AFP the sentence was "against all international human rights conventions." It was not immediately clear whether Eissa would appeal. AFP has more.

In June 2006, Eissa was sentenced [JURIST report] to one year in prison for publishing a report critical of Mubarak, but an appeals court reduced the sentence to a $4,000 fine. Under Egyptian law, citizens may file lawsuits against individuals who make statements that harm society, and the accused can face criminal punishment if found guilty. Mubarak has previously pledged to decriminalize press offenses [JURIST report] in Egypt, but has yet to do so.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Indiana v. Edwards [LII case backgrounder; merit briefs], 07-208, a case in which the Court is considering whether states may adopt a higher standard for measuring competency to represent oneself at trial than for measuring competency to stand trial. Specifically, the Court is weighing whether the Indiana Supreme Court correctly ruled [opinion, PDF] that a court which found a schizophrenic defendant competent to stand trial could not subsequently deny that defendant the right to represent himself under the Sixth Amendment [text]. During arguments Wednesday, several justices suggested that the constitutional right to self-representation is not absolute, while Justice Antonin Scalia took issue with the contention that courts may be able to find a defendant competent to stand trial but not to mount his own defense. AP has more.

The Court also heard arguments [transcript, PDF] Wednesday in Florida Dept. of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias [LII case backgrounder; merit briefs], 07-312, a statutory interpretation case in which the Court is expected to whether an exemption from state and local transfer taxes, provided under the federal bankruptcy code for reorganization plans confirmed in court, applies only after the plan has been approved by a bankruptcy court. The case is on appeal from an April 2007 Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling [opinion, PDF]; a decision in the case could help resolve a difference of interpretation between the Eleventh Circuit and the Third and Fourth Circuits.

[JURIST] A former army general and warlord in the Democratic Republic of Congo [JURIST news archive] denied allegations of war crimes in an interview published Wednesday in Dutch newspaper Trouw [media website, in Dutch]. Laurent Nkunda [BBC profile], the Tutsi leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, is accused of masterminding an anti-government insurgency in the province of Nord-Kivu, in apparent violation of a peace accord signed in January. In February, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] said he was investigating crimes committed in eastern Congo, but did not specifically name Nkunda as a suspect; Trouw reported Wednesday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] is now gathering evidence against Nkunda. AFP has more.

Nkunda would not be the first Congolese militia leader to face ICC investigation. Union of Patriotic Congolese leader Thomas Lubanga [ICC materials; BBC profile] became the first war crimes defendant to appear before the ICC after he was taken into ICC custody [JURIST reports] in March 2006. The ICC has also taken steps to prosecute Germain Katanga [BBC report; ICC materials], a Congolese militia leader who has also been accused of using child soldiers.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] argued before the Supreme Court of Canada [official website] Wednesday that the Canadian government should be compelled to turn over confidential documents [JURIST report] that they say led to Khadr's charges and are therefore necessary for a fair trial. Khadr is seeking documents that Canada allegedly provided to US authorities, along with videotapes of Khadr's 2003 interrogations at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and uncensored transcripts. In May 2007, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal overruled a lower court decision [judgment text] barring Khadr's access to documents compiled by Canadian officials following interviews with Khadr. In October 2007, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal by Canadian Justice Department lawyers opposing the access.

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 prosecuted under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [PDF text]. On March 13, a US military judge ruled [JURIST report] that some correspondence between US and Canadian government officials regarding Khadr must be turned over to Khadr's defense team. In an affidavit released earlier this month, Khadr said that US interrogators in Afghanistan threatened him with rape, physically abused him, and forced him to swear to false statements [JURIST report]. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] Thailand's ruling political party announced plans Wednesday to amend the nation's newly adopted constitution [JURIST report]. The People Power Party (PPP), which which won 233 out of 480 parliament seats in the first election [JURIST report] since the current interim military-backed government took power in a September 2006 bloodless coup [JURIST report], intends to make sweeping changes, including stripping the Election Commission of Thailand [official website, in Thai] of its power to request the dissolution of political parties, allowing government officials and their families to hold positions in state companies, and mandating that military government-appointed bodies reveal their assets. There has not yet been agreement on whether the proposed amendments should drop amnesty for the military government responsible for seizing power from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive].

The new constitution [text; JURIST report], adopted by national referendum and enacted by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [BBC report] in August 2007, replaces Thailand's 1997 charter. The government has praised the constitution as a step toward democracy, but supporters of Shinawatra have said that it decreases populist influence [JURIST report] and transfers more power to bureaucrats and the military. AFP has more.

[JURIST] China is denying human rights, including basic religious freedom, to Tibetans, according to an annual report [PDF text, FCO backgrounder] released Tuesday by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office [official website]. The report found:

Violations of human rights continue in Tibet. We regularly raise our concerns, including individual cases...We continue to make clear our view that the best way to improve the situation in Tibet is through meaningful dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama and his representatives, without preconditions, to achieve a long-term peaceful solution acceptable to the people of Tibet.

[JURIST] A Nebraska bill [LB 1063, PDF] that would have banned the death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life in prison without parole, failed in the Nebraska Legislature [official website] on Tuesday, receiving only 20 of the 25 necessary votes to move forward. Last month, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that execution by electric chair, the only method authorized in the state, was "cruel and unusual" punishment and therefore prohibited by the Nebraska constitution [text]. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman on Tuesday voiced support for the death penalty [press release], saying that the the legislature should decide on a new means of execution that can pass constitutional muster.

In February, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Brunning filed a motion for rehearing [JURIST report] on the ban of the electric chair. Nebraska is the only state to solely rely on the electric chair for capital punishment. AP has more. The Omaha World-Herald has local coverage.

[JURIST] Three Indonesian Islamic militants sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings [BBC backgrounder] filed a new appeal Wednesday, after withdrawing an earlier appeal [JURIST report] this week following refusal of the Cilacap district court to grant a change of venue and transport the militants to a district court in Bali. According to defense lawyers, the appeal is being brought because they were not provided with an effective presentation of their case in the lower court. The three men - Mukhlas, Amrozi, and Imam Samudra [BBC profiles] - face execution by firing squad if their appeal is not successful.

In February, the Supreme Court of Indonesia ordered the lower district court [JURIST report] to assemble a panel of judges to review the merits of the militants' appeal. The Supreme Court rejected the Bali bombers' first appeal in December, but accepted a second appeal [JURIST reports] to determine whether the bombers should have been tried under retroactive laws that were not in effect when the bombings took place. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Hollinger Inc. [corporate website], the Canadian holding company with an interest in former newspaper publisher Hollinger International [corporate website], has agreed to pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] $21.3 million to settle claims [press release] that from 1999 to 2003 it violated securities law by failing to disclose to investors payments and other transactions that benefited the executives to the detriment of the company. The settlement [PDF text] stems from a lawsuit filed by the SEC in November 2004 against former Hollinger International chairman Conrad Black, former Hollinger president David Radler [JURIST news archives], and Hollinger Inc. Under the terms of the settlement, Hollinger Inc. has agreed to be permanently enjoined from committing future securities laws violations. The settlement must still be approved by US District Judge William T. Hart [official website] before it becomes final.

Radler was sentenced in December to 29 months in prison for one count of mail fraud, after pleading guilty [JURIST reports] and agreeing to serve as a witness against Black. Black was convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 78 months in prison; he began serving his sentence earlier this month after a federal appeals court rejected his request to remain free on bail [JURIST reports] while his appeal is pending. Radler, Black and other Hollinger executives were prosecuted in the United States in connection to allegations [indictment, PDF] that they diverted more than $80 million from Hollinger International [JURIST report], now Sun-Times Media Group, and its shareholders during the company's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The Maryland General Assembly [official website] has passed legislation to establish the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment, which would study the implementation and execution of the death penalty in that state. The state House approved HB 1111 [text] by a 89-48 vote on Monday, and the Senate later approved SB 614 [text] by a 32-15 vote. The Commission will focus its study on racial and socioeconomic factors in giving death penalty sentences, the risk of executing innocent persons, and the economic differences in administering the death penalty versus imprisoning somebody for life. A complete report by the Commission is to be provided to the General Assembly by December 15.

The Maryland debate over the death penalty [JURIST news archive] has been fueled by a December 2006 Maryland Court of Appeals decision, which held [JURIST report] that lethal injection procedures are subject to the state's Administrative Procedures Act and therefore must be developed under the guidance of the Maryland attorney general and a legislative committee, with review and comment by the public. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) [official profile] has been an outspoken critic of Maryland's use of capital punishment, and last year urged [JURIST report] the General Assembly ahead of a death penalty repeal vote to abolish the practice because it is "inherently unjust," ineffective as a deterrent and a drain on resources. The repeal failed [JURIST news archive] in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee [official website] in a 5-5 tie vote. A second repeal bill is currently pending before the Senate, and is expected to again fail [Baltimore Sun report]. AP has more.