The union of lawyers in the West Bank announced June 13 that attorneys would suspend all their activities this weekend after anti-drug police in Bethlehem assaulted a lawyer. The union said in a statement that all its offices would be shut down in all West Bank districts, and called upon all members of the union's general assembly to join a sit-in in front of the district attorney's office. "We were shocked and couldn’t believe that a group of anti-drug police officers in Bethlehem assaulted a lawyer and strip searched him in a humiliating manner," the statement said. "What shocked us even more was that the district attorney was present and the attackers received instructions directly from the attorney general."

Thousands of Turkish lawyers on June 12 joined the ongoing protests in Ankara and Istanbul by marching out of courthouses in black robes. This came as the result of incidents during the protests the previous day, where a number of lawyers were handcuffed and dragged on the ground by police officers. Prosecutors in Istanbul had begun to investigate the use of excessive force by police officers over the course of the protests. On June 11 alone, more than 600 individuals were injured during the protests and tear gas was flooded into Taksim Square by police. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT)  reports that police action during the protests has reached levels of torture and ill treatment and that it will begin filing criminal complaints against officers who have violated international rights conventions.

Iraq unveiled an ambitious energy strategy June 12, aiming to raise $6 trillion from oil and gas sales by 2030. The Integrated National Energy Strategy would see Iraq invest some $620 billion in the sector over nearly 20 years, ramping up oil production to 4.5 million barrels per day by the end of next year, from around 3.5 million now. Iraq sits atop the world's fourth largest proven reserves of conventional crude, with about 143.1 billion barrels. Oil revenues make up 95% of the country's budget. (AFP, AP, June 12)

For those who are following the twin Maoist movements in India and Nepal, there was a delicious irony May 30 when Prachanda, leader of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), sent a condolence letter to Indian political boss Sonia Gandhi over the recent attack by Maoist Naxalite guerillas in which 27 were killed, including senior leaders of Gandhi's Congress Party. "Our party UCPN-Maoist is deeply shocked and saddened by the demise of leaders and workers of the Indian National Congress in the recent attack in Chattisgarh...unleashed by Indian Maoists," Prachanda wrote. Zee News notes that among the dead was Mahendra Karma, a notorious paramilitary leader who was accused of atrocities against perceived guerilla sympathists. A like letter from Nepali Congress party leader Sushil Koirala said: "I am extremely shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the death of senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, other leaders and cadres of your party along with other innocent people in the ambush by the Maoists in Chattisgarh." 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in conjunction with the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed suit (PDF) June 11 against the National Security Agency (NSA) challenging its recently revealed phone data collection. As a Verizon business network services customer, the ACLU argues that the program violates the rights of free speech and association as well as the right of privacy as protected by the First and Fourth Amendments. The complaint also charges that the program oversteps Congress' authority as outlined in the Patriot Ac. On June 10, the ACLU DC affiliate and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, filed a motion (PDF) with the secret surveillance court that issued the order allowing the data collection. They requested that the court provide a statutory basis of its recent controversial decisions to permit collection of civilians' personal data from private communication companies.

This is pretty funny. The Wall Street Journal informs us that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has been a big hit among freedom-hungry Chinese cyber-cognoscenti. "This is the definition of heroism," wrote one particularly enthusiastic micro-blogger (presumably on Sina Weibo). "Doing this proves he genuinely cares about this country and about his country's citizens. All countries need someone like him!" This is a brilliantly acceptable guise for dissent within China: it places Beijing in the uncomfortable position of either having to tolerate the dissent or implicitly diss a dissident from the rival superpower! We were a little skeptical when Snowden took refuge in Hong Kong, recalling Julian Assange's coziness with authoritarian regimes even as he is glorified as an avatar of freedom. But Beijing will probably see Snowden as too hot a potato, for obvious reasons. "He must be protected," one sharp wit wrote on Sina Weibo. "This is one of the few opportunities the Communist Party has to contribute to world good." (See report at Quartz)

A criminal court in Kuwait on June 10 sentenced a woman to 11 years in prison for remarks she made on Twitter. Huda al-Ajmi was found guilty of three violations, including insulting the nation's ruler, Emir Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, calling to overthrow the government and misusing her mobile phone. The 11-year prison term is the harshest sentence yet given to an online activist in Kuwait and will become final if it is not overturned when contested in the court of appeals and cassation court. Huda al-Ajmi, who denies the charges, is not a well-known activist and is not known to have participated in opposition protests.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) on June 10 announced that military commission charges have been filed against Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. Al-Hadi is an Iraqi prisoner who has been held at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba since 2007. The official charge sheet (PDF) alleges, among other things, that al-Hadi was a superior commander for al-Qaeda and that he and his operatives killed multiple US service members and attacked a US military medical helicopter with rocket-propelled grenades and firearms. Prosecutors also allege that al-Hadi funded and oversaw all of al-Qaeda's operations against US and allied forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2002 to 2004 and that he directed his forces to use various unlawful means, such as attacking civilians and detonating car bombs in civilian areas. The charges against al-Hadi will next be reviewed by a Pentagon official. If approved, the case can proceed with arraignment on the charges, which carry a potential life sentence.