[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] on Tuesday announced [press release] that three Algerian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees have been transferred to their adopted homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The transfer follows a November ruling [order, PDF; JURIST report] by Judge Richard Leon [official profile] of the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] that five Algerian detainees must be released immediately. The three men, Mustafa Ait Idir, Mohamed Nechla, and Hadj Boudella were transferred to Bosnia Tuesday night, while two others remain in custody. The three transferred detainees are expected to be released [AP report] to their families.

One of the remaining two detainees is Lakhdar Boumediene, the man at the center of the US Supreme Court's landmark decision in Boumediene v. Bush [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], in which the Court ruled that federal courts have jurisdiction to review habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantanamo detainees who have been classified as "enemy combatants." Leon ruled in November that five of six detainees should be released because the government's evidence was insufficient to persuade him that the men were planning to travel to Afghanistan to join al Qaeda and were not properly classified as "enemy combatants." Leon ordered that a sixth detainee, Belkacem ben Sayah, remain in custody because the government's evidence against him was sufficient to label him an enemy combatant. In October, Leon ruled [order, PDF; JURIST report] that in order to be validly held as "enemy combatants," Guantanamo Bay detainees must have directly supported hostilities against the US or its allies, setting the standard that the government must use to justify their detention.

[JURIST] Bangladeshi President and head of the military backed interim government Iajuddin Ahmed [official profile] on Monday signed the Emergency Powers (Repeal) Ordinance 2008, lifting a two-year state of emergency in order to prepare for December 29 parliamentary elections. The state of emergency, declared in January 2007 [JURIST report], suspended democratic rights throughout the country. The Ordinance, which takes effect Wednesday, will enable candidates to conduct their campaigns. The signing was announced on Tuesday, and coincides with the sixteenth anniversary of Bangladeshi independence. Last week, the clauses of the Emergency Powers rule governing meetings and rallies were lifted to facilitate campaigning. Foreign diplomats have asked the government to provide them with better security [BDNews24 report] in the wake of the emergency rule being lifted.

In November, the emergency rule was briefly lifted, but was reinstated [JURIST report] after violent protests when political party leaders from Jamaat-e-Islami [party website] party were arrested on alleged corruption charges in relation to a coal mining contract. Elections were originally scheduled for December 18, but as a result of pressure that included threats to boycott the polls from the major political alliances Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party [party websites], led by former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina [CWWL profile] and Khaleda Zia [UN profile], respectively, they were rescheduled for the current December 29 date.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that nondisclosure requirements contained in national security letters (NSLs) [CRS backgrounder, PDF; FBI backgrounder] sent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] to Internet service providers (ISPs) are violations of the ISPs' First Amendment free speech rights. The case, John Doe, Inc. v. Mukasey, concerned the applicability of a statute [18 U.S.C. § 2709, text] containing a blanket prohibition against the disclosure of an NSL sent by the FBI to John Doe, Inc. The NSL was withdrawn by the FBI in November 2006, and in subsequent litigation, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] invalidated the statute [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] as a violation of the First Amendment. In Monday's opinion, Judge Jon Newman [official profile] wrote:

The nondisclosure requirement of subsection 2709(c) is not a typical prior restraint or a typical content-based restriction warranting the most rigorous First Amendment scrutiny. On the other hand, the Government’s analogies to nondisclosure prohibitions in other contexts do not persuade us to use a significantly diminished standard of review. In any event, John Doe, Inc., has been restrained from publicly expressing a category of information, albeit a narrow one, and that information is relevant to intended criticism of a governmental activity.

[JURIST] The Pentagon announced Monday that US Army Col. James Pohl [JURIST news archive], who presided over several court-martial proceedings resulting from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal [JURIST news archive], will be the new chief judge for the US military commissions [JURIST news archive]. Pohl replaces Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann [JURIST news archive], who announced his immediate retirement [JURIST report] last month. Pohl noted Monday that the military commissions process could change [Miami Herald report] with the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama next month.

Pohl, who has served as a military judge since 2000, is best-known for declaring the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq a crime scene [JURIST report] and forbidding its demolition in 2004. Pohl also refused to allow [JURIST report] lawyers for the court-martialed soldiers to question then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the chain of command leading down to the soldiers charged with abusing inmates.

[JURIST] US Marine Sgt. Jermaine Nelson [JURIST news archive] pleaded not guilty Monday in a military court at Camp Pendleton to charges of unpremeditated murder [UCMJ Article 118 text] and dereliction of duty [UCMJ Article 92 text] in connection with the November 2004 killing of four detained Iraqi insurgents. Nelson and another Marine, Sgt. Ryan Weemer [JURIST news archive], face charges [text; JURIST report] related to the killings during the 2004 battle for the city of Fallujah [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Nelson's court-martial is scheduled for next month. If convicted of murder, Nelson faces life in prison [AP report].

In July 2007, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) [official website] announced investigations of at least 10 Marines [JURIST report] in connection with the Fallujah offensive after Weemer admitted during a polygraphed job interview with the US Secret Service that he had witnessed indiscriminate killings in Fallujah. Military journalist Nathaniel Helms afterwards corroborated that account, reporting that he witnessed Marines execute subdued Iraqi prisoners, whose bodies were later buried under rubble from an air strike. A third marine, Sgt. Jose Nazario, faced charges for the same incident. Because he was no longer in the military, Nazario was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter [JURIST report] in civilian court. Nazario was acquitted [JURIST report] in August.

[JURIST] The Israeli Supreme Court [official website] on Monday ruled that the government must change the proposed route for its West Bank security barrier [official website; JURIST news archive], finding that the current plan encroaches too much on Palestinian territory. The court found the government in contempt [Jerusalem Post report] for failing to follow its previous instructions [JURIST report] to infringe on as little Palestinian land as possible. The case involves the Palestinian village of Bilin. Residents had originally challenged the construction of the wall on the grounds that the planned route of the barrier prevented some Bilin residents from accessing their fields and orchards, thereby preventing the villagers from earning a livelihood. The court ruled Monday that the government's latest proposed route still infringed on the residents' rights.

The contested portion in Bilin is just 500 acres of a 410-mile wall along the West Bank border, which Israel began to construct in 2002 to keep suicide bombers from entering Israeli territory. The barrier has been denounced by Palestinians as a land grab and an "apartheid wall" breaking up communities and families, but Israeli officials insist it is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. In 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered Israel to dismantle another section of the wall [JURIST report] in the northern West Bank, but Israeli courts have also rejected [JURIST report] petitions by Palestinians when security concerns outweighed the Palestinians' objections. In 2004, the International Court of Justice [official website] issued a non-binding advisory opinion [text; JURIST report] that parts of the wall should be torn down.

[JURIST] The Hungarian Constitutional Court [official website] on Monday struck down a law that would have given certain rights to same-sex couples, ruling that it diminishes the importance of marriage. The law, passed last year [JURIST report], would have recognized civil partnerships between same-sex couples and unmarried couples, giving them the same inheritance, tax, and financial rights as married heterosexual couples. The law was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2009. After the ruling was handed down, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany [official profile] asked the Justice Minister to draft new legislation [Nepszava report, in Hungarian] that would comport with the court's decision while providing benefits to domestic partners.

Same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] per se is not recognized in any of Europe's former eastern-bloc states, although the Czech Republic and Slovenia do recognize registered same-sex partnerships. In February 2006, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus vetoed a bill [JURIST report] that would have provided same-sex partners with access to medical information, property inheritance, and the right to raise children equal to that of married couples, among other things. Klaus said that the bill extended "state interventions into people's lives." The Czech Republic eventually legalized same-sex partnerships [Radio Prague report] in July 2006.

[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] announced [press release] Monday that confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder [professional profile] will be delayed [hearing notice] one week, after Republicans objected that they did not have enough time to review Holder's record. Hearings were originally scheduled to begin January 8, but will now begin January 15, following a request for more time [press release] issued last week by ranking Republican committee member Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website]. Leahy expressed disappointment with the delay, saying:

[T]o accommodate the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, at their request we are delaying the hearing, again, until January 15. ... It is disappointing to me that [the Republicans] are insisting that we delay at a time when the nation needs its top law enforcement officer and national security team in place and working. I trust that with this additional time to prepare, they will cooperate in proceeding promptly to Committee and Senate consideration of the historic Holder nomination as Democrats did for President Bush.

[JURIST] The Illinois House of Representatives [official website] voted 113-0 Monday to begin an inquiry into whether Governor Rod Blagojevich [official website] should be impeached. House Speaker Michael Madigan [official profile] appointed a committee that will begin its investigation Tuesday, gathering evidence and testimony related to the charges. Hearings are expected to continue [Chicago Tribune report] for several weeks. If the committee recommends impeachment, it will go to a vote before the entire House. If the House votes to impeach, the proceedings will go before the Senate, which will act as a jury with the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court presiding. This is Illinois's first impeachment inquiry of a governor.

Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested [JURIST report] last week by federal agents on charges of corruption [complaint, PDF]. Both Blagojevich and Harris have been charged [DOJ press release, PDF] with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They are accused of conspiring to sell or trade the senate seat left vacant by Obama and obtaining illegal campaign contributions. They are also accused of threatening to withhold assistance to the Chicago Tribune with the sale of Wrigley Field unless two editorial writers who had been critical of Blagojevich were fired. Harris resigned his position Friday, while Blagojevich has continued to report to work. Also on Friday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan [official website] filed a motion [motion, PDF; JURIST report] with the Illinois Supreme Court [official website] to have Blagojevich declared unfit and removed temporarily from office.