JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, November 21, 2010

[JURIST] US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) [official website] stalled a bill on Friday that would allow the federal government to block websites allegedly participating in copyright infringement. The Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeit Act (COICA) [text, PDF] aims to discourage Internet sites dedicated to infringement activities by allowing the Attorney General to petition for injunctive relief against such sites found in both domestic and international domains. Wyden objects to the bill because of the powers it gives the government, powers that the Senator feels may result in internet censorship [San Francisco Chronicle report]. If Senator Wyden is successful in stalling the bill until 2011, it will have to be resubmitted to the Senate [official website] for further consideration.

The COICA was easily approved [JURIST report] with a 19-0 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday and has been hailed by the entertainment industry. Conversely, digital rights groups are strongly opposed to the bill, comparing the proposed restrictions to similar Internet restrictions [JURIST news archive] in Turkey and China. The COICA is part of the US initiative to discourage copyright infringement activities and infringement of other intellectual property rights. In October, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) [official website] and other participating countries released [JURIST report] a draft [text, PDF] of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) [USTR backgrounder], an international pact to defend intellectual property rights from counterfeit and piracy. The draft was released after three years [JURIST report] and 10 rounds of negotiations among the ACTA parties. Notably, China, a source of many of the world's counterfeit goods, is not a participant [Reuters report] in the agreement or discussions.

[JURIST] The Afghanistan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) [official website] on Sunday disqualified 21 candidates who had participated in September's parliamentary elections [IEC backgrounder] for electoral fraud. The ECC disqualified the candidates after finding widespread irregularities [Al Jazeera report] in the voting in 12 provinces. Of the disqualified candidates, 19 had either won or were leading in their districts, seven of which were incumbents and two were second place finishers in districts where the first place finisher was also disqualified. The disqualified candidates comprise almost one-tenth of those elected to the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga [official website], the Afghan Assembly. According to the ECC, the candidates do not have a right to appeal [AFP report] the decision. With the disqualification of the 21 candidates, it is expected that the ECC will certify the election results within days.

While the ECC has disqualified candidates, the body and the Independent Election Commission face charges of possible voter fraud [JURIST report]. The IEC was responsible for investigating complaints of voter fraud in the country, and is accused of tampering with the results. The Attorney General's office expressed concern that the IEC did not provide sufficient reason for last month's invalidation of 1.3 million votes [JURIST report], constituting nearly one-fourth of the 5.6 million votes cast nationwide. Following the disputed 2009 presidential election [JURIST news archive], the ECC invalidated results from 210 polling stations [JURIST report] and found clear and convincing evidence of fraud. In April, Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, blamed foreign officials for the extensive irregularities [JURIST report] that occurred during the presidential election.

[JURIST] The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals [official website] on Friday stayed proceedings against a soldier charged in the death of an Afghan civilian in January. The stay was granted in the case of Private First Class Andrew Holmes of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and allows time for the prosecution and defense to argue over the release of sealed photographs [Seattle Times report]. Holmes was charged in June along with Specialist Jeremy Morlock [JURIST report] and three others in relation to the death of an Afghan civilian who was shot in January in Kandahar province. The prosecution alleges that Holmes and the others murdered the man and attempted to make it appear as if he were an enemy combatant. The stay request came during an Article 32 hearing [10 USC § 832], which will determine if the government has enough evidence to proceed to a court-martial. The photographs, reported to depict Holmes and others posing with the man's body, have been sealed due to concerns that they would incite opposition forces in Afghanistan. The defense claims that the photographs show [AP report] that Holmes did not shoot the man, and argues that refusing to release them violates Holmes' Sixth Amendment right to a public trial [Cornell LII backgrounder]. The court granted the prosecution 20 days to respond to the defense request, and 14 days following that for the reply from the defense. Holmes has maintained his innocence.

In late October the Army announced that Morlock would undergo a court-martial [JURIST report] for his role in the death of the Afghan civilian. The Criminal Investigation Division investigation into that civilian death was announced in May [JURIST report]. The investigation was the latest into a number of incidents involving US soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In April, a military appeals court reversed the conviction [JURIST report] of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III for the 2006 killing of an Iraqi civilian, citing lack of a fair trial. In December, former soldier Steven Green appealed his conviction [JURIST report] for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl. Green was sentenced to five consecutive life terms [JURIST report] in September.