Karadzic expected in court on Tuesday

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will tomorrow appear before the international court attempting to put him on trial for charges of genocide and war crimes.

The 64-year-old's trial at The Hague began with an empty dock last week when he boycotted its start, claiming he had not had enough time to prepare his defence.

But in a letter to presiding judge O-Gon Kwon, Mr Karadzic, who denies all the charges, indicated he would attend a status conference scheduled for tomorrow aimed at setting out how the trial would proceed.

'I hope we will be able to find a solution which will lead not only to an expeditious trial, but a fair one,' Mr Karadzic wrote in a letter dated Sunday.

'I assure you that I am continuing to work hard to prepare for my trial and look forward to making my own opening statement as soon as I am in a position to do so.'

Prosecutors have begun to set out their voice over the last week, relating to atrocities committed during the 1990s.

Prosecutor Alain Tieger described Mr Karadzic as the 'supreme commander... who harnessed the forces of nationalism, hatred and fear' to create a Bosnian Serb state devoid of Muslims.

Mr Karadzic faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, dating back to the Bosnian war.

He is suspected of being directly involved in the killing of 8,000 Muslim Bosnians in the town of Srebrenica in 1995.

He faces life imprisonment if convicted of the charges.

The 64-year-old was arrested in Belgrade last year after more than a decade on the run during which time he posed as an expert in 'human quantum energy'.

Jurors use Bible to condemn Texan prisoner

A man facing execution in three weeks was convicted by a jury that consulted a Bible during their deliberations, it has emerged.

Amnesty International UK said 'serious questions' must be raised about the impartiality of jurors that quoted scripture in reaching their decision.

Khristian Oliver, 32, is due to be executed on November 5th having been sentenced to death in 1999 for a murder committed during a burglary.

Amnesty has learned from four jurors that several Bibles were present in the jury room, with passages highlighted and passed between them.

One juror even stood up to quote the text directly, saying: 'And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.'

Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said that while religious texts provided consolation and spiritual guidance, it was 'deeply, deeply troubling' for the Bible to be used in a matter of life and death.

'Even supporters of the death penalty will agree that no one should ever be executed if there is any suggestion of any unfair trial,' she said. 'Khristian Oliver's trial wasn't just unfair, it was a travesty.

'The Texas board of pardons and paroles should now instruct the state governor to commute Mr Oliver's death sentence, and indeed he should himself stay the execution if the board fails to act.'

Texas is one of 35 states to retain the death penalty in the US, where 37 people were executed last year; putting the country behind only China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Since 1976 the US has executed 1,175 people, while 138 people have been exonerated while on death row since 1973.

There are currently 358 inmates, including ten women, awaiting execution in Texas.

BNP to let non-whites become members

The leader of the British National party has agreed to let non-whites join his far-right party.

Nick Griffin made the admission as the BNP went to court to contest an injunction from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stating the party's constitution was at odds with the Race Relations Act and clause four of the equality bill.

At the central London county court Mr Griffin agreed to revise its constitution to stop discrimination on any 'protected characteristic', including race, ethnic or religious status.

John Wadham, legal director at the EHCR, said he was pleased at the outcome of the case, which gives the BNP three months to comply.

'Political parties, like any other organisation are obliged to respect the law and not discriminate against people,' he said.

“It is unfortunate that the BNP spent several months before conceding and dealing properly with our legal requirements. We will be monitoring the BNP’s compliance with this court order on membership, and its other legal obligations, including to its constituents.

The case has now been adjourned while the EHRC waits to see if Mr Griffin is able to convince the rest of his party to alter its constitution.

The commission had argued that the BNP was illegally restricting non-whites from joining the party, as defined in its constitution, which states: 'Membership of the BNP is strictly defined within the terms of, and our members also self define themselves within, the legal ambit of a defined 'racial group' this being 'indigenous caucasian' and defined 'ethnic groups' emanating from that race as specified in law in the House of Lords case of Mandla V Dowell Lee (1983).'

Mr Griffin had been building up today's case as a battle between the BNP and 'enemies [gathering to plot] our downfall'.

'They would do well to remember that for thousands of years the British people have defended these Isles, our blood and all that we love and hold dear,' he said in a message on the party's site.

After today's concession a link to a page titled 'D-Day: Help save our party' appeared to be broken.

UK terror suspect freed from control order

By Matthew Champion.

Home secretary Alan Johnson has 'some explaining to do' after effectively releasing a long-time terror suspect from house arrest.

Once regarded as one of the most dangerous terror suspects in the UK, the man known only as AF has been released from a three-year-old control order because the government does not want to disclose secret evidence against him.

AF, of joint British and Libyan nationality, has never been charged or heard the nature of the allegations against him, but the control order had restricted his movements and virtually confined him to his own home.

But after the law lords ruled in July that three suspects' control orders were illegal and ordered the government to disclose the case against them, home secretary Mr Johnson has taken the decision to release AF, born in 1981, rather than risk jeopardising intelligence sources in open court.

The other two terror suspects are also likely to have their control orders revoked.

Lord Pannick QC, who led AF's legal team, told the Times: 'The home secretary has some explaining to do.

'Does he now accept that there was no need for the control order which imposed severe restrictions on AF... or does he still think there is a need for controls but is unwilling to provide details of the allegations against AF?

'If the latter, does he accept that the control order regime is defective and should be scrapped?'

Carl Richmond, a solicitor with Middleweeks who acts on behalf of AF, said his client felt 'numb… almost disbelief'.

'The letter came out of the blue, with no warning,' he said.

'AF has always insisted that he has done nothing wrong. Clearly any evidence was such that the home secretary felt unable to disclose it. But we would argue that it was not material and could not have been relied upon in any case.'

The Home Office said in response: 'We do not comment about control orders.'