A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected April 24 a lawsuit by four UK citizens and former Guantánamo Bay detainees against former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials. The opinion affirmed a district court decision dismissing illegal detention and mistreatment charges under the Alien Tort Statute, the Geneva Conventions, and the Fifth and Eighth Amendments of the US Constitution against Rumsfeld and other military officials—but reversed the lower court's decision to reject a motion for dismissal of two additional charges against the defendants.

A US district court judge in Washington DC April 22 adopted a new standard for authorizing and reviewing the detention of terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay proffered by the Department of Justice last month. The DoJ submitted a memorandum in March asking the court to use a new standard for adjudicating habeas corpus petitions filed by Guantánamo detainees.

Kenyan prosecutors brought piracy charges April 23 against 18 Somali nationals who were captured at sea by European naval forces over the past two months and handed over to Nairobi. The suspects were captured by French and German forces off the Somali coast, where they allegedly attacked several merchant ships in the area. The European Union and Kenya have reached an agreement that allows EU navies to apprehend alleged pirates and turn them over to Kenyan authorities for prosecution.

Isaac Manuel Godoy Castro, a mid-level operative of the Tijuana Cartel wanted in the US, was arrested by Mexican army troops in Tijuana April 24. His face appeared on a wanted poster released Jan. 11 by the DEA that showed the Tijuana Cartel's leaders. Six other suspected members of the cell led by Godoy were also arrested. (EFE, April 24)

President Barack Obama said April 21 that he would not rule out the possibility of prosecuting lawyers responsible for authoring memos released last week outlining CIA interrogation policies. Obama had previously said that he would not pursue prosecutions of CIA interrogators, a pledge which drew sharp international criticism.

From Israel's YNet, April 21:

A museum commemorating the Holocaust was inaugurated on Tuesday in the Palestinian village of Na'alin, which has become a symbol for the struggle against the separation fence.

A Rwandan court rejected a lawsuit brought by captured Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rebel leader Laurent Nkunda seeking his release from Rwandan custody. Nkunda was apprehended by Rwandan authorities in January near the DRC border after a joint DRC-Rwandan military operation to capture him and root out Rwandan Hutu rebels operating in the DRC. He is the leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a rebel group operating in the eastern DRC province of Nord-Kivu. According to Nkunda's lawyer, he is being held illegallywithout charges or access to counsel. Nkunda faces an uncertain legal future, with the DRC government having called on Rwanda to extradite him to face charges for atrocities committed by forces under his command.

Shortly after the Pakistani Taliban won their demand for Islamic law in the Swat Valley in a peace-for-sharia deal, they moved into neighboring Buner district, and won the right to preach in mosques there—which, local reports indicate, means effective political control. Residents in Buner initially fought the incoming Taliban, forming a lashkar or tribal militia. Some 20 militants were killed in the battle, but the lashkar was soon outnumbered as hundreds more Taliban fighters swarmed into the area.