Justice Department appeals morning-after case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's order to lift all age limits on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription.

The decision came a day after the Food and Drug Administration had lowered the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 — younger than the current limit of 17 — and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.

With the appeal, the government is making clear that it's willing to ease access to emergency contraception only a certain amount — not nearly as broadly as doctors' groups and contraception advocates have urged.

The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York would allow girls and women of any age to buy not only Plan B but its cheaper generic competition as easily as they can buy aspirin. Korman gave the FDA 30 days to comply, and the Monday deadline was approaching fast.

In Wednesday's filing, the Justice Department said Korman exceeded his authority and that his decision should be suspended while that appeal is under way, meaning only Plan B One-Step would appear on drugstore shelves until the case is finally settled.

"We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women's reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit that prompted Korman's ruling.

Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception. The court cannot overturn the rules and processes that federal agencies must follow "by instead mandating a particular substantive outcome," the appeal states.

The FDA actually had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over the counter in late 2011, when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 were physically capable of bearing children but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own.

Sebelius' move was unprecedented, and Korman had blasted it as election-year politics — meaning he was overruling not just a government agency but a Cabinet secretary.

Whatever happens in court, moving the morning-after pill over the counter, even if limited to buyers 15 or older, marks a big societal shift in the long battle over women's reproductive rights. But in the volatile debate, both sides were unhappy with FDA's surprise twist.

On Wednesday, doctors' groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urged the Obama administration not to let the FDA action be the last word, and to follow Korman's lead.

Any over-the-counter access marks a long-awaited change, but it's not enough, said Dr. Cora Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports nonprescription sale of the morning-after pill for all ages.

"We still have the major issue, which is our teen pregnancy rate is still too high," Breuner said.

Even though few young girls likely would use Plan B, which costs about $50 for a single pill, "we know that it is safe for those under 15," she said.

Most 17- to 19-year-olds are sexually active, and 30 percent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex, according to a study published last month by the journal Pediatrics. Sex is much rarer among younger teens. Likewise, older teens have a higher pregnancy rate, but that study also counted more than 110,000 pregnancies among 15- and 16-year-olds in 2008 alone.

Contraception advocates see a double standard. No one is carded when buying a condom, but under the FDA's decision they would have to prove their age when buying a pill to prevent pregnancy if that condom breaks.

"This isn't a compromise. This is wrong," said Cynthia Pearson of the National Women's Health Network.

Social conservatives were outraged by the FDA's move to lower the age limits for Plan B — as well as the possibility that Korman's ruling might take effect and lift age restrictions altogether.

"This decision undermines the right of parents to make important health decisions for their young daughters," said Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.

Obama aides bristled at the suggestion that the FDA decision was an attempt at political compromise, insisting the FDA merely responded to an application filed by Plan B's manufacturer which sought the 15 age limit and over-the-counter sales.

At the same time, Carney signaled that a policy allowing 15-year-olds to buy the pill off the shelf would be more palatable to Obama than the prospect of 11-year-olds having unfettered access. Pointing to Obama's comments in support of Sebelius back in 2011, Carney said, "he referred to younger girls, and I believe so did Secretary Sebelius."

If a woman already is pregnant, the morning-after pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to the medical definition, pregnancy doesn't begin until a fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of the uterus. Still, some critics say Plan B is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it may also be able to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, a contention that many scientists — and Korman, in his ruling — said has been discredited.

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Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

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Justice Dept to appeal morning-after case

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Knox case puts Italian justice under scrutiny

ROME (AP) — When crooked American financier Bernie Madoff was sentenced in New York, the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published a front-page cartoon mocking Italy's trial system.

On one side was a U.S. courtroom, where a judge was handing down a 150-year sentence after a six-month trial. On the other, an Italian courtroom with a judge handing down a six-month sentence after a 150-year trial.

That's how the country's No. 1 newspaper summed up Italy's slow-moving, and at times inconclusive, justice system.

The decision by Italy's highest criminal appeals court to overturn the acquittals of American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, and order a new trial in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, is once again raising concerns both at home and abroad about how justice works in Italy.

It's a system where people cleared of serious crimes can have the threat of prison hanging over them for years, while powerful politicians such as former premier Silvio Berlusconi can avoid jail sentences almost indefinitely by filing appeal after appeal until the statute of limitations runs out.

"Lots of confusion and contradictions," said restaurant chef Angelo Boccanero, giving his impression of the Knox case as he sipped his morning espresso.

And it's not just the criminal courts that raise eyebrows.

The back log on civil cases is so severe that it hampers desperately sought foreign investment to Italy. Divorces can take years to process, meaning that couples who've had enough remain legally tied. And forget about getting quick compensation in a fraudulent property deal — it can take ages (if ever) before you'll see any money.

Successive governments have pledged to streamline proceedings but have so far failed to do so. That's largely because powerful people in politics, business and the judiciary have repeatedly fended off reform to protect their interests and the people close to them.

One criticism of the system is Italy's high number of lawyers. Milan, for example, has more attorneys than all of France. In civil cases, it takes an average of seven years to reach a verdict.

Defenders say that Italy's legal system is one of the world's most "garantista" — or protective of civil liberties. Defendants are guaranteed three levels of trial before a conviction is considered definitive and both sides are granted the right to appeal — although prosecutors often don't appeal minor acquittals. It's a system that sprang up in the postwar era to prevent the travesties of summary justice seen under fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, but in reality it means that justice can be delayed until it's denied as cases move at a snail's pace through the bloated legal machine.

Italy is also one of the leading voices in the world in campaigns to abolish capital punishment. In 1996, Italy refused to extradite one of its citizens wanted for murder in Florida, saying it did not receive sufficient guarantees he would not risk execution if convicted. He was tried in Italy, convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

For Knox, the system allowed new evidence in the appeals trial that led to her 2011 acquittal. But it also is exposing her to a third trial — which in all likelihood will be followed by another round at the supreme court. Knox is not expected to attend her retrial. If she is convicted — and the conviction is upheld by highest criminal court — Italy could seek her extradition. The United States law allows extradition of its citizens.

Another key aspect of the Knox case: The Italian system does not include U.S. Fifth Amendment protection against a defendant being put in double jeopardy by government prosecution.

"Our judicial system, like all judicial systems, is fallible," said Stelio Mangiameli, a constitutional law expert at Rome's LUISS University, but added: "It's not worse or better than the United States."

He said that, in addition to guarantees for the defense, Italy takes pains to protect the rights of the victim.

"You need to consider when there is a crime, there is also a victim," said Mangiameli. "In the Amanda Knox case, there is a dead girl and someone needs to respond for this death, no matter if American or French or any other nationality."

But the process, which in some cases runs over decades, can leave people like Knox in judicial limbo.

In September, an Italian civil court ordered the government to pay 100 million euros in civil damages to relatives of 81 people killed in a 1980 air disaster whose cause has been attributed alternately to a bomb on board and to being caught in an aerial dogfight. The court held that the transport and defense ministries had concealed the truth, even though a criminal court acquitted two generals for lack of evidence five years earlier.

It would seem natural that after three decades, the September decision meant the case was closed. Instead, appeals are pending.

For two decades, Berlusconi has been moving from trial to trial on charges that include corruption, tax fraud and sex-for-hire. He has described himself as an innocent victim of prosecutors he routinely slams as communists.

The ex-premier has so far never had a conviction upheld by the highest court and never served any time in jail. His lawyers employ vigorous defense techniques that have included laws — one struck down as unconstitutional — blocking top government officials from prosecution. As premier, Berlusconi himself has enacted legislation that is widely seen as tailor-made to shield him from legal difficulties.

Sometimes, however, justice is served.

Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi is serving an eight-year sentence on market rigging related to the stunning 2003 collapse of his dairy empire despite his advanced age. Tanzi, now 74, has been jailed since 2011 for his role in the scandal that defrauded thousands of small-time investors, despite arguments by his lawyer that his health is failing and that he should be granted house arrest under a law allowing it for convicts over age 70.

Tanzi faces even more jail time — nearly another 18 years — on a conviction of fraudulent bankruptcy and criminal association in the 4 billion euro bankruptcy. There is one more appeal on that sentence.

Whether the 25-year-old Knox, who spent four years in prison during the investigation, trial and first appeal, ever returns to Italy to serve more prison time depends on a string of unknowns.

Should she be convicted by an appeals court in Florence court, she could appeal that verdict to the Cassation Court, since Italy's judicial system allows for two levels of appeals — by prosecutors and the defense. Should that appeal fail, Italy could seek her extradition from the United States.

In defending Italy, some experts say the system cuts both ways.

"If she had been wrongly convicted," said criminal lawyer Manrico Colazza, "she would have been happy there was a court to reverse it."

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AP correspondent Colleen Barry contributed from Milan.

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Egypt justice minister dismayed by lynchings

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's justice minister warned Monday that the lynching of criminals in the streets by angry citizens is a sign of the "death of the state."

On Sunday, vigilantes hung two suspected thieves in a rural Nile Delta village as a crowd of thousands watched, and some of them egged on the killers.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki indicated that the killers may have seen themselves as implementing a strict form of Islamic law that calls for punishment of thieves and other outlaws whose crimes are so extreme, they disrupt society.

"The application of Islamic justice on outlaws by citizens and the cutting off of roads is one of the signs of the death of the state," Mekki was quoted as telling the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

He said only the state is authorized to use force and if this right is transferred to citizens, there is no state.

"A state that allows this is an unjust state because it does not afford its people protection," he said.

Since Islamists took power in Egypt following the 2011 uprising, there have been a number of cases where civilians tried to enforce more conservative, Islamic mores on the public.

In one such case, three men were convicted of killing a student in the city of Suez as he sat in a park with his fiancée. The assailants had argued with the victim for loitering in public with a woman who was not his wife.

In another example, a teacher in the southern city of Luxor allegedly punished two 12-year-old schoolgirls by cutting their hair for not wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf.

Witnesses to the lynchings depicted it purely as a revenge killing without pointing to any connection to enforcing Islamic law, or Shariah.

The killings came a week after the attorney general called for citizen arrests amid a police strike and sharp deterioration in security.

The men were hanged in the village of Mahallit Zayad, part of Samanod district in Gharbiya province, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo.

Security officials, a witness and a local rights activist, Diaa Mahalawi, said residents suspected the two men who were lynched were part of a gang of kidnappers who abduct girls and boys for ransom. At least one girl told a rights activist that she had been raped during her abduction by one such gang in the village.

The lynching of the two, who were also accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, was one of the most extreme cases of vigilantism in two years of sharp deterioration in security following Egypt's 2011 uprising.

Because of conservative cultural norms in rural areas like Mahallit Zayad, girls have not reported a single rape allegation to police, according to security officials and residents, including Mahalawi. The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Residents in Gharbiya province, among them a spokesman for Egypt's dominant political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, say people do not trust the police there to act on reports of rape.

Rights activist Mahalawi said people in Gharbiya are feeling hopeless.

"There is no security in the country," he said. "Meanwhile, the regime is trying to secure the presidential palace and the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters," he said, referring to the heavy security presence outside the offices of President Mohammed Morsi's Islamist group following violent protests there.

Mahalawi, who heads the human rights committee of the liberal opposition Wafd Party in the village where the lynchings took place, told the AP that he saw for the first time in Mahallit Zayad trucks packed with riot police outside the local police station on Monday.

A day earlier, a witness said those behind the lynching had taken the bodies to that police station and dumped them at the front door.

Mahalawi said that with no government or security taking action, people took matters into their own hands. He said that a girl had been raped and held a few days before the lynching and that her parents, with donations from residents, were able to pay a ransom and free her.

"The people are asking themselves why they should abide by the law," he said, blaming the president and his Brotherhood party for the chaos.

Brotherhood spokesman in the nearby city of Mahalla, Atef Bayouni, told the AP that police are to blame. He said they are not carrying out their duties in full in the area and that the lack of security has given free rein to criminals to do what they want.

"Had the police dealt with thugs directly, the situation would not have deteriorated like this," Bayouni said.

He said there are people who want the return of the old authoritarian regime and are being paid to create chaos and bring down Morsi, who took office last summer.

Another Brotherhood spokesman in the province repeated the same allegation about police.

In the most recent abduction case in Mahallit Zayad, security officials said that on Monday, a mother and daughter were released after relatives paid 60,000 Egyptian pounds (almost $9,000) in ransom.

The police were not involved in their release.

It was the latest example of how citizens have taken matters into their own hands following the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. The country's once powerful and feared police force was left weakened after the revolt.

The city of Mahalla was at a standstill for the second straight day on Monday due to a shortage in diesel, another one of Egypt's many crises. Microbus drivers had cut off the main roads there to protest the shortages, which barred policemen from reaching the scene of the lynchings, according to security officials.

Egyptians angry with police for decades of abuse under Mubarak and the use of lethal force against protesters have clashed with security forces during rallies against his democratically elected successor, Morsi.

For four months, protesters have held a sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square against Morsi. Protesters burnt a police vehicle there on Monday during another attempt by police to clear the sit-in.

Also on Monday, the country's top prosecutor ordered the arrest of 15 protesters and three Brotherhood guards for alleged involvement in an assault on journalists outside the group's headquarters over the weekend after activists spray painted anti-Brotherhood graffiti on the street outside the office.

The opposition accuses Morsi of trying to monopolize power, reneging on promises of reform and of failing to improve the country's poor economy. Nearly half of Egypt's around 85 million people live at or below the poverty line of $2 or less a day.

Also frustrated, thousands of officers and low-ranking policemen have broken ranks, staging protests and waging strikes against what they say is the politicization of the force by Morsi. Some of the striking police officers allege that the Muslim Brotherhood is attempting to control them. The Brotherhood denies that.

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