Special rapporteur on human rights details 'pattern of gross abuses' as junta unveils restrictive electoral laws

A senior UN official has called for Burma's military rulers to be investigated over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated against Burmese civilians, in a move that will sharply increase pressure on the isolated regime ahead of controversial national elections due later this year.

In a draft report to the UN Human Rights Council [pdf] in Geneva, Tomás Ojea Quintana, special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, described "a pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights" which he said has been in place for many years and still continued.

"There is an indication that those human rights violations are the result of a state policy that involves authorities in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels," he said.

The draft, published on the council's website, goes on: "The possibility exists that some of these [violations] may entail categories of crimes against humanity, or war crimes, under the terms of the statute of the international criminal court."

In this context, Quintana said the UN security council should consider setting up a "commission of inquiry with a specific, fact-finding mandate to address the question of international crimes".

The unusually tough assessment came as the junta today published a tranche of new electoral laws that restrict the ability of opposition parties to participate in the coming elections.

The special rapporteur said national elections, expected in October, provided an opportunity for positive change, but he was pessimistic that the junta would allow the chance to be seized.

"During his last mission [in February], the special rapporteur received no indication that all prisoners of conscience will be released, that freedom of opinion and association will be guaranteed in the context of these elections, and that ethnic communities will be able to fully participate," the report said.

The pressure group Burma Campaign UK today welcomed what it said was an unprecedented UN intervention, calling it a "major step forward" that would increase pressure on the US, British and regional governments to take a tougher line with the generals.

The US and EU have imposed limited sanctions on the regime. But since taking office last year, Barack Obama has pursued a policy of diplomatic engagement, holding several senior-level meetings. In a break with the past, Obama met General Thein Sein, the Burmese prime minister, at a regional summit in Singapore in November.

Analysts say Burma's military ties to North Korea are a major concern for Washington. It fears the generals may follow Pyongyang in developing nuclear weapons. The possibility of war crimes proceedings against members of the junta may complicate US efforts at dialogue, which are already under hostile fire in the US Congress.

Pressure to set up an international commission of inquiry into Burma has previously come from NGOs and activists involved in the country, and from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In Britain, more than 170 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the British government to support an inquiry.

Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by the jailed Nobel peace prizewinner Aung San Suu Kyi, has repeatedly drawn attention to widespread, ongoing human rights abuses, including the jailing of 2,000 political prisoners. It also says the planned elections will not be free or fair.

The junta's unveiling of new restrictive electoral laws today has strengthened the impression that the polls will be closely controlled and designed to lend the regime a veneer of democratic respectability.

The new rules effectively prevent Aung San Suu Kyi and her jailed supporters from standing for election. They establish a government-controlled election oversight body with the power to prevent or annul voting in any part of the country for "security reasons". The junta has also formally declared the 1990 elections, which the NLD won in a landslide, to be invalid.

"Instead of passing laws that strip away more of their rights, the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities should immediately release all political prisoners," Amnesty International said. It said it was concerned that "activists are going to come under increased repression in the lead-up to the elections".

By allowing the NLD to reopen 100 regional offices closed since 2003, the regime appears to be hoping that, despite the restrictions, a decapitated opposition will participate in the poll, boosting the junta's credibility. This has created a dilemma for those NLD leaders who are not in jail. "I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven't made up our minds about this," said spokesman, Nyan Win.

He described new electoral provisions, such as a requirement that parties uphold the generals' gerrymandered 2008 constitution, as "completely unacceptable".

Tin Oo, the NLD deputy chairman, said the junta was trying to split the opposition. "They have been trying to decimate the party and now they are doing it with utmost force. But the NLD will never collapse."

David Chaytor, Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and Lord Hanningfield say the workings of parliament should be dealt with by parliament

Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer facing charges over their expenses appeared in court today to argue that their cases should be dealt with by parliament rather than the criminal justice system.

Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield answered summonses at City of Westminster magistrates court to be charged with false accounting under the Theft Act.

Their cases were referred to Southwark crown court after lawyers for the men said the case was of "high constitutional importance" and they would be arguing their right for it to be heard by parliament.

Morley, Chaytor and Devine appeared together in the dock of court No 1 as their lawyer, Julian Knowles, said that they "unequivocally and steadfastly maintain their innocence of the charges against them".

Knowles told the chief metropolitan district judge, Timothy Workman: "They also maintain that to prosecute them in the criminal courts for their parliamentary activities would infringe the principle of the separation of powers, which is one of the principles which underpins the UK's constitutional structure."

He continued: "They would argue: 'The workings of parliament should be dealt with by parliament.'"

He said the subject matter of the prosecutions was covered by parliamentary privilege conferred upon them by article nine of the Bill of Rights 1689: "Article nine provides that proceedings in parliament cannot be impeached or questioned in any court or place outside parliament."

He said: "My clients should not be understood as saying they are above the law. That would be quite wrong. Parliamentary privilege is part of the law, and it is for parliament to apply the law in their cases."

He added: "The issues raised by these three cases are of high constitutional importance."

Morley, a former agriculture minister and MP for Scunthorpe, faces two charges relating to £30,000 mortgage claims to which, it is alleged, he was not entitled.

Chaytor, the MP for Bury North, faces three charges relating to claims of £1,950 for IT services and £18,000 relating to rent.

Devine is alleged to have claimed £3,240 for cleaning services and £5,505 for stationery using false invoices. All three entered not guilty pleas.

A move to allow the three MPs to remain in the main body of the court and not to stand in the dock was refused by the judge. All three were granted unconditional bail.

Hanningfield appeared separately to plead not guilty to six charges relating to claims for overnight stays in London on nights when he was at home in Essex. His lawyer, Rupert Bowers, indicated he too would be arguing that his case was covered by parliamentary privilege. Hanningfield made no attempt to avoid standing in the dock.

The former Essex county council leader, who appeared under the name of "Paul Edward Winston Lord Hanningfield, previously White", was also granted unconditional bail.

The judge declined jurisdiction of the cases.

The parliamentary privilege argument will now be argued at Southwark crown court.

The three MPs have been barred from standing as Labour candidates at the forthcoming general election.

They left court without commenting to journalists and got into a waiting black cab accompanied by their lawyers and escorted by police officers.

There was a brief crush around the vehicle as protesters hurled abuse, shouting "pigs" and "oink, oink".

After the hearing, Hanningfield issued a statement saying he was "devastated" by the affair.

His spokesman, Mark Spragg, said: "Lord Hanningfield has devoted the last 40 years of his life to public service including both as leader of Essex county council since 2000 and as a member of the House of Lords since 1998."

The charges in full

David Chaytor, the MP for Bury North, is accused of providing false information on an allowances form under the Theft Act 1968.

The charge states he falsely claimed rent between September 2005 and August 2006 for 152 Hide Tower, Regency Street, London, from Sarah Elizabeth.

It adds that he claimed £12,925 by lodging a claim for £1,175 a month in rent when he was in fact the owner of the premises.

A second charge states that on or about 19 May 2006, he dishonestly filed two invoices for computer IT services worth £975.

The court document adds that they purported to show the services had been provided in February and March 2006 by Paul France.

A third charge states that between November 2005 and September 2006 he dishonestly made use of a short-hold tenancy agreement in a claim form.

This showed that between August 2007 and January 2008 he rented Delph Cottage, Castle Street, Summerseat, Bury, from Olive Trickett for £775 a month plus a month deposit.

The charge adds that Trickett was his mother and it was not permissible to lease accommodation from a family member. The total sum claimed was £5,425.

Jim Devine, the MP for Livingston, is accused of falsely claiming costs for parliamentary duties in March 2009.

The charge sheet alleges he submitted two misleading invoices worth a total of £5,505 for services provided by Armstrong Printing Ltd.

A second charge alleges that between July 2008 and May 2009 he dishonestly claimed allowances for repair, insurance or security.

The document alleges he intended to gain by submitting false invoices for services, cleaning and maintenance worth £3,240.

The services were allegedly provided between April 2009 and March 2010 by Tom O'Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning Services.

Elliot Morley, the MP for Scunthorpe, is accused of falsely claiming a furnishing allowance between March 2006 and November 2007.

The charge sheet alleges he submitted a deceptive mortgage application.

This showed £800 mortgage monthly interest was charged by the Cheltenham and Gloucester when in fact the mortgage was paid off. A total overpayment of £16,000 was made.

A second charge alleges that between April 2004 and February 2006 Morley made a further false mortgage interest claim.

Again he is accused of claiming £800 a month, a total overpayment of £14,428.67.

Lord Hanningfield, also known as Paul White, faces six charges.

The offences are alleged to have taken place in March 2006, May 2007, April 2008, July 2008, May 2009 and April 2009.

One charge states that on or about 1 April 2009, at Westminster, he made a dishonest claim for travelling allowances.

It states that Hanningfield "purported to show that you were entitled to be paid expenses when the conditions entitled you to payment of such expenses had not been fulfilled".

Keep America Safe group draws backlash after dubbing lawyers who defended terrorist suspects 'al-Qaida seven'

Not long after the Twin Towers fell, Dick Cheney declared the death of more than two centuries of American tradition. "It will be necessary for us to be a nation of men, and not laws," he said.

The then vice-president did his best to follow through by riding roughshod over the constitution and international laws by promoting torture, indefinite detention without trial and support for secretive military tribunals in which defendants were stripped of many of their rights.

Now Cheney's daughter, Liz, has taken up the cudgel by heading what some are describing as a McCarthyite campaign to purge the government of lawyers who dared to defend men, and even a child, accused of terrorism. The lawyers drew particular ire by sometimes defeating in court the Bush administration's attempts to declare itself beyond the law.

Liz Cheney and her organisation, Keep America Safe, have dubbed lawyers who acted on behalf of accused terrorists, and who now work for the department of justice, the "al-Qaida seven". The group has rebranded the justice department the "department of jihad".

Liz Cheney, who trained as a lawyer and served as a deputy assistant secretary of state in the same administration as her father, is backed by some Republican members of congress, relatives of 9/11 victims and parts of the conservative press who have accused the lawyers, some of whom worked pro bono, of "coddling" and "abetting" terrorists.

Keep America Safe ? whose mission statement says the current administration is "unwilling to stand up for America" ? has recently launched a television attack advert questioning the loyalty of the targeted lawyers and sinisterly asking: Whose values do they share?

But the assault has prompted an unexpected backlash from some former Bush administration lawyers and officials who have joined liberal critics in denouncing the campaign as unAmerican and violating the principle that even the most unpopular defendant is entitled to a lawyer.

People for the American Way, a liberal pressure group, accused Liz Cheney of using fear and smear tactics.

"Character assassination, attacks on loyalty, guilt by association ... they are textbook McCarthyism," it said. "What makes this cowardly political attack all the more outrageous is that the lawyers in question were asked by the Bush administration to represent the detainees."

The targets of Keep America Safe's campaign include the deputy solicitor general, Neal Katyal, who represented Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, in a case that led the supreme court to declare the Bush administration's original plan for military tribunals to be unconstitutional.

The campaign against Katyal is in part led by the conservative Weekly Standard, whose editor, Bill Kristol, is a board member of Keep America Safe. The magazine attacked Katyal over his courtroom description of Hamdan as a "simple driver" and for demanding that the accused man's constitutional rights be protected. It accused the lawyer of being unable "to tell the difference between us and our terrorist enemies".

The assault has also focused on an assistant attorney general at the justice department, Tony West, who defended John Walker Lindh, an American captured fighting with the Taliban, and Jennifer Daskal, another justice department official who previously worked for Human Rights Watch against the Bush administration's detention policies.

Daskal has been attacked for describing a 15 year-old detainee, Omar Khadr, as a child soldier. "Khadr is a terrorist, not a soldier ... We regularly try 15-year-olds for crimes as adults in America," said the Weekly Standard.

The campaign is in part driven by a broader attempt to portray Barack Obama as soft on terrorism because of his intent to close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre and his plan to give accused terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, a civilian trial.

But the attempts to portray the Obama government as riddled with fifth columnists has drawn stinging criticism from some prominent conservatives, including former officials in the last Bush administration.

Nineteen former officials and lawyers ? including Kenneth Starr, the former solicitor general and independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton, and George Bush's former acting attorney general, Peter Keisler ? described the attacks on the lawyers as "shameful" and as undermining the struggle against terrorism.

"As attorneys, former officials, and policy specialists who have worked on detention issues, we consider these attacks both unjust to the individuals in question and destructive of any attempt to build lasting mechanisms for counterterrorism adjudications," the letter said.

"The American tradition of zealous representation of unpopular clients is at least as old as John Adams's representation of the British soldiers charged in the Boston massacre." In 1770, John Adams, who went on to become the second US president and one of the most influential of the founding fathers, defended eight British soldiers who were accused of killing five innocent civilians during a riot.

The letter denounced what it said was the maligning of the lawyers "who have taken honourable positions on contested questions" and the demanding of a uniformity of views among those who serve in government that will not benefit the country.

Starr told MSNBC that the lawyers deserved to be commended not criticised.

"This was very unwise and really an out-of-bounds characterisation and challenge to good, honourable lawyers," he said. "It's very important for lawyers to be willing to take on unpopular causes to make sure that power is checked, that there are, in fact, arguments being advanced on behalf of those who have been subjected to governmental power."

Other Bush administration officials have come to the defence of the lawyers including the former solicitor general, Ted Olson, who told Politico that representing unpopular defendants is "in the finest tradition of the profession".

But he said that he wished some of those now critical of Keep America Safe had spoken out on behalf of lawyers in the defence and justice departments who wrote the legal advice defending waterboarding of terrorist suspects.

Liz Cheney's tutor at the University of Chicago law school, Richard Epstein, has joined the criticism and expressed bafflement at the position taken by his former pupil.

Keep America Safe has responded to the criticism by saying that lawyers who defended alleged terrorists could now be deciding policy toward the same people. "The American people have a right to know who in the department of justice is setting policy regarding detention of terrorists and related national security issues," the groups director, Aaron Harison, told ABC news.

"Lawyers in private practice have the right to volunteer pro bono to defend terrorists. However, membership in the legal profession does not immunise a person from questions or criticism of their prior actions."

Minister says building work on 250mph route cutting journey times between London and Birmingham could begin in 2017

The government unveiled plans for a £30bn high-speed rail network, with the first phase between London and Birmingham opening in 2026.

Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said building work on the 250mph route could begin in 2017 once a formal public consultation was completed.

The route linking the capital and England's second city, which will cut journey times from 84 minutes to 49 minutes, will originate at London Euston and pass through Old Oak Common, in west London, where a Crossrail interchange will provide transport to Heathrow airport.

Controversially, the line will then run through the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire, past picturesque villages such as Wendover, before arriving at an intermediate stop near Birmingham airport.

A press conference today given by Adonis revealed that 440 homes would be demolished between London and Birmingham to make way for the project.

The plans include a new terminal in Birmingham city centre, and the main body of the line sweeping through the Trent valley to join existing tracks north of Lichfield, where journeys would continue to Manchester and Scotland at conventional rail speeds.

"The time has come for Britain to plan seriously for high-speed rail between our major cities," said Adonis. "The high-speed line from London to the Channel tunnel has been a clear success, and many European and Asian countries now have extensive and successful high-speed networks. I believe high-speed rail has a big part to play in Britain's future."

In a nod to Tory objections to the Heathrow proposal, Adonis said the case for a station would be examined by the former Tory transport secretary Lord Mawhinney.

The first phase will cost up to £17.4bn for 128 miles of track from London to the west Midlands, with the full 330-mile network costing £30bn.

The transport secretary also unveiled the blueprint for a wider network, with a Y-shaped route splitting off from Birmingham to go westwards to Manchester and east to Sheffield and Leeds. Journey times between London and Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield would fall from about two hours 10 minutes to 75 minutes.

Formal planning for the route from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds will be completed next summer, with a consultation to follow in 2012.

Adonis said today: "I would envisage the network over time being extended to the north-east and Scotland." But he admitted that financing the line to Scotland was not an issue now as there was no firm proposal yet for a line to be built. Under the current proposal, the trail route to Scotland would be completed on existing lines, even when the Manchester and Leeds sections are finished.

Despite the Mawhinney gesture, the Tories, who have pledged to build a high-speed network instead of a third runway at Heathrow and to start construction in 2015, attacked the detailed proposal.

Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said: "In leaving out Heathrow and setting out plans that give no firm guarantees north of the Midlands, Labour's plans are flawed by lack of ambition and undermined by their inability to grasp the basic truth that high-speed rail should be an alternative to a third runway, not an addition to it."

The government-backed company that drew up the plans, HS2, believes there is no business case for a direct link to Heathrow airport and some industry experts argue that the Old Oak Common interchange provides an equally good link.

Ralph Smyth, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "By using existing and disused transport corridors as well as tunnelling the impact on the Chilterns is less than feared. But the impact on Warwickshire, where the line [would] run through open countryside, is a major concern. There is a strong need for more than just fine tuning."

Green groups also warned that the proposals must not squeeze funding for the conventional rail network. Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "The danger is that a high-speed line will suck money out of the current transport network. The last thing people want is service cuts, higher fares and more potholes, while the executive classes are treated to gleaming new high-speed trains."

Prime minister and predecessor have each claimed two provinces as counts early vote tallies show them almost level

Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his predecessor, Ayad Allawi, are almost neck and neck in early counts after Sunday's general election, so far claiming two of the country's 18 provinces each.

Maliki was leading in the Shia conservative heartlands of Najaf and Babil, while Allawi appeared to have won the Sunni strongholds of Diyyala and Salahedin, according to the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) .

Meanwhile, the first allegations of vote-rigging emerged in Baghdad.

Allawi's Iraqiya list claimed 55 of its candidates had been disqualified on the eve of the election as part of a contentious de-Ba'athification process ? a claim that has yet to be verified.

Iraqiya supporters claimed officials had conspired to discard ballot papers and failed to post counts.

Allawi would not put his name to the allegations, which offered scant detail and fell significantly short of a statement, released in the name of the Iraqiya list, that alleged "massive and unprecedented fraud".

"We found Iraqiya votes in rubbish bins," Adnan al-Janabi, a candidate, said. "Their votes thrown out of ballot boxes and neglected by the IHEC ? and this is fraud."

Janabi and other Iraqiya candidates said they had received advice about irregularities today from the UN assistance mission in Iraq. UNAMI could not be reached for comment.

An IHEC board member, Qassem al-Abodi, said no allegations of irregularities had been raised with the commission.

"[Iraqiya] have not submitted any complaint," he said. "We don't rely on what is said in the media, only on legal procedures."

A credible ballot is considered to be crucial to a planned US withdrawal. It follows elections in Iran and Afghanistan, where results are widely considered to have been illegitimate.

Partial counting results from Iraq's 14 other provinces are expected to be released on Sunday.

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US Rep. Paul Ryan' says he'd tweak his roadmap for the budget if it didn't maintain governement revenues at traditional levels.

Eden Hazard scored a late free-kick to give Lille a narrow 1-0 win over Liverpool in the first leg of the Europa League last-16 match.

Union leaders representing thousands of British Airways cabin crew kept the airline waiting for any decisions on strikes today after again holding back from announcing dates for industrial action.

Two groups of football fans walked free from court today despite admitting that they drunkenly brawled on the Tube.

As The Last Post sounded, the wind that had buffeted the National Memorial Arboretum suddenly dropped and the billowing flags hung forlornly as heads were bowed in silence.

Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer told a judge today they will use a 320-year-old law to argue they should not be prosecuted over the expenses scandal.