Author: JURIST – Paper Chase

[JURIST] The National Assembly of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Republika Srpska, passed legislation Wednesday intended to ease the process of holding referendums. Initiatives passed using the method would be binding only in the Serbian region, but some believe that it may lead to a referendum on independence. Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik indicated that he will utilize the referendum process to measure public support for the Dayton Accord, which ended the Bosnian war. The US Embassy in Sarajevo warned that it would view any such referendum as “provocative,” and cautioned against using the mechanism to “pursue a narrow political agenda.”
Republika Srpska is one of two entities that comprise Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Bosnian Constitution was agreed to in 1995 as part of the Dayton Accord, ending the four-year civil war. It was designed to share power between the three majority ethnic groups – Serbs, Bosniaks, and Croats – but limits power for ethnic minorities. In December, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the constitution illegally discriminates against ethnic minorities by not allowing them to run for high political office. BiH reached an agreement with the European Union in 2008 to bring its constitution in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

[JURIST] Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Thursday offered an apology to Korea for Japan’s 20th-century colonization of the Korean peninsula. At a meeting in Seoul with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan, Okada said that the Japanese government regrets its history of colonial rule over Korea and the alleged war crimes that resulted. Okada also praised the 1995 Murayama Statement, the most notable public apology for Japanese imperialism, in which the Japanese government pledged to promote peace with its Asian neighbors. Okada and Myung-Hwan agreed to work toward a more stabilized relationship between their countries.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Japan’s annexation of Korea, which lasted from 1910 to 1945. Japan is accused of committing war crimes during its imperial years, and the two countries still suffer from diplomatic conflicts and competition over disputed territory. Recently, Okada has been busy promoting more conciliatory foreign policy under Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who came to office last September. Last week, Okada met with ambassadors from eight countries to consider signing an international treaty that will help prevent parental child abductions across borders.

[JURIST] A Chinese appeals court on Thursday upheld the 11-year prison sentence for democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, despite calls for his release from US and European Union (EU) officials. Liu was tried in December on subversion charges in a trial that lasted only two hours and was closed to foreign diplomats. In his appeal, Liu’s lawyers argued that he was innocent, claiming:
1) The existing evidence does not prove Liu Xiaobo’s subjective intent to incite subversion of state power; 2) The charges of inciting subversion of state power against Liu Xiaobo in the indictment are based upon quoted out of context; 3) The charges in the indictment blur the line between a citizen’s free speech and criminal offenses; and4) There have been major flaws during the investigation, the procuratorate’s examination before prosecution, and the trial of this case.US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and EU representative Simon Sharp had both urged the Chinese government to release Liu. Huntsman said that China was acting “inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights” by prosecuting someone for expressing his political opinions. Chinese officials rejected the criticism as unfair. Liu, who spent two years in prison following the Tiananmen Square uprising, has long challenged China’s one-party rule, and co-authored Charter 08, a petition calling for political reforms in the country. Liu was formally arrested in June and charged in December, but he has been in detention since December 2008, shortly before the petition’s release. In June, rights groups marked the 20th anniversary of the 1989 uprising in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, calling for the government to investigate the incident and implement changes called for by Charter 08.

[JURIST] Iraq Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told the Associated Press Wednesday that the Iraqi government has ordered approximately 250 former Blackwater employees to leave Iraq by the end of the week. The Iraqi government was reacting to a US federal court’s December decision to dismiss charges against five former Blackwater employees accused of killing 17 innocent Iraqi civilians in 2007 because information against the defendants was obtained unconstitutionally. Al-Bolani said that all those ordered to leave worked in Iraq for Blackwater at the time of the shooting. Some now work for other security companies while others, according to al-Bolani, work for a subsidiary of Xe Services, the corporation that used to be Blackwater. Those who do not leave by this weekend will be charged with violating their visas, according to the report.
Earlier this month the New York Times reported that the US Department of Justice is investigating Xe to determine whether the company bribed the Iraqi government to allow Blackwater to continue operating in Iraq following the 2007 shootings. In January, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that Iraq will file lawsuits against Blackwater for the 2007 killings in both US and Iraqi courts. US Vice-President Joe Biden has said that the DOJ will appeal the dismissal. Blackwater ceased operations in Baghdad in May 2009 when its security contracts for the protection of US diplomats expired.

[JURIST] Representatives from the African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) met with members of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) and the Darfur Compensation Commission Wednesday to discuss the compensation of Darfur conflict victims. UNAMID’s mandate calls for the organization to work with state governments to ensure that victims are compensated. The DCC, which was created as a part of the TDRA under the Darfur Peace Agreement, is charged with hearing claims for compensation arising from the Darfur conflict and making awards based on those claims. UNAMID representatives also attended a meeting of the Darfur Human Rights Forum in North Darfur Wednesday.
On Monday, the African Union (AU) called for a hybrid court of Sudanese and foreign judges to hear trials of individuals accused of war crimes in Darfur. Last week, the Appeals Chamber of the ICC reversed a Pre-Trial Chamber decision that denied the application for an arrest warrant on genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The court emphasized that the reversal was procedural in nature and declined to enter a finding of genocidal intent or to order the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue a genocide warrant for al-Bashir, as requested by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The case has now been remanded back to the Pre-Trial Chamber to reconsider whether al-Bashir acted with genocidal intent. In a letter to the AU last month, Human Rights Watch urged Sudan to accept ICC war crimes decisions in addition to any combined Sudanese and foreign court. The AU High-Level Panel on Darfur first suggested a hybrid court in an October report to the AU Peace and Security Council.

[JURIST] Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich pleaded not guilty Wednesday to amended corruption charges. Blagojevich entered the plea in response to eight amended charges, including racketeering, attempted extortion, bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to commit extortion. Those additional charges allow prosecutors to try Blagojevich without relying on the federal honest services fraud statute, which some believe the Supreme Court may soon declare unconstitutional in some contexts. Following his appearance in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Blagojevich released a statement asking that all of the recorded conversations that the government has be played during the course of the trial. Blagojevich has indicated that he will testify at the trial, which is scheduled to start June 3.
In April, Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to 16 felony counts, including wire fraud, attempted extortion, racketeering conspiracy, extortion conspiracy, and making false statements. In January 2009, the Illinois State Senate voted unanimously to convict Blagojevich of abuse of power and remove him from office. Blagojevich is the first Illinois governor to be impeached and removed from office. Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were initially arrested in December 2008 on allegations that they had conspired to sell the Senate seat left vacant by President Barack Obama.

[JURIST] A court in Myanmar on Wednesday convicted rights activist and US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin, also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, on charges of fraud and forgery. Aung was sentenced to three years in prison for forging an identity card, and one year each for failing to declare foreign currency and immigration violations, to be serve concurrently. The charges carried a potential maximum of 10 years. The activist’s lawyer, Nyan Win, said that they will appeal the conviction. Aung was arrested on September 3 when he entered the country, and was initially accused of inciting anti-government unrest. Freedom Now, which represents Aung, claimed that the government has committed a variety of human rights violations while detaining him. Fifty-three members of the US House of Representatives have called on Myanmar to release Aung, but the US government has not officially requested a release. International rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have also urged the government to release Aung.
In January, a Myanmar government official said that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, also represented by Freedom Now, will be released from house arrest in November when her sentence is scheduled to end. The extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest stems from an August conviction for violating state security laws by allowing American John Yettaw to stay in her home after he swam across a lake to get there. Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years in prison with four years of hard labor, was released in August after negotiations with US Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). Suu Kyi was initially sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, but her sentence was immediately commuted by junta chief General Than Shwe. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, and her latest conviction has been condemned by many world leaders as a political move to prevent her from running in the upcoming elections. Her conviction has given rise to international sanctions against Myanmar’s junta and members of the judiciary.

[JURIST] The Supreme People’s Court of China on Tuesday issued new guidelines for limiting capital punishment in Chinese courts, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The guidelines rely on a policy of “justice tempered with mercy” and instruct courts to issue the death penalty only to those who commit “extremely serious” crimes. According to the report, cases involving repeat offenders, gang-related crimes, and government corruption cases should be handled with severity. However, the guidelines also state that reprieves should be issued in certain cases as allowed by law.
China has recently faced significant criticism of its human rights record and use of the death penalty. Last month, a Chinese court sentenced four people to death in connection with the July Xinjiang riots. At least 26 people have received death sentences for their roles in the riots. In November, the Chinese government carried out the executions of nine others convicted in connection with the riots for murder, assault, arson, and robbery, after a review by the Supreme People’s Court upheld their sentences. Last year, China said that it planned to reduce the number of executions it conducts. Anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain has said that China continues to account for more executions than any other country. In 2008, the country executed at least 5,000 people, or more than 87 percent of the world’s total.

[JURIST] The acting head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti said Tuesday that while conditions are currently stable, the Haitian people must turn in the thousands of prisoners that escaped when the January 12 earthquake destroyed prisons and jails. Edmond Mulet called upon the residents of Haiti to turn over to authorities the more than 5,000 prisoners that the UN peacekeeping force has helped to detain since entering Haiti in 2004. It is estimated that only three dozen escaped prisoners have been detained since January 12. The aftermath of the earthquake has also placed a strain on detainees arrested since the disaster, as limited space and limited access to judges has caused the criminal justice system and those in it additional hardship.
In late January, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that strengthening human rights is an integral part of the rebuilding process in Haiti. Earlier in January, US President Barack Obama signed a bill that will allow US citizens to claim donations to Haitian relief efforts as a deduction on their 2009 tax returns. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that Haitian nationals present in the US before the earthquake will be given temporary protected status and will not be deported for the next 18 months, but Haitian refugees who arrive in the US illegally will be sent back to their home country. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused massive damage to property and infrastructure in Haiti, and the death toll has now been estimated at 230,000.

[JURIST] The Office of Immigration Statistics of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report Wednesday estimating that the total number of illegal immigrants living in the US fell to 10.8 million during the year ending in January 2009. The DHS calculates the “unauthorized resident population” by subtracting the number of legal permanent residents, asylees, refugees, and non-immigrants from estimates of the total foreign-born population. The seven percent decline from 11.6 million in January 2008 is attributed by many to the economic decline during that period. According to DHS estimates, 10.8 million is the smallest population of unauthorized residents since 2005, when there were an estimated 10.5 million. A Pew Hispanic Center report released in July showed a similar decline in the Mexican immigrant population in the US. The report clarified that although the recession has hurt employment of Latino immigrants, the decline resulted from decreased immigration into the US rather than from immigrants leaving the US to go back to Mexico.
In December, Democratic lawmakers introduced an immigration reform bill in the US House of Representatives that would give undocumented immigrants an easier path to seek legal status in the country. The proposed legislation, which is titled the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP), follows the Obama administration’s announcement that it would seek immigration reform early in 2010. In November, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the proposed reform legislation would be a “three-legged stool” that combines effective and fair enforcement, an improved process for legal immigration, and a “firm but fair way” to deal with illegal immigrants who are already in the US. The proposed bill is also the first attempt at immigration reform since the failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill in 2007. At that time, detractors called the bill too lenient on illegal immigrants and said that by granting legal status to illegal aliens, the US was granting “amnesty.”

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that strip searching all incoming inmates does not violate the Fourth Amendment and is necessary to prevent illegal substances from entering prisons. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey had enacted the policy to strip search new inmates in response the rising amount of drugs and weapons being brought into jails. The court found the policy to be reasonable, considering the nature of US prison system and the documented evidence of illegal materials entering prisons. The court ruled:e conclude that San Francisco’s policy requiring strip searches of all arrestees classified for custodial housing in the general population was facially reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. … Because the policy did not violate plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights, we reverse the district court’s denial of Sheriff Hennessey’s motion for summary judgment.The decision overturned a 1984 decision by the Ninth Circuit that limited searches to inmates accused of violent or drug-related crimes.The court’s willingness to overturn its previous decision highlights the growing problems association with drugs and US prisons. The large number of arrests for drug-related crimes has led to prison overcrowding throughout the country, but particularly in California. Last month, a panel of federal judges approved a revised plan filed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) for reducing the prison population. The CDCR filed the plan in November after the panel rejected the first plan because it did not comply with a federal court order to reduce the prison population. The original plan did not include the legislative enactments but provided various ways of reducing overcrowding, including transferring more prisoners to out-of-state prisons, GPS monitoring of inmates who violate parole, commuting sentences of inmates who are eligible for deportation, and building new facilities or converting unused space.

[JURIST] The England and Wales Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled that the government must disclose the seven previously withheld paragraphs outlining the alleged torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. In rejecting the government’s appeal, the court found that, “publication of the redacted paragraphs would not reveal information which would be of interest to a terrorist or criminal or provide any potential material of value to a terrorist or a criminal.” British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband accepted the court’s decision and disclosed the information, but emphasized the importance of the intelligence relationship between the US and Britain. Advocacy groups such as Amnesty International UK welcomed the court’s ruling and called for additional inquiries into the British government’s involvement with the torture.
Wednesday’s ruling ends the long-running legal battle to keep the information classified. In December, British government lawyers argued that two UK High Court judges acted irresponsibly when they ruled that the details of the detention must be released. This was following an interim ruling by Lord Justice Thomas and Justice Lloyd Jones that redacted the release. Last November, a separate judge on the High Court ruled that, in Mohamed’s separate suit for damages, information relating to his treatment at Guantanamo Bay may be withheld under a “closed material procedure.” Mohamed was returned to the UK in February 2009, after charges against him were dismissed in October 2008. Mohamed had been held at Guantanamo Bay for four years on suspicion of conspiracy to commit terrorism.

[JURIST] An Iranian court sentenced one person to death and eight others to prison on Tuesday for their involvement in protests last December. The men were arrested for participating in protests that interrupted the Shia Muslim celebration of Ashura. The unidentified man sentenced to death becomes the twelfth person to receive capital punishment for involvement in protests last year in Iran. Among the eight men that received prison sentences was Behzad Nabavi, a well-known activist and former Minister of Industry and Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament. Nabavi received a sentence of five years imprisonment. The government charged the individuals with being enemies of god for violating community security, propaganda, attacking police, and arson.
The Iranian government continues to charge citizens in connection with the December protests, as well as the those that followed the June presidential election. Last week, former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh was sentenced to six years in prison for his participation in post-election protests. Earlier this month, a report indicated that Iran will soon execute nine people for their roles in the post-election protests. Two others were executed in January. Last month, Iran’s Prosecutor-General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei called for sedition trials against leaders of protests following the presidential election.

[JURIST] Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan will assume the role of president after the parliament voted on Tuesday for him to take over for ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua. Jonathan reluctantly accepted the presidency under the circumstances and asked for the country to pray for Yar’Adua as he continues to battle a heart condition. The parliament’s motion included a clause that would return power to Yar’Adua upon his recovery. Yar’Adua has been receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia since late November.
Last month, a Nigerian court ruled that Yar’Adua is not required to formally transfer his powers to Jonathan or any other interim leader. Also in January, the court ordered Nigeria’s cabinet to pass a resolution within 14 days on whether Yar’Adua is capable of running the country. A judge for Nigeria’s Federal High Court ordered Jonathan to assume executive powers in Yar’Adua’s absence. In 2008, the Nigerian Supreme Court upheld the results of disputed 2007 election that brought Yar’Adua to power, despite opposition groups’ allegations of fraud.

[JURIST] Former Intel Capital executive Rajiv Goel pleaded guilty to insider trading charges on Monday in connection with the probe surrounding Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and former hedge fund consultant Danielle Chiesi. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleged that:
From 2007 through 2009, Goel and Rajaratnam (who met in the 1980s while attending the same business school) engaged in an insider trading scheme in which Goel obtained material, nonpublic information (“Inside Information”) relating to Intel and provided that information to Rajaratnam. Goel provided the Inside Information with the understanding that Rajaratnam would trade on it, in breach of his fiduciary and other duties of trust and confidence owed to Intel. Goel provided Inside Information to Rajaratnam because of his friendship with Rajaratnam, from which Goel benefited in various ways, including financially.Goel pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud. The charges carry a potential 25 year sentence and over 5 million dollars in fines. Goel is the ninth defendant to plead guilty out of 21 charged in the probe.Rajaratnam and Chiesi were arrested in October and charged along with four other individuals and two business entities with insider trading. The complaint alleged that the individuals, including a managing director at Intel Corp., a director at McKinsey & Co., and a senior executive at IBM, provided Galleon Group and another hedge fund with material nonpublic information about several corporations upon which the funds traded, generating $25 million in illicit gain. Rajaratnam and Chiesi pleaded not guilty in December after being indicted for insider trading.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) will consider a petition from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) calling for an investigation into recent violence in Jos, Nigeria, according to a response letter sent to SERAP Monday. SERAP lawyer Femi Falana welcomed the ICC’s response, saying:
This is an important decision; we look forward to the ICC getting fully involved and addressing the subject matter of the petition. Given the persistent lack of political will by the Nigerian government to address the problem, we believe the intervention by the ICC in this case is especially important as the ICC can once and for all address the responsible of those who instigated the violence in Jos. The ICC decision is also an important development for the tens of thousands of victims of the latest violence and previous outbreaks of deadly violence in Jos. Ending impunity for the cycle of violence in many parts of Nigeria is absolutely important for sustainable peace, stability and security, and for the country’s social, economic and political development.SERAP sent a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last week requesting an inquiry into the spate of religious violence that erupted in Jos in January. Violence between Muslims and Christians in Jos claimed at least 326 lives in January. Jos is located between Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. Riots also took place in Jos in 2001 and 2008. While most Jos Christians back the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the majority of Muslims back the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). SERAP allegations that the Nigerian government is unable to meet its obligations to protect human rights have compounded the country’s existing political turmoil, as ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua is out of the country receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

[JURIST] The Philippine Department of Justice (PDOJ) on Tuesday charged 197 people with murder in connection with the November massacre in the semi-autonomous Maguindanao province that left 57 dead. Among those charged is Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former political ally to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, head of a Muslim clan, and former governor of Maguindanao province. Prosecutors allege that the powerful Ampatuan clan took supporters of Esmael Mangudadatu, Ampatuan’s son’s opposition candidate in the May Maguindanao governor elections, Mangudadatu’s wife and pregnant sister, and journalists to a remote hilltop where the victims were murdered and buried. A PDOJ panel, headed by Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, created a 78-page resolution concluding that the massacre was the result of a conspiracy. The PDOJ also submitted evidence to conclude that members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) participated in the preparation and massacre. The resolution states:
Considering such positive identification of these respondents as direct participants in the commission of the crime of murder, they should be indicted. … There is direct evidence that these respondents agreed to commit the crime. Their acts and the attendant circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime unveil a common aim that would make all of them co-principals in the crime committed.In December, the PDOJ began the trial of more than 600 people charged with rebellion for allegedly interfering with government operations following the killings. Several of Amapuan Sr.’s sons, including Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of the southern Philippine town of Datu Unsay, have also been charged. Amapuan Jr. has pleaded not guilty to 41 counts of murder. Arroyo imposed martial law and suspended habeas corpus in the province in the wake of the killings. She later lifted the conditions, following international pressure and domestic legal challenges.

[JURIST] Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament on Tuesday and called for early parliamentary elections. The country’s parliamentary elections could now be conducted as early as April 8, with the new parliament convening as early as April 22. It is believed that Rajapaksa is trying to harness momentum from the presidential election in January, in which he was re-elected, to gain more seats in parliament for his political party, Freedom Alliance. This move comes just one day after Sri Lankan military police 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.” Officials said Tuesday that Fonseka will face a court-martial.
Last week, 37 people, most of them military officers, were arrested in connection to an alleged assassination attempt against current Rajapaksa. The Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled last week 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] The government of Bahrain has reverted to using torture to gain confessions from detainees after a decade of reform banning such practices, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW conducted interviews with 20 former detainees who claimed that they had suffered torture and ill-treatment as early as 2007. The reversion appears to coincide with the rising political tension between Shia Muslims and the Sunni-run government. As confrontations became more violent, several Shia protesters were arrested by security forces and reportedly tortured during interrogations:
Security officials appear to have utilized a specific repertoire of techniques against many of those arrested designed to inflict pain and elicit confessions. These techniques included the use of electro-shock devices, suspension in painful positions, beating the soles of the feet (falaka), and beatings of the head, torso, and limbs. Some detainees also reported that security officials had threatened to kill them or to rape them or members of their families. Many detainees were subjected to more than one of these practices. The use of these techniques, separately and in combination, violates Bahrain’s obligations as a state party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture) and other international treaties, as well as the prohibition of torture in Bahraini law.The report also claims that prosecutors “failed to respond appropriately to complaints of ill-treatment” by not launching formal investigations and administering medical examinations. Officials with the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecution Office claim that the “allegations had been fabricated” through a conspiracy created while the detainees were confined together. HRW stated that these claims were negated by medical reports, court papers, and evidence that many of the detainees interviewed were kept in solitary confinement. The detainees’ allegations were strengthened when a Bahraini court acquitted all defendants on all charges on the basis of medical reports that evidenced that “defendants had been physically coerced into confessing.”Arrests of Shia protesters increased when Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa ratified a controversial protest law in 2006 that some rights groups suggest could be inconsistent with common international rights standards. The Amendments to Law 18/1973 criminalizes unauthorized protests, prohibits foreign nationals from demonstrating, and bans demonstrators from certain public places such as hospitals, airports, and near diplomatic offices and other international organizations. HRW suggested that the Amendment may run afoul of Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Bahrain has not yet ratified.

[JURIST] Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that the country’s five-year-old social welfare benefit law is unconstitutional. The benefit, known as Hartz IV, merges unemployment and social assistance programs and is only granted where individuals do not have sufficient means, income, or property of their own. Under the current structure, the standard benefit for single adults is €345; €311 for spouses, civil partners, and live-in partners; €207 for children under 14 years; and €276 for children 15 years old or older. The court determined that the provisions of the standard benefit calculations for adults and children do not abide by the constitutional requirements of Articles 1.1 and 20.1 of Germany’s Basic Law, which guarantee a minimum benefit that provides the means to live with basic human dignity. The court gave the legislature until the end of 2010 to create new guidelines, including a provision to guarantee a dignified minimum income.
The Hartz IV is the fourth act in a series of reforms developed by the Commission on the Modern Services in the Labor Market (Hartz Commission), established in 2002 to reform the labor market and develop a more efficient public service employment system. In October, the Constitutional Court conducted oral hearings for three cases questioning whether the standard benefits were compatible with the Basic Law. Previously, Germany’s Federal Social Court held in 2009 the Hartz IV provision for children under 14 years is unconstitutional. Additionally, the Federal Constitutional Court held in 2007 that the formation of job centers established by Hertz IV, in part violated the constitution.