Lawyers defending detainees at Guantánamo Bay said Nov. 1 that procedures and practices employed by the US government make it impossible for them to do their jobs. In a letter (PDF) directed to the attention of the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, the attorneys allege that Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) staff seize, open, interpret, read and review attorney-client privileged communications—actions which the attorneys argue are unlawful. As a result of this practice by the JTF-GTMO, the attorneys find themselves in "an untenable position of having either to violate professional ethical standards in order to communicate with our clients, or cease communicating with our clients," and accordingly request that the practice be stopped immediately. Additionally, the attorneys, who represent six "high value detainees," address the refusal up to this point of the government to respond to their complaints or requests in spite of sending "multiple communications."

An Argentine court on Oct. 26 sentenced 12 former military and police officers to life in prison for crimes against humanity. The defendants were convicted of various crimes that took place in the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), which was used by the former military dictatorship as a torture chamber. Argentina's military junta used the location throughout the dictatorship's 1976-1983 "Dirty War," during which more than 13,000 people were killed. Alfredo Astiz AKA the "Angel of Death" was one of the officers that received a life sentence. Astiz is a former navy spy for the dictatorship who was convicted of the murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three human rights activists. Four additional defendants were also convicted, with their sentences ranging from 18 to 25 years in prison.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 25 reinstated a lawsuit by Papua New Guinea citizens against mining company Rio Tinto on claims of genocide and war crimes. Allowing the suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the court ruled that it may proceed due to the Australian mining company's substantial operations in the US. Rejecting several attempts by the company to block the suit, it also ruled that a corporation can be held liable for genocide:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) last week urged the Canadian government to investigate and arrest former US president George W. Bush for his role in torture, ahead of his travel to an economic summit in British Columbia. AI's submission to Canadian authorities emphasizes Bush's authorization of "enhanced interrogation techniques" including waterboarding, which Bush has admitted.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Oct. 14 temporarily blocked portions of a controversial Alabama immigration law. The ruling came in response to a motion filed last week by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a coalition of immigrants rights groups after a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama twice refused to block the law from taking effect. The appeals court granted the DoJ's motion to block Section 28, which requires immigration status checks of public school students, and Section 10, which makes it a misdemeanor for an undocumented resident not to have immigration papers. The appeals court refused to block provisions that require police to check the immigration status of suspected undocumented aliens, bar state courts from enforcing contracts involving undocumented immigrants and make it a felony for undocumented immigrants to enter into a "business transaction" or apply for a driver's license. The injunction will remain in effect until the Eleventh Circuit hears oral arguments and issues a ruling on the constitutional questions presented by the case.

An Egyptian court on Oct. 10 overturned a ban that prohibited presidential hopeful Ayman Nour from officially forming the Islamic-based political party al-Gama'a al-Islamiya. The decision will allow political parties previously banned because of their religious foundations to participate in the upcoming November parliamentary elections. The court found that Nour's party, "Construction and Development," should be allowed to participate in the elections because its founders consist of Muslims and non-Muslims and the party does not mandate the religion of its members.

Syria has rejected calls from several nations to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a report adopted Oct. 11 by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The report also includes a number of recommendations to the country aimed at improving its human rights situation, which has been widely criticized since the regime began to crack down on anti-government protests early this year. In statements contained in the report, Syria asserts that the violence in the country is the result of "terrorist threats" prompted by "a media war" and "the hegemony of the West, the US and Israel." The government of President Bashar al-Assad is estimated to have killed 3,000 civilians since mid-March.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior Affairs and the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Oct. 11 denied prisoner torture allegations made earlier this week in a UN report. A spokesperson for the Ministry said at a press conference that there was no basis for the report's findings and that publicizing such information could hurt the people's trust in the police. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) one day earlier released a report alleging that prisoners in some Afghan-run detention facilities have been beaten and tortured. The prisoners interviewed for the study had been detained by the NDS or Afghan National Police (ANP) forces for national security crimes. Nearly half of the 273 detainees interviewed reported that they had undergone interrogation that amounted to torture. UNAMA also alleged that NDS and ANP officials committed due process violations and arbitrarily detained arrestees but did acknowledge that the abuse was not the result of official government policy.