[JURIST] Reported hate crimes in the US increased by approximately two percent in 2008, the greatest reported increase since 2001, according to the 2008 Hate Crime Statistics [report; press release] released by the FBI [official website] on Monday. The FBI reported 7,780 single-bias hate crime incidents in 2008, up from the 7,621 reported in 2007 [FBI report; JURIST report]. The FBI noted that the increase does not necessarily reflect an actual rise in incidents, because the number of law agencies participating in the study increased in the last year. Racial discrimination accounted for 51.3 percent of reported hate crimes, a slight increase over the 50.8 percent reported in 2007. Hate crimes motivated by religion also increased slightly while crimes motivated by sexual orientation were reported with approximately the same frequency as in 2007. The only category to show a decrease was in ethnicity- and nationality-based crimes. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) [advocacy website] responded by issuing a statement [press release] calling for "a coordinated campaign to prevent, deter, and respond effectively to criminal violence motivated by bigotry and prejudice."

The report comes one month after President Barack Obama signed [JURIST report] into law a defense appropriations bill containing a measure extending the definition of federal hate crimes to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act [S 909 text], passed the US Senate and House of Representatives [JURIST reports] as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (NDAA) [HR 2647 materials]. Conservative members of Congress in both instances charged that the hate crimes provision was an inappropriate measure to include in a military appropriations bill, while some specifically opposed special protections to victims in those classes.

[JURIST] UK government reports [The Sunday Telegraph materials] leaked on Sunday revealed many shortcomings in the country's involvement in the Iraq War, some possibly rising to the level of illegality. The documents show that the UK's plans for invasion of Iraq began secretly in February 2002 [Telegraph report], while former Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the public by saying there was no planned military action, but rather a plan for disarmament. Notably, the planning began before a UN resolution was endorsed and the materials suggest that the clandestine operation was rushed and lacked coherence. The reports also indicate that the operations were inadequately supplied, stating that some troops went into battle with only five bullets each and noting that the Foreign Office post-war planning unit was not set up until well after the war began. Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price stated [Wales News report] that the UK government should submit itself to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] if its actions are found to be illegal.

In October 2009, a UK High Court criticized the Ministry of Defence for its failure to properly set up an independent inquiry into claims that war crimes had been committed by British soldiers following the so-called "Battle of Danny Boy" [BBC backgrounder] in southern Iraq. The documents were leaked before the Iraq Inquiry [official website] also known as the Chilcot Inquiry due to the management of Sir John Chilcot [Guardian profile], could meet. An open session for the Inquiry is still set for Tuesday, but the report is not expected to be released until the end of 2010. The committee was set up in June 2009 by the prime minister in order to “identify lessons that can be learned from the Iraq conflict.”

[JURIST] The Kenyan Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review [official website] unveiled the initial Harmonized Draft Constitution [text, PDF] last week. The changes are intended [Xinhua report] to reduce the widespread injustice throughout the country, and specifically address issues that led to the violence following the 2007 presidential elections [JURIST news archive]. Following the issuance of the draft, the Kenyan public has one month to review and express concerns to the Committee of Experts. The Committee identified the executive and legislative branches, devolution of powers and bringing the constitution into effect as the most contentious issues [Committee materials]. The draft constitution alters the distribution of power [Daily Nation report] between the president and prime minister, reducing the power currently in the hands of the president, while putting the prime minister in charge of the daily operations of the government.

The allegations of fraud [JURIST report] following the 2007 elections led to violence that caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people and displacement of 500,000 others, and remains a concern in the international community. Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] assigned three judges [JURIST report] to determine whether to allow Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] to initiate a formal investigation into the situation. The investigation may only proceed if Kenya does not conduct its own probe, which it has so far failed to do [JURIST report]. In October, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan [official profile; JURIST news archive] urged [JURIST report] Kenya to establish a local tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the violence.

[JURIST] An Algerian criminal court acquitted former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees Abdulli Feghoul and Terari Mohamed on Sunday, according to the Algerie Presse Service (APS) [state news website, in French]. Feghoul and Mohamed were repatriated [DOD document, PDF; JURIST report] to Algeria in August 2008 after being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for seven years. The Algerian state prosecutor had sought a 20-year sentence against Feghoul and Mohamed for allegedly belonging to a foreign terrorist group. Defense lawyer Farid Abbache stated [AP report] that while the former detainees admitted to be involved in theft and illegal drug trade, they denied any connection with terrorist groups.

Last week, a federal judge ordered the release [JURIST report] of Algerian Guantanamo Bay detainee Farhi Saeed Bin Mohammed. Earlier this month, lawyers for four Uighurs at Guantanamo Bay filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court, challenging an appellate ruling [JURIST reports] that prohibited courts from preventing the transfer of detainees to foreign countries for fear of prosecution or torture. In September, a judge denied [JURIST report] the habeas petition of Algerian detainee Sufiyan Barhoumi. Since the US Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], 30 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been released based on unlawful detention suits.

[JURIST] A lawyer who represented London-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital [firm website] in a suit against Kremlin [official website, in Russian] officials alleging theft and fraud died in Matrosskaya Tishina Detention Center [BBC News report] in Moscow last week. Hermitage CEO William Browder had hired Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to represent him from abroad after Browder was declared a national security threat and denied a visa by the Russian government in 2005. Russian authorities arrested Magnitsky after raiding the offices of Hermitage and Firestone Duncan [firm website], the law firm where Magnitsky worked. Russian officials claim that Magnitsky had conspired with Browder's companies to commit tax fraud, but Browder has since decried the allegations, claiming [London Times backgrounder] that certain Kremlin officials stole company information for their own financial gain. Testifying [transcript, PDF] in front of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) [official website] this summer, Browder stated:

In most countries of the world, the spheres of business executives, government officials and criminals don’t typically overlap. In Russia, these three groups have become essentially indistinguishable. All too often in today’s Russia, there is no contradiction in someone being a business executive, senior government official and crime boss all at the same time.

[JURIST] A Chinese court sentenced human rights activist Huang Qi to three years in prison Monday on the charge of illegally holding state secrets. Huang was a critic [AP report] of the Chinese government's handling of the 2008 earthquake in the Sichuan Province [BBC backgrounder] that killed about 90,000 people. After the quake, he posted articles online criticizing the government's response and talked to foreign media outlets about how some children's deaths were the result of poorly-built schools. Huang was originally detained on June 10, 2008. The human rights group Amnesty International [advocacy website] issued a statement [text] on July 31, 2009 contending that China should drop charges against Huang and free him:

[Huang] will be yet another victim of the Chinese authorities’ use of the extensive, vague, and retroactive state secrets system to penalize lawful rights’ defence activities. [sic]

[JURIST] London's Metropolitan Police Service (Met) [official website] and the family of Jean Charles de Menezes [BBC profile] on Tuesday announced [press release] an end to litigation stemming from de Menezes' death, caused by two Met officers in 2005. No details were given about the compensation awarded to the family:

[I]n view of the physical and mental distress caused to the members of the family by these events and the understandable publicity and press interest, it has been agreed that it is in the best interests of the family that no further statement in relation to this settlement will be made either by them or the Commissioner.

[JURIST] The Afghan attorney general's office announced on Monday that two Afghan cabinet ministers are being questioned on corruption charges. The ministers are suspected of embezzlement [Reuters report] and are among 15 government officials currently under investigation. The announcement came a week after President Hamid Karzai [official profile, JURIST news archive] vowed [JURIST report] in his inaugural address to fight governmental corruption. The identities of the ministers will remain unknown, pursuant to Afghan law, which prohibits the naming of suspects until a conviction is upheld by the Supreme Court [official website]. Despite last week's pledge to fight corruption, Karzai has delayed [Telegraph report] signing the necessary arrest warrants needed to begin an official trial.

The international community, including the US and EU, has applied pressure to Karzai over corruption in the Afghan government. Earlier this month, Karzai announced [BBC report] the formation of a commission to investigate corruption in the same week that Afghanistan was ranked [JURIST report] by Transparency International [advocacy website] as the second most corrupt country in the world. The Obama administration has recently increased pressure on the Afghan government amid a major policy review [New York Times report] of the US war effort. The legitimacy and competence of the Afghan government is seen as a major factor in the deliberations by top US officials. Karzai was declared the winner [JURIST report] of the controversial presidential election [JURIST news archive] earlier this month when challenger Abdullah Abdullah [BBC profile] withdrew from the runoff.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed [opinion, PDF] five civil suits Friday against two Luzerne County, PA judges accused of taking kickbacks in exchange for sentencing juveniles to private detention facilities. Judge Richard Caputo ruled that Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were immune from civil suits for actions they took as judges. Caputo held that § 1983 [text], which provides personal redress for wrongs committed by people acting on behalf of the government, only applies to judges when they act clearly outside of their jurisdiction or when they commit non-judicial acts. Lawyers for the plaintiffs stated that they plan to pursue cases [Scranton Times report] based on non-judicial acts the judges took in executing the scheme.

The judges' alleged actions have provoked calls for change [JURIST commentary] in the judicial system, and have created significant problems for the courts. Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned thousands of cases tried by the two judges, adding to the hundreds convictions of juveniles unrepresented by counsel [JURIST reports] which were overturned in March. The men were indicted in September after withdrawing the guilty pleas [JURIST reports] they entered in February. The withdrawal came after a federal judge rejected their plea agreements, finding that the men did not accept responsibility and that the prison sentences were too lenient [JURIST op-ed]. The two former judges filed a motion to reinstate their agreements, but it was denied, clearing the way for a trial. Robert Powell, the owner of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care juvenile facilities, has pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to both Ciavarella and Conahan.