[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Monday denied [opinion, PDF] the habeas corpus petition of suspected terrorist and US citizen Shawqi Omar [JURIST news archive], allowing him to be transferred to Iraqi custody. Omar, detained by the US military in Iraq, had filed the petition arguing that the transfer would violate laws against transferring detainees to countries where they might be tortured. Judge Ricardo Urbina rejected that argument, relying on an April decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website], which held [JURIST report] that US courts could not prevent the government from transferring Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to foreign countries on the grounds that detainees may face persecution or torture in the foreign country. Despite his ruling, Urbina expressed concern that petitioners fearing torture in other countries apparently have no redress in the court system.

Omar filed the habeas petition last year after the US Supreme Court [official website] rejected [JURIST report] an earlier appeal. Omar, whom the US describes as a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], was arrested in Baghdad in October 2004 after he was caught harboring an Iraqi insurgent and a group of foreign fighters illegally in Iraq. Omar's family says he is an innocent businessman who was seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq, and that he will likely be tortured if removed from US custody.

[JURIST] Head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict [official website] Richard Goldstone formally presented [press release] the group's findings to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] Tuesday. In his opening remarks [text, DOC], Goldstone defended the report [text, PDF; JURIST report] against criticism from Israel, which has called the report biased [JURIST report]. Goldstone denied this allegation and said that Israel had failed to address the substance of the report, which found that Israel and Palestinian forces had likely committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead [Global Security Backgrounder]. Goldstone emphasized accountability, stating:

The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point; the ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence. Time and again, experience has taught us that overlooking justice only leads to increased conflict and violence.

[JURIST] Former Enron Broadband Services (EBS) [JURIST news archive] CEO Joe Hirko was sentenced [DOJ press release] Monday to 16 months in prison for misrepresenting to investors the capabilities of Enron's broadband service. Hirko pleaded guilty last October to one count of wire fraud for issuing a press release falsely claiming that EBS had integrated a new feature into its broadband service. As part of the plea agreement, the government recommended Hirko receive a prison sentence of between 12 and 16 months. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Vanessa Gilmore of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas [official website] ordered [Houston Chronicle report] Hirko to pay $8.7 million in restitution. It is not yet known when Hirko will begin serving his sentence.

Hirko pleaded guilty weeks before he was scheduled to be tried for a second time near the end of last year. In May 2008, Gilmore ordered [JURIST report] Hirko and two other EBS executives to be retried after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] refused to dismiss charges [JURIST report] against the men. The executives were found not guilty of several charges in 2005, but the jury was deadlocked on some issues and the three were later re-indicted [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] pleaded guilty Monday to multiple counts of illegal wiretapping and bribery. Fujimori was charged with ordering former Peruvian intelligence director Vladimiro Montesino [BBC profile] to use government funds to secretly wiretap politicians, journalists, and other prominent Peruvians and to bribe [Andina report] congressmen and journalists to join his party and to support his 2000 re-election campaign. His guilty plea avoids a potentially long trial in which many prominent Peruvians would have been set to testify against him. The prosecutor recommended an eight-year sentence to be served concurrent to the 25-year sentence he received for committing human rights abuses. In addition to the sentence, prosecutors have requested that he pay $1.7 million to the state and $1 million to be shared between the people whose phone lines were illegally tapped.

In July, Fujimori was convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] to seven-and-a-half years in prison for paying former Peruvian intelligence director Montesino $15 million to resign in 2000 in the midst of the scandal that ultimately resulted in Fujimori's arrest [JURIST report] in 2005. Fujimori was convicted [JURIST report] in April of committing human rights abuses for approving multiple killings during his 1990-2000 presidency. The conviction and subsequent sentencing, which put Fujimori in prison for 25 years, was met with widespread approval [JURIST report] from the current government and human rights organization, despite Fujimori's planned appeal. In 2007, Fujimori was convicted [JURIST report] of ordering a warrantless search in 2000 on the apartment of Montesino's wife. Prosecutors alleged that the search was intended to uncover and confiscate documents that might incriminate Fujimori. Similar to the present charges, Fujimori admitted to the facts, but denied any wrongdoing.

[JURIST] The Joint Task Force [official website] responsible for reviewing the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives] detainees on Monday released a list [text, PDF] of 78 detainees cleared for transfer. The list contains the nationalities and the number of detainees to be released but does not specifically identify the detainees by name. It also does not list where these detainees will ultimately be transferred. The list, written in Arabic, English, and Pashto was initially posted around the Guantanamo prison [AP report] in an apparent effort to communicate directly with the detainees. The list may include the three detainees whose transfers were announced [JURIST report] by the US Department of Justice [official website] on Saturday. Two Uzbek detainees were released to Ireland as part of a deal with the US government and one Yemeni national was released back to Yemen.

While the Obama administration decides what to do with Guantanamo detainees who are still under investigation or who have been charged with crimes, a number of former detainees are being relocated around the globe. Last week, the US said that it plans to transfer up to eight Uighur detainees [JURIST report] to Palau, which has agreed to accept all but one of the remaining 13 Uighur detainees. Earlier this month, Hungary said that it would take one Guantanamo detainee [JURIST report] who is not under investigation by the US and who cannot return to his home country. In late August, Portugal accepted two Syrian nationals, and five other EU members agreed [JURIST reports] to give serious consideration to receiving former detainees.

[JURIST] The head of the Honduran interim government Roberto Micheletti said Monday that he may lift restrictions on constitutional rights imposed Sunday by the end of the week. The de facto government passed an executive decree [text, in Spanish] late on Sunday night suspending five articles in the Honduran Constitution [text] for 45 days: personal freedom (Art. 69), freedom of expression of thought (Art. 72), freedom of association (Art. 78), freedom to circulate (Art. 81), and the requirement of written arrest warrant (Art. 84). The decree authorized the National Police to take any necessary measures to maintain peace and order in the country as protesters rally in support of deposed president Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], ordering all the armed forces and all state agencies to support police operations. The decree also authorized the National Telecommunications Commission [official website, in Spanish] to suspend any media outlet whose actions are considered to be detrimental to peace and public order. In the early hours of Monday morning, the de facto government closed Radio Globo [media website, in Spanish] and television Channel 36, media outlets that allegedly support the ousted president. Zelaya has called for his supporters to disregard the decree characterizing its provisions as unlawful. The National Organization Against the Coup d'Etat (FNCGE) [advocacy website, in Spanish] called for supporters to disregard the decree and continue efforts to reinstate Zelaya by citing Article 3 in the Honduran Constitution that calls for disobedience to a usurper government and insurrection in defense of the constitutional order. Also on Monday, the Organization of American States (OAS) decried [press release] the decision of the Honduran government to deny entrance on Sunday to an OAS delegation purporting to support negotiations. Honduras has refused to allow the ambassadors of Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela to return to the country in retaliation for unilaterally breaking off relations previously.

Zelaya has taken refuge at the Brazilian Embassy [official website, in Spanish] since returning to Honduras last week, despite calls [JURIST report] from Micheletti to hand him over under an arrest warrant [text and materials, PPT, in Spanish] issued by the Honduran Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] in June. On Saturday, the Honduran interim government gave the Brazilian government 10 days to define Zelaya's status in the embassy or face further consequences, meaning that Honduras is giving Brazil 10 days to close [El Faro report, in Spanish] the affairs of their embassy before Honduras considers the facilities simply a private office. Zelaya was ousted [JURIST report] on June 28 following a judicial order [press release, in Spanish] asserting that he had broken Honduran law by attempting to conduct a controversial referendum on constitutional reform [JURIST report] contrary to a Honduran Supreme Court ruling.