Legal News

[JURIST] The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) [advocacy website] sent a letter [text, PDF] to US officials Tuesday urging an investigation into the crackdown against protesters by forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh [official website, in Arabic; JURIST news archive]. In a deal brokered by Middle Eastern leaders in November, Saleh agreed to give up power in exchange for receiving immunity from prosecution. Saleh has been in the US since January 29 receiving medical treatment, during which the US has given him diplomatic immunity. In a press release [text] on Tuesday, FIDH argued that because Saleh's...

[JURIST] The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [advocacy website] has released its annual Attacks on the Press report [text], expressing concern about increased censorship of journalists worldwide in 2011. The CPJ criticized the growing trend of government censorship, especially Internet censorship. It indicated that imprisonment of journalists has gone up 20 percent worldwide in the last year, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Among the imprisoned, most face anti-state or censorship charges. The group called for a global movement to end censorship, which it argues threatens the safety of individuals within a country, and strengthens authoritarian governments and...

[JURIST] The New Jersey Superior Court [official website] on Tuesday reinstated one count [opinion, PDF] of a marriage equality lawsuit [complaint text, PDF; case materials] against the state's civil union system, reversing the court's own decision to dismiss the count on a motion by the state Attorney General [official website]. Judge Linda Feinberg in November had allowed the case to continue on the premise that civil unions were unconstitutional under state law [state constitution, text], but dismissed three counts [JURIST report] that claimed violations of federal guarantees of due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment [Cornell LII backgrounder]....

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] called Tuesday for an increase in efforts to curb transnational organized crime, drug trafficking and piracy in West Africa. In an address [UN News Centre report] to the UN Security Council [official website], the Secretary-General said he was "particularly concerned about reports stating that terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, have formed alliances with drug traffickers." Additionally, the Secretary-General expressed concern that instability in Libya, a growing food crisis, and other conflicts throughout the region could worsen the situation. According to the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs...

[JURIST] The High Administrative Court of Egypt [JURIST news archive] ruled Monday that the voting system used in the recent parliamentary election was unconstitutional. The election was held over three stages from late November to January, and its the elaborate voting system apportioned parliamentary seats between political parties and individuals, with two thirds of the seats going to political parties. Judge Magdy el-Agaty determined the ratio to be in violation of the constitution [Reuters report], that half of the seats should have been held for individuals. Additionally, Agaty stated that political parties should not have been permitted to field candidates...

[JURIST] Maldives President Mohammed Waheed Hassan [official profile] appointed a commission on Wednesday to investigate the violence that accompanied his rise to power. Hassan assumed power of Maldives when former president Mohamed Nasheed resigned [JURIST report] on February 7 following weeks of protests. Nasheed claims he was forced from office in a coup. Supporters of Nasheed took to the streets after his ouster and burned down government buildings in violent demonstrations. The three-member commission was appointed [AP report] by Hassan following criticism from international organizations including the UN. The UN Development Program [official website] called for an investigation [press release]...

[JURIST] Proponents of Proposition 8 [text; JURIST news archive], California's same-sex marriage ban, on Tuesday requested a new hearing [petition, PDF] before the full US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website]. The request comes after a three-judge panel voted 2-1 to overturn the law [JURIST report], finding that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment [Cornell II backgrounder]. The Protect Marriage Coalition [advocacy website] has alleged [news release] that the decision was at odds with other jurisdictions throughout the country. Asking for the reconsideration blocks the decision from taking effect immediately. The coalition believes...

[JURIST] Judge Clark Waddoups of the US District Court for the District of Utah [official website] said Tuesday that he would delay his ruling [order, PDF] on Utah's immigration law [HB 497, PDF] until the US Supreme Court rules on the similar Arizona Immigration Law. Waddoups believes that it is in the best interest of the state and the court to wait until the Supreme Court offers more guidance [Salt Lake Tribune report] on the issue. The immigration bill was originally signed into law [JURIST report] by Governor Gary Herbert [official website] last March. The law has been likened to...

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] on Tuesday affirmed [opinion, PDF] the dismissal of wrongful death claims by the families of two former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] detainees, Yasser Al-Zahrani of Saudi Arabia and Salah Al-Salami of Yemen, who committed suicide while in detention in 2006. The families filed a civil lawsuit against the US and 24 government officials, including former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld [JURIST news archive], claiming they were responsible for arbitrary detention, torture and the death of Al-Zahrani and Al-Salami. Ruling on an appeal [JURIST report] brought by...

[JURIST] The Maryland State Senate [official website] Judicial Proceedings Committee [official website] approved a bill [SB241 text] on Tuesday that would permit the legal marriage of same-sex couples within the state. This bill is a cross-filing of HB438 which was approved [JURIST report] by the Maryland House of Delegates [official website] last week. The bill is expected to move to debate by the full Senate [WP report] after the Committee approved the measure with a vote of 7-4. A similar bill was proposed last year in Maryland but failed to pass the House [JURIST report] after it was approved by...

[JURIST] A Palestinian held without trial ended his 66-day hunger strike on Tuesday after Israeli authorities announced his release as part of a deal that avoids judicial review of the Israeli detention policy. The prisoner, Khader Adnan, is a 33-year-old member of the militant group Islamic Jihad who had been refusing food since his arrest in the West Bank in mid-December. He broke his hunger protest when he was promised to be released [Reuters report] in April if no new evidence is brought against him. A spokeswoman for the Israel Ministry of Justice [official website] confirmed that an agreement was...

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF] in two cases Tuesday. In Freeman v. Quicken Loans, Inc. [transcript, PDF; JURIST report] the court heard arguments on whether Section 8(b) of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) [text] prohibits a real estate settlement services provider from only charging an unearned fee when the fee is divided between two or more parties. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that the RESPA prohibits only kickbacks and referral fees, not unearned fees by a sole provider of settlement services. Therefore, charges...

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled 6-3 [opinion, PDF] on Tuesday in Kawashima v. Holder [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that, under the Immigration and Nationality Act [8 USC § 1101 et seq.], the making of false tax returns is a crime involving fraud or deceit, which can result in deportation, when the government suffers a loss of more than $10,000. Petitioners Akio and Fusako Kawashima are natives and citizens of Japan who were living in California as lawful permanent residents. Petitioners were charged with, and pleaded guilty to, filing, and aiding and abetting in filing, a false statement on a...

[JURIST] Pakistan authorities pledged Tuesday to arrest former president Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] for his alleged involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. Interior Minister Rehman Malik [official website] said [CNN news report] that the "government is moving for his red notice" which is an Interpol [official website] international arrest warrant. Interpol did not yet provide any comments concerning this issue. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007 in a suicide attack at a rally in Rawalpindi after she returned from her exile [JURIST reports] in Great Britain and Dubai. In...

[JURIST] A panel of experts representing the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday denounced [press release] the arrest of 16 people by Syrian forces last Thursday, calling for their release. On Thursday afternoon, Syrian forces raided the offices of a human rights organization in Syria, arrested 16 people there, blindfolded them and took them to an airport. The UN panel, which included the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of expression, torture and arbitrary detention, called for the immediate release of all the arrested persons: "The Syrian authorities...

[JURIST] The Tribunale Ordinario di Roma [official website, in Italian] on Monday ordered nine alleged Somali pirates [JURIST news archive] to be tried in Italy's first international piracy trial on charges of attacking the Montecristo, an Italian cargo vessel, off the coast of Somalia last year. Currently being held in Italy, five of the suspected pirates will be judged in the criminal division of Rome's Third Circuit Court, the Settore Penale della Terza Corte d'Assise [official website, in Italian] on March 23, while the remaining four will be tried in the Juvenile Court, the Tribunale dei Minori [official website, in...

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled 6-3 [opinion, PDF] Tuesday in Howes v. Fields [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that a US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit categorical rule that all private questioning of prisoners about outside events is per se custodial, requiring Miranda warnings to be given, is not clearly established by Supreme Court precedent. The court also declined to establish a rule that interrogations are per se custodial for the purposes of Miranda, when a prisoner is questioned in private about events occurring outside the prison. Respondent Randall Fields was questioned by investigators about a child sex-abuse...

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Nebraska [official website] on Monday struck down [order, PDF] a provision in Fremont, Nebraska law that denies housing permits to illegal immigrants, saying the ordinance violates federal law. In the ruling, Judge Laurie Smith Camp also upheld part of the Fremont law that requires employers to verify the citizenship of workers they hire. Camp concluded that the housing provision violated the Fair Housing Act [text]:It is apparent ... that once the City's legitimate interest in knowing the immigration status of its residents is satisfied, the revocation of occupancy...

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Tuesday criticized [press release] Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (FTG) [CFR backgrounder] and African Union forces (AMISOM) [advocacy website] for failing to stop the unlawful recruitment of children as soldiers, forced marriage and rape. HRW released a report [text, PDF], "No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia," based mainly on interviews with Somali refugees as well as TFG, UN and African Union [advocacy website] officials. HRW found that al-Shabaab [CFR backgrounder; NCTC backgrounder] has increased its effort to forcibly recruit children since mid-2010. Even when these...

[JURIST] The chief prosecutor in the case against former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak [Al Jazeera profile; JURIST news archive] in his closing remarks on Monday again asked the presiding judge, Ahmed Refaat, to give the death penalty [JURIST report] to Mubarak, former interior minister Habib El Adly and four of his aides accused of ordering the killing of anti-government protesters [JURIST news archive] last year. Mustapha Suleiman, the head of the five-person prosecution team, said that Mubarak was responsible for the killings [CNN report] because he was president at the time and failed to use his power to protect the...