Lawyers for former Guantánamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani argued Jan. 11 that the charges against their client should be dismissed. Ghailani's lawyers argued before Judge Louis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that he was denied the right to a speedy trial while being detained for nearly five years in Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) secret prisons and later at Guantánamo Bay. (Jurist, Jan. 12)

A military judge ruled Jan. 11 that the trials for two Navy SEALs accused in the assault of an Iraqi prisoner will be held on a US military base in Iraq in order for the alleged victim to be questioned in court. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas are accused of assisting in a cover-up of the alleged assault of Ahmed Hashim Abed after his capture in September. A third SEAL, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, is accused of assaulting Abed after his capture as well as assisting in the cover-up of the assault. Abed is suspected of organizing the 2004 ambush and killing of four US contractors in Fallujah. A hearing has tentatively been scheduled for Jan. 13 to determine if McCabe's trial should also be moved to Iraq. Keene and Huertas will face trial in April, while a trial date has not yet been set for McCabe. All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family was found innocent Jan. 10 of the torture and rape of an Afghan national. The judge reading the verdict at a court in the United Arab Emirates, the world's third largest oil exporter and a US ally, gave no reason why Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan was exonerated of responsibility for abuse shown in a video first made public on the ABC network last year. But a lawyer for the sheikh, a son of UAE founder Sheikh Zayed, said his client was found to have "diminished liability" because two former business associates had drugged him and taken the video to extort money. The two men, Lebanese-American brothers Bassam and Ghassan Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in absentia and fined 10,000 dirhams ($2,723) for blackmail.

Iran's Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei on Jan. 11 called for sedition trials against leaders of the protests following last June's contested presidential election. In a statement to Tehran prosecutors, Ejei said that he supported calls by religious and civil authorities to try those who led anti-government protests for "mohareb," or "enmity against God," which is punishable by execution. In a letter addressed to the Iranian people, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi said that he would not be deterred from continuing to push for reform by threats of prosecution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 10 announced plans for the construction of 70 miles of fence along Israel's border with Egypt. In explaining the purpose for the barrier, which has an estimated cost of more than $400 million, Netanyahu said: "I decided to close Israel's southern border to infiltrators and terrorists after prolonged discussions with Government ministries and professional elements. This is a strategic decision to ensure the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel. Israel will remain open to war refugees but we cannot allow thousands of illegal workers to infiltrate into Israel via the southern border and flood our country."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Jan. 8 against the Library of Congress on behalf Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo Bay military commissions. Davis, who was employed at Library's Congressional Research Service (CRS), resigned as the military commissions' chief prosecutor in October 2007 and became an outspoken critic of the commissions, writing articles, giving speeches, and testifying before Congress that the system is fundamentally flawed. In the lawsuit, the ACLU alleges that Davis was terminated by the CRS last year due to opinion pieces about the commissions, in violation of his rights to free speech and due process.

More than a thousand African immigrant workers were put aboard buses and trains in the southern Italian region of Calabria over the weekend and shipped out to detention centers, following an outbreak of violence over the weekend in the town of Rosarno. Three days of rioting that began Jan. 7 when a group of immigrants was attacked while returning from the farms where they worked. The clashes resulted in widespread property damage as well as injuries to more than 50 immigrants and police officers. On Jan. 10, authorities began bulldozing makeshift immigrant encampments outside Rosarno. The evacuated immigrants were dispersed to centers around Italy and face deportation if they are found to lack residence permits.

The Nigerian army Jan. 11 confirmed that a Chevron pipeline had been sabotaged, leading to the shutdown of 20,000 barrels a day in the Niger Delta. "A joint reconnaissance by Chevron Nigeria Ltd. and the [army's] Joint Task Force have confirmed that indeed there was sabotage at Chevron pipeline between Makaraba and Otunana," the JTF said in a statement, calling it "an isolated incident." The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said other militants had conducted the attack, though it had sanctioned the operation. (Dow Jones, Jan. 11)