Author: JURIST – Paper Chase

[JURIST] Officials from the UK Ministry of Justice announced Friday that the government will award compensation to Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian-born UK man wrongfully detained in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Raissi was jailed in September 2001 on a US extradition warrant after being indicted by a federal grand jury on accusations that he provided pilot training to 9/11 hijackers. In February 2008, the UK Appeals Court ordered the Ministry to consider Raissi’s appeal for compensation, reversing a 2007 High Court ruling that he was ineligible for compensation because his detention stemmed from an extradition order. The Appeals Court held that the issue of extradition is not relevant to the question of compensation so long as it still results in a miscarriage of justice by UK courts. Last month, the Appeals Court gave Justice Secretary Jack Straw 28 days to decide whether to compensate Raissi. An independent assessor will now determine the amount of the award, which some expect to be several thousand pounds.
Raissi was arrested naked in his home with his wife and brother on September 21, 2001. He was granted conditional bail five months later because the US government was unable to adduce any evidence to support its allegations. He sought compensation under a government scheme allowing payment to any “person whose convictions are quashed on appeal or who, following charge, have not been proceeded against or have been acquitted of crime at trial.”

[JURIST] US federal prosecutors have charged a group of 11 suspected Somali pirates in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to indictments unsealed Friday. The US District Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia filed separate charges against two different groups of suspected pirates. Charges were filed against a group of six alleged pirates who were captured by the USS Nicholas in late March, and separate charges were filed against the other five who were captured by the USS Ashland earlier this month. The US government is prosecuting the suspects for conspiring to commit and committing various offenses, including piracy and attack with the intent to plunder a vessel, noting that “the primary purpose of the conspiracy was to make money by means of piracy on the high seas.”
Earlier this week, a US government official said that at least five accused Somali pirates would face charges in the US. In the beginning of April, Kenyan Foreign Minister Minister Moses Wetangula said that Kenya will no longer accept Somalian pirate cases to be tried in its courts. In January, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported that 2009 marked the worst year for maritime piracy in six years. The information indicated that the total reported incidents of piracy reached 406, surpassing 400 for the first time since 2003. In November, Somali judge Mohamed Abdi Aware, known for jailing suspected pirates, human traffickers, and Islamist insurgents, was shot dead while leaving a mosque in the Puntland city of Bossaso.

[JURIST] The International Whaling Commission (IWC) unveiled a draft proposal Thursday that would make limited commercial whaling legal for the first time in 25 years. The proposal reflects a compromise for the countries that engage in whaling despite international law against it. Japan, Norway, and Iceland would be allowed to continue under strict quotas meant to reduce whaling to sustainable levels over time. Japan, which defends its illegal whaling by claiming an exemption for scientific purposes, will have its self-imposed quota for minke whales reduced from 935 to 400 for the 2010 season and down to 200 by 2015. The hunting of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere is still prohibited, but the proposal allows for a limited number in the North Atlantic. The proposal addresses the fact that the overall ban on whaling has been ineffective:
The status quo is not an option for an effective multilateral organisation. To overcome the present impasse, the IWC has in recent years recognised the need to create a non-confrontational environment within which issues of fundamental difference amongst members can be discussed with a view to their resolution. Reconciliation of differences in views about whales and whaling will strengthen actions related to the common goal of maintaining healthy whale populations and maximizing the likelihood of the recovery of depleted populations.Despite this goal, the IWC has received criticism from the anti-whaling group Greenpeace. The IWC will discuss the proposal during its June meeting in Morocco.Whaling is regulated by the 1946 Whaling Convention, and commercial whaling was outright banned in 1986 by the IWC. The Japanese whalers defend their whaling as scientific research because they collect data on the whale’s age, diet, and birthing rate, before packaging and selling the meat. The Japanese mostly hunt for minke and finback whales, but have begun to hunt humpback whales, which have reached sustainable levels since being placed on the endangered species list in 1963. Earlier this month, Japanese authorities indicted New Zealand anti-whaling activist, Pete Bethune, with five criminal charges in connection with boarding a Japanese whaling vessel as part of an anti-whaling protest in the antarctic seas.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed opposition to a pending Arizona bill that would require individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. In remarks delivered at a naturalization ceremony, Obama stated that failure to enact federal immigration reform has given rise to laws such as the one under consideration in Arizona:
Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.Obama’s stance on the Arizona law reflects his administration’s policy that aims “to bring people out of the shadows.” The remarks underscored Democratic opposition to the bill in Arizona. Proponents argue, however, that the law will discourage illegal immigration.The Arizona Senate approved SB1070 earlier this month. Prior to the Senate approval, the Arizona House of Representatives also approved the legislation. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) must decide whether to sign the bill within five days after the Senate passage. On Thursday, Brewer announced a new Arizona border security plan, and declared her support for a 10-point plan supported by US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In 2008, Arizona voters defeated a ballot measure dealing with illegal immigrants. The initiative would have revoked the business licenses of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Arizona is the most active border crossing point in the US.

[JURIST] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ordered Azerbaijan’s government to “secure the immediate release” of imprisoned Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatuallyev and pay him over 25,000 euros in compensation. Fatuallyev has been imprisoned since April 2007 and was convicted in Azerbaijan of committing defamation and tax evasion and inciting terror and religious and ethnic hatred. International organizations, including Amnesty International (AI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders, have insisted that the charges against Fatullayev are spurious. The ECHR ruled that Fatullayev’s conviction and 8.5 year prison sentence contravene Article 10, Freedom of Speech and Information, and Article 6, Right to a Fair Trial, of the European Convention on Human Rights. Azerbaijan’s Representative to the European Rights Court Chingiz Asgarov said, however, that the court’s directive to release Fatuallyev is outside the purview of both the European Convention on Human Rights and Azerbaijan’s legislation. Azerbaijan is planning to request that the Grand Chamber review the decision, according to Azerbaijan Presidential Administration Law Enforcement Department Chief Fuad Alesgarov. At the end of last year, heroin was allegedly found in Fatuallyev’s prison cell, and he is currently on trial for possession of drugs – charges that many feel are intended to prolong the journalist’s detention despite the ECHR decision in his favor.
In 2009, Fatuallyev received, in absentia, one of CPJ’s prestigious International Press Freedom Awards. In the same year, he also received AI’s Award for Journalism Under Threat. Fatuallyev, who was editor-in-chief of Realny Azerbaijan and Gundalik Azerbaijan newspapers until his imprisonment, formerly worked with well-known Azeri journalist Elmar Huseynov on the Monitor magazine until Huseynov was murdered in 2005. CPJ reported recently that Fatuallyev’s imprisonment could be related to his attempts to solve his colleague’s murder. Azerbaijan’s incumbent president Ilham Aliyev has been accused by members of the press of heavy-handed repression of the media. The ECHR’s ruling on Fatullayev’s case is one of several decisions that the court has issued against Azerbaijan this month. The court also recently found that the country violated a parliamentary candidate’s right to free and fair elections during the 2005 elections.

[JURIST] A top Chinese official on Thursday appealed to the nation’s judges, urging them to be impartial when issuing rulings. Speaking in front of a national meeting of high court presidents in the Shaanxi Province, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China official Zhou Yongkang stressed the importance of fair and honest justice in order to build a country ruled by law. President of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) Wang Shengjun agreed with Zhou’s sentiments, contending that reform of the judiciary will contribute to social justice.
The Chinese government has recently focused attention on ridding corruption in official channels. Last week, a Chinese Intermediate People’s Court in Chongqing sentenced a former deputy police chief and high-ranking judicial official to death for accepting bribes, protecting criminal gangs, rape, and being unable to justify his large amount of personal assets. In March, the Hebei Province People’s High Court upheld a life sentence for former SPC vice president Huang Songyou, who had been convicted of bribery and embezzlement. Earlier that month, Wang called for increased efforts to fight corruption in the country’s court system. In January, the SPC announced new anti-corruption rules in an effort to increase public confidence in the rule of law. In October, two Chongqing courts sentenced six individuals to death for their connections with organized crime gangs.

[JURIST] A military appeals court on Thursday reversed the conviction of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III for the 2006 killing of an Iraqi civilian, citing lack of a fair trial. In an 8-1 decision, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the departure of one of Hutchins’s primary attorneys shortly before the court-martial began resulted in an unfair trial. The ruling makes it possible that Hutchins may be restored to his prior rank, which was reduced to private following his conviction. The Navy JAG Corps may appeal the decision within 30 days.
Hutchins was serving an 11-year sentence, reduced from 15 years, for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania. He was convicted in 2007 of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. Six Marines pled guilty to charges related to their roles in the incident, which involved Awad being removed from his residence and killed, then arranged with a shovel and firearm to appear as if he were planting an improvised explosive device.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama on Thursday called for new financial regulations, outlining the major components of his proposal. Answering critics who claim that the reforms will increase bailouts, Obama compared the concept behind the proposed financial reforms to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a government program he says protects confidence in the banking system and protects consumers while eliminating the need for ad hoc bailouts when banks become insolvent. According to Obama, the reform will contain four central elements: the Volcker Rule to limit the size of banks and the risks allowable, transparency to expose the underlying risk in complex financial instruments, consumer protections to combat predatory lending, and increases in shareholder power to give investors input on executive salaries and bonuses. Obama argued that new financial reforms are vital to the future of the US economy:
In the end, our system only works – our markets are only free – when there are basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excesses, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system. And that is what the reforms we’ve been proposing are designed to achieve – no more, no less.Republican lawmakers, including House minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) have voiced opposition to Obama’s plan.Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee on Monday introduced the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, aimed at increasing financial regulation in the wake of the recent financial crisis. This bill is the second financial reform bill to be proposed by the Senate Banking Committee following the 2008 financial crisis. The 2009 bill was met with resistance and resulted in the committee’s development of the new bill. In December, the US House of Representatives approved a similar bill. The US House Financial Services Committee had approved a bill to create a consumer financial protection agency in October, after originally delaying it at the behest of financial industry leaders in July. The creation of the agency is a key step in achieving the Obama administration’s stated goal of tightening financial industry regulations. In June, the administration proposed a broad series of regulatory reforms aimed at restoring confidence in the US financial system.

[JURIST] A Shangai court ruled Thursday that a Chinese insurance company is liable to software company Microsoft for using illegal copies of its products, ordering the insurance company to pay Microsoft USD $318,000 in damages. The $318,000 awarded against Dazhong Insurance is the largest amount of damages ever ordered by a Chinese court in a software piracy suit. This was Microsoft’s first major anti-piracy lawsuit in China, where last November a court ruled that Microsoft had infringed on intellectual property of a Chinese company.
Microsoft has been a party to many legal proceedings outside the US in recent years. In December, the European Commission (EC) reached a settlement with Microsoft over claims that it violated European anti-trust laws by packing its Internet Explorer web browser with new copies of Windows. Last September, the Seoul Central District Court found Microsoft in violation of South Korea’s antitrust laws for bundling software programs with its Windows operating system. The court found the company’s bundling practice to be in violation of fair competition rules and disruptive to the market. This was the second suit within a few months in which Microsoft was found liable for breach of South Korean antitrust laws. This was the second suit within a few months in which Microsoft was found liable for breach of South Korean antitrust laws. Last June, the same court ruled that Microsoft violated antitrust laws by packaging software with its Windows operating system, also dismissing requests for damages from two Korean software firms on the grounds that the damages were not sufficiently linked to Microsoft’s conduct.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that it will appeal last week’s ruling that the National Day of Prayer is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. The DOJ filed a notice of appeal Thursday with the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, where last week Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the day of prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because it is more than “acknowledgment” of religion, but rather government-backed encouragement that Americans engage in non-secular activity. Crabb granted summary judgment for the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), but the White House has said that President Barack Obama still intends to recognize the day of prayer on May 6.
Last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools does not violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. The court also upheld the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on currency. In November, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that a school district’s policy prohibiting the performance of religious holiday songs does not violate the Establishment Clause. Also that month, a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled that license plates produced by the state bearing a picture of a cross in front of a stained glass window and the words “I Believe” violate the Constitution.

[JURIST] Chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo has asked judges to report Sudan to the UN Security Council for failing to comply with arrest warrants for two government officials. Ocampo filed the request Monday for a finding of non-cooperation pursuant to Article 87 of the Rome Statute for the government’s refusal to arrest Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb. The request stated that Sudan has a binding legal obligation to fully cooperate with the court, as mandated by UN Security Counsel Resolution 1593, and has repeatedly refused to do so since the warrants were issued in 2007. The request went on to say “o the contrary, the continues to commit crimes, promotes and protects the persons sought by the Court; and harasses all persons who are considered to be in favor of justice.” Sudan, which is not a permanent member of the ICC, refuses to recognize the court’s jurisdiction, stating that “the International Criminal Court has no place in this crisis at all.” Harun and Kushayb are wanted for 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has also eluded a warrant issued last year for his arrest. Last month, the president of the ICC said that Bashir will eventually face justice in The Hague. Speaking in London before the UK House of Commons, Judge Sang-Hyun Song addressed controversy surrounding the ICC arrest warrant issued one year ago stating that “judges cannot and will not take political considerations into account.”Responding to questions, Song went on to compare the al-Bashir warrant with the successful surrender of Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor to the international criminal tribunals.

[JURIST] Kyrgyzstan interim deputy leader Omurbek Tekebayev announced Thursday that the country would hold a referendum on a new constitution on July 27. Tekebayev, part of the interim government that took power two weeks ago amid an anti-government uprising, said the new constitution would guarantee a parliamentary republic and reduce the powers of the president in order to prevent authoritarianism. He said the new constitution will also try to prevent powerful parliamentary majorities by limiting any political party to only 50 seats out of a 90-seat parliament. The country’s last parliament was controlled by the ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s Ak-Zhol party. Tekebayev also announced that elections in the country will be held on October 10.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Kyrgyzstan’s interim government to begin a comprehensive investigation into the violence between April 6 and 8 that resulted in the overthrow of president Bakiyev. Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said last week that Bakiyev should stand trial for the recent violence. Despite the pledge to bring Bakiyev and his allies to justice, so far only former defense minister Baktybek Kaliyev has been arrested. The protests, prompted in part by a drastic increase in utility costs, led to at least 84 deaths and many more injuries. Earlier this month, Otunbayeva launched the interim government after the violence forced Bakiyev to flee the capital.

[JURIST] Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka appeared before parliament Thursday to call for both his freedom and respect for the “rule of law.” Fonseka argued for his release from what he characterized as an “illegal detention” and a byproduct of injustice, while also insisting on democratic improvements and institution of the “rule of law.” He was temporarily released from military custody in order to attend the session, to which he traveled under guard. Fonseka faces two separate court-martials, charging him with participating in politics while in uniform and with improperly awarding army procurement contracts, but he successfully won a seat in parliament in elections held earlier this month. He maintains that the allegations are politically motivated. Fonseka is scheduled for a hearing before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on April 26, where he will challenge his detention.
Earlier this month, Fonseka’s trials were postponed to allow the Sri Lankan Court of Appeals to examine the legality of court-martials. Fonseka was arrested by the military in February after losing presidential elections held the previous month. In March, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court criticized the government’s treatment of the general. Sarath Nanda Silva, who retired from the Sri Lankan Supreme Court last year, accused the government of using the military justice system to prevent Fonseka from participating in the upcoming elections, and of violating Fonseka’s civil rights. Silva also said that Fonseka’s arrest was made in violation of the country’s constitution.

[JURIST] The Netherlands Utrecht District Court on Thursday acquitted members of the Arab European League (AEL) of hate speech charges resulting from the posting a cartoon on their website that insinuated that the Holocaust was fabricated. The criminal complaint against the group alleged that the cartoon violated Article 137c of the Dutch Penal Code, which punishes individuals for making discriminatory and defamatory statements against certain groups. The AEL argued that they do not actually deny the historical facts of the Holocaust, but that the cartoon was posted to call attention to what they saw as a double standard in the distribution of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. The court held that the cartoon was offensive, but that, in light an accompanying disclaimer and subsequent statements regarding its purpose, it was nevertheless protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights:
Although the cartoon, in the opinion of the court, is in very bad taste and very hurtful for Jews and others, the right to make this statement is ensured given its specific context and purpose. In light of the case as a whole, an infringement on that right in the form of a criminal conviction is not proportional to the objective to which it serves. Prosecutors had sought for the court to consider the fact that Jewish groups were not involved in the creation or distribution of the Danish Mohammed cartoons, but the court refused.The Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed were originally published in a Danish newspaper in 2005, leading to worldwide protests and lawsuits for those who reprinted the cartoons including suits in Yemen, France and Jordan. The Danish government did not press criminal charges against the Danish newspaper that originally printed the articles. Last month, US citizen David Headley plead not guilty to 12 counts of federal terrorism, including charges related to an alleged plot against the Danish creator and publishers of the controversial cartoons.

[JURIST] The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) war crimes court on Thursday convicted Radomir Vukovic and Zoran Tomic for their alleged roles in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian civil war. The accused were found guilty of genocide under Article 171 paragraph a) of the BiH criminal code and were each sentenced to 31 years imprisonment. As members of the 2nd Sekovici Special Police Detachment, the court found that Vukovic and Tomic participated in capturing Bosniak men from the UN safe area and in securing a road to allow the transfer of Bosniak women, children, and elderly. The court also held that the accused knowingly aided in the event in which 1,000 Bosniak men were imprisoned in a warehouse and then executed by Serb police firing automatic weapons and throwing hand grenades. Vukovic participated by throwing hand grenades and Tomic fired an automatic rifle at the captured men. The court extended custody of the accused for up to nine months or until the court issues a new decision.
In March, the BiH indicted Nedjo Ikonic, a former Serb commander of a special police brigade, for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre. The BiH war crimes court was set up in 2005 to relieve the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and is authorized to try lower-level war crime suspects. The court delivered its first sentences against war crimes suspects from Yugoslavia’s violent ethnic conflicts of the 1990s in July 2008, convicting seven of genocide for their involvement in killings committed at the Srebrenica prison camp. The ICTY retains jurisdiction over high-level war crimes allegations, such as those against Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic.

[JURIST] A US military panel in Iraq on Thursday acquitted Navy SEAL Julio Huertas of any wrongdoing in connection with the alleged assault of a high-profile Iraqi detainee. A six-person jury found Huertas not guilty on charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an investigation for taking no action while a fellow SEAL allegedly punched and kicked Iraqi prisoner Ahmed Hashim Abed. US authorities believe Abed to be the mastermind behind the 2004 Blackwater contractor killings in Falluja. A US military judge ruled in January that Huertas’s court-martial would be held at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, so that Abed could testify against him. Two other Navy SEALs, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, have also been charged in connection with the incident, and their trial is scheduled to begin Friday.
Detainee abuse has been a major issue during the Iraq war. In September 2008, the UK Defense Ministry admitted the unlawful abuse of nine detainees and announced monetary compensation. Three British soldiers were ultimately convicted, and dishonorably discharged. In 2005, another Navy SEAL was charged with assault, dereliction of duty, and conduct unbecoming of an officer stemming from the treatment of an Iraqi prisoner. Abuse of detainees during the Iraq War first garnered international attention after the 2004 release of pictures depicting prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

[JURIST] A group of more than 30 privacy and civil liberty groups on Wednesday asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to suspend the full body scanner program being implemented by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The petition states that use of the full body scanner program is an invasion of privacy and that:
deployment of Full Body Scanners in US airports, as currently proposed, violates the U.S. Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), the Privacy Act of 1974 (“Privacy Act”), and the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”). As described below, the FBS program effectively subjects all air travelers to unconstitutionally intrusive searches that are disproportionate and for which the TSA lacks any suspicion of wrongdoing.According to the petitioners, the scanners are a step toward doing away with individualized suspicion and are particularly offensive to devout individuals. As such, the scans are opposed by religious groups. The petition also alleges that the scanners themselves have two major flaws: they cannot detect powdered explosives, and the operating systems are vulnerable to attack.In February, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced that full body scanners in use at two UK airports may be illegal. The body scanners were introduced in part as a response to the failed US bombing attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. The attempted attack prompted Obama to announce tighter security measures, which civil rights groups opposed as a pretext to racial profiling.

[JURIST] German federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they have charged former Red Army Faction (RAF) member Verena Beckman for the 1977 murders of federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and two other men. Beckman was originally arrested two months after Buback’s assassination and served 12 years of a life sentence for her role in other killings before she was pardoned and freed in 1989 by former president Richard von Weizsaecker. Prosecutors reopened the case in light of new DNA evidence linking Beckman to the high-profile murder. The RAF, commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, was a leftist group that targeted political and financial institutions and personnel, killing 34 people between 1968 and 1998.
Some reports allege that, in the aftermath of the RAF’s terrorist attacks, German officials tortured RAF prisoners and compromised their trials. In 2008, a German court granted parole for RAF leader Christian Klar after he served 26 years in prison on nine counts of murder and 11 counts of attempted murder. The court found no grounds on which continue to detain him, and he was released last year. Before being granted parole, Klar had called for the defeat of capitalism and lost an appeal for clemency. Other prominent RAF members, including Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Eve Haule, have also been paroled in recent years.

[JURIST] Rwandan authorities arrested opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Wednesday, accusing her of denying the 1994 Rwandan genocide and collaborating with terrorists. Authorities cited Ingabire’s call for the prosecution of those who killed Hutus during the genocide, in which over 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were slain, as evidence of her denial of the genocide. Prosecutors also alleged that Ingabire has collaborated with Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Rwanda, which borders Rwanda. The arrest comes at a time when current Tutsi President Paul Kagame has received criticism from Human Rights Watch (HRW) for his treatment of opposition parties. The United Democratic Forces (FDU), the party chaired by Ingabire, released a statement Wednesday condemning the arrest:
Such a barbaric and unlawful act against a peace loving mother who braved the system to show that there is another way to bring about lasting peace and development in Rwanda is not only a challenge to the conscience and dignity of the Rwandan people but also to the international community, in particular foreign governments who are sponsoring the government.The UDF urged “governments and peace loving people and organisations to support us in getting our chair immediately and unconditionally released.”Rwanda continues to try those involved in the 1994 genocide. In March, an aid to Ingabire who had been convicted in absentia, pleaded guilty to genocide charges in exchange for a reduced prison sentence of 17 years. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established for the prosecution of high-level officials responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law during the Rwandan genocide. Last month, the Appeals Chamber of the ICTR affirmed the genocide conviction of popular Rwandan singer-songwriter Simon Bikindi. The court also reversed the conviction for counts of genocide, murder, and extermination against Rwandan district attorney Simeon Nchamihigo. Earlier in March, the widow of assassinated Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, Agathe Habyarimana, was arrested in France on suspicions of complicity in genocide and was later released on bail. In January, the Rwandan government released a report concluding that the assassination of then-president Juvenal Habyarimana, which sparked the genocide, was the work of Hutu extremists.

[JURIST] A US government official said Wednesday that at least five accused Somali pirates will face charges in the US, according to the Associated Press. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while the transfers are pending, said that the accused will arrive in Norfolk, Virginia, by the end of this week. Although Kenyan courts are no longer willing to prosecute piracy cases, the source claims that not all 21 of those recently arrested in piracy incidents will face charges in the US. US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley told reporters Wednesday, “I would not deny that we have plans to bring pirates who are responsible for attacks against our vessels back to the United States.” Crowley added that, “Kenya is reaching a capacity problem – challenge. So this is where all countries have to step up just as we are doing and take responsibility for pirates who have attacked their ships and prosecute them to the fullest extent of national law.”
In January, the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported that 2009 marked the worst year for maritime piracy in six years. The information indicated that the total reported incidents of piracy reached 406, surpassing 400 for the first time since 2003. Earlier that month, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a superseding indictment against alleged Somali pirate Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, claiming that he led the takeover of two additional ships. Muse pleaded not guilty to the charges. In November, Somali judge Mohamed Abdi Aware, known for jailing suspected pirates, human traffickers, and Islamist insurgents, was shot dead while leaving a mosque in the Puntland city of Bossaso.