[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF; briefs] Monday in two cases. In United States v. Navajo Nation [oral arguments transcript, PDF], the Court heard arguments on whether the Court's earlier decision [text] in the case foreclosed a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] that the US federal government breached its fiduciary duties in connection with coal leases and is liable to the Navajo Nation for as much as $600 million. The Navajo litigation began in 1993, when the Navajo Nation sued the US government for a violation of the Indian Mineral Leasing Act of 1938 (IMLA) [text], alleging that the Secretary of the Interior breached fiduciary duties to the Nation when he communicated with a mining company with whom the Nation had negotiated a coal mining lease during a pending appeal of the mining company's appeal of a Department of the Interior order confirming the terms of the lease. As a result of those communications, the lease between the Navajo Nation and the mining company was renegotiated at terms substantially less favorable to the Nation than the originally approved lease. The case has a complex procedural history, having been argued in both the US Court of Federal Claims [official website] and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit twice, as well as the Supreme Court. Counsel for the respondent argued:

... [T]he Secretary did owe a duty of candor and disclosure embedded in section (a) [of the IMLA]. That program did not end. That disclosure responsibility did not end. What the measure of damages for that breach of duty is a question that obviously is still open on remand. But the notion that the Secretary can behave the way the Secretary did in this case, which is to know that he was not going to take personal jurisdiction over the final decision, command that no decision be made, leave the Navajo in a state of distress under those circumstances, force them to negotiate with one hand tied behind their back at a minimum, and then handed up an agreement that was half what the fair market value would have been for the quality of coal is an outrage, and the Court ought to allow the damages action to go forward. ... I urge the Court to affirm.

Federal law does not require automatic reversal of a conviction because the denial of a peremptory challenge at most violated only his State law rights. And even if his Federal constitutional rights had been violated, harmless error review would apply. The Constitution does not give criminal defendants the right to peremptory challenges; therefore, a -- the right of a State defendant like Petitioner to exercise peremptory challenges derives entirely from State law, and when erroneous denial of a preemptory [sic] challenge deprives him only of State law right, and when the State law rights alone have been violated, State law not federal law dictates whether harmless error review applies. The violation of a State law right doesn't rise to a due process -- federal due process violation unless it deprives the defendant of a fair trial. And this Court has repeatedly held that States can withhold preemptory [sic] challenges entirely without impairing the right to an impartial jury or a fair trial. It, therefore, follows that the erroneous denial of a single preemptory [sic] challenge does not render a trial fundamentally unfair.

[JURIST] Myanmar's military government has granted amnesty to 23 political detainees and more than 6,300 other prisoners, Thailand-based human rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) [advocacy website] said Sunday. Among those freed were members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, including Zaw Myint Maung [Irrawaddy report], who had been imprisoned for more than 18 years.  Myanmar's government said Friday that the prisoners were released due to good behavior and also to allow the country to hold fair elections [BNN report] in 2010. The prisoners' release follows a visit by UN Human Rights envoy to Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana [official website], which also coincided with the reduction of the prison sentences [Irrawaddy report] of several political activists last week. The government is still holding [DVB report] more than 2,000 political prisoners, including NLD head Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile].

Even before Quintana's visit, Myanmar [JURIST news archive] had faced increasing international pressure to end its persecution of political dissidents. Last month, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] sent an open letter [text, PDF; JURIST report] to the government, urging it to cease targeting its Rohingya Muslim minority [BBC profile]. In December, the UN General Assembly [official website] adopted a resolution [press release; JURIST report] denouncing the nation's alleged human rights violations. Last June, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] criticized the government of Myanmar [JURIST report] for its continued human rights abuses and refusal to cooperate with humanitarian groups.

[JURIST] UN assistant secretary general for legal affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen stated Monday that significant progress was made during discussions of corruption [Phnom Penh Post report] alleged to exist in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Taksoe-Jensen commented [AFP report] that he and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An [official profile] had gone over a possible anti-corruption mechanism for the court. The ECCC was created in 2006 to try former Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder, JURIST news archive] leaders, but has faced repeated allegations of kickbacks and other irregularities, which judges for the court deny [JURIST reports]. Also Monday, US governance monitor Global Integrity released a report [text] rating Cambodia as "Weak" in the areas of Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law.

Some believe that such allegations of corruption are a leading cause of the ECCC's extreme financial difficulties, discouraging potential donors from contributing funds. Despite Japan's pledge [JURIST report] of an additional $21 million in January, it is feared that the court may be bankrupt in less than a month. The ECCC announced last June that it planned to end its operations [JURIST report] a year early because of limited funding.

[JURIST] Belgium filed suit [press release] against Senegal in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] on Thursday, asserting that the ICJ must intervene because the nations are in disagreement over the prosecution of former Chadian President Hissene Habre [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] for alleged crimes against humanity. The complaint also contained "a request for the indication of provisional measures in order to protect [Belgium's] rights" until the matter is resolved. Belgium filed the complaint to advance either the planned Senegalese trial [JURIST report] or the current Belgian case against Habre, and alleges that:

Senegal’s failure to prosecute Mr. H. Habre, if he is not extradited to Belgium to answer for the acts of torture that are alleged against him, violates the [United Nations] Convention against Torture.

[JURIST] Human rights group Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Monday called for the UN to place an arms embargo on Israel and Hamas, responding to the UN's report [text, PDF] that both parties used foreign-supplied weapons during the recent fighting in Gaza. The UN found that weapons from more than 20 countries were used during the Gaza conflict [JURIST news archive], resulting in the deaths of hundreds of children and other civilians. The US is the largest supplier of weapons to Israel, and a current 10-year agreement between the countries specifies that the US will supply Israel with $30 billion in military aid [Haaretz report]. AI asserts that the US supplied Israel with white phosphorus [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] and other weapons used to allegedly commit war crimes [JURIST report] and other violations of international humanitarian law. The report called for a series of actions to cease the supply of arms:

Impose immediately a comprehensive UN Security Council arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups until effective mechanisms are in place to ensure that weapons or munitions and other military equipment will not be used to commit serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. This must include ensuring that alleged violations are thoroughly and impartially investigated and accountability, with any persons who are found responsible being brought to justice in fair trials. [sic]

[JURIST] Released Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Binyam Mohamed [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] was returned to the UK on Monday after being held for nearly seven years. Mohamed had immigrated from Ethiopia to the UK prior to his arrest, and it is not yet known whether he will be permitted to remain [BBC report] in the country, whose government he has repeatedly accused [Guardian report] of being involved in his alleged torture. Mohamed recently ended a hunger strike, and British authorities declared him healthy enough to travel [JURIST report] last week. The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) [official website] said that his return comes in response to a longstanding request for the return of UK residents held at Guantanamo.

Mohamed was arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004 on suspicion of war crimes in connection with his alleged involvement with al Qaeda attacks on the US. The charges against him were dismissed [JURIST report] last October. Mohamed asserts that after he was arrested in Pakistan and turned over to US officials, he was then transferred to Moroccan agents who tortured him. In December, he asked the UK government [JURIST report] to ensure that photographic evidence of his alleged torture be preserved.

[JURIST] European members of the Group of 20 (G20) [official website] financial policy body said Sunday that tighter regulation [EU press release] of the financial industry and liberal trade policies are necessary to help the global economy recover from its recent downturn. The leaders met in Brussels to discuss the "European position" on how to address the crisis, in anticipation of the full G20 meeting on April 4. In a release [text] on the talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel [official website] announced that the group specifically wants to double the budget of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [official website], increase regulation of hedge fund operators, impose sanctions against countries which host tax shelters, and discourage protectionist trade policies. The G20's last meeting [summit release] was in November, during which members called for global solutions to the crises to be presented at the April meeting.

It remains unclear how other world economic powers, like the US, will respond to the European initiatives, given the country's prior resistance to increased regulation of the international financial industry. Last week, the US took a major step in its effort to stimulate its economy through the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) [JURIST report]. The act originally raised global concerns [JURIST report] of protectionism with its controversial "Buy American" clause requiring that all goods used in funded projects to be made in the US. The bill has since been amended [JURIST report] to clarify that the law will be applied consistently with US obligations under international trade agreements.