[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF; merit briefs] Monday in three cases. In Graham v. Florida [oral arguments transcript, PDF; JURIST report], the Court heard arguments questioning whether the Eighth Amendment [text] ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits imprisoning a juvenile for life without parole for a non-homicide violation. Counsel for the petitioner argued that such a sentence is "particularly cruel to adolescents because...it gives up on [them] and determines that [they are] forever unfit to live in civil society." Counsel for the government argued that a "categorical rule" regarding sentencing for minors would undermine Florida's and other states' adopted juvenile justice systems, going against a national consensus and trend.

In the similar case of Sullivan v. Florida [oral arguments transcript, PDF], the Court heard arguments about whether imposing a life sentence without parole on a 13-year-old for a non-homicide violation constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. During the arguments, the Court focused on a two-year statute of limitations on seeking post-conviction relief, which would have run out in 1993. Counsel for petitioner Sullivan argued that after the Court's decision in Roper v. Simmons [opinion text], which held that the death penalty is unconstitutional as it applies to crimes committed by minors, certain death row prisoners would get a better sentence than petitioner. Relying on the Court's reasoning in Roper, Sullivan's counsel argued that the petitioner's case is entitled to review.

In Bilski v. Kappos [oral arguments transcript, PDF; JURIST report], the Court heard arguments on the scope of patentable subject matter in regards to a challenged business method patent [Jones Day backgrounder]. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, narrowly defined [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] the "machine or transformation" test for processes, requiring that a process be tied to a particular machine or cause a transformation of physical matter. During arguments, the Court approached the issue of classifying business methods and other processes as patentable subject matter broadly and with skepticism. Counsel for petitioner argued that the Court's decision in Diamond v. Diehr [opinion text], which held that a physical process controlled by a computer was patentable, contains language about non-patentable subject matter that confirms the patentability of business methods. Justice Stevens was interested in the opinion of the late Judge Rich on the matter, to which petitioner's counsel responded by pointing out that the esteemed patent jurist wrote for the Federal Circuit in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. [opinion text], approving the patent eligibility of a data processing system for implementing a hub and spoke investment system. One of the problems with the current transformation test, counsel argued, is that "it would exclude some valuable inventions that I think everyone would agree are technological under any test." Counsel referred to important patents from the past, such as Samuel Morse's patent [materials] for using his encoded alphabet in connection with telegraphy, that might not survive the Federal Circuit's current test. Counsel for respondent asked for narrow relief as opposed to a broad ruling on process patents generally.

[JURIST] The trial of Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] party treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-nominee Roy Bennett [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] began Monday, but was adjourned until Wednesday to allow Judge Chinembiri Bhunu to make a decision regarding the admissibility of evidence. Bennett's defense lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, asked the court to prohibit evidence obtained from the attorney general's main witness, Mike Hitschmann, alleging he was tortured by officials [MDC press release] and did not implicate Bennett during his own trial. The attorney general countered that the defense's outline breached court regulations [SW Radio Africa report]. Bhunu is expected to rule on both parties' arguments when the trial resumes on Wednesday.

Bennett's trial was delayed [JURIST report] in October to allow counsel more time to develop a defense. Bennett faces charges [CNN report] under Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act [materials] for unlawfully possessing weapons and provoking others "to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage." The weapons charges involve a possible death sentence. Bennett was originally arrested on weapons charges in February, and was later released [JURIST reports] on bail in March. Bennett was then re-arrested [Reuters report] on the same charges in October, only to be released on bail again. Bennett was originally sought for questioning [JURIST report] in relation to similar allegations in 2006, but he had been seeking asylum in South Africa until recently [IOL report]. Treason charges against him were dropped [Times report] in favor of the terrorism and other charges. Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had nominated Bennett to be deputy agriculture minister.

[JURIST] Some 50,000 people marched in Buenos Aires on Saturday in support of gay pride and to encourage the timely approval of legislation set to legalize same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive]. Argentina's Parliament [official website, in Spanish] is currently debating [El Mundo report, in Spanish] the matter of same-sex marriage for the first time. Before the parliament are two proposals that seek to modify numerous laws in the nation's Civil Code [text, in Spanish] that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A bill [text, in Spanish] proposed by lawmaker Vilma Ibarra [official website, in Spanish] seeks to establish that all references to the institution of marriage in the Civil Code refer equally to homosexual and heterosexual marriages. The second bill [text, in Spanish], signed by many lawmakers, seeks to define marriage as a union between couples of the opposite sex or the same sex, and additionally stipulates that all married couples without exception should be afforded the right to adopt.

Buenos Aires became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex unions in 2002, and was later followed by four other Argentine cities. Same-sex unions are also currently recognized in Mexico City, and some Brazilian states. Uruguay remains the only Latin American country that has nationally legalized same-sex unions. Uruguay has since expanded the rights given to same-sex couples by passing a law earlier this year allowing same-sex couples to adopt [JURIST report]. Canada [JURIST report] is the only American nation to have legalized same-sex marriage, and Spain [JURIST report] is the only nation in the Spanish-speaking world to have done the same. Both nations legalized gay marriage in 2005.

[JURIST] A letter [text, PDF] from a Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee, made public Monday, alleges that conditions at the prison have worsened for detainees a year after the election of US President Barack Obama [official website]. Abdul Rahman Shalabi wrote the letter [Al Jazeera report] in September, describing his declining physical condition. Last week, independent medical experts Dr. Sondra Crosby and Dr. Emily A. Keram [reports, PDF], submitted declarations to the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] regarding Shalabi's health. Both doctors confirmed that the detainee is in need of immediate medical assistance. Shalabi wrote:

I am Sick, I am Sick, what should I do, the pain is severe, and headache is severe, my nose is having inflammation, so what should I do. I am in the hospital, if the doctor is unable to make a decision or manage the hospital, so who can do that. There are provocations, and harassment that continue day and night. ... Note: Last time they measured my weight, it was (108) pounds. My weight has dropped from sadness and provocations, daily humiliations and harassments [sic] and the sickness.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday denied [order, PDF] a stay of execution for convicted DC-area sniper John Allen Muhammad [BBC profile], clearing the way for his scheduled execution [JURIST report] on Tuesday. Muhammad had filed an application for stay of execution as well as a petition for certiorari [texts, PDF] last week. The Court denied both the stay application and the petition for certiorari. Justice John Paul Stevens filed an opinion dissenting from the denial of a temporary stay, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor:

This case highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded. Under our normal practice, Muhammad's timely petition for certiorari would have been reviewed at our Conference on November 24, 2009. Virginia has scheduled his execution for November 10, however, so we must resolve the petition on an expedited basis unless we grant a temporary stay. By denying Muhammad's stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter — involving a death row inmate — that demands the most careful attention. ...

I continue to believe that the Court would be wise to adopt a practice of staying all executions scheduled in advance of the completion of our review of a capital defendant's first application for a federal writ of habeas corpus. Such a practice would give meaningful effect to the distinction Congress has drawn between first and successive habeas petitions. It would also serve the interests of avoiding irreversible error, facilitating the efficient management of our docket, and preserving basic fairness by ensuring death row in-mates receive the same procedural safeguards that ordinary inmates receive.

[JURIST] Canadian prosecutors announced Saturday that a Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder] suspect has been charged under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [text, PDF]. Jacques Mungwarere, arrested [Ottawa Citizen report] Friday by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) [official website], is only the second person to be charged under the law. Mungwarere claimed asylum in Canada in 2001, but never obtained Canadian citizenship. The investigation into Mungwarere's potential involvement in the genocide began in 2003. The War Crimes Section [official website] of the RCMP made several trips to Rwanda and the US in an effort to put together their case against Mungwarere. Lawyers from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada [official website] will prosecute Mungwarere.

The first man charged under the act was Desire Munyaneza [Trial Watch profile]. In October, he was sentenced to life imprisonment [JURIST report] for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. Munyaneza was convicted [JURIST report] in May of seven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the act. He was arrested [JURIST report] in 2005 by the RCMP after a five-year investigation. The trial, which was briefly postponed [JURIST report] after Munyaneza was beaten by a fellow prison inmate, lasted two years and included evidence from multiple nations. International legal observers expect Munyaneza's trial to set precedent for future war crimes litigation.

[JURIST] The Chinese government has executed nine people sentenced to death for their role in the July Xinjiang riots [JURIST news archive], state media reported [text, in Chinese] Monday. The report indicated that the individuals were executed "according to the law" after their sentences were approved by the Supreme People's Court [official website, in Chinese] but did not provide further details such as the date of the executions or the ethnicity of the deceased. Last month, the Higher People's Court of Xinjiang upheld the sentences, handed down on October 12 and October 15 [JURIST reports], ruling that the sentences were appropriate and supported by sufficient evidence. The nine were convicted of murder, assault, arson, and robbery during July's violent demonstrations that left 200 people dead and many more injured. Also Monday, Chinese prosecutors charged 20 additional suspects [Xinhua report] with murder, arson, robbery, intentional injury, and explosion for their roles during the riots.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has criticized [JURIST report] the trials for failing to meet Chinese and international fairness and due process standards. The advocacy group claims that the government violated both Chinese law and international standards by failing to announce the trials and closing the proceedings to international journalists and observers. HRW has also claimed that more than 40 Uighur men have disappeared [JURIST report] since being detained by Chinese security forces. In early July, violence broke out [NYT report] in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province, between Han Chinese and Uighur residents. The Muslim Uighur population is opposed [BBC backgrounder] to China's restrictive bans on religious practice and says that the recent influx of Han Chinese has disenfranchised non-Chinese-speaking Uighurs.

[JURIST] Iran’s prosecutor general Abbas Jafari Dolat-Abadi said Monday that the three American hikers arrested in July for illegally entering Iran are being charged with espionage [IRNA report]. In statements to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Dolat-Abadi further declared that the investigation of the American citizens' charges has begun and the state of their case will soon be announced. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official website], who met with the families of the hikers last week, responded [transcript] Monday that she believes that there is no evidence to support any of the charges, urging the Iranian government to exercise compassion and release the hikers. The Americans, Shane Bauer, Sara Shourd, and Joshua Fattal, who possessed Iraqi and Syrian visas, were arrested [JURIST report] for illegally entering Iran near the city of Marivan at the Malakh Khor border. Their families maintain that they had accidentally crossed the border while backpacking through northern Iraq, while an Iraqi police officer reported that the three backpackers were linked [PressTV report] to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website]. Dolat-Abadi also said Monday that the Danish journalist arrested last week is still under investigation. Niels Kroghsgaard allegedly introduced [FNS report] himself as a reporter but held no evidence of proof.

In September, media workers and reformists urged [JURIST report] Dolat-Abadi to remove bans placed on newspapers and to free journalists who were imprisoned during the term of his predecessor, Saeed Mortazavi [JURIST news archive]. In May, Iran released [JURIST report] convicted US journalist Roxana Saberi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Saberi, a dual US-Iran citizen, was originally arrested for illegally purchasing alcohol and was later sentenced to eight years in prison [JURIST report] on espionage charges. In 2007, Iran charged Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh and media correspondent Parnaz Azima with allegedly engaging in an espionage conspiracy [JURIST report]. Tajbakhsh and Azima, along with two other Iranian-Americans, were originally accused of being part of a US-organized spy network. The Committee to Protect Journalists [advocacy website] reported last year that Iran ranked sixth [report text] in the world for imprisoned journalists.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Parliament [official website, in Arabic] passed a controversial election law amendment [text, in Arabic] on Sunday, paving the way for January elections as mandated by the Iraqi Constitution [text, PDF]. The new law addresses two issues that were the cause of an impasse [JURIST report]. The amended law calls for open lists that name the candidates, not just their parties. It also gives the UN authority to take part in overseeing voting regulations in the oil-rich city and province of Kirkuk [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], where the return of displaced Kurds has created disputed population and voter registration records. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [official website] called [press release, in Arabic] the passage of the election law a "historic victory of the will of the people." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] welcomed the agreement [press release], calling the elections "a crucial opportunity to advance national reconciliation and contribute to Iraq’s political progress." US President Barack Obama [official website] called [press release] the agreement "an important milestone as the Iraqi people continue to take responsibility for their future." Elections are unlikely [CNN report] to take place before the planned date of January 16, but will happen by January 31.

Last week, an official from the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission [official website] called for a delay [JURIST report] of the January 16 parliamentary elections because of the impasse over updating the election law. A delay could have had an effect on the Obama administration's troop withdrawal plan. US military commanders planned to start withdrawing troops depending on the outcome of a draft bill approved [JURIST report] by the Iraqi Cabinet that would require a referendum on the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [text, PDF], which allows US troops to remain in the country until the end of 2011. Under the proposed bill, which must still be approved by the Iraqi Parliament, the referendum was supposed to occur during the January 16 elections. If the SOFA were rejected by Iraqi voters, US troops would have only one year to withdraw [Washington Post report], which would result in a January 2011 withdrawal - nearly a year ahead of schedule. No parliamentary vote on the bill has been scheduled.

[JURIST] The current and former leaders of Madagascar reached a transitional power-sharing agreement on Saturday. According to the agreement, President Andry Rajoelina [official profile, in French] will now share power with representatives of the parties of ousted president Marc Ravalomanana [BBC profile] and former president Albert Zafy. The agreement came out of meetings [materials, PDF, in French] in Addis Abeba and is to be in accord with the Maputo agreements [materials, in French] reached earlier this year. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official website] welcomed [UN News Centre report] the deal and urged the leaders to speedily inaugurate the new transitional government, which is to be in power until elections are held next year.

The power-sharing deal comes in spite of Ravalomanana being convicted of misusing state funds [JURIST report] in June of this year. Although members of the African Union [official website] declared it unconstitutional, the high court approved the installment of Rajoelina in March of this year, after Ravalomanana resigned [BBC report] and handed power to the military. Supporters of Ravalomanana were arrested [JURIST report] and accused of inciting disorder and ordering [BBC report] soldiers to open fire on protesters.

[JURIST] El Salvador government officials agreed on Friday to a state investigation into the death of Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero [BBC backgrounder], shot and killed in 1980. The announcement of the investigation [El Pais report, in Spanish] comes nearly a decade after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [official website] first recommended an inquiry into the murder. El Salvador has put off an investigation for years claiming that its amnesty laws enacted in 1993 prevent any investigation [JURIST report] into illegal acts committed during the 1980-1992 civil war [PBS backgrounder].

Romero was assassinated by a death squad while saying mass in San Salvador. An outspoken critic of the military junta, his death is viewed as one of the catalysts of the war, which left more than 70,000 people dead. In 2004, a federal court in the US held Alvaro Saravia liable [CJA case backgrounder] for Romero's murder and ordered him to pay $10 million in damages to the archbishop's family. While other suits have been brought [JURIST report] against former Salvadoran state agents in US courts, human rights groups contend that the amnesty laws [ISP report] have undermined the rule of law and led to impunity in El Salvador. Other Latin American countries have recently overturned similar amnesty laws including Uruguay and Argentina [JURIST reports].