The head of Peru's state oil company has announced that it will auction off up to twelve new "lots" for oil and gas exploration, according to reports. The announcement was made by Perupetro's chairman, Daniel Saba, who has previously said that companies can even explore in reserves inhabited by uncontacted indigenous tribes.

Indigenous leaders delivered a lawsuit in Quito in late March before Ecuador's Constitutional Court asking that the country's new mining law be declared unconstitutional. The case is the next step that the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) is taking to try to put the brakes on large scale metal mining which has achieved unwavering support from President Rafael Correa's administration.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said April 1 that Venezuela would be willing to accept detainees from the Guantánamo Bay military prison. Chávez made his statements in an interview with Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera while attending the Second Summit of Arab-South American Countries in Qatar. In the interview, Chávez also called for US President Barack Obama to complete the release of all Guantánamo detainees and completely return Guantánamo to Cuba. Given the tense relationship between the US and Venezuela, it is unlikely that detainees will be sent to Venezuela.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia April 1 granted a habeas corpus petition filed by Yemeni Guantánamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed Basardh, ordering his release from the prison. His detention came under exclusive review of the court after a panel for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit suspended its consideration of his case in light of the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush, which it said gave the District Court sole jurisdiction over the matter. Justifications for Basardh's release were kept classified. The US government was ordered "to take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate the release of petitioner Basardh forthwith." (Jurist, April 1)

Judge John Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled March 31 that three detainees being held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan can proceed with habeas corpus challenges to their detention. The court's order rejects three of four motions brought by the US government to dismiss the habeas petitions of four foreign nationals, including one Afghan national, captured outside of Afghanistan and brought to Bagram, where they are currently held. The court's decision focused on whether the detainees, Fadi al-Maqaleh, Amin al-Bakri, Redha al-Najar, and Afghan national Haji Wazir, could invoke the Constitution's Suspension Clause. (Jurist, April 2)

The Supreme Court of Pakistan March 31 suspended its February decision barring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother from holding elected office, pending the high court's final review of the decision. Last week, the government of President Asif Ali Zardari petitioned the court to review the decision after Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan lawyers' movement ended a long march and widespread anti-government protests earlier this month. The court's decision returns Shabaz Sharif to his post as chief minister of Punjab state, but Nawaz must wait until the court's final decision to determine whether he can obtain a seat in the Pakistani parliament.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has signed a law that women's advocates at the UN say "legalizes" rape. The new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage, and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN documents. "It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century," said Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. "It is totally against women's rights. This law makes women more vulnerable."

From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), March 17:

Under the slogan of "A Better World Can be Made by Workers," the First International Iraqi Labour Conference was held in Erbil in the Kurdish Region of Iraq on 13 and 14 of March. The event drew more than 200 delegates from unions and federations across Iraq and solidarity delegations from the US, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and Iran.