[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official website] heard oral arguments Monday on whether 17 Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay [Kiyemba v. Bush backgrounder and materials] can be released into the US. In early October, a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ordered the release of the detainees [opinion and order, PDF; JURIST report], writing that the Constitution prohibits detention without cause and that the individual right to freedom outweighs the other governmental branches' right to deny entry to aliens. Judges for the DC circuit court stayed the order [order, PDF; JURIST report] later that month pending appeal. The government argued [appeal brief, PDF] Monday that the exclusion of aliens from the country is not a judicial government function and that the detainees have no statutory or constitutional right to enter the US, while lawyers for the detainees argued [response brief, PDF] that the executive branch cannot exclude the detainees and that US immigration law does not prevent release. SCOTUSblog has more.

The US government has determined that the Uighurs are not unlawful enemy combatants [10 U.S.C. § 948a text; JURIST news archive], but it has linked them with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) [CFR backgrounder], a militant group that calls for separation from China and has been a US-designated terrorist group since 2002. China has renewed its demand [JURIST report] for the Uighurs to be repatriated, and in October, Chinese authorities called on other nations [Guardian report] to arrest and extradite eight alleged ETIM members whom they suspected of plotting to attack the Olympic Games this past summer in Beijing.

[JURIST] A Stuttgart court on Monday granted parole for Christian Klar, a leader of the militant Red Army Faction (RAF) [advocacy website], after Klar served 26 years in prison on nine counts of murder and 11 counts of attempted murder. The court found no grounds [BBC report] on which continue to detain him, and Klar will be released in January. The RAF, commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang [BBC backgrounder], was a leftist group that targeted political and financial institutions and personnel, killing 34 people between 1968 and 1998. Among Klar's victims were a federal prosecutor and the head of the Dresdner Bank [corporate website]. Klar, whom the court no longer considers dangerous, will remain on parole for five years. Der Spiegel has local coverage.

In 2007, Klar called for the defeat of capitalism [Der Spiegel report] one month before appealing for clemency. The statement created intense political pressure that ultimately forced [Der Spiegel report] German President Horst Kohler [official website] to deny him clemency [JURIST report]. Other prominent RAF members, including Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Eve Haule [JURIST reports], have also been paroled in recent years.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Monday upheld [opinion, PDF] the convictions of three men found guilty of involvement in the 1998 bombing of two US embassies [State Department backgrounder] in Tanzania and Kenya. The court held that Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, and Wadih El Hage [GlobalSecurity profiles] had received fair trials, and that none of the US government's actions against the men constituted violations of their constitutional rights. In a separate opinion [PDF text] addressing what the judges said was a novel question, the court rejected El Hage's claim that evidence against him obtained through warrantless overseas searches should be excluded, holding that such searches need only be reasonable to satisfy Fourth Amendment [LII backgrounder] requirements:

First, there is nothing in our history or our precedents suggesting that U.S. officials must first obtain a warrant before conducting an overseas search...

Second, nothing in the history of the foreign relations of the United States would require that U.S. officials obtain warrants from foreign magistrates before conducting searches overseas or, indeed, to suppose that all other states have search and investigation rules akin to our own...

Third, if U.S. judicial officers were to issue search warrants intended to have extraterritorial effect, such warrants would have dubious legal significance, if any, in a foreign nation...

Fourth and finally, it is by no means clear that U.S. judicial officers could be authorized to issue warrants for overseas searches, although we need not resolve that issue here.

For these reasons, we hold that the Fourth Amendment’s Warrant Clause has no extraterritorial application and that foreign searches of U.S. citizens conducted by U.S. agents are subject only to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of reasonableness. [citations omitted]

[JURIST] A lawyer for the Dutch government [official website] on Monday claimed the statute of limitations bars one survivor and nine widows of victims of a 1947 massacre in Indonesia [NRC Handelsblad backgrounder] from seeking compensation. Dutch soldiers allegedly executed more than 400 people in the village of Rawagedeh during the Indonesian War of Independence [GlobalSecurity backgrounder]. In a letter to the lawyer for the survivor and relatives, Liesbeth Zegveld [professional profile], the government lawyer said [AP report] the government was willing to meet with the group but that any claim would be barred. NRC Handelsblad has local coverage.

The village has claimed that soldiers shot 431 people as they ran away or hid in a river during the massacre, though a 1969 Dutch investigation found 150 people were killed. The government has expressed regret [RNW report] over the incident but stopped short of apologizing. Last month a Dutch parliamentary delegation visited the village [NRC Handelsblad report] to talk to survivors of the massacre.

[JURIST] Many convicted felons, including several well-known figures, are seeking clemency from US President George W. Bush before he leaves office, according to a Washington Post report Monday. Among those said to have applied are financier Michael Milken [Forbes profile; personal website], former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham [JURIST report] and former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards [official profile]. Presidential pardons are granted under Article II section 2 [text] of the US Constitution which gives the president the "power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." The US Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney [official website] accepts clemency applications for Presidential review and determines if the applicants meet the necessary requirements [Executive Clemency Rules, text].

Bush has so far granted [DOJ statistics, JURIST report] 157 applications for clemency during his term in office. In an controversial move [JURIST backgrounder], former President Bill Clinton granted pardons [materials] or sentence commutations to his brother Roger Clinton, Whitewater partner Susan McDougal, business partners Marc Rich and Pincus Green, former Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch and 135 others [AP report] just before leaving office in January 2001.

[JURIST] An Iraqi court on Sunday began a new trial for 16 former Saddam Hussein-era officials, including Hussein cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] - better known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali" - and former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The accused are charged in connection with the killings of protesters who rioted [HRW backgrounder] in Baghdad and Amarah following the alleged assassination of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr - father of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr [CFR profile] - by Hussein agents. If convicted, the men could face the death penalty. AP has more.

In June, al-Majid denied his involvement [JURIST report] in the killings of Shiite civilians during the time of Saddam Hussein's regime. Al-Majid has already been sentenced to death for his role in the 1988 Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder; JURIST news archive] against the Kurds. The death penalties in that case have yet to be carried out. Al-Majid has also been accused of the killings of Shiites during a post-1991 Gulf War riot [JURIST report]. Earlier this year, Aziz was put on trial [JURIST report] for his involvement in the 1992 murders of several merchants accused of price gouging during a period on UN sanctions. No verdict has yet been rendered in that case.

[JURIST] Bolivian President Evo Morales [official website, in Spanish; JURIST news archive] on Sunday lifted martial law over the the country's northern province of Pando [government website, in Spanish], more than two months after the sanction was imposed following violent regional protests against the country's proposed new constitution [PDF text; JURIST report]. Under the proposed charter, more of Bolivia's land and energy resource income would go to the country's indigenous population, but Pando is one of nine provinces that has objected to the changes, instead voting for increased regional autonomy [JURIST reports] from the central government. Earlier this month, the Bolivian National Electoral Court [official website] warned that Bolivian law requires that there be no restrictions on civil liberties during campaigning for a national vote, and set Sunday as the last day [ABI report] to lift martial law in the region in order for a national referendum on the proposed constitution to be held as scheduled on January 25.

In September, the governor of Pando was arrested on genocide charges [JURIST report] for the deaths of Morales supporters that resulted from the protests in the region. Local reports indicate there is still a strong military presence [Los Tiempos report, in Spanish] in the province.

[JURIST] A Malaysian labor activist jailed for alleging police brutality against illegal immigrants in detention was acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court [Malaysia courts website, partially in Malay] on Monday. Irene Fernandez [Amnesty International profile], the director and cofounder of migrant workers' rights group Tenaganita [advocacy website], was arrested in 1996. In 2003 she was convicted on a charge of violating Section 8A (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act [text, PDF] and sentenced to a year in prison as a result of her 1995 report exposing the living conditions of migrant workers in Malaysian detention centers, alleging sexual abuse and denial of adequate medical care. Judge Datuk Mohamad Apandi Ali set aside the conviction and sentence of the magistrate court because prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman refused to oppose the appeal on the grounds that he had discovered "systematic errors in the records" [Malaysia Star report] which would make opposing the appeal contrary to justice. AP has more.

Fernandez received the 2005 Right Livelihood Award [advocacy website] for her work for the rights of Malaysia's poorest groups, even through her trial and appeal. Malaysia has been engaged in an ongoing effort to limit illegal immigration [JURIST report] and its dependency on foreign workers. It was named as one of the worst refugee rights violators in a 2008 report [materials, JURIST report] by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (UCSRI) [advocacy website].

[JURIST] US military officials will be unable to detain people without charge under the proposed new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [CFR materials; McClatchy translation] with the Iraqi government, and military officials are now investigating the cases of about 5,000 detainees they consider dangerous in anticipation of the change, according to an AP report [text] Sunday. The new SOFA will also prevent private security contractors operating in Iraq [CRS backgrounder, PDF] from claiming immunity from Iraqi laws and will give Iraqi courts limited jurisdiction over American military personnel [JURIST reports] for crimes committed off-base when the troops are not on an authorized mission. US military forces have been able to hold people without charge since the beginning of the conflict in 2003, but under the SOFA and Iraqi law, detentions will have to be based on evidence starting on January 1.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi cabinet voted [JURIST report] in an emergency session to approve a final draft of the SOFA between the US and Iraq. The SOFA, which determines the relationship between Iraqi, American and Multi-National Force Iraq (MNF-I) [official website] forces in the country, requires US and MNF-I forces to exit Iraqi cities by June 30 [UPI report], and calls for the removal of all combat troops by 2011 unless the Iraqi government requests otherwise. This extends the deadline for US troops to remain in Iraq for three years, as the UN mandate expires in December [UN press release]. The Iraqi parliament began SOFA hearings [UPI report] last week, with a final vote expected Wednesday. If approved by parliament, the SOFA is expected to take effect in January 2009.

[JURIST] The legislature in the Papua [official website, in Indonesian] province of Indonesia [JURIST news archive] is considering a measure mandating that certain individuals infected with HIV or AIDS be implanted [Reuters report] with microchips so the government can monitor their movements. The bill, which has yet to be passed, will attempt to monitor the activities of individuals who are infected with HIV/AIDS whom the government has deemed "sexually aggressive" or more likely to spread the virus. Local officials acknowledge that the policy is extreme but are concerned with the rapid spread of HIV throughout the Papua region. AIDS activists have sharply criticized the policy, which they see as demeaning to people who are living with HIV/AIDS. AP has more. The Jakarta Post has local coverage.

The bill comes forward as other countries have been examining or changing strict policies concerning HIV/AIDS. Indian officials are investigating the legality [JURIST report] of a ban that prohibits individuals who are HIV positive from serving in the military. China has recently relaxed [JURIST report] a ban against entering the country for any person who is HIV-positive.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said Monday in a statement [press release] in anticipation of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women [advocacy website] that migrant and domestic workers still face abusive and exploitative treatment throughout Asia and the Middle East. The rights group observed that workers in several countries throughout the region, including millions of women, lack access to judicial systems, and often lack appropriate redress even when granted access. HRW added that the control that employers have over workers' visas increases the risk of abuse. Deputy director of the women's rights division of HRW Nisha Varia said:

There are countless cases of employers threatening, humiliating, beating, raping, and sometimes killing domestic workers. Governments need to punish abusive employers through the justice system, and prevent violence by reforming labor and immigration policies that leave these workers at their employers' mercy.