Five Ethiopian bloggers on Oct. 16 were acquitted of terrorism charges relating to publications on their Zone9 website. The publications, critical of the government, landed nine bloggers in court, with one charged in absentia, in April 2014, for violation of Ethiopia's broad anti-terrorism law. In July five bloggers were unexpectedly released after being cleared by the court. In the new decision, the court announced that documents provided by prosecutors were insufficient to prove terrorism, leading to the release of four bloggers. Although cleared of terrorism charges, one blogger remains detained on charges of inciting violence. The releases come as a surprise for a nation ranked as one of the world's least free.

A group of top Iranian jurists and theologians approved the nuclear deal with world powers on Oct. 14, marking the completion of the last step before implementation of the deal may begin. The Iranian Parliament accepted the nuclear agreement the previous day and moved the process on to the Guardian Council, which determined  the legislation was consistent with the constitution and Islamic law. The nuclear agreement is now law in Iran, which has the power to withdraw if world powers do not hold up their end of the deal regarding the lifting of economic sanctions. Officials request that the sanctions be removed by January at the latest. Iran has yet to satisfy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, and the IAEA must report on the matter by Dec. 15.

The Cairo Criminal Court found the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri innocent of terrorism charges on Oct. 15. Mohamed al-Zawahri was the leader of a Salafist group and was an ally of ex-president Mohammed Morsi, who is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed al-Zawahiri was tried with 67 other defendants in the case referred to as the "al-Zawahri cell." Ten co-defendants were sentenced to death, and 32 others were given life imprisonment. Mohamed al-Zawahri was arrested in August 2013, two days after security forces forcibly dispersed the Rabea Mosque protest camp, killing perhaps 600.

A South African deputy minister said Oct. 10 that the nation will leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), opining that the court has "lost its direction." Following criticism for ignoring an ICC directive to arrest the president of Sudan, Obed Bapela of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) told reporters that South Africa will continue to uphold "the flag of human rights" independent of the ICC. Bapela indicated that powerful ICC member nations "trample" human rights and pursue "selfish interests," and some African leaders have questioned the ICC's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as being another in a long line of decisions biased against Africans.

With a vote of 14 in favor, the United Nations Security Council on Oct. 9 approved a resolution to allow the European Union to inspect and seize vessels suspected of smuggling migrants. Authorized under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the resolution permits certain nations to board ships in order to prevent human trafficking. Those nations may review vessels they have "reasonable grounds to suspect are being used for migrant smuggling or human trafficking from Libya." The Council also urged nations to help Libya in its ongoing struggle against human trafficking in the Mediterranean Sea.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Oct. 6 upheld the death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, a former police guard respected within Pakistan for killing politician Salmaan Taseer over his support for a woman convicted of blasphemy. Taseer, governor of Punjar at the time of his death, was leaving a restaurant in January 2011 when he was shot and killed. Taseer had drawn ire from religious conservative groups when he took up the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammed. The next possible step for Qadri will be an appeal for a presidential pardon, which is unlikely to be granted. 

The discrepancies between the US and Afghan accounts of the US-led bombing that struck a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last week call for an independent investigation by a never-before-used international body, said Joanne Liu, president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in a speech on Oct. 7. Twenty-two people were killed in the MSF-operated hospital that was hit by the US bomb, and dozens more were injured. MSF seeks an investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, a permanent body created by the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions and officially constituted in 1991, but has not yet been used because it requires a signatory state to sponsor an inquiry.

The interim government of Burkina Faso on Oct. 1 apprehended the leader of the week-long military coup in September, announcing that he will face military justice. Gilbert Diendere  was a general in the national army and the alleged leader of the the group known as the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP). Diendere is associated with another two other coups in the West-African nation, one in 1987 that retains significance for the ideology of the RSP. The 1987 coup marked the start of the 27-year rule of Blaise Compaore. Diendere was Compaore's former chief of staff. The first meeting of the reinstated interim government of Burkina Faso disbanded the RSP and dismissed the ex-minister of security. RSP forces are refusing to disarm. The RSP is incentivized by a recent modification to the electoral code that banned former members of the ruling party from running for political office. The interim government submitted a proposal before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Nigeria 10 days ago. ECOWAS is working with the UN to stabilize the transition government  before elections on October 11.