[JURIST] A Sudanese man charged with aiding an International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] investigation of a Darfur [JURIST news archive] war crimes suspect appeared in court Monday. Mohamed Alsary Ibrahim is charged [Reuters report] with working to overthrow the constitutional government, waging war against the state, dealing with an enemy country, spying, and passing on confidential military documents in connection with the ICC's investigation of Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun [JURIST report]. Ibrahim is the first person to be charged in Sudan for assisting an ICC investigation and could face a death sentence if convicted.

In August, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official website] said Sudan is merely going through the motions with its planned probe [JURIST reports] into Darfur human rights violations. He said that Sudan does not have the political will to bring human rights offenders to justice, noting that an earlier Sudanese investigation into genocide claims was led by Haroun, who is wanted by the ICC. The ICC issued a warrant for Haroun's arrest last year, but Sudan has refused to turn him over. In July, Moreno-Ocampo applied [JURIST report] for an arrest warrant [application, PDF; ICC press release] for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for atrocities committed in the country's Darfur region. No warrant has been issued, but earlier this month, Moreno-Ocampo urged states to prepare [JURIST report] for the ICC's imminent ruling.

[JURIST] Five men were found guilty [DOJ press release; case materials] Monday in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] of plotting to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix [official website]. The five men, Serdar Tatar, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, and Shain Duka, were acquitted of attempted murder, but were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses. The defense had argued that there was no plot, but the government paid informants to get the accused to discuss one. Prosecutors maintained that although the men had no ties to any terrorist organization, they were inspired by al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and were planning an attack. The men face a sentence of up to life in prison.

The five suspects were arrested [JURIST report] in May 2007 for allegedly plotting to sneak onto the New Jersey military base and kill soldiers. They pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in January. Their trial began [JURIST report] in October. In March, an accomplice, Agron Abdullahu, was sentenced [JURIST report] to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty [JURIST report] to charges of conspiring to provide firearms and ammunitions to the other five men.

[JURIST] An Iraqi national living in Maryland on Sunday pleaded guilty to charges of spying for the Iraqi government [DOJ press release] under Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive]. Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, a former Baath party [JURIST news archive] member, pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government," and faces up to five years in prison. Al-Dellemy allegedly assisted in the shredding of documents that could have compromised the Hussein regime and made his restaurant available as a meeting place for Iraqi intelligence agents. Sentencing is scheduled for March 5.

To date, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] has charged at least a dozen people with spying for the Iraqi government in the US. In July 2007, an Iraqi-born naturalized US citizen living in Michigan, pleaded guilty to spying for the Iraqi government [JURIST report], admitting in Detroit federal court that he provided the Iraqi intelligence agents with information about anti-Hussein organizations and individuals. Under the plea agreement, Al-Awadi, who was 78 years old and in poor health, received a prison sentence of no more than 51 months. Al-Awadi and fellow Iraqi spy Najib Shemani, were exposed following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which allowed US authorities access to Iraqi intelligence documents. In 2005, a federal grand jury in Indianapolis indicted a naturalized US citizen [JURIST report] on charges of trying to sell the names of US intelligence operatives in Iraq to Hussein's government.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Council of Representatives [official website] on Monday delayed a vote to determine the future of non-US foreign troops in the country. On Saturday, the parliament rejected a draft law [JURIST report] that would have permitted 6,000 troops from the United Kingdom, Australia, Romania, El Salvador, and Estonia to remain in the country after the current UN mandate [UN press release] authorizing the multi-national force in Iraq expires on December 31, 2008. The Iraqi parliament was reported to have reached a compromise [BBC report] Sunday, transforming the failed draft law into a parliamentary resolution that would require the approval of only a simple majority, but the process stalled on Monday due to rising tensions between members of parliament and speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who suspended the legislative session after a number of deputies called for his resignation. Last week, Al-Mashhadani called some parliamentarians "sons of dogs" during a debate over the fate of Iraqi shoe-throwing journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi [JURIST report]. It is not clear when the parliament will meet again, but failure to approve a troop extension agreement before December 31 would leave the legal status of non-US troops uncertain.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi presidential council approved [JURIST report] a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [text, PDF; CFR backgrounder] that sets a 2011 deadline for the withdrawal of US troops but also approved an additional law calling for a national referendum on the pact in July 2009. The approval of the council, comprising President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] and two vice presidents, was the final step required before the SOFA can go into effect on January 1, 2009, a day after the current UN Mandate authorizing the US presence in Iraq expires. The SOFA was approved by the Iraq cabinet and the Iraq parliament [JURIST reports] in November. In addition to the official deadlines for troop withdrawal, it gives Iraqi courts limited jurisdiction over American military personnel and eliminates immunity [JURIST reports] for US defense contractors working within Iraq.

[JURIST] Russia's Federation Council [official website, in Russian], the upper house of parliament, gave final approval Monday to amendments to the Russian Constitution [materials] that would extend presidential terms [Article 81(1) text] from four to six years and terms for parliament members [Article 96(1) text] from four to five years. The Council issued a unanimous resolution approving the amendments [RIA Novosti report] after it was approved by all 83 regional parliaments. The resolution followed earlier endorsements from the State Duma [official website, in Russian; JURIST report], or lower house, as well as Federation Council [JURIST report]. The term extension amendments, once signed into law by President Dmitry Medvedev [official profile; JURIST news archive], will mark the first changes to the Russian constitution since it replaced its Soviet-era predecessor in 1993.

Kremlin officials, including Medvedev, have championed the amendments as a way of ensuring the flexibility and sustainability of Russia’s political system. Critics fear, that the term extensions are designed to orchestrate a longer third term for former president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin [official website, in Russian; JURIST news archive] should Medvedev step aside. Medvedev proposed the changes in his first state of the nation address [text; JURIST report] to the Federal Council in November.

[JURIST] Australian authorities on Sunday removed the final restrictions against former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee David Hicks [JURIST news archive]. Hicks, who served more than five years in the military prison without a trial before pleading guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda, had been under control order [JURIST report] since his release last year. The Australian government's surveillance of Hicks included weekly meetings with police, a strict curfew, and restrictions on his ability to travel and communicate. Hicks made a public plea [JURIST report] last month, asking for the restrictions to be lifted so he could move forward with his life. Hicks's father said that Hicks remains committed to his rehabilitation [AP report], and the elimination of the restrictions imposed by the government should help his recovery.

Hicks pleaded guilty to a charge of supporting terrorism [JURIST reports] before a US military commission in March 2007 after spending more than five years in US custody following his capture in Afghanistan. He was transferred to Australia in May 2007 to serve the remainder of his nine-month prison sentence at a maximum security prison near his hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, and was released [JURIST reports] last December. The control order was relaxed [JURIST report] in February, permitting Hicks to live anywhere in the country, and requiring him to check in with police only twice a week.

[JURIST] German government spokesperson Thomas Steg said Monday that Germany would consider taking in detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] military prison if US President-elect Barack Obama closed the facility. Steg said that Germany supports closure of the facility [DW report] and that all European Union (EU) member states should cooperate to formulate a plan for taking in detainees who cannot be returned to their homelands because of risk of torture. Hamburg interior minister Christoph Ahlhaus said Monday that his state might be willing to take in detainees [Hamburger Abendblatt report], but would consider each case on an individual basis.

Last week, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates [official profile] ordered the Pentagon to draft a proposal for shutting down [press release; JURIST report] the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for a possible order from Obama. Earlier this month, US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff [official profile] told the BBC that before closing the Guantanamo prison, Obama must have a plan for dealing with the detainees [transcript text; JURIST report]. Portugal's foreign minister has said that his country would be willing to take in [JURIST report] Guantanamo detainees if Obama closed the facility, and encouraged other EU member states to do the same. Rights groups have urged Obama to close the controversial military prison upon inauguration in January. Last month, the ACLU launched an ad campaign [image, PDF] calling on Obama to close Guantanamo Bay and end the use of military commissions on his first day in office. Also in November, HRW called upon Obama to denounce Bush administration counterterrorism policies [JURIST report] that they described as "abusive." Obama and his advisers have yet to reach a firm decision [JURIST report] on the closure of the facility.

[JURIST] An Iraqi court on Sunday began a new trial for Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], better known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali," and three other Saddam Hussein-era officials accused in a 1998 gas attack that killed 5,000 Kurds. The relatives of the plaintiffs were allegedly gassed to death in the Kurdish village of Halabja. Hundreds of Kurds called for the execution [Reuters report] of al-Majid, who has already been sentenced to death twice. Also facing trial are former defense minister Sultan Hashem and two intelligence officers.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal [governing statute, PDF] sentenced al-Majid to death [JURIST report] for his involvement in the repression of Shiites in southern Iraq during the Saddam regime. Al-Majid has also been sentenced to death for the killing of Kurdish Iraqis using chemical weapons during the 1988 Anfal campaign [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. His death sentence in the Anfal case was upheld on appeal in September 2007, but Iraq's Presidency Council did not approve the execution [JURIST reports] until late February. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government said in early March that al-Majid would not be executed [JURIST report] until the Presidency Council approved the death sentences of al-Majid's two co-defendants in that case.

[JURIST] Iranian security forces on Sunday raided and closed the offices of a human rights group run by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi [Nobel profile; JURIST news archive]. The Iranian judiciary declared that the office of Ebadi's Center for the Defense of Human Rights did not have the proper legal permits. The closure prevented the group from conducting its celebration of the 60th anniversary [JURIST report] of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) [text]. Ebadi's organization had assisted the UN in preparing for its recent celebration of the anniversary, during which concern was expressed over the human rights situation in Iran. The celebration was to include the honoring of Taqi Rahmani, who served 17 years in prison for charges stemming from Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 [MSN backgrounder]. Ebadi said Sunday that the efforts by the Iranian government will not stop her group [AP report] from continuing to promote human rights activities in Iran.

Ebadi has criticized the Iranian government's human rights record several times in the past. In May, her organization released its annual report in which it condemned the government [JURIST report] for continued harassment and intimidation of dissidents, students, reporters, labor activists, and other government critics. The report also criticized the government's increased policing of women's veils and the harsh punishments meted out to women found to be insufficiently covered, considering the practices to be violations of womens' rights. In 2007, Ebadi urged the UN to investigate allegations that the Iranian government had been detaining women's rights activists [JURIST report] and charging them with national security offenses.

[JURIST] The deposed president of Mauritania [CIA factbook profile; JURIST news archive] Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi [BBC profile] was freed from house arrest Sunday, according to Mauritanian officials. Abdallahi was picked up by military forces [AP report] early Sunday at his home in Lemden and was taken to the capital Nouakchott where he was released. Abdallahi had been under house arrest since a military coup [JURIST report] in August. The release comes after the African Union, the European Union, and the US exerted pressure [VOA report] on the ruling military junta to restore the deposed president to his former position.

In August, a military group staged a coup in Mauritania, detaining Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef [AP report]. The coup's leader, Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, previously backed a 2005 coup [JURIST report] that removed then-President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Taya [BBC report]. Aziz had previously supported Abdallahi, but the two split after Abdallahi made political concessions to conservative Muslim groups. In September, the Mauritanian Parliament elected [JURIST report] eight of its members to a High Court set to try Abdallahi on corruption charges. The coup overturned the first democratically elected government in the country in more than 20 years.