JURIST - Paper Chase: Friday, March 11, 2011

[JURIST] US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) [official website], along with five cosponsors, introduced legislation Thursday that would prohibit funding for civilian trials of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees and place restrictions on the transfer of detainees to foreign countries. The Military Detainee Procedures Improvement Act of 2011 [S 551 materials] would require "greater scrutiny on the security situation and ability of the host country to monitor a detainee" after transfer from Guantanamo. It also purports to "[r]eaffirm[] the President's authority to detain members of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and affiliated terrorist groups based on the authority granted by Congress in the Authorization for Use of Military Force." The legislation would require members of terrorists groups affiliated with al Qaeda and the Taliban [CFR backgrounders] to be held in military custody when captured, would impose restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees to other countries and would require annual review of whether detainees can be released. The bill would also establish "the authority [for the President] to target and take lethal action against individuals" such as Anwar al-Awlaki [NYT profile; JURIST news archive]. Awlaki, a dual US-Yemeni citizen, has been approved for targeting killing by the Obama administration, an action that has been challenged based on Awlaki's US citizenship [JURIST report]. Explaining the reasons for the bill [press release], McCain said:

This much-needed legislation would improve our current ad hoc military detention system for members of al-Qaeda and their affiliated terrorist groups, by enacting these policies and procedures firmly into law. Our legislation addresses difficult detainee issues, including long-term detention and carefully controlled transfers, emphasizing supervision, security, rehabilitation, and reintegration, so former detainees do not return to the battlefield - as approximately 25 percent of detainees released from Guantanamo have done.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee [official website].

On Monday, President Barack Obama issued an executive order allowing the resumption of military commissions [JURIST report] for Guantanamo detainees. New charges in the military commission system had been suspended since shortly after Obama took office in 2009. Monday's order also establishes a procedure for establishing a review process for detainees who have not been charged, convicted or designated for transfer. In March 2010, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Martin Scheinin [official website] urged the administration to abandon military commissions, calling the system "fatally flawed" and beyond hope of reform [JURIST report]. The number of detainees at Guantanamo has been significantly reduced as the administration continues to transfer detainees to a growing list of countries including Germany, Italy, Spain, Maldives, Georgia, Albania, Latvia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Somaliland, Palau, Belgium, Afghanistan and Bermuda [JURIST reports].

[JURIST] Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) [official website] on Friday signed legislation [text, PDF] limiting the collective bargaining rights of state employees, ending a three-week stalemate over the issue. The bill requires state employees to contribute a percentage of their salaries to their pension and health care premiums, and eliminates the ability of public employee union members to collectively negotiate anything but wage increases, which would be capped by the Consumer Price Index. The legislation is an amended version of SB 11 [text, PDF], a fiscal proposal by Walker which sparked intense nationwide legal and political controversy over provisions limiting the collective bargaining rights of state workers. The controversy deepened when the 14 Democrats of the state Senate left the state in order to deny the Republican majority the required quorum to pass a budget item. The amended legislation purports to have removed the budget elements [WP report] of SB 11, leaving only the provisions affecting collective bargaining rights and requiring employee payments into pension and health benefits, allowing the Senate to vote on it without the 14 Democrats present. The legislation was passed by the State Legislature [official website] on Thursday with a vote of 53-42 in the Assembly and 18-1 in the Senate. The procedure used to pass the bill has already faced a challenge [complaint, PDF] in state court under the Open Meeting Law [Wis. Stat. § 19.81-19.98], which requires that a 24-hour public notice be given for public meetings. Plaintiffs also alleged that the bill still contained fiscal provisions requiring the three-fifths quorum denied in the Democrats' absence. The judge denied the requested restraining order [Journal Sentinel report] and ordered further hearings on March 16.

The provisions limiting bargaining rights incensed unions and their supporters, sparking protests which have been ongoing since February 15, when SB 11 was introduced to address the state's $3.6 billion deficit. Earlier this month, a Wisconsin judge ruled that the state capitol building must remain open [JURIST report] to the public during business hours, despite an attempt to close the building to protesters who had occupied it as part of a protest against the proposed restrictions on collective bargaining. The Wisconsin State Employees Union Council 24 (WSUE) [advocacy website] filed the petition earlier in the day in reaction to Walker ordering the capitol building closed and removing protesters.

[JURIST] The war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] concluded Friday leaving judges in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] to deliberate on the verdict. The prosecution gave its closing arguments [BBC report] where it said Taylor was an intelligent many who had fooled many people and relied on fooling the judges in this case. In its closing arguments, the defense argued that witnesses against Taylor had been rewarded [OSJI report] by the court for their participation in the trial. The defense noted that all international tribunals reimburse witnesses for reasonable expenses related to their participation but argued that it appeared the witnesses against Taylor had actually profited making their testimony unreliable. The defense pointed to payments of some witnesses for "appreciation" as an example that witnesses were given gifts for providing evidence. Taylor has argued that the charges against him are politically motivated. The judges adjourned to deliberate on the verdict, which is expected to take several months. Taylor could face life imprisonment if convicted.

The closing arguments, which were originally set to begin last month, had been postponed pending an appeals chamber decision to accept the defense's final written brief [JURIST reports] after the trial chamber disregarded the brief because it was 20 days late. Taylor has denied [JURIST report] the charges [indictment, PDF] against him, which include murder, rape, sexual slavery and acts of terrorism stemming from from a "campaign to terrorize the civilian population" of Sierra Leone [JURIST news archive]. Taylor's defense lawyers opened their case [JURIST report] in July 2009 and have claimed that he could not have commanded rebel forces in Sierra Leone while acting as the president of Liberia. His trial continued after the court denied his motion for acquittal [JURIST report] in May 2009.

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] on Thursday urged [letter, PDF; press release] the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] to take action against the government of Puerto Rico [BBC backgrounder] for alleged civil rights violations. In a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, the ACLU asked the DOJ to conclude its investigation into rights abuses reported [text, PDF] by the ACLU of Puerto Rico [advocacy website] since 2008 and publish a report of its findings. It also urged the DOJ to intervene to provide remedies to end the alleged police abuses which include: violence against student protestors; the fabrication of drug-related charges against over a 100 individuals in the city of Mayaguez; the violent and inhumane eviction of members of the Villas del Sol squatter community, including the denial of fresh water to the community for eight months; and actions the de-certification of the Puerto Rico Bar Association [official website, in Spanish] and other actions to stifle dissent. The letter continued:

Clearly, these allegations raise troubling questions about the Puerto Rican government's commitment to the human rights of its citizens and the First Amendment's protections of freedom of assembly, expression and the right to petition the government. We hope that DOJ will soon conclude its investigation and intervene into these unconstitutional practices.

The ACLU also expressed concerns over actions by the administration of Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno (R) [official website, in Spanish]. Since he took office in 2009, the ACLU alleges that police have reacted violently to protests against the closure of legislative sessions to the public despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary and student protests against fee increases at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) [academic website, in Spanish]. Residents of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated US territory, are US citizens and have the same federal First Amendment and due process [Cornell LII backgrounders] rights in relation to the island's government as a mainland US citizen would have against a state government.

Last week, US Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) [official website] reiterated his earlier criticism [statement text] of the actions of the Puerto Rico government and entered the ACLU report into the Congressional Record. During his earlier statement, Gutierrez also criticized a ruling of Chief Judge Jose Fuste of the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico [official website], who he alleged to be complicit in the rights abuses [statement text] by the Fortuno administration. Puerto Rico has faced several major protests in recent years [El Nuevo Dia report, in Spanish] as students and state workers demonstrate against government policies which have seen significant cuts in funding to UPR and reductions in the state workforce. The cuts were part of an attempt to reduce a $2 billion budget deficit. Following the cuts to the university, UPR students engaged in a strike [NYT report] after it was announced that new student fees would be used to fill the budget shortfall.