[JURIST] The Chinese government has banned people from traveling to the capital of Beijing to file legal complaints. The ban [BBC report], issued Tuesday, prevents the common practice in which petitioners travel to the capital to seek redress for a variety of legal problems. Under the new regulations, Chinese authorities will send representatives [China Daily report] to provinces that produce many petitioners, and petitioners will also be able to file complaints online. Chinese authorities said that anyone using the appeals process to make financial gain, damage social order, or incite mass incidents would be punished [Xinhua report]. Tuesday's ban comes as Chinese officials called this week for judicial reforms to improve the country's legal system and speed up delays [CCTV reports] in the court system.

Many human rights activists fear that a ban on traveling to Beijing to file petitions is the latest in a series of moves designed to quash dissidence as the 60th anniversary of Communist rule approaches this October. Earlier this week, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong was charged with tax evasion after officials shut down [JURIST reports] the legal research center of his Gongmeng human rights group. Last month, the Chinese government suspended the licenses of 53 lawyers [press release, in Chinese] in Beijing, including prominent human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, for failing to pass an assessment or failing to register. In June, Chinese authorities charged prominent rights activist Liu Xiaobo [JURIST report] with "inciting subversion of state power" [PRC Criminal Law article 105, PDF]. Liu, who spent two years in prison following the Tiananmen Square [BBC backgrounder] uprising, has long challenged China's one-party rule, and co-authored Charter 08 [text], a petition calling for political reforms in the country.

[JURIST] US officials on Thursday sharply criticized Scotland's decision to release [JURIST report] convicted Pan Am Flight 103 [BBC backgrounder] bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [BBC profile]. Megrahi was recently diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer was released Thursday to his native Libya on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill [official profile]. US Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] said [press release] that he is "extremely disappointed" with the decision, adding that "[t]he interests of justice have not been served. FBI Director Robert Mueller [official profile] also expressed [press release] deep disappointment. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official profile] said [press release]:

The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which took the lives of 270 persons, including 189 Americans. We have continued to communicate our long-standing position to UK government officials and Scottish authorities that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in Scotland. Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988 and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of South Dakota [official website] issued a ruling [opinion, PDF] Thursday clarifying what doctors in South Dakota are required to tell women seeking an abortion before performing the procedure, partially upholding a state law. Judge Karen Schreier upheld a provision of a South Dakota abortion law [text] that requires doctors to tell women that an abortion terminates a real, unique human life, but not that abortion increases the risks of suicide and depression. Schreier also struck down a provision that required doctors to say that the woman has an existing relationship with the human life. The ruling years after the informed consent law was passed [JURIST report] in 2005. Schreier originally struck down [JURIST report] the law, but was overruled by the US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. Both Planned Parenthood [advocacy website], which represented the plaintiffs, and the state are claiming to have won the case, and neither has decided to appeal yet.

Controversy on abortion laws has also continued in other states. Also this week, an Oklahoma state court judge ruled [JURIST report] that a state law [SB 1878, DOC] requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound within an hour of the procedure violates the Oklahoma Constitution [text]. Earlier this month, the Illinois Department of Finance and Professional Regulation (DFPR) [official website] granted doctors a 90-day grace period [JURIST report] for enforcement of the state's parental notification requirement for minors obtaining abortions, a law which one scholar has called "unnecessary" and "dangerous" [JURIST op-ed]. That announcement followed a decision [JURIST report] last month by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that reversed a district court injunction [JURIST report] barring the law's enforcement. In June 2007, the governor of New Hampshire signed a repeal of the state's parental notification law [JURIST report], which never took effect. In 2006, voters in Oregon and California rejected statutes that would have required notification [JURIST report], although those measures allowed minors to request a judge to bypass the requirement.

[JURIST] Residents of Standish, Michigan, held a town meeting Thursday to protest the possible transfer of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees to the state prison in the town. The town meeting was organized by local citizens and centered around a panel featuring speakers [AP report], including the sister of a pilot who was killed on 9/11 [JURIST news archive]. While a few citizens expressed fear of detainees escaping, most are frightened of the reputation their town would gain as the home of such prisoners and the possibility that Standish would become a target for terrorist attacks. The town hall meeting took place a week after governmental officials visited the Standish state prison [JURIST report], which is scheduled to be closed [Lansing State Journal report], to determine whether it would be suitable for holding the several hundred Guantanamo detainees who are unable to be freed after the closing of the prison in 2010.

Earlier this week, the Obama administration announced its intent to transfer six detainees [JURIST report] overseas. The administration is also exploring other options in addition to the Michigan prison for detainees who cannot be sent overseas, including a detention facility in Kansas [JURIST report]. Last week, federal officials said that terrorism trials for some inmates could be held at a new high-security courthouse in Newport News, VA [Washington Post report] if the Obama administration sends cases to federal courts [JURIST report].

[JURIST] A New York state appeals court ruled [opinion text] Thursday that Governor David Paterson [official website] acted beyond the scope of his constitutional authority when he appointed Richard Ravitch lieutenant governor. The Second Judicial Department Appellate Division affirmed a lower court ruling that blocked Ravitch's appointment. The court found:

In our view, therefore, Public Officers Law § 43 cannot be constitutionally applied with respect to a vacancy in the office of lieutenant-governor because it does not authorize the Governor to fill the vacancy and it would permit an appointee of the Governor to do what the Constitution mandates be done by the temporary president of the Senate. Inasmuch as the statute as applied to the office of lieutenant-governor cannot be reconciled with the Constitution, it must yield. Thus, the Governor's purported appointment of Mr. Ravitch was unlawful because no provision of the Constitution or of any statute provides for the filling of a vacancy in the office of lieutenant-governor other than by election, and only the temporary president of the Senate is authorized to perform the duties of that office during the period of the vacancy.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that a California state law that allows descendants of victims of the Armenian Genocide [ANI backgrounder] to sue in state courts for unpaid insurance benefits is unconstitutional. The court found that California Civil Procedure Code § 354.4 [text] "interferes with the national government's conduct of foreign relations" because the federal government has declined to describe the World War I-era killings of over one million Armenians by Turkish soldiers as genocide. The court concluded:

California Code of Civil Procedure § 354.4 is preempted because it directly conflicts with the Executive Branch's foreign policy refusing to provide official recognition to the "Armenian Genocide." Far from concerning an area of traditional state interest, § 354.4 impinges upon the National Government's ability to conduct foreign affairs.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] on Thursday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] challenging amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [text; JURIST news archive] that expand government power to eavesdrop on overseas conversations. The suit was filed [JURIST report] in July 2008 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] on behalf of various rights groups, shortly after then-president George W. Bush signed the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) [HR 6304 text, PDF] into law. Dismissing the lawsuit, Judge John Koeltl ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert a claim. Director of the ACLU National Security Project Jameel Jaffer said [press release:

We are disappointed by today's ruling, which will allow the mass acquisition of Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls to continue unchecked. To say, as the court says, that plaintiffs can't challenge this statute unless they can show that their own communications have been collected under it is to say that this statute may not be subject to judicial review at all. The vast majority of people whose communications are intercepted under this statute will never know about it – in fact it's possible that no one will ever be able to make the showing that the court says is required.

The court's decision effectively means that Americans' privacy rights will be left to the mercy of the political branches. This is deeply troubling, because the courts have a crucial role to play in ensuring that individual rights are not needlessly infringed upon by statutes enacted in the name of national security.

[JURIST] A Swiss banking executive and a Swiss lawyer were indicted [text, PDF] Thursday on charges of conspiring to defraud the US, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [official websites] announced [press release]. According to the indictment, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida [official website], Hansruedi Schumacher, executive manager at Neue Zuercher Bank (NZB) [corporate website], and lawyer Matthias Rickenbach helped US clients to illegally conceal assets by setting up sham investment accounts. Schumacher and Rickenbach allegedly falsified documents and discouraged their clients from complying with US tax laws. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said:

This is another step in our ongoing effort to pursue hidden offshore assets - no matter where they are located. We're in the early stages of our work to crack down on offshore tax evasion. Through our efforts, we are gaining access to more and more information on institutions and individuals involved in offshore tax evasion, and you can expect us to use all of our enforcement tools to stop this abuse. For people with hidden offshore assets, they have an opportunity to get right with the government. Time is quickly running out, and people should take advantage of our voluntary disclosure process before special provisions expire September 23.

[JURIST] A verdict is expected by early 2010 in the trial of former Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] official Kaing Guek Eav [TrialWatch backgrounder, JURIST news archive], a spokesperson for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] confirmed to JURIST Thursday. Kaing, also known as "Duch," is the first senior official of the Khmer Rouge, the communist regime responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from 1975 to 1979, to face justice. Also Thursday, ECCC head judge Nil Nonn said that the court would deliver a fair and just verdict [AFP report], warning witnesses not to use the proceedings to take revenge against Kaing.

In March, Kaing accepted responsibility and apologized [JURIST report] for the torture and murder of some 12,000 Cambodians at the Tuol Sleng detention center, where he was secretary. Kaing faces charges [press release, PDF] of homicide, torture, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions [materials]. He is the first of eight ex-Khmer Rouge officials expected to be tried before the ECCC, which last week announced the establishment of an independent counselor to oversee anti-corruption efforts [JURIST reports]. The ECCC has been plagued by accusations of corruption, and, last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] asked the ECCC to determine the scope of its prosecutions [JURIST report] "to thwart growing perceptions that court decisions are directed by the government." In February, HRW warned that ECCC trials were in danger of being tainted for their failure to follow fair trial standards, and in January a Cambodian court agreed to hear a corruption case [JURIST reports] involving two ECCC judges.

[JURIST] Ten accused Mexican drug cartel leaders and 33 others have been indicted [press release; indictment materials] in New York and Chicago, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [official websites] announced Thursday. According the indictments, four of which were filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York and eight of which were filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois [official websites], the cartels combined to smuggle over 200 metric tons of cocaine in the US between 1990 and 2008. In the investigations that led to the indictments, government officials seized over 32,500 kilograms of cocaine, 64 kilograms of heroin, and $22.6 million in cash. So far, the investigation has led to the indictment of 58 individuals. Many of those charged remain at large, and it is not clear how many of them are currently in the US. At a press conference, Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] stated [text]:

Our friends and partners in Mexico are waging an historic and heroic battle with the cartels as we speak. This is not a fight that we in the United States can afford to watch from the sidelines. The stakes are too high and the consequences too real for us. We will continue to investigate, charge, and arrest the cartel leaders and their subordinates, and we will continue systematically to dismantle and disrupt their far-reaching and dangerous operations.