[JURIST] A federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday found American Ehsanul Islam Sadequee guilty [press release] on four terrorism-related counts. Sadequee was convicted in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia [official website] of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization by making himself available to participate in violent jihad and by shooting "casing" videos of Washington, DC, landmarks that were to be sent to jihadists abroad. Calling the verdict the product of a "long and successful international counter-terrorism investigation," US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia David Nahmias [official profile] said:

This case remains, however, a sobering reminder that terrorism and its supporters are not confined to distant battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. As recent events further demonstrate, there are still some American citizens willing to take up arms against the United States, our people, our allies, and our interests.

[JURIST] The mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday pardoned 2,500 people arrested in the city during nonviolent civil rights protests in the 1960s. Announcing the pardons at a city council meeting, Mayor Larry Langford [official website] said that the city had an obligation to ask for forgiveness [video] because it had "wronged so many." Langford acknowledged that many eligible people viewed their arrest records as a "badge of courage and a sign of the struggle" and would not be inclined to apply for a pardon. Bishop and civil rights leader Calvin Woods symbolically accepted [AP report] the pardon on behalf of jailed protesters.

In April 2006, Alabama Governor Bob Riley [official website] authorized pardons [JURIST report] for Rosa Parks [TIME profile], the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [King Center profile] and other civil rights activists convicted of violating Jim Crow laws in the state. Rosa Parks helped trigger the civil rights movement across the US after she was arrested in Montgomery, AL, in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Parks died in 2005 [JURIST report] at the age of 92.

[JURIST] International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] President Jakob Kellenberger on Wednesday called for greater compliance [press release] with the Geneva Conventions [ICRC backgrounder], making the documents' 60th anniversary [press release]. Kellenberger said that the conventions were tested in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the global "war on terror" posing a "huge challenge":

The traumatic events of 9/11 and its aftermath set a new test for [international humanitarian law (IHL)]. The polarisation of international relations and the humanitarian consequences of what has been referred to as the "global war on terror" have posed a huge challenge. The proliferation and fragmentation of non-state armed groups, and the fact that some of them reject the premises of IHL, have posed another. These challenges effectively exposed IHL to some rigorous cross-examination by a wide range of actors, including the ICRC, to see if it really does still stand as an adequate legal framework for the protection of victims of armed conflict.

In short, the result of this sometimes arduous process was a resounding reaffirmation of the relevance and adequacy of IHL in preserving human life and dignity in armed conflict. However, as I made clear at the outset, this is no time to rest on our laurels. The nature of armed conflict, and of the causes and consequences of such conflict, is continuing to evolve. IHL must evolve too.

The priority for the ICRC now is to anticipate and prepare for the main challenges to IHL in the years ahead. While these challenges have a legal and often a political dimension, I must stress that our ultimate concern is purely humanitarian; our only motivation is to contribute to achieving better protection for the victims of armed conflict.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Argentina [official website, in Spanish] ruled Tuesday that individuals cannot be required to submit blood samples to test whether they were abducted as children during the "Dirty War" [JURIST news archive]. The court issued two rulings [Pagina12 report, in Spanish] in the cases of brothers Guillermo Gabriel Prieto and Emiliano Matias Prieto [judgments, PDF in Spanish], finding that genetic material can be collected from personal effects, but that blood samples cannot be required. The brothers were challenging lower court orders compelling them to provide blood samples to compare their genetic identity to a bank of genetic information from families of missing persons and allowing the testing of material samples obtained from a search of their home. The high court overturned the order compelling blood samples and affirmed the order allowing testing of other materials, reasoning that testing genetic material obtained from personal effects is an alternative, less invasive method that is already recognized in by Argentine criminal law. The court concluded that the search and seizure recourse recognized already under articles 399 and 409 of the Criminal Procedure Code authorizes search for such material and also authorizes testing any materials obtained in congruence with the duty of the state to help clear the cases of abducted children. Alan Iud, lawyer for Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo [advocacy website], emphasized the importance the Supreme Court rulings to potentially uncover the truth, achieve restitution for victims and their families, and to punish the crime of "appropriation" of minor children, but expressed concern over the role assigned to law enforcement. Prior lawsuits have revealed that law enforcement has not always been ready and willing to facilitate the process.

The association Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo originally raised the complaints that gave rise to the criminal proceedings challenged by the Prieto brothers' appeals. The association is a non-governmental organization that seeks restitution for the relatives of disappeared persons, whose children were abducted during the 1976-1983 Dirty War [Global Security backgrounder]. The organization searches and advocates for those children, all born between 1975 and 1980, and demands that those responsible for such abductions be brought to justice.

[JURIST] Pakistani police on Tuesday filed charges against former president Pervez Musharraf [official profile; JURIST news archive] alleging that he illegally detained members of the judiciary after declaring emergency rule [proclamation, PDF] in November 2007. Sixty judges, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [official profile; JURIST news archive], were forced to remain in their homes after refusing to swear an oath to uphold the Provisional Constitution Order [text] under which the country was run during the emergency rule. Police in Islamabad said that the house arrest order qualified as an illegal detention [LAT report], and that Musharraf, who is currently in London, could be arrested if he returns to Pakistan. Musharraf's lawyer Muhammed Ali Saif said that Pakistani law bars charges [Bloomberg report] against current and former presidents.

Earlier this week, a district court in Islamabad directed [JURIST report] police to open an investigation into the allegations. Last month, the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] declared [judgment, PDF] that Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule violated the Constitution of Pakistan [text]. Musharraf resigned from office [JURIST report] last August in order to avoid impeachment proceedings by the country's parliament. Earlier that month, the country's coalition government said that it would push to impeach Musharraf because he had given a "clear commitment" to step down from office after his party was defeated in parliamentary elections [JURIST reports]. In June 2008, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive] called for Musharraf to be tried for treason [JURIST report], labeling him a traitor disloyal to Pakistan and saying he should be punished for the "damage" that he had done to the country in the years since he led a military coup [BBC backgrounder] and unseated Sharif in 1999.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Myanmar opposition pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and American John Yettaw said Wednesday that they will file appeals against Tuesday's guilty verdicts [JURIST report]. Suu Kyi and Yettaw were convicted of violating state security laws after Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest, allowed Yettaw to stay in her home after he swam across a lake to visit her. Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest, and Yettaw was sentenced to seven years in prison, with four years of hard labor. Meanwhile, world leaders and human rights groups have continued to criticize Suu Kyi's trial and conviction. The Dalai Lama [official website] said [press release] he was "deeply saddened" by the sentence and called for her release. A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] said [press release] that he "strongly deplores this decision," and that he "urges the Government to immediately and unconditionally release" Suu Kyi. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called the verdict [press release] "shameful."

Suu Kyi's trial resumed last month after a delay [JURIST reports] with the testimony of Khin Moe Moe, a member of Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy (NLD) [party website] party, who claimed the charges were politically motivated. In June, a Myanmar court sentenced [JURIST report] two members of the NLD to 18 months in prison after leading prayers for Suu Kyi's release. Her arrest was controversial and highly criticized [JURIST report] by the international community. She has spent 12 of the past 18 years in prison or under house arrest for alleged violations of an anti-subversion law [text, PDF]. News of Suu Kyi's trial has been met with criticism from numerous agencies and governments around the world. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has said the charges [press release] against Suu Kyi are "trumped up."

[JURIST] Chechen human rights activist Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Dzhabrailov were found dead in the trunk of their car Tuesday, after being abducted Monday. Saulayeva and Dzhabrailov were taken [Moscow Times report] from the office of her organization, Let's Save the Generation, which works to aid children affected by violence in Chechnya. The pair were reportedly removed by a group of men dressed as security officers, and police initially failed to take action when the kidnapping was reported by Russian human rights group Memorial [advocacy website, in Russian]. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called [press release] for Russian authorities to "ensure that the investigation into the murders of Chechen civil society activists Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, is effective and independent." On Wednesday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office Investigations Administration for Chechnya said that the number of kidnappings and murders in Chechnya has increased [RIA Novosti report] dramatically since the beginning of the year.

Tuesday's killing comes less than a month after the death [JURIST report] of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova [BBC obituary]. Also last month, the body of Russian human rights activist Andrei Kulagin [JURIST report], missing since May, was found in a quarry. In January, Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot and killed [JURIST report] in Moscow. Markelov represented journalist Anna Politkovskaya [BBC obituary], who was shot to death [JURIST report] in October 2006. In April, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin [official profile] expressed concern [JURIST report] that activists in Russia were being attacked with greater frequency. According to HRW, more than 100 European Court of Human Rights [official website] judgments have found that Russia is responsible for grave human-rights violations in Chechnya.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee [official website] on Tuesday released testimony and e-mails [materials] purporting to show that Bush administration political advisor Karl Rove [personal website; JURIST news archive] was involved in the firing of nine US Attorneys [JURIST news archive] in 2006. Among the 5,400 pages of documents released by the committee are e-mail communications between Rove, former White House counsel Harriet Miers [BBC profile], and other top administration officials regarding the removal of David Iglesias, the former US Attorney for New Mexico. The Department of Justice had given Iglesias a top ranking [press release] prior to his removal, seen as suggesting an underlying political motivation. Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) called the release "a powerful victory for the rule of law," and said that he had provided the documents to Acting US Attorney Nora Dannehy [official profile] "to assist in her effort to determine whether federal criminal charges are appropriate and to pursue any such charges." Rove welcomed [press release] the release, called the charges "groundless" and said that the documents "show politics played no role in the Bush Administration's removal of U.S. Attorneys, that I never sought to influence the conduct of any prosecution, and that I played no role in deciding which US attorneys were retained and which replaced."

The Committee had long sought to obtain information about Rove's involvement in the firings, which Rove and other officials claimed were protected by executive privilege. After agreeing [JURIST report] to participate in a closed-door hearing in March, Rove testified before the committee twice in July. Citing executive privilege, Rove refused to testify in July 2007 and July 2008 [JURIST reports]. In March 2008, the Judiciary Committee filed suit to enforce subpoenas [JURIST report] for Miers and former Bush chief of staff Joshua Bolton. In February, the House voted [JURIST report] to hold the former officials in contempt of Congress for their refusal to testify. In January, a federal court ordered [JURIST report] that copies of the documents related to the investigation be provided by the Bush administration to the in-coming Obama administration.

[JURIST] Former financial chief for Bernard L. Madoff [JURIST news archive] Investment Securities LLC, Frank DiPascali, pleaded guilty Tuesday to 10 criminal counts [charges, PDF] for his role in the Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of billions of dollars. DiPascali delivered his plea to Judge Richard Sullivan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website], admitting he was aware he was participating in a fraudulent scheme. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) elected to file charges [letter, PDF] last week, charging DiPascali with fraud, conspiracy, perjury, and tax evasion. DiPascali faces 125 years in prison for his crimes [Bloomberg report], but it is believed that he reached a plea agreement with the DOJ [WSJ report] for a reduced sentence.

In late June, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison [JURIST report]. In March, Madoff's accountant David Friehling was charged with fraud [JURIST report] by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Just prior to that, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud after agreeing to a partial judgment from the SEC [JURIST reports] for civil charges stemming from his role in defrauding investors.