[JURIST] Sri Lankan military police on Monday arrested defeated opposition presidential candidate and former general Sarath Fonseka. The Sri Lankan Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) announced that Fonseka was arrested "in connection with certain fraudulent acts and other military offences." Fonseka, who orchestrated the successful military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May, unsuccessfully attempted to turn the military campaign to political advantage in January's presidential elections. Last week 37 people, most of them military officers, were arrested in connection to an alleged assassination attempt against current President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled last Tuesday that Rajapaksa's second term will begin in November. The apparent victor in January's elections, Rajapaksa defeated Fonseka by an official margin of 18 points, winning re-election to a second term in office. Fonseka has disputed the results, however, saying violence and vote-counting irregularities invalidated the outcome.

[JURIST] Former Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh has been sentenced to six years in prison for his participation in protesting last year's contested Iranian presidential election, state-run Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported Monday. Aminzadeh was a leading member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and a supporter of Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Moussavi during the June 2009 election. He was an outspoken critic of the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to ISNA, Aminzadeh was convicted by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran of conspiring to disturb security and spreading propaganda. The Iranian government has yet to officially confirm Aminzadeh's sentence. Aminzadeh is one of the highest-ranking opposition officials to be convicted for protesting the highly disputed presidential election. Last month, Iran's Prosecutor-General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei called for sedition trials against leaders of protests following the presidential election. Earlier this month, Fars News Agency reported that Iran will soon execute nine people for their roles in the post-election protests. The nine protesters were charged with the capital crime of moharebeh, which means waging war against God. Two others were executed for the same crime in January. Mousavi has condemned the hangings, which he views as being aimed at deterring protesters from taking to the streets on February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday declined to confirm charges against Darfur rebel chief Bahr Idriss Abu Garda. The ruling came after a preliminary hearing in October to address war crimes charges that arose out of Abu Garda's alleged involvement in the September 2007 attacks against a peacekeeping mission located in North-Darfur. Despite the pre-trial chamber's finding that the mission was entitled to civilian protection under the international law of armed conflicts, and that the case was of the appropriate severity to move forward, the chamber unanimously found that the prosecution did not sufficiently demonstrate that the charges against Abu Garda could withstand scrutiny at trial. If the prosecution provides additional evidence, it may still seek the confirmation of the charges, or it may petition the chamber to appeal the decision. The ICC completed the confirmation of charges hearing in October, during which prosecutors alleged that Abu Garda controlled the Justice and Equality Movement during the 2007 attacks, which resulted in the death of 12 African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) soldiers and several injuries. The defense argued that Abu Garda is not responsible for the attack and that the AMIS had lost its protected status under international law, making it a legitimate military target. Abu Garda is the first suspect to appear before the ICC with regard to the Darfur situation, making his first appearance in May 2009 to deny responsibility for war crimes.

[JURIST] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday that a dispute over banned candidates will be resolved by Friday when campaigning is scheduled to begin for the upcoming elections. He assured Iraqis that the appeals panel will be able to rule on candidates' eligibility within the week. Al-Maliki's endorsement of the court comes after the appeals panel reversed its previous decision, holding that it was mistaken in thinking it had to rule on all 500 candidates, and would engage in a candidate-by-candidate review of the 177 politicians that had appealed to the court. The panel's original ruling overturned a decision by the Justice and Accountability Commission disqualifying more than 500 mostly Sunni politicians for suspected links to the outlawed Baath Party. While the US disagrees with the exclusion of Sunni candidates, Iraqi leaders opposed the panel's original decision and urged the Supreme Court to analyze whether the decision was legally binding. The Iraqi Parliament had been summoned to an emergency session on Sunday to debate whether to further postpone the scheduled March 7 elections, but the session was delayed when not enough lawmakers were present to achieve a quorum. The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) previously postponed the parliamentary elections campaign, originally set to begin Sunday, for five days.

[JURIST] Sir Mota Singh QC, Britain's first Asian judge, said in an interview with BBC's Asian Network Monday that Sikhs should be permitted to wear their ceremonial daggers to school and other public places. Sikhism requires that Sikh males wear the ceremonial dagger, known as a kirpan, at all times, but they are forbidden to use it as a weapon. Sir Mota, who is now retired, made his comments following several recent high-profile cases in which Sikhs have been asked to remove their kirpans, turbans, and other religious garb in the workplace or school. In October, a British employment tribunal awarded a Sikh policeman £10,000 for indirect racial and religious discrimination and harassment after he was ordered to remove his turban during riot training. Also last year, a boy was forced to leave the Compton School in Barnet, north London for wearing a kirpan. His family has not yet brought a discrimination claim against the school. In 2008, the British High Court ruled in favor of 14-year-old Sarika Singh after she was disciplined by her school for wearing a steel bangle, a symbol of Sikh faith called a Kara, breaking the school's "no jewelry" rule. Sir Mota's comments come in the context of years of international tension over the wearing of religious dress. In 2007, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) revised security procedures relating to headwear, after Sikhs criticized the potential for religious profiling. In 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a Quebec school board's ban on carrying Sikh ceremonial daggers at school, ruling that it infringed students' religious freedom under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The French Conseil d'Etat held in 2006 that Sikhs have to remove their turbans to be photographed for driver's licenses as a matter of public security.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama said Sunday in an interview with CBS News that he hasn't ruled out a civilian trial in New York City for accused 9/11 co-conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, Obama stressed that he was considering the logistical and security issues that have been presented in making the decision. The Obama administration has faced growing objections from New York City and state officials, and criticism over the planned trials since they were first announced in November. Responding to those critical of his plans, Obama stated: I think that the important thing for the public to understand is we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11. They prosecuted 190 folks in these Article III courts, got convictions and those folks are in maximum security prisons right now. And there have been no escapes. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) responded shortly after the interview, saying that the logistical and security concerns rendered the administration's current plans infeasible, and that the plans should be dropped. Congressman Pete King (R-NY) echoed these sentiments, adding that Mohammed should be tried by the military, instead of putting New Yorkers at greater risk. In January, a senior administration official announced that the White House was considering moving the trials of Mohammed and other high-profile terror suspects out of New York City. Two days before, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cited costs and potential disruptions to the lives of New Yorkers in urging the federal government not to use the city as a venue for the trials. Earlier this month, Bloomberg claimed that providing security for the trial in New York would cost the city more than $216 million in the first year and $206 million in any additional years. Bloomberg originally backed the idea of trying some of the terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay in Manhattan due to its proximity to ground zero and the symbolic significance of convicting the suspects there.

[JURIST] The sodomy trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was temporarily suspended Monday as defense lawyers sought the removal of high court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah for his failure to control prejudicial media coverage. The defense filed an objection asking Mohamad Zabidin to admonish Utusan Malaysia, a government-linked newspaper, for running suggestive headlines and photographs taken during the court's private visit to the scene of the alleged sexual encounter. Mohamad Zabidin denied the request Friday and indicated the defense should file a police complaint against the newspaper instead. Anwar's defense lawyers are also hoping the trial will be postponed until the resolution of his appeals of the High Court's refusal to dismiss the sodomy charge and the Federal Court's decision not to grant him access to prosecution evidence. Mohamad Zabidin is expected to hear arguments about his removal on Tuesday. The high-profile trial began last week, 18 months after Anwar was charged with sodomizing his former aid Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He pleaded not guilty in 2008 and alleges that the prosecution is part of a government conspiracy to undermine his political agenda. Anwar was Malaysia's deputy prime minister until he was fired in 1998 following sodomy charges of which he was initially convicted but later acquitted. He recently reentered Malaysian politics following the expiration of a ten-year ban against him for unrelated corruption charges.

[JURIST] Iranian authorities have arrested seven for allegedly planning to provoke rioting on February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, including several in the employ of the US Central Intelligence Agency, according to a statement released Sunday by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The seven people detained were said to be linked to the US-funded Radio Farda, a Prague-based Persian language radio station that has been blocked by the Iranian government, and was described in the statement as a counter-revolutionary and Zionist satellite channel. According to Iranian authorities, the seven were trained in Dubai and Istanbul and played a key role in the anti-government protests held in Tehran last December, during the Shi'ite holy day of Ashura. According to authorities, they were to flee the country after February 11. Last week, Fars News Agency reported that Iran will soon execute nine people for their roles in last summer's post-election protests. The nine protesters were charged with the capital crime of moharebeh, which means waging war against God. Two others were executed for the same crime last month. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has condemned the hangings, which he views as being aimed at deterring protesters from taking to the streets during the coming anniversary. The Iranian government has faced significant international scrutiny for its handling of the post-election protests and treatment of thousands arrested as a result. Last month, Amnesty International labeled human rights violations committed by the Iranian government following the election among the worst of the past 20 years. In September, human rights groups called for the UN General Assembly to appoint a special envoy to investigate allegations of rights violations. Alleged human rights abuses of detainees include sexual assault, beatings, and forced confessions.

[JURIST] The Iraqi appeals panel that had ruled last week that 500 mostly Sunni politicians accused of ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party could stand in the coming elections reversed its decision Sunday. In its ruling, which was handed down as hundreds protested in Baghdad, the court stated that it was mistaken in thinking it had to rule on all 500 candidates, and would engage in a candidate-by-candidate review of the 177 politicians that had appealed to the court unless a political solution was reached. Official campaigning before the March 7 polls was scheduled to start Sunday, but was postponed last week by the Iraqi Independent High Election Commission until Friday in order to allow more time to resolve the crisis. Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was forced to reschedule an emergency parliamentary meeting to address the election standoff when only 75 of Iraq's 275 parliamentarians arrived, denying him a quorum. Most of the banned candidates are from parties running against al-Maliki's ruling coalition, including those from a party led by a former Shi'ite prime minister, which has been seen as the most significant threat to al-Maliki's coalition. Last week's ruling overturned a decision by the Justice and Accountability Commission disqualifying more than 500 mostly Sunni politicians for suspected links to the outlawed Baath Party. The appeals panel held that the candidates could stand in the coming elections, but would have to be cleared of the allegations against them before taking office. This compromise is said to closely model a solution proposed by US Vice President Joe Biden. The decision was met with widespread criticism by the Shi'ite-led government. On Thursday, a spokesperson for Iraq's Shi'ite government, Ali Al-Dabbagh, said that the decision was illegal and unconstitutional. US officials have been concerned over the election dispute because it is seen as a threat to the credibility of the elections, which are supposed to be a milestone in Iraq's postwar development and a major step toward the scheduled withdrawal of US troops from the country.

[JURIST] Israel has not shown that it will conduct a thorough and impartial investigation of alleged war crimes during the January 2009 Gaza conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Sunday. HRW said that it met with lawyers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but it did not receive information concerning how Israel was looking into decisions made by military commanders or overall policy. HRW also cast doubt on Israel's claim that it has conducted about 150 investigations into incidents in Gaza, saying that many of the them were not criminal investigations because there were not interviews with the soldiers involved or victims and witnesses. Joe Stork, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in the Middle East, emphasized that Israel must go beyond looking into specific incidents: Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case. ... The Israeli investigations so far have looked mostly at soldiers who disobeyed orders or the rules of engagement, but failed to ask the crucial question about whether those orders and rules of engagement themselves violated the laws of war.On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that it is unclear whether Israel and Palestine have fully met UN demands to set up a commission to investigate war crimes that may occurred during the conflict. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in November giving Israel and Palestine three months to complete an investigation into war crimes allegations. Last month, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released its 46-page report to the UN, partially detailing Israeli operations in Gaza and revealing that the Israeli military had disciplined two high-ranking Army officers for firing shells into a populated area in the Gaza strip. Hamas has also denied that it committed war crimes, saying that Israeli civilian deaths during the conflict were an accident.

[JURIST] Pakistan will begin to revise its blasphemy laws later this year, a government official told the Agence France-Presse Sunday. Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti said he has been speaking to various political parties in Pakistan and that his government is committed to doing away with laws that are discriminatory to minorities. Bhatti made the comments at an interview with the AFP in Washington, DC, where he met with various lawmakers and officials during the National Prayer Breakfast. Bhatti discussed a proposed change in the law that would force judges to investigate blasphemy cases before they are docketed. The proposed law would also make the punishment for a false complaint the same as a primary violation. Pakistan currently punishes blasphemy against Islam by death, but no one has yet been executed for the offense. The blasphemy laws were introduced in 1986 as a way of protecting Muslim beliefs from insults. Many critics believe the law have been used as a means for discrimination and inciting violence. In August, it is believed that allegations of blasphemy led to violence between Muslims and Christians in the Punjab city of Gorja.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday urged the US Supreme Court to dismiss as moot an appeal filed by Chinese Muslim Uighurs detained at Guantanamo Bay. The court granted certiorari in the case, known as Kiyemba I, in October to determine whether it is within the power of the judicial branch to order the release of detainees into the US. The Obama administration argues that the case is now moot after Switzerland agreed to accept the remaining two Uighurs for whom "resettlement" arrangements had not been reached. The DOJ reasons that: legal constraints prevent the courts from ordering that petitioners be brought to and released in the United States. ... As this Court has long affirmed, the power to admit or exclude aliens is a sovereign prerogative vested in the political Branches, and "it is not within the province of any court, unless expressly authorized by law, to review determination..." Finally, even assuming arguendo that a judicial order compelling the Executive to bring an alien into the United States were justified in some circumstances, the government's sustained and successful efforts to resettle petitioners should preclude such an order in this case.Of the 22 Uighurs originally detained at Guantanamo Bay, 15 have been relocated. Six Uighurs were transferred to Palau in October, four were sent to Bermuda last June, and five were received by Albania in 2006. Of the remaining seven Uighurs, Palau has expressed willingness to accept another five, and the Swiss Federal Council announced last week that it would accept the remaining two for humanitarian reasons and despite recent warnings to the contrary by the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland. China has continued to call for repatriation of the Uighur detainees that Chinese authorities consider to be part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a militant group that calls for separation from China and which has been a US-designated terrorist group since 2002. The US has previously rejected China's calls to repatriate the Uighurs, citing fear of torture upon their return.

[JURIST] Iraqi leaders on Saturday urged the country's Supreme Court to rule on the recent electoral appeals panel decision allowing about 500 candidates who had been banned for alleged ties to the outlawed Baath party to run in the March 7 parliamentary elections. The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has turned to the Iraq Supreme Court questioning whether last week's ruling is binding. A high-level meeting with judicial officials, which included Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Parliament Speaker Ayad al-Sammaraie, resulted in a call for the controversy to be resolved by February 12, when the four-week election campaign period kicks off. The Iraqi Parliament has been summoned to an emergency session Sunday to debate whether to postpone the scheduled March 7 elections. On Thursday, the IHEC postponed the parliamentary elections campaign, originally set to begin Sunday, for five days. Spokesperson for Iraq's Shi'ite government Ali Al-Dabbagh has called last week's decision to allow the candidates to run illegal and unconstitutional. Under the ruling, candidates would only be allowed to take office after their alleged ties are investigated. In December 2008, Iraq arrested 23 interior ministry officials for allegedly attempting to rebuild the Baath party. The Iraqi De-Baathification Commission, established in 2003, has prompted the removal of approximately 30,000 alleged Baathists from public life. In 2008, Iraq adopted the Accountability and Justice law, which allows most former Baathists to be reinstated into public life.

[JURIST] The head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Friday reassured the Lebanese public that the investigation is on track. When asked about the progress of the investigation into the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the head of the STL underlined the fact that the Tribunal already has in place all the legal and administrative instruments necessary for its work, and is fully operational so that justice may be dispensed with complete independence and impartiality in accordance with the highest international standards. The STL has also agreed to set up a liaison to assist in communications with Lebanon and also to implement decisions and orders in the state. In April, a judge for the tribunal ordered the release of four generals who had been held on suspicion of their involvement in the death of Hariri. Earlier this month, STL pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen ordered prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to submit either a reasoned request for the continued detention of the four generals or a declination thereof. A Lebanese judge ordered the transfer of documents relating to Hariri's assassination to the STL early this month, thereby granting sole jurisdiction over the case against the four accused generals to the tribunal. In March 2008, lead prosecutor Bellamare said he believed a criminal network was behind the assassination. The investigation into the assassination has been extended past its original anticipated end date and expanded to cover other assassinations in the country. Several reports from the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC), also headed by Bellemare, have implicated Syrian officials in Hariri's death.

[JURIST] A US federal court Friday ordered a final judgment of $22 million against Charles Emmanuel "Chuckie" Taylor, Jr." to be paid to 5 torture victims. Charles was charged with torture while he was in charge of Liberia's Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU). The order issued by the judge outlined the multiple forms of torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment; arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention to which the plaintiffs were subjected and recognizes the past, present and future physical and mental suffering those abuses inflicted. Human Rights USA, an organization that helped prosecute Taylor, said it hoped the award would "serve as a deterrent to others who believe they could mistreat fellow humans in this manner and never be held accountable.” Taylor is the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is currently on trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone sitting at The Hague. Taylor faces 11 counts of crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions, and other violations of international humanitarian law stemming from a "campaign to terrorize the civilian population" of Sierra Leone.