JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, August 3, 2008

[JURIST] The US-led Multi-National Force-Iraq [official website] announced Saturday that it has charged [press release] two US soldiers with premeditated murder, assault, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice in connection with the death of an Iraqi detainee. Staff Sgt. Hal M. Warner and First Lt. Michael C. Behenna, members of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry stationed at Forward Operating Base Summerall approximately 130 miles north of Baghdad, are charged in the death of Ali Mansur Mohamed, a detainee originally thought to have been released from Coalition custody sometime around May 16. Warner, who also faces an additional charge of accessory after the fact, is scheduled to appear for an Article 32 preliminary hearing [JAG backgrounder] August 15. A hearing date for Behenna had not yet been set. The New York Times has more.

In March, US Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer was charged [press release] with one count of murder and one count of dereliction of duty for his involvement in the shooting death of a detained Iraqi insurgent during MNF-Iraq's November 2004 offensive [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] in Fallujah [USMC timeline; JURIST news archive]. The charges against Weemer followed December 2007 charges against Marine Sgt. Jermaine A. Nelson for murder and dereliction of duty, and August charges [JURIST reports] against former Marine Sgt. Jose Nazario for voluntary manslaughter in connection with the same incident. In March 2007, a US military court-martial found 101st Airborne Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard guilty of three counts of negligent homicide [Article 32 hearing transcript, DOC], but not guilty of premeditated murder for the deaths of three Iraqi detainees [JURIST news archive] held after a May 2006 raid in Thar Thar, a town near Samarra in the northern Salahuddin province of Iraq. In January 2007 US Army Specialist William Hunsaker received an 18-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to murder, attempted murder and obstruction of justice charges [JURIST report] relating to the same incident.

[JURIST] Provisional vote results for a Latvian referendum [fact sheet, PDF] held Saturday on a proposed amendment [text] to the country's constitution [text, PDF] that would have given voters the power to dissolve the country's parliament, the Saeima [official websites], indicated Sunday that the referendum failed because of low voter turnout. The amendment specifically provides:

Electors, in number comprising not less than one-tenth of the electorate, have the right to submit a fully elaborated draft of an amendment to the Constitution or of a law, or a draft decision about dissolution of the Saeima to the President, who shall submit it to the Saeima. If the Saeima does not adopt it without change as to its content, it shall then be put to a national referendum.

According to the Latvian Law on National Referendums and Legislative Initiatives [text], the referendum would have needed the support of half the voting population. Provisional poll results showed that most of the electorate supported the movement, but that less than half participated in the vote. Official poll results are expected to be released later this month. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.

Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Latvia joined NATO in April 2004, and a month later the country officially entered the European Union (EU) [JURIST reports]. The Latvian parliament has since adopted [JURIST report] the new EU reform treaty [JURIST news archive], properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon [text, PDF; official website], but some voters remain discontented with the government and say that Latvian MPs do not act in accordance with voters' wishes. Approval of the dissolution referendum would have marked the first time voters in an EU state would have had the power to dissolve their parliament directly.

[JURIST] A judge in an Egyptian court Saturday convicted a prominent human rights activist and outspoken critic of President Hosni Mubarak in absentia of defaming Egypt and sentenced him to two years in prison. Saad Eddin Ibrahim [profile], a dual US and Egyptian citizen who is a professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo and who founded the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Development Studies [academic websites] in Egypt, had been accused of defaming Egypt by criticizing its human rights practices and politics. Following the accusations, he decided to leave Egypt in 2007, writing [text] in the Washington Post:

Sadly, this regime has strayed so far from the rule of law that, for my own safety, I have been warned not to return to Egypt. Regime insiders and those in Cairo's diplomatic circles have said that I will be arrested or worse. My family is worried, knowing that Egypt's jails contain some 80,000 political prisoners and that disappearances are routinely ignored or chalked up to accidents. My fear is that these abuses will spread if Egypt's allies and friends continue to stand by silently while this regime suppresses the country's democratic reformers.

Ibrahim reportedly agreed to return to Egypt if he received assurances that he would not be immediately arrested. The judge Saturday said that Ibrahim could pay 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,890 USD) for bail, and that he would have the opportunity to appeal. Reuters has more. AFP has additional coverage.

In recent months, public critics of Egyptian government policies have been the target of multiple lawsuits for publicly discussing sensitive issues. In April, the former editor of weekly newspaper al-Dustour [media website, in Arabic] was sentenced to six months in prison [JURIST report] after being convicted on charges of spreading "rumors" about the health of President Mubarak in an August newspaper report. Last year, two journalists were convicted in absentia of libel [JURIST report] for writing a story about an illegal land transaction from the Ministry of Religious Endowments at a secret auction. 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.