UN Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak called Oct. 23 for the Obama administration to launch an inquiry into the role of the US in human rights violations allegedly committed in Iraq. Nowak's comments follow the release of government information on WikiLeaks that included thousands of previously classified documents. Many of the documents purportedly illustrate instances of abuse, torture and murder carried out by US and Iraqi forces.

Canadian Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr on Oct. 25 pleaded guilty to all five charges against him, including conspiracy, murder and aiding the enemy. Under the terms of the agreement, Khadr will serve up to eight more years in prison in addition to the eight he has already spent in detention. At least one of those years will be spent at Guantánamo Bay. One other purported condition of the plea is that the US will support Khadr's eventual application for transfer to Canada, a bargain that has been agreed to by the US and Canada through a series of sealed diplomatic notes. The guilty plea marks a reversal from Khadr's original stance, voiced by one of his attorneys, that he would not accept a plea deal. Khadr's sentence will be determined by a panel of seven senior military officers at a hearing that will begin this week.

Haitian prison officers are found to have killed 12 detainees "deliberately and without justification," using "inappropriate, abusive and disproportionate force" during a Jan. 19 prison uprising, according to an independent commission, the New York Times reported Oct. 21. The Times obtained an exclusive copy of the commission's report, which said the incident involved "grave violations of human rights." The uprising occurred just days after Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people and left some one million homeless.

A US soldier is being held in connection with the fatal shooting on Oct. 17 of a Taliban detainee, who was found dead in a holding cell in Kandahar province. The US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Afghan officials have launched separate investigations into the death. Officials stated that detainee, Mullah Muhibullah, was a senior leader of the Taliban network in Arghandab district of Kandahar province. Arghandab is currently the focus of a major US-led military offensive to dislodge the Taliban from its strategic stronghold in Kandahar province. Mullah Muhibullah was detained during a Taliban operation the day before he was killed.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Oct. 11 that police have arrested Mal Rt [Reuters backgrounder] CEO Zoltan Bakonyi on criminal negligence charges for the company's role in last week's Akja chemical spill. Orban also announced an emergency law that was easily passed allowing the government to take control of Mal Rt, which owned the plant from which the spill originated. The spill occurred Oct. 4 when one of the plant's reservoirs cracked, releasing nearly 200 million gallons of toxic sludge, killing eight people, injuring hundreds more and causing environmental damage that some fear could take years to clean up. Police initiated their criminal investigation last week. If convicted, Bakonyi faces up to 11 years in prison.

The Israeli cabinet approved an amendment Oct. 10 to the country's citizenship law that would require those seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state" and promise "to honor the laws of the state." The amendment was approved by a vote of 22-8, and will be entered into law if it is approved by a majority in the Knesset and passes muster with the Supreme Court.

The majority of Bolivian newspapers engaged in a joint protest Oct. 7 against a proposed anti-racism law that they claim would damage freedom of expression. The newspapers (e.g. Los Tiempos of Cochabamba) shared one message on their front page—"There is no democracy without freedom of expression"—in response to a decision by President Evo Morales to maintain certain provisions of the legislation. Article 16 of the bill currently being discussed by the Senate, and which was already passed by the Chamber of Deputies, would establish economic sanctions and allow for media outlets that publish information considered by the government to be racist or discriminatory to be closed. Bolivia's journalists and media outlets maintain that they support the struggle against racism but that they cannot accept provisions that would limit freedom of expression. They worry that the bill could be used for political ends to censor unfavorable opinions.

A former Guantánamo Bay detainee filed a lawsuit Oct. 6 against the US military alleging that he was subjected to torture. Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al-Ginco, a Syrian national who prefers the surname Janko, filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia—the same court that ordered his release last year—claiming that US military officials repeatedly tortured him during his nearly seven-and-a-half years at Gitmo. The suit names 26 current or former members of the military who are allegedly responsible for the tortuous acts, such as urinating on Janko, slapping him, threatening him with loss of fingernails, sleep deprivation, extreme cold and stress positions. Janko was released in June 2009 when Judge Richard Leon found that he could no longer be classified as an "enemy combatant" and that the government's argument against him defied common sense. Prior to being detained by the US military, Janko was imprisoned and tortured by al-Qaeda for 18 months over suspicions that he was an American spy.