[JURIST] The Virginia-based National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) [advocacy website] brought a class action lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) [official website] Monday, alleging on behalf of over 800 black farmers that the USDA improperly discriminated against them in its allocation of resources. The new Farm Bill [HR 2419 materials] expressly permits the new claims, but the Farm Bill's future is uncertain because the US House of Representatives' attempt to override a presidential veto was delayed last month [JURIST reports] due to a clerical error. AP has more.

Many farmers were left out of the 1999 settlement [NALC backgrounder] after missing a filing deadline, and thousands more argue that the terms of the settlement were inadequate. The NBFA expects an additional 5,000 plaintiffs to join the class. After earlier accusations of unfair distribution of resources, the USDA created the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) [official website] in 2003 to monitor compliance with civil rights laws and to help ensure equality in the administration of the USDA's many programs.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Wednesday rejected [opinion, PDF; press release, PDF; case docket] Djibouti's attempt to obtain records concerning murdered French judge Bernard Borrel [advocacy website, in French; JURIST news archive]. Djibouti claimed that France had breached its obligation under the 1986 Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters to execute Djibouti's request, but the ICJ held that the Convention imposed no obligation. The Court found that the assurance given to Djibouti was improper, as it came from a government official and not a judge, and that France was not required to carry out the request under the Convention since doing so could be prejudicial to its sovereignty, security, or other essential interest. AP has more.

Borrel was as an adviser to the Djibouti Justice Ministry when he was found dead in 1995 after becoming engaged in a money laundering probe. In a initial investigation Djibouti authorities ruled the death a suicide, but subsequent investigations by the French found that there was a possibility of murder. Borrel's widow has argued that the Djibouti authorities are not neutral and has fought attempts to transfer [JURIST report] an inquiry into Borrel's death to that nation.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website; JURIST news archive] will complete its caseload before its mandate expires in 2010, Serge Brammertz [UN profile] promised in his first address [transcript; press release] before the UN Security Council as ICTY Chief Prosecutor Wednesday. Brammertz said:

I cannot think of a situation in which the Tribunal, which has been established to try those most responsible for atrocious crimes, will close its doors without having tried all remaining fugitives. During my trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina last March, I met with a number of victims' associations. After all these years, their demands for justice are unwavering and unanswered in respect of the fugitives. I was impressed by the courage of the survivors and the clarity of their message that the accused must be tried by the International Tribunal. They have never given up. And neither can we. We owe them the justice that was promised 15 years ago, when this Tribunal was set up.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Japan [official website] Wednesday struck down part of a law which denied Japanese citizenship to children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and foreign mothers. The Court found that Article 3 of the Nationality Law, which restricts citizenship based on the parents' marital status, violated equal protection guarantees in Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution [text].

The decision came in two cases brought by children born out of wedlock to Japanese fathers and Filipino mothers. Under Japanese law, a child born to a Japanese father and a foreign mother could only gain Japanese citizenship if the father admits paternity before the child is born or if the parents were to marry. AP has more. AFP has additional coverage. Mainichi Daily News has local coverage.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of California [official website] Wednesday denied [order and press release, PDF] bids by two conservative groups to stay the Court's May 15 decision [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] overturning a ban on same-sex marriage in the state. Last month, the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Campaign for California Families had petitioned the Court to stay its ruling pending a November ballot initiative [JURIST report] to amend the state constitution [text] to ban same-sex marriage. If approved by voters, the California Marriage Protection Act [ballot materials, PDF; proposition website] would amend the constitution to read, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Last Friday, the Attorneys General of ten states also submitted a brief [JURIST report] to the Court, asking it to stay its decision until after the November elections. They asserted that allowing same-sex marriages would cause citizens in their own states to become "marriage tourists" in California, and their own state courts would then face unfair, extensive, and burdensome litigation on whether to recognize the marriages. Little more than a week ago, conservative advocacy group Alliance Defense Fund filed a similar petition [JURIST report] requesting a stay until November. AP has more.

[JURIST] Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] police have thusfar arrested at least 10,000 people in a major security sweep ahead of elections slated for later this year, national police chief Nur Mohammad told AFP Wednesday. The arrests, which began last week [JURIST report], are part of an expected month-long operation to suppress criminal and corruption-related activity. Bangladeshi political parties the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party [party websites] have already accused the government of using the sweep for political purposes. AFP has more.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] in the country in January 2007 and canceled a scheduled national election. His interim government has since launched a major crackdown on corruption which has led to numerous arrests and the indictment of two former prime ministers.

[JURIST] A Norwegian court Tuesday acquitted three suspects of terror charges laid for allegedly planning to attack the US and Israeli embassies in Oslo [JURIST] after finding that there was no binding and intentional agreement between them. The three had also been indicted [JURIST report] for their roles in a September 2006 shooting at an Oslo synagogue. Charges relating to the synagogue shooting were dropped against two of the suspects, but a third was convicted. The court ruled that the shooting was vandalism, not terrorism.

The trial was the first test of Norway's new anti-terrorism law. Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten quoted legal experts as suggesting that presiding Judge Kim Herger was consciously trying to establish strict standards of evidence [Aftenposten report] for prosecutions under the new law. US Ambassador to Norway Benson K. Whitney [official profile] is reported to have been "both surprised and dismayed" at the acquittal. The US criticized [JURIST report] Norway's new anti-terrorism law in 2007 for being too lenient, with Whitney expressing particular concern that it did not designate membership in a terrorist organization as an offense by itself. AP has more. The Norway Post has local coverage.

[JURIST] Former Cambodian head of state Khieu Samphan [JURIST news archive] was hospitalized Wednesday after suffering a stroke. The fifth senior Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] leader to be detained by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website], he was arrested [JURIST report] in November 2007 upon release from the hospital where he was receiving treatment after having suffered an earlier stroke [NYT report]. He has been detained while he awaits trial for atrocities allegedly committed against the Cambodian people. AP has more.

The Khmer Rouge is widely believed to be responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. The Extraordinary Chambers have yet to convict any of the elderly indictees. In February, Samphan announced he was ending his cooperation with the ECCC [JURIST report]. Khieu Samphan's French lawyer, Jacques Verges [BBC profile], said that his client would not speak with court officials until court documents and pages of evidence against his client are translated into French.

[JURIST] The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) [group websites] accused the UN Human Rights Council [official website] of "undermin[ing] the freedom of expression in the name of religious sensibilities" in a resolution [text; press release] the two groups adopted Tuesday. Passed at the 2008 World Newspaper Congress [conference website] in Goteberg, Sweden, the statement concerns an amendment to a March 2008 UN Human Rights Council resolution [JURIST report] that required the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression [official website] to report "abuses" of free expression being used to promote religious discrimination. That amendment was proposed by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference [group website]. The media groups alleged that the amendment was a veiled attempt to discourage press criticism on religious issues.

Russian opposition figure Garry Kasparov spoke on press freedom in Russia [WAN recorded video; TOR report] at the Congress Tuesday, saying that Russian press laws under former President Vladimir Putin had sought to suppress freedom of expression by portraying it as a threat to national security. On Monday, current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev encouraged the Russian parliament to reject a bill that would allow officials to close media outlets suspected of spreading libel or slander, a move some see as a continuation of his inaugural promise to respect Russian laws and rights [JURIST reports]. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage on press freedom in Russia.

[JURIST] The Greek Minister of Justice Tuesday quickly condemned as legally "non-existent" the first same-sex marriages performed in the country by the mayor of a small Greek island. Sotiris Hatzigakis [official profile] said in a statement that Tilos Mayor Anastassios Alferis had overstepped his authority. The ceremonies united two gay and lesbian couples despite preliminary warnings from top Greek prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas that such marriages are not permissible under Article 21 [text] of the Greek constitution and that charges would be brought if the mayor allowed the wedding. Alferis has refused to nullify the marriages, which Greek gay rights activists insist are valid because of language in the 1982 Greek civil marriage law [PDF text, in Greek; Greek marriage backgrounder] simply saying that marriages must be between two "persons" without specifying that one party must be a man and the other a woman. Greek gay rights organization OLKE [advocacy website, in Greek] has vowed to defend the marriages. AFP has more.

Earlier this year the Ministry of Justice established a group [JURIST report] to investigate recognizing same-sex marriages after the Greek National Commission for Human Rights [official website, in Greek] proposed legislation to allow same-sex marriage, but no further action has been taken in Greece on the national level. The influential Greek Orthodox Church [official website, in Greek] is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

[JURIST] A Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association (SBCA) committee Tuesday said the proposed constitutional amendment package [JURIST report] is just an attempt by the Pakistan People's Party to delay addressing the reinstatement of ousted judges. The committee called for the immediate implementation of a Supreme Court decision [JURIST report] invalidating Musharraf's November 3, 2007 declaration of emergency law [text] and the subsequent removal of numerous judges. The group also announced that lawyers will hold a series of demonstrations in the lead-up to a scheduled June 10 rally [JURIST report]. From Pakistan, the Daily Times has more.

The proposed constitutional amendment package would reinstate the judges removed by President Musharraf and would also limit executive powers. On Tuesday, PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] leaders said that it will likely take months for parliament to pass the package and some top lawmakers expressed skepticism that the measures would be approved at all. A spokesperson for the PML-N said that the two parties still do not agree on exactly how to restore the judges, and on Tuesday a PMN-L member accused the PPP of stalling on the issue, saying that delays could lead to violence if progress is not made before the country's lawyers' movement [New York Times backgrounder] stages its June 10 rally.

[JURIST] Top Sudanese officials have been intimately involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of atrocities committed against the civilian population of the country's Darfur [JURIST news archive] region, according to a report [PDF text; press release] to be delivered to the UN Security Council [official website] Thursday by International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile]. The report accuses the Government of Sudan (G0S) of planning attacks against citizens in Darfur, including ground assaults by Sudanese forces and Janjaweed [Slate backgrounder] militia:

The mobilization of the state apparatus to plan, commit and cover up crimes against civilians, in particular the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa, is the focus of the Office’s other investigation. GoS forces associated with Militia Janjaweed target civilians in villages and camps. GoS aircraft bomb civilian targets, including markets and schools. Widespread rapes are intended to destroy the foundations of communities. The humanitarian situation is manmade and deteriorating. In and around the camps for displaced persons, insecurity and poverty, meant to destroy the spirit and existence of entire groups, are organized. Impunity reigns.

Crimes being committed today in Darfur cannot be denied, or minimized. Decisions to commit crimes, to deny crimes, to disguise crimes are taken at the highest level. Denial of crimes, by the authorities that vowed to protect Darfurians, is an additional harm to the victims. If the international community is persuaded to look away and fails to recognize the situation for what it is, the execution of a massive criminal plan, it would be a final blow to the victims, left with no hope for the present and no prospect for the future.

[JURIST] A Camp Pendleton [official website] military judge Tuesday dismissed one count of obstruction of justice against US Marine Corps 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson [defense website; JURIST news archive], an intelligence officer charged in connection with the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. The obstruction charge was based on allegations that Grayson ordered a subordinate to delete photographic evidence taken hours after the Haditha killings in order to keep it out of an official report. Military judge Maj. Brian Kasprzyk told jurors at a Tuesday hearing to disregard the obstruction charge, but offered no explanation. Grayson's defense attorney asserted that it was dismissed because prosecutors had not alleged Grayson knew of the criminal investigation at the time he ordered the photos destroyed. Grayson still faces charges [USMC charge sheet] of making fraudulent official statements and fraudulently attempting to procure a discharge. Closing arguments are expected to begin Wednesday. The North County Times has more.

Eight Marines were initially charged in connection with the Haditha incident, though charges have since been dropped against five others. The court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich [defense website], leader of the squad implicated in the killings, was postponed indefinitely [JURIST report] in March, while proceedings in Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani's [JURIST news archive] case were postponed [JURIST report] until later this month so that a judge could consider whether several military officials were under "undue command influence" to charge the Marine.

[JURIST] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive] Tuesday called for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to resign and be tried for treason, labeling Musharraf a traitor disloyal to Pakistan. Now head of the PML-N party in the country's ruling coalition government, Sharif said that Musharraf should be punished for the "damage" that he has done to Pakistan in the eight years since he led a military coup [BBC backgrounder] and unseated Sharif in 1999. Sharif referenced Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule last November [JURIST news archive] and the 2007 Lal Masjid mosque siege [BBC report], but pointed specifically to Musharraf's role in the ongoing Kargil War [Global Security backgrounder] as evidence that Musharraf should stand trial. Sharif, who was prime minister of Pakistan during the 1999 Kashmir conflict with India [HRW backgrounder], has insisted that the offensive was engineered without executive approval by Musharraf, who was then chief of army staff. BBC News has more. NDTV has additional coverage.

The comments follow a television interview [transcript] with a former Pakistan military general, Jamshaid Gulzar Kiyani, in which Kiyani stated that Sharif knew nothing about preparations for the Kargil offensive. He went on to say that Sharif inquired on a number of occasions about the impending situation, but his concerns were dismissed by military commanders. The general echoed Sharif's sentiments and called for Musharraf to be punished in order to "block the emergence of future dictators" in Pakistan. Kiyani connected the uncontrollable rise in suicide bombings with public reaction to Musharraf's policies [JURIST news archive].