[JURIST] Three judges ousted from the Pakistani Supreme Court [official website] by former President Pervez Musharraf [JURIST news archive] took new oaths on Friday. Justices Mian Shakirullah Jan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Syed Jamshed Ali rejoined the court [APP report] with seniority retroactive to their removal [JURIST report] in November. Speaking after the swearing-in ceremony, Law Minister Farooq Naek again ruled out [JURIST report] the reinstatement of former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. Naek said that although Chaudhry could take a new oath, naming him chief justice would require removing Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar [official profile; JURIST news archive], which would create a constitutional crisis [Press Trust of India report]. Also on Friday, the chief justice and two other judges on the Peshawar High Court [official website] were returned to office [Nation report]. AP has more.

The fresh appointments followed clashes between lawyers and police [JURIST report] during a demonstration Thursday in Islamabad. The Pakistani lawyers' movement [AHRC backgrounder; PBS report] has recently renewed its protests to demand the reinstatement of all dismissed judges. Critics describe the recent appointments [JURIST report] of some judges as evidence of a "conspiracy" to undermine support for total reinstatement. The judges' dismissals contributed to Musharraf's resignation and the collapse of the coalition government [JURIST report] last month. Musharraf's successor will be chosen in an election Saturday.

[JURIST] A spokesman for Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk [official profile] announced Friday that the Polish government is investigating [Gazeta Wyborcza report] claims that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] operated a secret prison [JURIST news archive] in Poland. The prison was reportedly part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] program, under which terrorism suspects were seized and flown to secret locations outside the US for interrogation and imprisonment. Prosecutors have reportedly obtained a memo [Deutsche Welle report] written by Polish intelligence officials in either 2005 or 2006 that confirms the prison's existence. Reuters has more.

Poland and Romania have been accused of hosting secret prisons for the extraordinary rendition program. Allegations against the two countries came in a June 2007 report [text; JURIST report] to the Council of Europe [official website] by Swiss Senator Dick Marty [personal website, in Italian; JURIST news archive]. The report concluded that numerous European governments had cooperated with the CIA program. In February 2007, the European Parliament condemned more than a dozen European states [JURIST report] for their roles in the program. Several nations have been accused of obstructing European probes into the secret prison allegations, including Poland [JURIST report], which allegedly housed the largest CIA detention facility in Europe [JURIST report]. President Bush acknowledged the existence of the secret facilities [JURIST report] in September 2006 but provided no details on their location or operation.

[JURIST] The military judge presiding over the military commission [JURIST news archive] trial of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday barred US Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann [official profile] from acting as a legal advisor to the commission in Khadr's trial. In addition to his position as legal advisor to the Department of Defense authority in charge of the commissions, Hartmann is also the supervisor of the Office of Military Commissions-Prosecution (OMC-P). The ruling [text, PDF] by Colonel Patrick Parrish, the judge in Khadr's commission trial, grants a motion by Khadr's defense lawyers to exclude Hartmann from the commission because his "extremely active approach" to his role as supervisor of the OMC-P "raises an issue about his ability to remain neutral and impartial during his post trial duties" as legal advisor to the Convening Authority. Parrish's ruling also denied a motion brought by Khadr's defense lawyers to dismiss the charges in the case. The Miami Herald has more. The Canadian Press has additional coverage.

Hartmann has previously been accused of bias towards prosecutors. At a Wednesday hearing, US Army Gen. Gregory Zanetti [official profile], deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay, testified [JURIST report] that Hartmann routinely bullied his counterparts and was inappropriately aggressive in seeking indictments against detainees. In May, lawyers for detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] unsuccessfully moved to have charges against their client dropped because of similar allegations [JURIST report] against Hartmann. Earlier that month, Hartman was disqualified [JURIST report] from participating in the military commission trial of detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive], but he has refused to resign [JURIST report] from his post.

[JURIST] The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice [official website] on Thursday ruled [press release, in Spanish] that Wal-Mart de Mexico [corporate website; JURIST news archive] may not pay employees in part with vouchers redeemable only at its stores. The court nullified the employment contract of a worker who challenged the voucher payments, finding that they violated Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution [PDF text], which guarantees the right to "dignified and socially useful work." The court likened the arrangement, which Wal-Mart called the Plan of Social Welfare, to a practice that prevailed during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz [profile], who ruled Mexico [JURIST news archive] in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Until the practice was abolished by the current constitution in 1917, workers could be forced to buy exorbitantly priced goods at company stores. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage. From Mexico City, El Universal has local coverage.

Among other legal setbacks for Wal-Mart [JURIST news archive], four labor groups filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the Federal Election Commission last month, alleging that the retailer forced employees to attend meetings where political campaigns were discussed. Last year, a Philadelphia judge ordered Wal-Mart [JURIST report] to pay nearly $47 million in legal fees and costs resulting from a class action brought by employees who had been denied pay for work they did during breaks. A jury awarded the same plaintiffs $78 million for their off-the-clock labor, plus $62 million in damages [JURIST reports] under a Pennsylvania law that prohibits employers from withholding pay for more than 30 days. Also last year, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the certification [JURIST report] of a class alleging that Wal-Mart had discriminated against female employees.

[JURIST] The India Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) [official website] announced Thursday that it will review the country's controversial anti-dowry [BBC backgrounder] act because increasing numbers of Indian women have issued complaints about misuse. WCD Joint Secretary Kiran Chadha said [Times of India report]:

We will be meeting a panel of lawyers and legal experts to review the law. We have been receiving so many complaints against the two laws — section 498A (harassment for dowry) and the domestic violence act.

Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.

[JURIST] The hearings for two US soldiers charged in connection with the death of an Iraqi detainee have been scheduled for September 11 and 20, representatives of the US military said [AFP report] on Thursday. Staff Sgt. Hal M. Warner was charged [press release; JURIST report] in August with premeditated murder, assault, accessory after the fact, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice in connection with the death of Ali Mansur Mohamed, a detainee originally thought to have been released from Coalition custody sometime around May 16. Warner was originally scheduled to appear for an Article 32 preliminary hearing [JAG backgrounder] on August 15, but the hearing was postponed [press release; JURIST report] until September 5. 1st Lt. Michael C. Behenna, is also charged with premeditated murder, assault, making a false official statement and obstruction of justice in connection with Mohamed's death.

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 a Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-Iraq) [official website] 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] San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom [official website] has postponed implementation of a program [city backgrounder] to issue identification cards [JURIST news archive] giving city residents access to government services without regard to immigration status. A mayoral spokesman said Thursday that the delay is necessary to ensure that the program does not violate state or federal law. An ordinance [text] approved [San Francisco Chronicle report] by the city's Board of Supervisors [official website] in November authorized the city clerk to issue the cards, which could be presented to any city department or city-funded agency as as proof of identification and residency. The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) [advocacy website] has filed a lawsuit [case materials] on behalf of several city residents challenging the program as violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) [text]. In a petition [PDF text] seeking injunctive relief, IRLI alleged that the program would have "growth-inducing impacts" by encouraging illegal aliens to live in the city. IRLI claimed the program must undergo an environmental impact study, as required by CEQA, before taking effect. The city was to begin issuing the cards as soon as next month. AP has more. The San Francisco Chronicle has local coverage.

The San Francisco program was modeled after a similar initiative in New Haven, Connecticut, which last year became the first US city to issue IDs to illegal immigrants [JURIST reports]. Another San Francisco ordinance, intended to maintain the city's status [JURIST report] as a haven for immigration [JURIST news archive], has also been controversial. In July, an advocacy group urged [JURIST report] the US attorney for Northern California to investigate a homicide involving an illegal immigrant who had avoided deportation under the ordinance, which prohibits city employees from reporting illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

[JURIST] Spain has created a panel of legal and health experts to consider liberalizing the country's current abortion laws, Equality Minister Bibiana Aido [personal blog, in Spanish; TypicallySpanish backgrounder] told reporters [government release, in Spanish] on Thursday. Abortion was legalized in the country in 1985, but only in cases of rape, developmental defect of the fetus, or certification that the pregnancy posed a psychological or physical heath risk to the mother. Aido did not provide specific details on the changes sought, but said they were necessary because of discrepancies in regional governments' applications of the existing law. The panel's recommendations will be incorporated into a bill expected to be brought before the country's parliament [Cortes Generales website] in the first half of 2009. AP has more. AFP has additional coverage.

The loosening of abortion restrictions is one of the social policy changes that has been pushed by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero [official profile, in Spanish], in addition to the successful legalization of same-sex marriage [JURIST report]. In March 2007, neighboring Portugal's National Assembly [official website, in Portuguese], passed a proposal to liberalize abortion legislation after a general referendum on abortion failed [JURIST reports] due to low turnout. That law took effect [JURIST report] in July 2007.

[JURIST] Former US lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive] was sentenced [DOJ press release] Thursday to four years in prison for tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy. Judge Ellen S. Huvelle [official profile] of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] imposed less than the maximum sentence of 12.5 years but more than the three years and three months recommended by prosecutors [JURIST report] from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website]. Calling the case "very challenging," Huvelle said she took into account Abramoff's "consistent course of corrupt conduct" as well as his subsequent cooperation with prosecutors. In a sentencing memorandum [text, PDF], the DOJ had asked for a final sentence of 64 months, with credit for time served.

[Such a sentence would be] appropriate given Abramoff’s extraordinary cooperation to date, cooperation which can be wholly or partially credited for the convictions of a Member of Congress, five high-level legislative branch officials, one high-level executive branch official, and two other mid to low-level public officials as well as on-going matters. Sixty-four months also is sufficiently severe to reflect the seriousness of Abramoff’s conduct, appropriately punishing him for crimes that are egregious.