[JURIST] The Iraqi government sent a draft bill to the speaker of Iraq's parliament [JURIST news archive] Tuesday which could allow for the pardon and release of around 5,000 detainees currently held in Iraqi prisons. The bill, approved [JURIST report] by the Iraqi cabinet last week, would exclude prisoners held in US custody and others who are imprisoned for a number of different crimes including terrorism, kidnapping, rape, adultery and homosexuality. The bill would also exclude senior figures of the former Baath regime [JURIST news archive].

Currently, there are more than 26,000 detainees held in US-run Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca and some 24,000 more held in facilities run by the Iraqi defense, interior and justice ministries. Most of the detainees covered by the bill are Sunni Arabs [IHT report] who have been held for more than a year on suspicion of supporting the insurgency. Despite criticism by Sunni members of parliament who say the bill is too limited, Iraqi officials have expressed hope that mass releases will help ease tensions between Shiite and Sunni communities. AP has more.

[JURIST] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has signed a decree granting amnesty to anyone involved in an aborted 2002 coup [Scoop report] against him, as well as other attempts to assassinate him or overthrow the government, Chavez said in a Monday phone call to state television. The law would grant amnesty to anyone who signed a declaration in support of interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup. Chavez described the amnesty as a way of "turning the page."

In 2004, Venezuelan prosecutor Danilo Anderson was killed by a car bomb; Chavez said that Venezuelan exiles in the US were behind the assassination [JURIST report]. The killing was supposedly aimed at halting the prosecution of those who supported the 2002 coup against Chavez, which was followed by a two-month national strike and Chavez's triumphant return to power. Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who had signed a declaration supporting Carmona. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US federal appeals court on Monday temporarily blocked the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha [BBC profile] to his home country of Algeria while it considers Belbacha's request for a permanent bar against the transfer. Belbacha has been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], but he argues that he will be tortured and perhaps killed if returned to Algeria.

The US Supreme Court in August denied [PDF text] Belbacha's emergency request to stay his transfer to Algeria [JURIST report]. Belbacha filed the emergency application for a stay [PDF text] after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted an earlier stay [order, PDF; JURIST report] on Belbacha's transfer. The appeals court instead put the case on an expedited schedule. US District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled [AP report] in July the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the challenge. AP has more.