In March, the US military transfered Camp Taji prison [JURIST report] to Iraqi authorities. The US began to scale back its Iraq detention facilities in September when Camp Bucca [JURIST news archive] in southern Iraq was closed [JURIST report] pursuant to the Status of Forces Agreement [text, PDF]. According to the agreement, all US troops must be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011, and the US must release all prisoners or transfer them to the control of Iraqi authorities. The Iraqi government must have arrest warrants or detention orders to accept transferred prisoners into Iraqi facilities, otherwise risking release. A fourth US-run prison, Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive], was transferred back to Iraqi control [JURIST report] in 2006. The Iraqi government has recently faced criticism for its treatment of prisoners from Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. In April, the rights group claimed that Iraqi detainees were repeatedly tortured [JURIST report] in a secret prison in Baghdad.

The British government indicated last week that it will issue a new set of regulations regarding the use of information obtained via torture [JURIST report]. The announcement came as part of the government's defense against a lawsuit filed by the human rights group Reprieve [advocacy website], which has been seeking a review of the country's torture policy. A UK High Court judge agreed that the country's policy must be reviewed [press release], but indicated that because lawyers for the government promised new guidelines would be released shortly, the court would take no immediate action. Similar claims of complicity were made against the government in a new report [materials] released last week by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. According to HRW, intelligence services in France, Germany and the UK lack proper oversight of intelligence information that is received from countries that torture.

Several state legislatures have acted recently to place restrictions on women's access to abortion. Last month, Florida Governor Charlie Crist [official website] vetoed a bill [JURIST report] that would have required women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound or listen to a detailed description of the fetus before the procedure would be performed. In May, Oklahoma lawmakers approved a bill [JURIST report] requiring women seeking an abortion to complete a questionnaire containing information on marital status, reason for seeking the abortion and whether the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. In April, the Nebraska legislature approved a bill prohibiting abortions at or past 20 weeks [JURIST report] on the theory that a fetus can allegedly feel pain following that point. Advocacy groups have criticized the laws and indicated they will challenge them in court.

The arrests come just one month after the High Court denied the bail request [JURIST report] of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], who is appealing a 20-year conviction for corruption and embezzlement. Chen was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, but the court reduced his sentence [JURIST reports] in June after finding that he had not embezzled as much money as previously thought. Chen was originally found guilty on corruption charges and sentenced to life in prison in September. His wife was also given a life sentence [CNA report] after the pair were convicted on charges of embezzlement, receiving bribes, forgery and money laundering. Chen has maintained his innocence against all charges, claiming that current Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou [official website] is using Chen's trial to distance himself from Chen's anti-China views. Chen was also indicted in December for allegedly embezzling USD $20 million from banks [JURIST report] that sought to protect themselves during Chen's financial reform program.

The Italian bill has been extremely controversial. Supporters of the bill claim it is necessary in order to protect privacy and curb the excessive use of wiretaps [NYT report]. The bill has been widely criticized [WSJ report] by members of the media and prosecutors who contend the bill is aimed at protecting high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [official profile; JURIST news archive], who are often the focus of wiretap investigations. Last week, a majority of the Italian media went on strike [JURIST report] to protest the bill in a "day of silence" that was meant to be representative of the silence the public would be faced with if the bill were to be signed into law. Opponents also contend that the bill would weaken the ability of the judiciary to conduct investigations, including investigations into organized crime.

The [district] court appeared to rule that an individual must embrace every tenet of al-Qaida before United States forces may detain him. There is no such requirement. When the government shows that an individual received and executed orders from al-Qaida embers in a training camp, that evidence is sufficient (but not necessary) to prove that the individual has affiliated himself with al-Qaida.

In August 2009, the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled that the US lacks enough evidence [JURIST report] to justify the continued detention of al-Adahi, granting his habeas petition. The government argued that al-Adahi, who has been detained at Guantanamo since 2002, was a supporter or member of the Taliban [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] and/or al Qaeda, claiming that al-Adahi had acted as an instructor at al Qaeda camp al Farouq, had familial ties to both the Taliban and al Qaeda, had been employed as a bodyguard for bin Laden and that al-Adahi's story lacked credibility. In December 2009, the court found the US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] in contempt for failing to videotape [JURIST report] al-Adahi's testimony, contrary to a court order issued in June.

Most of the detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many have been transferred back to the Arab nation. In January, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] upheld the detention [JURIST report] of Yemeni Guantanamo detainee Ghaleb Nassar Al-Bihani [NYT materials], ruling that he can remain in US custody, but, in December, the US government transferred six detainees [JURIST report] back to Yemen. Also in December, a federal judge granted Yemeni detainee Saeed Hatim's petition for habeas corpus, ordering his release [JURIST report]. A few weeks after the Obama administration suspended transfers to Yemen, a Yemeni government official said that Yemen will build a rehabilitation center for Guantanamo detainees. According to the anonymous official, Yemen will begin building [Reuters report] once it receives funding for the $11 million project promised by the US. It is believed the rehabilitation center will be internationally financed and monitored.

Last week, the court denied the government's motion for summary judgment [text, PDF], finding the possibility of legislative action to repeal the policy was "sufficiently remote" [opinion, PDF] to allow the case to proceed. LCR, an organization for homosexual members of the Republican Party [party website], filed the lawsuit [complaint, PDF] in 2004 in reaction to the Lawrence decision. In May, the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee [official websites] voted to repeal the policy after Obama and Gates agreed to a compromise [JURIST reports] that would prevent the repeal from taking effect until the completion of a review to determine what effects the repeal would have on military effectiveness, soldier retention and family readiness. Also in May, A CNN poll [results, PDF] released found that 78 percent of American adults believe that homosexuals should be able to serve openly in the military. In March, Gates announced changes to the enforcement [JURIST report] of the policy to make it more difficult to expel openly gay service members from the military. In May 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled that the US military cannot dismiss a soldier [JURIST report] on the basis of sexual orientation alone. The repeal of the controversial "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy has been an important issue for Obama since he took office, as reaffirmed in his State of Union Address [JURIST report].

Under the current policy, broadcasters must choose between not airing or censoring controversial programs and risking massive fines or possibly even loss of their licenses, and it is not surprising which option they choose. Indeed, there is ample evidence in the record that the FCC's indecency policy has chilled protected speech.

The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] remanded the case to the appeals court after ruling [opinion text; JURIST report] in April 2009 that the FCC did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in changing its policy regarding fines for the broadcast of isolated expletives. That ruling overturned a previous decision [JURIST report] by the Second Circuit, which held that the 2004 policy was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act [text] for failing to articulate a reasoned basis for its change in policy. The Supreme Court declined to address the constitutionality of the FCC policy in its decision and remanded the case to the lower court for further consideration of the constitutional issue.

Considering all of the circumstances, particularly the lack of significant prejudice of the sort that the Speedy Trial Clause was intended to prevent, the delay in this case did not materialy infringe upon any interest protected by the right to a speedy trial. The Court therefore holds that Ghailani's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial has not been violated.

Earlier this month, Kaplan ruled that Ghailani is not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is therefore fit to stand trial [JURIST report]. The issue of Ghailani's psychological state arose after he requested to be exempt [JURIST report] from prison strip searches because it triggers his PTSD, which he allegedly acquired while being interrogated at an overseas CIA detention camp. The exemption request was filed in May after Kaplan ruled that Ghailani must attend the opening of his trial [JURIST report], requiring him to submit to strip searches. Also in May, Kaplan refused to dismiss criminal charges [JURIST report] against Ghailani, despite his lawyer's claims that he had been tortured in prison. Ghailani was the first Guantanamo detainee to be brought to the US for prosecution. Having been held at the Guantanamo facility since 2006, Ghailani was transferred [JURIST report] to the SDNY in June to face 286 separate counts, including involvement in the bombings and conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda to kill Americans worldwide. He pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] at his initial appearance.

UK criminal justice reform has been debated in the country over the last four years. In 2006, the UK Law Commission [official website] published a report proposing a breakdown of the sentencing scheme for murder [text, PDF] into separate categories with different requirements and punishments. Months later, a UK chief justice spoke out against mandatory sentencing [JURIST report], citing concern over the Law Commission's report and suggesting that the mandatory life sentence for murder be abandoned and that a new broad offense of "homicide" be created which would allow judges wide discretion in sentencing for different scenarios of that according to circumstances. However, previous attempts at reform have met with strong opposition [JURIST report] from British judges, who have called such plans "kneejerk reactions" to sentencing scandals. Proponents of the reforms urge officials to limit prison sentences to only the most dangerous criminals in order to help the government deal with prison overcrowding [BBC backgrounder; Guardian backgrounder] that has reached crisis proportions [JURIST report].