Mubarak too ill for hospital transfer

Mubarak is expected to be charged with consenting to a plan to kill protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on January 25.Hosni Mubarak is considered too ill to be transferred to a prison hospital, prosecutors sayMubarak was recently examined by a medical teamMubarak could face trial in the killings of protesters and wasting public fundsMubarak stepped down as Egypt's ruler on February 11

(CNN) -- Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is too ill to be transferred to that country's Tora prison hospital, Egyptian prosecutors said Tuesday.

The prosecutors concluded that the hospital couldn't accommodate Mubarak's needs after the former president was examined by a medical team.

It was not immediately clear if another prison facility in the country will be able to house the deposed leader.

Mubarak and his two sons are currently facing a criminal trial for the deaths of protesters and wasting public money, according to the Egyptian general prosecutor's office.

Mubarak, who was forced from office in February, is expected to be charged with consenting to a plan to kill protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on January 25. He allegedly ordered police officers to use live ammunition while they fired into a crowd.

The former president, who denies the charges, could be executed if he is convicted of ordering any killings, Egyptian Justice Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz al-Juindy said earlier this month.

Mubarak has been held in a military hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since mid-April, after complaining of heart palpitations and blood pressure problems. But Aly Hassan, a judicial analyst affiliated with the ministry, recently said Egyptian courts can proceed with a case if a defendant is in poor health.

"In previous cases, suspects appeared in court with life-support machines, so Mubarak's health now does not mean that he is paralyzed," Hassan said. "If he has heart problems and doctors indicate improvement, then he can appear in court for several hours."

Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's leader on February 11, after an 18-day uprising against his nearly three decades of iron-fisted rule. He and his family, as well as former officials in his government, have been under investigation ever since.

Mubarak's attorney, Farid El Deeb, told CNN Monday the former president is "very sad and sorry" about the allegations made against him, but has no regrets.

El Deeb denied that Mubarak gave any kind of authorization to use force or live ammunition against demonstrators calling for his removal.

The attorney also claimed Mubarak is now in "very bad health," suffering from a serious heart problem and a resurgence of colon cancer.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Bills would transfer oversight of terror cases

WASHINGTON — In the Justice Department's ornate Great Hall, a space traditionally reserved for its most important functions, Attorney General Eric Holder stepped before staffers last week to mark the department's accomplishments in the first two years of the Obama administration and the challenges to be confronted in the term's second half.

Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. will continue to rely on the federal court system to bring terror suspects to justice.

By Paul J. Richards, Getty Images, AFP

Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. will continue to rely on the federal court system to bring terror suspects to justice.

Perhaps most striking about the speech ? which reaffirmed the department's commitment to national security ? were words that Holder did not utter: Guantanamo Bay.

Just weeks after the administration capitulated on its promise to shut down the prison at Guantanamo and referred the suspects there to trials by military commissions ? not civilian courts ? Holder's address was partly an attempt to turn the page on a painful political loss.

Even so, the Guantanamo decision may mark just the first fight in a continuing battle to undermine his authority in terrorism prosecutions.

At least two bills before Congress threaten to transfer much of the investigative oversight in terrorism cases, which are currently Holder's responsibility as the attorney general, to the Defense secretary.

'A paradigm shift'

A bill in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Shilling, R-Ill., would require terrorism suspects, including those arrested in the United States, to be placed in military custody unless the Defense secretary rules otherwise.

"It acknowledges that the attorney general has played a too important role in these cases," said Josh Holly, a Republican spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee. "This represents a paradigm shift to the law of war."

A Senate bill, sponsored by Arizona's John McCain and other Republicans, includes a similar provision that calls for "members of al-Qaeda, the Taliban and affiliated terrorist groups" to be held by the military when captured.

The bill also would give authority to the Defense secretary ? not the attorney general ? to determine whether the suspect should be transferred to civilian custody.

"This much-needed legislation would improve our current ad hoc military detention system for members of al-Qaeda and their affiliated terrorist groups," McCain said when introducing the bill.

The proposed legislative provisions were inspired partly by the controversy that followed the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to blow up a commercial airliner over Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear on Christmas Day 2009.

At that time, some lawmakers, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., a co-sponsor of the current Senate bill, assailed Obama administration officials for the decision to inform Abdulmutallab of his right to a lawyer during a break in the interrogation.

Lieberman and others have argued that the Nigerian terrorism suspect should have been turned over to military authorities for interrogation rather than risk losing the suspect's cooperation on the advice of a defense lawyer.

"These are lessons learned from (Abdulmutallab)," Holly said.

In his speech to staffers, Holder, while not referring to the Guantanamo decision, vowed to press federal law enforcement's anti-terrorism efforts.

"Let me be very clear about this: We will continue to rely on our most powerful and most proven tool in bringing terrorists to justice: our federal court system," Holder said.

Later, in a meeting with reporters, Holder said that the federal court system has demonstrated a "capacity" to prosecute terrorism cases.

Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been more than 400 convictions in terror and terror-related prosecutions, according to Justice Department records.

"We have the capacity to try terrorists in (federal) courts," Holder said.

A question of authority

Despite the federal courts' record of dealing with terrorism cases, some advocates for civilian prosecutions said, the Guantanamo decision diminishes the Justice Department's standing in terror prosecutions.

"The flip-flop by the Obama administration makes the Justice Department look symbolically weaker," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, "but we shouldn't let a decision based on politics diminish the role the department has played in successfully prosecuting hundreds of terror cases in federal court."

Dixon Osburn, law and security program director at Human Rights First, said the McCain and Shilling bills amount to the next challenge to the administration.

"I don't think anybody has really focused on these (bills) yet," Osburn said. "The White House needs to say that there are lines that cannot be crossed."

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Yemeni power transfer deal in limbo

NEW: President Saleh's party "has no problem signing" the deal, a party official saysNEW: The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council will return to Sanaa within 72 hoursHe'd abruptly cut short a meeting Saturday, after Saleh made last-minute demandsAn opposition official says it won't send figures to Riyadh and says Saleh is insincere

(CNN) -- A key outside broker will return to Yemen this week hoping to salvage the power transfer deal that aims to end months of turmoil in the Middle Eastern nation, a senior ruling party official said Sunday.

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional coalition that helped broker the pact, will work this week on a solution to the crisis, according to the official. This includes a trip to Sanaa by the group's Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani He had abruptly left a meeting with President Ali Abdullah Saleh Saturday and appeared angry as he passed reporters on his way to his plane, according to a senior official in Saleh's General People's Congress party.

"Al-Zayani will be back in Yemen in the next 72 hours in an effort to end the crisis and convince both sides to sign the GCC proposal," the party official said.

Al-Zayani cut short this visit after Saleh made last-minute demands to move the pact's signing from Riyadh to Sanaa and his insistence that he'd sign it in his capacity as a leader of the ruling party and not as president.

Sunday was supposed to be a pivotal day in the process, with Saleh and opposition leaders once scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia to sign the initiative that they'd agreed to in principle at a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council member state foreign ministers. State media in the United Arab Emirates reported that Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to head that meeting -- though he wasn't joined by key Yemeni figures most central to the deal.

The agreement stipulates that Saleh transfer power and leave office within 30 days of signing it. It also provides immunity for him and those who served in his regime and calls for a unity government to be formed within seven days.

But, in his meeting with Al-Zayani on Saturday, Saleh said a representative from his party and not he personally would go to Riyadh. A ruling party official explained that the president feared that a coup might take place, should he leave the nation.

That prompted leaders of the Joint Meeting Parties, the country's largest opposition bloc, to refuse to fly north themselves -- be it to sign any potential deal or even take part in the briefing by foreign ministers from around the region.

"Since President Saleh is not willing to sign the GCC proposal, there is no reason for the (opposition) to travel to Riyadh. We were going to sign and nothing else," said the opposition official, who is not authorized to speak to the media.

The official added, "The opposition will not travel until we get confirmation from the GCC that Saleh will sign, and has agreed to all the points of the proposal."

But later Sunday, the General People's Congress official insisted Saleh and his party remain committed to the agreement.

"The ruling party has no problem signing the GCC proposal, and President Saleh has welcomed it more than once," said this official.

And according to Saba, Yemen's state-run news agency, Saleh himself signalled he wanted the agreement carried out "as a whole" in a conversation with United Arab Emirates President Khalifa Bin Zayad al Nahyan.

A senior opposition official on Sunday accused Saleh of trying to torpedo the accord, particularly with his insistence he sign any agreement as a party but not government official.

"He has claimed to be Yemen's president for 33 years," said Sultan Atwani, a senior Joint Meeting Parties official. "And now he wants to deny that fact and be recognized as the head of the ruling GPC party."

The uncertainty over how and when the deal can be revived comes as massive countrywide protests that began in February continue to shake the impoverished and politically unstable nation.

Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters poured out into the streets of at least 13 of the country's provinces on Saturday, all demanding that Saleh step down immediately.

CNN's Jennifer Fenton contributed to this report.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Bills would transfer oversight of terror cases

WASHINGTON — In the Justice Department's ornate Great Hall, a space traditionally reserved for its most important functions, Attorney General Eric Holder stepped before staffers last week to mark the department's accomplishments in the first two years of the Obama administration and the challenges to be confronted in the term's second half.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Paul J. Richards, Getty Images, AFP

Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. will continue to rely on the federal court system to bring terror suspects to justice.

By Paul J. Richards, Getty Images, AFP

Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. will continue to rely on the federal court system to bring terror suspects to justice.

Perhaps most striking about the speech ? which reaffirmed the department's commitment to national security ? were words that Holder did not utter: Guantanamo Bay.

Just weeks after the administration capitulated on its promise to shut down the prison at Guantanamo and referred the suspects there to trials by military commissions ? not civilian courts ? Holder's address was partly an attempt to turn the page on a painful political loss.

Even so, the Guantanamo decision may mark just the first fight in a continuing battle to undermine his authority in terrorism prosecutions.

At least two bills before Congress threaten to transfer much of the investigative oversight in terrorism cases, which are currently Holder's responsibility as the attorney general, to the Defense secretary.

'A paradigm shift'

A bill in the House of Representatives, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Shilling, R-Ill., would require terrorism suspects, including those arrested in the United States, to be placed in military custody unless the Defense secretary rules otherwise.

"It acknowledges that the attorney general has played a too important role in these cases," said Josh Holly, a Republican spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee. "This represents a paradigm shift to the law of war."

A Senate bill, sponsored by Arizona's John McCain and other Republicans, includes a similar provision that calls for "members of al-Qaeda, the Taliban and affiliated terrorist groups" to be held by the military when captured.

The bill also would give authority to the Defense secretary ? not the attorney general ? to determine whether the suspect should be transferred to civilian custody.

"This much-needed legislation would improve our current ad hoc military detention system for members of al-Qaeda and their affiliated terrorist groups," McCain said when introducing the bill.

The proposed legislative provisions were inspired partly by the controversy that followed the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to blow up a commercial airliner over Detroit with a bomb hidden in his underwear on Christmas Day 2009.

At that time, some lawmakers, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., a co-sponsor of the current Senate bill, assailed Obama administration officials for the decision to inform Abdulmutallab of his right to a lawyer during a break in the interrogation.

Lieberman and others have argued that the Nigerian terrorism suspect should have been turned over to military authorities for interrogation rather than risk losing the suspect's cooperation on the advice of a defense lawyer.

"These are lessons learned from (Abdulmutallab)," Holly said.

In his speech to staffers, Holder, while not referring to the Guantanamo decision, vowed to press federal law enforcement's anti-terrorism efforts.

"Let me be very clear about this: We will continue to rely on our most powerful and most proven tool in bringing terrorists to justice: our federal court system," Holder said.

Later, in a meeting with reporters, Holder said that the federal court system has demonstrated a "capacity" to prosecute terrorism cases.

Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been more than 400 convictions in terror and terror-related prosecutions, according to Justice Department records.

"We have the capacity to try terrorists in (federal) courts," Holder said.

A question of authority

Despite the federal courts' record of dealing with terrorism cases, some advocates for civilian prosecutions said, the Guantanamo decision diminishes the Justice Department's standing in terror prosecutions.

"The flip-flop by the Obama administration makes the Justice Department look symbolically weaker," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, "but we shouldn't let a decision based on politics diminish the role the department has played in successfully prosecuting hundreds of terror cases in federal court."

Dixon Osburn, law and security program director at Human Rights First, said the McCain and Shilling bills amount to the next challenge to the administration.

"I don't think anybody has really focused on these (bills) yet," Osburn said. "The White House needs to say that there are lines that cannot be crossed."

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.