[JURIST] The US District Court for the Central District of California [official website] on Tuesday began the trial in a case challenging the constitutionality of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy [10 USC § 654; JURIST news archive]. Judge Virginia Phillips, trying the case without a jury, heard opening statements [text] in the case, Log Cabin Republicans v. United States [case materials; LCR backgrounder], in which the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) [advocacy website] argued that the military policy violates the First Amendment [Cornell LII backgrounder]. They claim the policy has the effect of barring homosexual members of the military...

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] indecency policy [text] is unconstitutional. The court held that the FCC's policy is a violation of the First Amendment [text] right to freedom of speech because it is unconstitutionally vague and could have a "chilling effect" on speech. The case was originally filed by Fox Television Stations [corporate website] after the FCC changed its longstanding policy to allow broadcast corporations to be fined based on isolated expletives. Fox argued that the agency's indecency test was unconstitutionally...

[JURIST] A federal judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss charges [opinion, PDF] against former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Ahmed Ghailani [GlobalSecurity profile; JURIST news archive], ruling that his Sixth Amendment [text] right to a speedy trial was not violated. Ghailani's lawyers had sought a dismissal of charges, arguing that he was denied the right to a speedy trial [JURIST reports] while being detained for nearly five years in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] secret prisons and later at Guantanamo Bay. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) [official...

[JURIST] UK Prime Minister David Cameron [official website] on Tuesday announced [press release] the coalition government's plans to reform the criminal justice system [text, PDF] to include lesser prison sentences and more community punishment options. The Ministry of Justice [official website] on Tuesday published its Structural Reform Plan, which outlines reform goals for the next two years, including changing criminal sentencing and penalties to include different degrees of crimes and shorter jail terms, increasing prisoner rehabilitation, improving the efficacy of the legal aid system, reorganizing prisons to meet capacity challenges and developing more civil liberty protections. UK Justice Secretary Kenneth...

[JURIST] The French National Assembly [official website, in French] on Tuesday voted 336-1 to approve a bill [materials, in French] that would make it illegal to wear the Islamic burqa [JURIST news archive] or other full face veils in public. Under the legislation, women who wear the veil can be required by police to show their face, and, if they refuse, they can be forced to attend citizenship classes or be charged a USD $185 fine. The proposed legislation would also make it a crime to force a woman to cover her face, with a penalty of one year in...

[JURIST] Chinese Internet regulators have plans to drastically reduce internet anonymity by requiring users to use their real names when posting on certain Chinese websites, according to documents [text] released Tuesday by New York-based human rights group Human Rights in China (HRIC) [advocacy website]. The documents contain various versions of an April 29 speech to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress by Wang Chen [official profile, in Chinese], Director of the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China and Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China [official websites, in Chinese]....

[JURIST] US lawmakers are calling for an investigation [press release] into the role that oil company British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] may have played in obtaining an early release for convicted Pan Am Flight 103 [BBC backgrounder] bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [BBC profile]. The lawmakers are asking that the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] investigate whether BP played a role in lobbying for the release of al-Megrahi in exchange for a 2007 contract [AP report] with Libya allowing the company to drill in the country's coastal waters. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official, was released from custody [JURIST...

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Tuesday delayed a vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan [official profile; JURIST news archive] at the request of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) [official website]. The vote on whether to send the nomination for consideration by the full Senate is now scheduled for July 20 [hearing video] after Sessions, the ranking member on the committee, requested that the vote be delayed under committee rules allowing any member to do so. In requesting the delay, Sessions described the confirmation process as moving in an "expeditious manner," and went on...

[JURIST] US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar [official profile] issued a new six-month drilling moratorium [text, PDF] on Tuesday, citing new evidence regarding safety concerns after the BP oil spill [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Unlike the previously ordered moratorium, this one is not based on the depths at which drilling occurs. Instead, the moratorium affects drilling with specific technologies, although the applicable technologies are most often used during deepshore drilling and will not affect shallow water drilling operations. The new plan, the government says, offers more specifics on the types of drilling that will and will not be banned. In...

[JURIST] Italian police on Tuesday arrested [press release, in Italian] more than 300 individuals and seized millions of euros worth of assets in a countrywide raid on the 'Ndrangheta [CNN backgrounder] crime organization. The predawn operation, dubbed "Il crimine," the largest such action in 15 years, involved more than 3000 police in numerous provinces, but most arrests were concentrated in the southern region of Calabria and the northern region of Lombardy. Among those arrested were Pino Neri, suspected of leading the 'Ndrangheta's northern operation in Milan, and Domenico Oppedisano, who authorities believe to be the head of the organization. The...

[JURIST] The Afghan cabinet on Monday approved a bill that would allow high-ranking government officials to stand trial on charges of corruption. Under the bill the Afghan judiciary would be empowered [Xinhua report] to establish special tribunals which would hear the cases of high-ranking government officials accused of corruption. Under current Afghan law, government ministers are immune from prosecution in the traditional court system. The cabinet's approval comes one week before the Afghan government is expected to ask for additional funds from the international community in order to help in the country's rebuilding efforts. The approval of the funds may...

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [official website] on Tuesday called on the Afghan government to protect the rights of women [press release] during integration and reconciliation efforts conducted with the Taliban [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] and other militants. In a report, Ten-Dollar Talib [materials], the human rights organization criticized recent actions taken by the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to end the ongoing conflict with the Taliban and other insurgent groups, claiming they ignored women's rights in favor of reaching an expedient resolution. HRW criticized what it called politically motivated actions that undermine women's rights, such...

[JURIST] The Canadian Department of Justice [official website] on Monday announced that it will appeal [press release] a court ruling ordering the government to provide Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr [DOD Materials; JURIST news archive] with a list of remedies to ameliorate its breach of his constitutional rights. Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Canada [official website] held that Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, has a right to "procedural fairness and natural justice" [JURIST report] under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text], and the government has so far failed to take appropriate action...

[JURIST] The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs [official website] on Monday began negotiating a treaty to regulate the arms trade and prevent guns from entering conflict zones. The Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) [official website], established following a 2008 report [text] by the Group of Governmental Experts, has been examining the scope and draft parameters of a 2006 resolution [JURIST report] in order to make recommendations on an international, legally binding arms treaty. After fully considering the findings and recommendations of the PrepCom, the UN General Assembly [official website] plans to finalize the treaty [Reuters report] in 2012. The...

[JURIST] A group of lawyers on Monday filed a complaint with a Morocco prosecutor seeking the arrest of several high ranking Israeli officials over their involvement in Operation Cast Lead [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The complaint names former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak [BBC profiles] for violating anti-terror laws [AFP report] and laws requiring the protection of civilians during the 22-day conflict in the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder]. If the complaint is accepted by the Rabat chief prosecutor, the Israeli officials would face arrest upon entering Moroccan jurisdiction. Israeli...

[JURIST] The Chinese government instituted new regulations Sunday requiring a wide variety of government officials to disclose to the state details about their personal finances and the legal statuses of their family members. The new regulations [Xinhua report], which apply to county-level and higher-ranking political officials, party officers and employees of public institutions and state-held business entities, require individuals to disclose their family's investment holdings, property and income, as well as the marital statuses, employment statuses and whereabouts of all family members. The inclusion of detailed information about family members in the new disclosure requirements is intended to deter officials...

[JURIST] The UK Woolwich Crown Court on Monday sentenced three British Muslims [press release] charged in connection with a 2006 plot to blow up numerous transatlantic flights to life in prison. Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zahman [GlobalSecurity backgrounders] were part of a conspiracy to detonate liquid bombs hidden in soft drink bottles on airliners bound for the US and Canada from London's Heathrow Airport [corporate website]. The plot was dismantled [JURIST report] after a raid carried out by London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) [official website]. During the raid, the police discovered a digital tape containing suicide videos...

[JURIST] An Israeli military probe found insufficient intelligence and planning in the May 31 raid on several Turkish ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder] in a report released Monday [press release], but also concluded that no punishments were necessary. The Eiland Commission, which was formed last month [JURIST report] to investigate the raid, was composed of professionals outside of the chain of command for the flotilla raid and had been assigned to study the outcomes of the incident and "establish lessons." The commission declassified some sections of its findings, which concluded that the Israeli Navy failed to...

[JURIST] Canadian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] on Monday appeared at a pre-trial hearing and informed the court that he had previously rejected a plea deal offered by the US government. Under the plea agreement Khadr would have pleaded guilty to committing war crimes and been sentenced to 30 years in prison, with all but five years of the sentence suspended. Khadr told the court that the agreement was a ploy by the US government to look good in the eyes of the international community and that he would not be used...

[JURIST] Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Monday charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [case materials; JURIST news archive] with three counts of genocide [warrant, PDF] in relation to the Darfur conflict [BBC backgrounder]. The chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that Bashir had committed genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. The charges included "genocide by killing, genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction." The charges come after...