An Italian court on Feb. 1 convicted former Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohamed Ben Riadh Nasri on terror charges and sentenced the Tunisian man to six years in prison. Prosecutors accused Nasri of working for a terror group associated with al-Qaeda while living in Milan in the 1990s. The US transferred Nasri, who was arrested in Afghanistan, from Guantánamo Bay to Italy in 2009 along with Abdel Ben Mabrouk as the part of the government's plan to shut down the detention center. Nasri's lawyer said he plans to appeal the conviction.

More than 1,000 protesters have been detained in Egypt as demonstrations against the 30-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak entered their third day on Jan. 27. Protests were held Cairo, as well as the port city of Suez, and are reportedly spreading across the country. In Suez, police resorted the use of rubber-coated bullets, water cannons and teargas, after protesters burnt down a police post. On Jan. 25, Egypt's Ministry of Interior announced it would no longer tolerate the protests, which have resulted in several deaths. Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has expressed his willingness to lead a transitional government. Elbaradei, who previously led the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he is planning to return to Egypt to join the protests.

The Obama administration may increase its use of controversial military commissions for Guantánamo Bay detainees, according to a New York Times report Jan. 20. Per the report, administration officials plan to rescind an order issued on Obama's first day in office that halted military commission proceedings and continues to block the government from initiating new cases under the system. If done, filings are expected within weeks, which would represent the first time that new charges are brought against detainees during the Obama administration. Officials are also reportedly drafting a new executive order that would establish mechanisms by which to review the cases of those detainees held without trial.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was charged Jan. 18 with corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other unnamed crimes. Duvalier underwent several hours of questioning, and, although he was released, he does not have the right to leave Haiti. Duvalier returned to Haiti from exile in France on Jan. 16, stating that he had come to offer assistance to help the country recover from last year's earthquake. On Jan. 17, Amnesty International called for Haitian authorities to prosecute Duvalier for human rights violations committed during his time in power. Amnesty claimed Duvalier and his regime committed acts of "systematic torture," including the disappearance or execution hundreds of pro-democracy activists at the hands of Haiti's armed forces and paramilitary force, the Tonton Macoutes. There has been no comment from Haitian authorities as to whether Duvalier will eventually be charged on these rights violations.

Officials from the Ensco Offshore Company appeared in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Jan. 12 in connection with a lawsuit the company filed last year against the moratorium on issuing drilling permits. The moratorium was enacted after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Ensco told the court that although the moratorium has been lifted, officials continue to unreasonably delay action on deepwater drilling permit applications. Ensco is seeking a preliminary injunction compelling the US Department of Interior to "expeditiously" process five pending permit applications the company has filed. The US Department of Justice denies there are delays and says that the additional time is due to new safety precautions to which the DoI must adhere.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced Jan. 6 that Guantánamo Bay detainee Farhi Saeed Bin Mohammed was transfered to his native Algeria pursuant to a court order from November 2009. The DoD said it had successfully transferred Farhi after the inter-agency Guantánamo Review Task Force aapproved the transfer following a comprehensive review considering, especially, the security issues. The DoD worked closely with the government of Algeria to transfer Farhi safely and securely. Farhi's lawyers had fought the transfer back to Algeria out of fear that he would be tortured and mistreated. It is unclear whether Farhi is currently in jail in Algeria.

Spanish National Court judge Fernando Andreu on Jan. 4 issued a writ to pursue an investigation against Iraqi Lt. Gen. Abdol Hossein al-Shemmari for allegedly ordering a July 2009 strike against Iranian exiles at Camp Ashraf in which 11 unarmed civilians were killed, 36 were detained and approximately 500 were injured. Most of the citizens of the camp are members of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), the largest Iranian opposition organization, whose members are considered protected persons under the Geneva Conventions.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a decree Dec. 26 allowing the country's Supreme Court to go forward with its plan to set up a tribunal to hear complaints of fraud during the September parliamentary elections. The tribunal brings doubt over the legitimacy of the elections, already tainted by irregularities that forced authorities to invalidate a significant number of votes and disqualify candidates. The decision comes less than a month before the 249-seat parliament is set to convene on Jan. 20, but officials say Karzai is committed to inaugurating the parliament by then.