[JURIST] Serbian President Boris Tadic announced Monday evening that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] had been captured earlier Monday by Serbian security forces. Karadzic is accused of war crimes stemming from his alleged involvement in the genocide of Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. He is suspected of participation in the 1995 Srebrenica [JURIST news archive] massacre. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official site] indicted him [ICTY indictment], but he has evaded arrest since 1995. Karadzic's arrest has been a major goal of the ICTY [press release], and follows the June arrest [JURIST report] of former Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin [Trial Watch profile]. AFP has more. B92 has local coverage.

ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz [ICC profile; JURIST report] has long criticized Serbia for its seeming reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY, exemplified by its failure to find and capture [JURIST report] the remaining war crimes suspects. Brammertz took over the prosecution's leadership in January, saying that he would continue his predecessor's tough stance on Serbian cooperation [JURIST report] with the tribunal. The EU has made Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY a key element of its membership negotiations [EU accession materials]. Brammertz has vowed to try all war crimes suspects [JURIST report] before the expiration of the ICTY's mandate in 2010.

[JURIST] The French parliament voted to amend the French Constitution [text] on Monday, passing the amendment package by the necessary three-fifths vote of legislators from both the French National Assembly and Senate [official websites, in French]. The amendments [draft bill, PDF, in French] would allow the French president to address the parliament, sets a two-term limit for the presidency, provides for a parliamentary veto of certain presidential appointments, allows parliament to set its own agenda, and ends the president's right of collective pardon. French president Nicolas Sarkozy [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is in Ireland seeking a solution to the failed EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive] referendum, but voiced his approval of the parliament's vote. AFP has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

The constitutional amendment package was approved in the Senate last week [JURIST report] by a vote of 162-125. The amendments are aimed at strengthening the powers of the National Assembly and Senate by giving them more oversight authority. The reforms will restrain the executive branch through the use of term limits and other provisions. The amendment package is generally favored by parties with more conservative and centrist platforms, but liberals have called the package a "sham" [Le Monde report, in French]. They have said that it will be ineffective at instituting desirable changes and that it will serve to bolster Sarkozy's powers.

[JURIST] The Mexican government enacted a law [text, in Spanish] Monday prohibiting the government from sending illegal immigrants to prison. In May, Mexican rights activists pressed [JURIST report] Mexican President Felipe Calderón [official profile, in Spanish] to sign the bill, which is designed to amend the General Law of Population [text, PDF] and lighten penalties for illegal immigrants found in the country, after the measure passed the lower house of the Mexican Congress. Previously, illegal immigrants could be sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to six years, but under the new legislation violators can be fined between $500 and $2,400 US. AP has more. El Universal has local coverage, in Spanish.

Proponents of the legislation see it as providing important protection for immigrants [JURIST news archive], many of whom pass through Mexico on their way from Central America to the US, and who are currently subject to harsh treatment and abuse by both criminal elements and law enforcement. Rights activists also hope the legislation will send a positive message to the US Congress about how Mexico treats immigrants within its own borders. Mexican officials are urging better treatment for Mexicans caught entering the US illegally, and Calderon has stressed this point [JURIST report] since the beginning of his administration.

[JURIST] Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg [official profile] released a report on Monday emphasizing the need for European governments to critically examine their human rights records and patterns of discrimination. The report, entitled "Human Rights in Europe: no grounds for complacency" [PDF, text; press release] highlights a number of rights issues which have been heavily covered by the media in recent months, including anti-Semitism, racism, and torture. Hammarberg also focused on persecution of the Roma ethnic minority, and late on Monday Italian Interior Minister Roberto Moroni announced that children in Roma camps will be granted "humanitarian" citizenship [ANSA report]. In his forward, Hammerberg wrote:

Some governments in western Europe have tended to see human rights as a foreign policy issue. This has often placed the mandate under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs – implying problems in this field could only be found in other countries. They have ratified international treaties as an act of good will, rather than recognising that these norms are relevant and useful in their own country, too. They have reacted with surprise when criticised European and international human rights mechanisms and sometimes in response even attempted to undermine these very mechanisms.

[JURIST] The Malaysian government will table a bill at the August parliamentary session that would require criminal suspects to submit to DNA testing, according to a Monday report in the newspaper Nanyang Siang Pau [media website, in Malay]. If passed, the new law could compel Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to undergo DNA testing as part of an investigation into sodomy allegations [JURIST report] made against him by a former aide. The government has stated that the push to pass the bill is motivated by a desire to improve police crime-solving abilities, and is not an attack on Anwar, who last week said he has no confidence [JURIST report] in the Malaysian criminal system and doubts the credibility of DNA evidence. He added, "My accuser is still under police protection, and as such, any fabrication is possible if they take my DNA." The Straits Times has more. The Sun has local coverage.

Last week, Anwar was released on bail, one day after being arrested [JURIST report] by Malaysian authorities. Anwar has claimed that the sodomy allegations leveled against him are politically motivated. Under Malaysian law, sodomy is punishable by 20 years in prison regardless of consent. Anwar was Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister under former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad [BBC profile] until he was fired in 1998 following earlier sodomy charges of which he was initially convicted but later acquitted. He only recently reentered Malaysian politics following the expiration of a ten-year ban [JURIST report] against him for unrelated corruption charges. Earlier this month the Federal Court of Malaysia ruled he could challenge the constitutionality [JURIST report] of his original dismissal from office.

[JURIST] A divorced Lebanese woman told the UK Law Lords [Parliament backgrounder] Monday that her human rights would be violated [Liberty press release] if she were deported to Lebanon, arguing that Lebanese Sharia law [CFR backgrounder] would put her and her son back under the control of her abusive ex-husband. Under Sharia law, a divorced mother loses custody of her children when they turn seven, at which point custody must be given to the father. The case could decide the extent to which the UK will grant asylum claims to people fleeing the implementation of Sharia law. The woman sought asylum in 2004 using fraudulent papers and her claim was rejected in 2005. AP has more.

In February, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website] rejected a suggestion by the nation's highest Christian cleric that UK Muslims be given an option to resolve some civil disputes under Sharia law rather than UK law. Speaking [interview transcript] to the BBC, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams [official profile] appeared to agree that limited application of Sharia law might help to ease social tension between Muslims and other UK residents, but a Brown spokesperson said that the same laws must apply to every citizen.

[JURIST] Two men involved in an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic planes [JURIST report] leaving a London airport pleaded guilty to lesser conspiracy charges Monday in London's Woolwich Crown Court [official website]. Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman [Global Security backgrounders] pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create a public nuisance, but denied that they planned to kill anyone by blowing up aircraft. Last week, three other men allegedly involved in the plot, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, and Tanvir Hussain [GlobalSecurity profiles], admitted that they planned to set off bombs but insisted that their only intention was to create a media stir to promote an anti-western film they planned to make. They and two other men, Ibrahim Savant and Umar Islam [GlobalSecurity profiles], also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to create a public nuisance by releasing videos about planned suicide attacks. The plot's discovery led to a widespread increase in airport security measures, including a ban on bringing liquids or gels onto planes. AP has more.

A total of 24 men were arrested during UK raids in August 2006, and police charged 11 suspects [JURIST report] under the Terrorism Act 2006 and Terrorism Act 2000 [texts]: eight with conspiracy to commit murder and with preparing acts of terrorism, one with possession of articles useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, and two with failing to disclose information of material assistance in preventing an act of terrorism. One detainee was released, police had previously released another without charge [JURIST report] and arrested an additional suspect [JURIST report]. Nineteen of the named suspects [list] had their assets frozen by the Bank of England [corporate website].

[JURIST] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official website; JURIST news archive] said on Monday that Congress should pass legislation [C-SPAN video, Flash; transcript] guiding US civilian courts on how to conduct Guantanamo detainees' habeas corpus proceedings because the judiciary should not make such determinations. Mukasey reiterated the Bush administration's disappointment [JURIST report] with the Supreme Court's June decision [text, PDF; JURIST report] that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees, but said that the government's job now is to form policy in line with the Court's decision that will guide how courts handle the cases:

Congress and the Executive Branch are affirmatively charged by our Constitution with protecting national security, are expert in such matters, and are in the best position to weigh the difficult policy choices that are posed by these issues. Judges play an important role in deciding whether a chosen policy is consistent with our laws and the Constitution, but it is our elected leaders who have the responsibility for making policy choices in the first instance. So today, I am urging Congress to act – to resolve the difficult questions left open by the Supreme Court. I am urging Congress to pass legislation to ensure that the proceedings mandated by the Supreme Court are conducted in a responsible and prompt way and, as the Court itself urged, in a practical way.

[JURIST] Singapore's Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan [official profile] announced [press release] on Monday that the country is considering allowing donors to sell their kidneys to those seeking transplants. Boon Wan made the announcement before the country's parliament and said that the highly controversial plan was needed because of the high demand for kidney transplants. Boon Wan also said the government is considering raising the maximum age for deceased donors from whom it will accept kidneys, an approach more accepted by critics of the so-called "kidney trading" plan, who have also suggested that the country encourage more extended family members of potential transplantees to volunteer their organs if compatible. AP has more. The Straits Times has local coverage.

Kidney and all other organ transplants in Singapore are governed by the Human Organ Transplant Act [text; government FAQ], which allows doctors to take certain organs from recently deceased residents between the ages of 21 and 60 unless they have explicitly opted out of the program.  It currently prohibits "monetary inducements" for the living donation of organs and earlier this month two Indonesian men who had tried to sell their kidneys were jailed and fined [AFP report].

[JURIST] Egyptian police arrested 39 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood (MB) [party website; FAS backgrounder] on Monday, including three local party leaders in the city of Kafr El Sheikh, according to an MB statement [press release]. The group has accused the government of illegally blocking attempts by MB candidates to run in local elections. Muslim Brotherhood members officially run as independents in elections as the organization has been banned in Egypt [JURIST news archive] since 1954. The Egyptian government has accused the group of trying to create an Islamic theocracy through violence. AP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

In April, five Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested [JURIST report] as they tried to hang campaign posters, joining the over 800 party members already in custody at that time, including 148 council election candidates. Prosecutors also announced that an additional 147 members were under investigation [JURIST report] for causing riots during unauthorized protests against the government. Human Rights Watch criticized the Egyptian government [HRW statement; JURIST report] for the arrests, calling them a "shameless attempt to fix the upcoming elections."

[JURIST] Myanmar signed on [ceremony speech] to a new Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website] charter Monday, despite other ASEAN members' criticism [statement text] of the country's human rights record and continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The charter [PDF text] was designed to create stronger economic and security ties within the region, and Article 14 establishes a body to monitor human rights in member countries. Myanmar's inclusion in the in charter has long been controversial because of its human rights record, and critics have said that even the rights panel will not have authority [JURIST reports] to issue sanctions against member states found to have violated human rights. During ASEAN's 41st Ministerial Meeting [official website] on Sunday, the members criticized Myanmar for holding Suu Kyi and other political prisoners:

The Foreign Ministers expressed their deep disappointment that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's detention under house arrest had been extended by the Myanmar Government. They repeated the call by ASEAN Leaders for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees, as part of Myanmar's national reconciliation process. The Foreign Ministers reiterated their view that the Myanmar Government should engage in a meaningful dialogue with all political groups, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future.

[JURIST] The head of the League of Arab States [official website, in Arabic] on Sunday presented a plan [press release, in Arabic] to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] recommending how he should react to an application for an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The effort to arrest the president is based on allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The 22-country group held an emergency meeting [JURIST report] on Saturday to discuss the pending charges and criticized ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] for seeking the arrest warrant. On Sunday, League Secretary-General Amr Moussa [offical profile] said that the group's reaction would be carefully considered rather than emotional and stressed:

To us, cooperation must begin by standing on a solid position of law and political and human rights. There must be trials and justice and the prosecution of the instigators of the situation in Darfur and elsewhere.