[JURIST] Approximately 870 inmates escaped from the main prison in Kandahar City in southern Afghanistan Friday when members of the Taliban [JURIST news archive] conducted a bomb and rocket attack. Prison officials said that nine police were killed. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) [official website] estimates that the number of escaped prisoners is closer to 1,100. A Taliban spokesperson said the attack had been planned for two months. Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai [official profile], a deputy minister in Afghanistan's Justice Ministry [official website] said that the Sarposa prison did not meet international standards and that there had been plans to renovate it. AP has more.

Sarposa was the site of a hunger strike [JURIST report] last month by an estimated 200-300 detainees protesting the slow nature of the Afghanistan judicial system. The strike ended after a visit by Afghan lawmakers who said the detainees' cases would be reviewed by new judges. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] said previously that the prisoners were demanding speedy trials and the advice of counsel at court hearings. It is unclear how many Kandahar detainees, if any, have been tried before a court of law; rights groups complain that many rulings against detainees have been made on the basis of allegations by US authorities. Canadian military personnel have been working with Afghan officials to try to improve conditions and procedures [CTV report] at the facility.

[JURIST] Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende [official profile] said Friday that he would press on with ratification of the the EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive] formally known as the Treaty of Lisbon [official website; PDF text] even after Irish voters rejected it [JURIST report] in a referendum Thursday. The Irish vote casts a shadow over the future of the pact as it must be approved by all 27 EU states in order to take effect. The Dutch parliament's lower house approved [European Voice report] the treaty by a vote of 111-39 earlier this month, and the upper house is expected to do the same in July. Balkenende called the Irish "no" vote "disappointing" but declined to say more until he hears from the Irish government at the next EU summit. Balkenende previously insisted [press release, backgrounder] the treaty "does justice to the views held by a large proportion of the population about Europe". EU Business has more.

France and Germany meanwhile echoed a general call [press release, PDF] by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso [official profile] for the remaining countries who have not ratified the treaty to continue with the process notwithstanding the Irish vote. European Union leaders signed the reform treaty [JURIST report] last December, and eighteen countries have so far ratified the document [JURIST archive]. In 2005, a draft European constitution [JURIST news archive] failed when voters in France and the Netherlands [JURIST reports] rejected the proposal in national referenda. EU leaders are expected to meet in Brussels next week to discuss how to move ahead in light of the Irish vote.

[JURIST] A US military commission pre-trial hearing for Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] will go ahead Wednesday as planned notwithstanding Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on detainee habeas rights [JURIST report], military judge Col. Patrick Parrish ruled Friday. Khadr defense attorney Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler had requested additional time to study the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision on Khadr’s status. Parrish's ruling is not publicly available. In the consolidated cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al-Odah v. United States [Duke Law backgrounder] the court ruled that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees who have been classified as "enemy combatants." The ruling has already case doubt on the future of the military commission process, although Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday that military commission trials of detainees would continue, emphasizing that the ruling addressed procedural issues in the Guantanamo legal process rather than the detentions themselves.

Khadr, 21, faces life imprisonment for crimes 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. AP has more.