[JURIST] Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) [official website] on Friday signed into law [press release, PDF] a controversial bill [SB1070 materials] that would require any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrant to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. The bill gives police officers permission to determine the immigration status of any individual who arouses reasonable suspicion, criminalizes the hiring of illegal immigrants for day labor, and allows citizens to sue the local government if they believe the policy is not being used properly. Brewer signed the bill despite criticism [JURIST report] from US President Barack Obama earlier in the day that the measure, "threaten[s] to undermine basic notions of fairness." The bill will take effect in 90 days.

The bill was approved earlier this month by the Arizona Senate and the House of Representatives [JURIST reports]. Earlier this week, Brewer announced a new Arizona border security plan [press release; AP report], and declared her support for a 10-point plan [press release] supported by US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) [official profiles]. In 2008, Arizona voters defeated a ballot measure [JURIST report] dealing with illegal immigrants. The initiative would have revoked the business licenses of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Arizona is the most active border crossing point in the US.

[JURIST] Officials from the UK Ministry of Justice [official website] announced Friday that the government will award compensation to Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian-born UK man wrongfully detained in the wake of the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. Raissi was jailed in September 2001 on a US extradition warrant after being indicted by a federal grand jury on accusations that he provided pilot training to 9/11 hijackers. In February 2008, the UK Appeals Court ordered [judgment text] the Ministry to consider Raissi's appeal for compensation, reversing a 2007 High Court ruling [JURIST report] that he was ineligible for compensation because his detention stemmed from an extradition order. The Appeals Court held that the issue of extradition is not relevant to the question of compensation so long as it still results in a miscarriage of justice by UK courts. Last month, the Appeals Court gave Justice Secretary Jack Straw [official profile] 28 days [judgment text] to decide whether to compensate Raissi. An independent assessor will now determine the amount of the award, which some expect to be several thousand pounds.

Raissi was arrested naked in his home with his wife and brother on September 21, 2001. He was granted conditional bail [BBC report] five months later because the US government was unable to adduce any evidence to support its allegations. He sought compensation under a government scheme allowing payment to any "person whose convictions are quashed on appeal or who, following charge, have not been proceeded against or have been acquitted of crime at trial."

[JURIST] US federal prosecutors have charged [press release] a group of 11 suspected Somali pirates [JURIST news archive] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website], according to indictments unsealed Friday. The US District Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] filed separate charges against two different groups of suspected pirates. Charges [indictment, PDF] were filed against a group of six alleged pirates who were captured by the USS Nicholas [Navy press release] in late March, and separate charges [indictment, PDF] were filed against the other five who were captured by the USS Ashland [Thaindian News report] earlier this month. The US government is prosecuting the suspects for conspiring to commit and committing various offenses [AP report], including piracy and attack with the intent to plunder a vessel, noting that "the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to make money by means of piracy on the high seas."

Earlier this week, a US government official said that at least five accused Somali pirates would face charges in the US [JURIST report]. In the beginning of April, Kenyan Foreign Minister Minister Moses Wetangula said that Kenya will no longer accept Somalian pirate cases [JURIST report] to be tried in its courts. In January, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) [official website] reported that 2009 marked the worst year for maritime piracy [JURIST report] in six years. The information indicated that the total reported incidents of piracy reached 406, surpassing 400 for the first time since 2003. In November, Somali judge Mohamed Abdi Aware, known for jailing suspected pirates, human traffickers, and Islamist insurgents, was shot dead [JURIST report] while leaving a mosque in the Puntland city of Bossaso.

[JURIST] The International Whaling Commission (IWC) [official website] unveiled a draft proposal [text, PDF; press release, PDF] Thursday that would make limited commercial whaling legal for the first time in 25 years. The proposal reflects a compromise for the countries that engage in whaling despite international law against it. Japan, Norway, and Iceland would be allowed to continue under strict quotas meant to reduce whaling to sustainable levels over time. Japan, which defends its illegal whaling by claiming an exemption for scientific purposes, will have its self-imposed quota for minke whales reduced [AP report] from 935 to 400 for the 2010 season and down to 200 by 2015. The hunting of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere is still prohibited, but the proposal allows for a limited number in the North Atlantic. The proposal addresses the fact that the overall ban on whaling has been ineffective:

The status quo is not an option for an effective multilateral organisation. To overcome the present impasse, the IWC has in recent years recognised the need to create a non-confrontational environment within which issues of fundamental difference amongst members can be discussed with a view to their resolution. Reconciliation of differences in views about whales and whaling will strengthen actions related to the common goal of maintaining healthy whale populations and maximizing the likelihood of the recovery of depleted populations.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official website] on Thursday expressed opposition to a pending Arizona bill [SB 1070 materials] that would require any individual suspected of being an illegal immigrant to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. In remarks [text] delivered at a naturalization ceremony, Obama stated that failure to enact federal immigration reform has given rise to laws such as the one under consideration in Arizona:

Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] on Thursday ordered [judgment text; press release] Azerbaijan's government to "secure the immediate release" of imprisoned Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatuallyev and pay him over 25,000 euros in compensation. Fatuallyev has been imprisoned since April 2007 and was convicted in Azerbaijan of committing defamation and tax evasion and inciting terror and religious and ethnic hatred. International organizations, including Amnesty International (AI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders [statements], have insisted that the charges against Fatullayev are spurious. The ECHR ruled that Fatullayev's conviction and 8.5 year prison sentence contravene Article 10, Freedom of Speech and Information, and Article 6, Right to a Fair Trial, of the European Convention on Human Rights [text, PDF]. Azerbaijan's Representative to the European Rights Court Chingiz Asgarov said, however, that the court's directive to release Fatuallyev is outside the purview [Trend interview, in Azeri] of both the European Convention on Human Rights and Azerbaijan's legislation. Azerbaijan is planning to request that the Grand Chamber review the decision [APA interview, in Azeri], according to Azerbaijan Presidential Administration Law Enforcement Department Chief Fuad Alesgarov. At the end of last year, heroin was allegedly found [RFE/RL report] in Fatuallyev's prison cell, and he is currently on trial for possession of drugs - charges that many feel are intended to prolong [CPJ statement] the journalist's detention despite the ECHR decision in his favor.

In 2009, Fatuallyev received, in absentia, one of CPJ's prestigious International Press Freedom Awards [press release; video]. In the same year, he also received AI's Award for Journalism Under Threat [BBC report]. Fatuallyev, who was editor-in-chief of Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azerbaijan newspapers until his imprisonment, formerly worked with well-known Azeri journalist Elmar Huseynov [BBC backgrounder] on the Monitor magazine until Huseynov was murdered [BBC report] in 2005. CPJ reported recently that Fatuallyev's imprisonment could be related to his attempts to solve [report] his colleague's murder. Azerbaijan's incumbent president Ilham Aliyev has been accused by members of the press of heavy-handed repression of the media [JURIST report]. The ECHR's ruling on Fatullayev's case is one of several decisions that the court has issued against Azerbaijan this month. The court also recently found that the country violated [JURIST report] a parliamentary candidate's right to free and fair elections during the 2005 elections.

[JURIST] A top Chinese official on Thursday appealed [Xinhua report] to the nation's judges, urging them to be impartial when issuing rulings. Speaking in front of a national meeting of high court presidents in the Shaanxi Province [official website,], Central Committee of the Communist Party of China [official website] official Zhou Yongkang [Xinhua profile] stressed the importance of fair and honest justice in order to build a country ruled by law. President of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official website] Wang Shengjun [Sina profile, in Chinese] agreed with Zhou's sentiments, contending that reform of the judiciary will contribute to social justice.

The Chinese government has recently focused attention on ridding corruption [JURIST news archive] in official channels. Last week, a Chinese Intermediate People's Court in Chongqing sentenced [JURIST report] a former deputy police chief and high-ranking judicial official to death for accepting bribes, protecting criminal gangs, rape, and being unable to justify his large amount of personal assets. In March, the Hebei Province People's High Court upheld a life sentence for former SPC vice president Huang Songyou, who had been convicted [JURIST reports] of bribery and embezzlement. Earlier that month, Wang called for increased efforts to fight corruption [JURIST report] in the country's court system. In January, the SPC announced new anti-corruption rules [JURIST report] in an effort to increase public confidence in the rule of law. In October, two Chongqing courts sentenced [JURIST report] six individuals to death for their connections with organized crime gangs.

[JURIST] A military appeals court on Thursday reversed [opinion, PDF] the conviction of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III for the 2006 killing of an Iraqi civilian, citing lack of a fair trial. In an 8-1 decision, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] ruled that the departure of one of Hutchins's primary attorneys shortly before the court-martial [JURIST news archive] began resulted in an unfair trial. The ruling makes it possible that Hutchins may be restored [AP report] to his prior rank, which was reduced to private following his conviction. The Navy JAG Corps [official website] may appeal the decision within 30 days.

Hutchins was serving an 11-year sentence, reduced from 15 years [JURIST report], for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania [USMC materials; JURIST news archive]. He was convicted [JURIST report] in 2007 of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. Six Marines pled guilty [JURIST report] to charges related to their roles in the incident, which involved Awad being removed from his residence and killed, then arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he were planting an improvised explosive device.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama [official website] on Thursday called for new financial regulations [text], outlining the major components of his proposal. Answering critics who claim that the reforms will increase bailouts, Obama compared the concept behind the proposed financial reforms to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)[official website], a government program he says protects confidence in the banking system and protects consumers while eliminating the need for ad hoc bailouts when banks become insolvent. According to Obama, the reform will contain four central elements: the Volcker Rule to limit the size of banks and the risks allowable, transparency to expose the underlying risk in complex financial instruments, consumer protections to combat predatory lending, and increases in shareholder power to give investors input on executive salaries and bonuses. Obama argued that new financial reforms are vital to the future of the US economy:

In the end, our system only works - our markets are only free - when there are basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excesses, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system. And that is what the reforms we've been proposing are designed to achieve - no more, no less.

[JURIST] A Shangai court ruled Thursday that a Chinese insurance company is liable to software company Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive] for using illegal copies of its products, ordering the insurance company to pay Microsoft USD $318,000 in damages. The $318,000 awarded against Dazhong Insurance is the largest amount of damages [People's Daily report] ever ordered by a Chinese court in a software piracy suit. This was Microsoft's first major anti-piracy lawsuit in China, where last November a court ruled that Microsoft had infringed on intellectual property [JURIST report] of a Chinese company.

Microsoft has been a party to many legal proceedings outside the US in recent years. In December, the European Commission (EC) [official website] reached a settlement [JURIST report] with Microsoft over claims that it violated European anti-trust laws by packing its Internet Explorer web browser with new copies of Windows. Last September, the Seoul Central District Court found Microsoft in violation [JURIST report] of South Korea's antitrust laws for bundling software programs with its Windows operating system. The court found the company's bundling practice to be in violation of fair competition rules and disruptive to the market. This was the second suit within a few months in which Microsoft was found liable for breach of South Korean antitrust laws. This was the second suit within a few months in which Microsoft was found liable for breach of South Korean antitrust laws. Last June, the same court ruled that Microsoft violated antitrust laws [JURIST report] by packaging software with its Windows operating system, also dismissing requests for damages from two Korean software firms on the grounds that the damages were not sufficiently linked to Microsoft's conduct.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] announced Thursday that it will appeal last week's ruling [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the National Day of Prayer [official website] is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. The DOJ filed a notice of appeal [WSJ report] Thursday with the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin [official website], where last week Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the day of prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment [text] because it is more than "acknowledgment" of religion, but rather government-backed encouragement that Americans engage in non-secular activity. Crabb granted summary judgment for the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) [advocacy website], but the White House has said that President Barack Obama still intends to recognize the day of prayer on May 6.

Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled that a teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance [JURIST report] in public schools does not violate the Constitution's Establishment Clause. The court also upheld the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on currency. In November, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] ruled that a school district's policy prohibiting the performance of religious holiday songs [JURIST report] does not violate the Establishment Clause. Also that month, a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina [official website] ruled that license plates [JURIST report] produced by the state bearing a picture of a cross in front of a stained glass window and the words "I Believe" violate the Constitution.

[JURIST] Chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] Luis Moreno Ocampo [official profile] has asked judges to report Sudan to the UN Security Council [official website] for failing to comply with arrest warrants for two government officials. Ocampo filed the request [text, PDF] Monday for a finding of non-cooperation pursuant to Article 87 of the Rome Statute [text] for the government's refusal to arrest Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb [arrest warrants, PDF]. The request stated that Sudan has a binding legal obligation to fully cooperate with the court, as mandated by UN Security Counsel Resolution 1593 [text, PDF], and has repeatedly refused to do so since the warrants were issued in 2007. The request went on to say "[t]o the contrary, the [government of Sudan] continues to commit crimes, promotes and protects the persons sought by the Court; and harasses all persons who are considered to be in favor of justice." Sudan, which is not a permanent member of the ICC, refuses to recognize the court's jurisdiction, stating that "the International Criminal Court has no place in this crisis at all." Harun and Kushayb are wanted for 51 counts [case materials] of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has also eluded a warrant issued last year for his arrest. Last month, the president of the ICC said that Bashir will eventually face justice [JURIST report] in The Hague. Speaking in London before the UK House of Commons [official website], Judge Sang-Hyun Song [official profile] addressed controversy [JURIST news archive] surrounding the ICC arrest warrant [JURIST report] issued one year ago stating that "judges cannot and will not take political considerations into account."Responding to questions, Song went on to compare the al-Bashir warrant with the successful surrender of Slobodan Milosevic [Guardian obituary; JURIST news archive] and Charles Taylor [case materials; JURIST news archive] to the international criminal tribunals.