The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled April 17 that former Israeli security chief Avraham Dichter cannot be sued in the US because he is immune under traditional common law. The decision affirms the ruling of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Dichter faced suit by survivors of a 2002 Israeli bombing, the target of which was alleged Hamas leader Saleh Mustafah Shehadeh. Shehadeh was killed along with his wife and nine children when a bomb detonated in a densely populated section of Gaza City. Human rights groups have widely called the attack a war crime. (Jurist, April 17)

The lawyer for the accused gunman on trial for the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks moved April 17 to suppress his client's confession, arguing it was the product of torture. The lawyer also argued that the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Qasab should be moved to juvenile court because Qasab was 17 at the time of his arrest. Judge M.L. Tahiliyani rejected the petition for removal to juvenile court because Qasab asserted at the time of his arrest that he was 21 and because he does not appear to be 17. The court will announce its ruling on the admissibility of the confession on Saturday.

Security forces April 14 raided a marijuana plantation and arrested four people in the southern Philippine island province of Sulu, Mindanao region. Police said some 1,500 plants were uprooted in the hinterlands of Talipao municipality. A military statement linked the militant Abu Sayyaf group to the plantation. The identities of those arrested were unknown, but police said investigations are underway.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a new US initiative April 15 to battle piracy off Somalia, and said she has formed a diplomatic team to press Somali leaders "to take action against pirates operating from bases within their territories." She added: "These pirates are criminals. They are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped."

Naxalite guerillas killed 17 and injured several others in the "red corridor" of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa as voters went to the polls in 15 states and two Union Territories in elections for India's Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament. Five local officials were killed and two others injured in a landmine blast in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troop was killed and seven others injured in attacks in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. In Jharkhand, nine were killed, including seven Border Security Force (BSF) in a landmine blast. In Gaya district of Bihar, guerillas killed two police and injuring three. (Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh, April 16)

US Army Master Sgt. John Hatley was convicted of murder and conspiracy in court-martial proceedings April 15 for the killing of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners in 2007 and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Hatley was acquitted of obstruction of justice and also of murder for the separate death of a seriously wounded detainee in early January 2007. Hatley, along with Sgt. Michael Leahy, Jr. and Sgt. 1st Class John Mayo, was charged in September with premeditated murder, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. He had requested six more months to complete his 20 years of service in the armed forces, but was denied.

Israel will not comply with a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation into possible war crimes that were committed during recent fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to April 15 statements by Israeli government officials. The probe was originally approved by the UNHRC in January, which recently appointed South African judge Richard Goldstone to head the four member delegation in its fact-finding mission. An unidentified official said that a letter was sent to Goldstone last week, stating that Israel would not comply with the investigation because it doubted the mission's objectivity. Israel also argued that investigation did not focus enough on Hamas hostilities prior to the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Hamas has said that it will cooperate with the investigation.

Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohammad El Gharani has alleged that he has been recently abused by guards at the military prison, according to an April 14 report by AlJazeera. El Gharani, a Chadian national, reportedly made the allegations during a phone interview with the Middle Eastern news service, saying that guards regularly beat him, have used tear gas against him, and have broken his teeth. He said the abuse started before US President Barack Obama took office, but has still continued.