A judge in Lebanon Feb. 25 granted bail to three men suspected of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The judge did not explain why he released them within days of the planned start-up date for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (SLT). Of the three men, who have been detained for three years, Mahmoud and Ahmed Abdel-Aal are Lebanese brothers whose phone records allegedly link them to the bombings, and are members of a pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim group. Ibrahim Jarjoura is a Syrian who was arrested for allegedly misleading the investigation. Four more suspects, who are high ranking Lebanese generals, are still being held. The SLT is expected to request their transfer to The Hague within two months.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled Feb. 24 that two former lobbyists may use classified documents in their defense against charges under the 1917 Espionage Act. Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, previously with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), are charged with conspiring to convey classified US intelligence to the Israeli government. The decision affirms a ruling of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that the defendants would be allowed to use certain classified materials in their defense under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA).

US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has called for a review of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace immigration raid that occurred in Bellingham, WA, on Feb. 24. In a hearing one day later, Napolitano told lawmakers that she was not made aware of the raid which resulted in the arrest of 28 Mexicans and Central Americans. The ICE raid on the Yamato Engine Specialists plant was the first since President Barack Obama took office, and sparked protests by local immigrants' rights groups. Most of those arrested are being detained at a federal facility in Tacoma and face deportation.

US Attorney General Eric Holder Feb. 25 confirmed the Obama administration's intention to close Guantánamo Bay in 2010 despite his belief that the facility is now well-run and that detainees are treated appropriately by guards. After visiting the prison earlier this week, Holder told reporters that he was impressed with what he saw there. His comments stand in direct contrast to statements made earlier this week by Reprieve human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour, who said that complaints of beatings and other abuses have increased substantially since December as guards supposedly anticipated closure and stricter restraints imposed by the new administration. Reprieve currently represents 31 Guantanamo detainees.

A US Green Beret was found not guilty at court-martial Feb. 25 of murder and mutilating a dead body in connection with the March 2008 killing of an Afghan man near Hyderabad, Afghanistan. Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Joseph Newell of the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) was charged last September in connection with the death, which occurred after a driver whom Newell had stopped for questioning lunged, prompting Newell to shoot him twice. The military jury deliberated for about four hours before returning its verdict. (Jurist, Feb. 26)

US citizen and accused al-Qaeda member Christopher Paul was sentenced to 20 years in prison Feb. 26 for conspiring to conduct a terrorist bombing campaign against targets in the US and Europe. Paul was sentenced by Judge Gregory Frost of the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Paul pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in June 2008, agreeing to a sentence of 20 years.

An unexploded bomb forced the evacuation of the airport in in Mexico's violence-torn Ciudad Juárez Feb. 25, while a bomb threat cleared the border city's courthouse. Airport personnel and travelers returned to the airport three hours after the explosive device was found by police, an airport official said. No explosives were found at the courthouse. At a hotel three blocks from the courthouse, four federal government ministers were holding a security meeting about the unprecedented violence in the city. (AFP, Feb. 25)

After eight years in a maximum-security Mexican prison, convicted drug kingpin Miguel Caro Quintero AKA "Michael Jackson" was extradited to the US Feb. 25. With his brother Rafael Caro Quintero, the extradited kingpin is said to have led the Guadalajara Cartel, Mexico's top crime machine in the 1980s and forerunner of today's warring Tijuana Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel. Rafael, arrested in Costa Rica in 1985, is serving time in Mexico for the 1985 killing of US Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. (AFP, El Universal, Feb. 25)