The US Department of Justice announced Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 the transfer of four detainees from Guantánamo Bay to three European countries, as the detainee population at the detention facility continues to be reduced. Two of the former detainees, Tunisian natives Adel Ben Mabrouk and Mohamed Riadh Ben Nasri, were transferred to Italy and will stand trial there. The other detainees include an unidentified Palestinian man transferred to Hungary, the first to be accepted under the agreement forged between the US and Hungary in September, and an Algerian, Saber Lahmar, who was transferred to France. It is unclear when the Italian trial will begin, though Italian authorities may be waiting for transfer of a third Tunisian man. (Jurist, Dec. 1)

The US Supreme Court Nov. 30 vacated a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that required the Pentagon to release photos of abused detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Court remanded Department of Defense v. ACLU for further consideration under Section 565 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010. The Act gives the Secretary of Defense the ability to prevent certain protected documents from being made public.

The UK's High Court ruled Nov. 19 that documents on the detention of Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan in 2002 must be released. This most recent decision is the latest in a series of back-and-forth rulings on whether redacted materials regarding Mohamed's detention should be disclosed. An October interim ruling by Lord Justice Thomas and Justice Lloyd Jones resulted in a redacted release, which the High Court indicated it would revisit after receiving submissions from both the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Mohamed.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City affirmed the conviction of civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart Nov. 17, and ordered her to begin her prison sentence. Stewart, along with Mohammed Yousry and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, were convicted of various crimes based on association with convicted terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman. As part of his conviction, Rahman is subject to Special Administrative Measures (SAMs), which limit his ability to communicate with individuals outside the prison. The court found that despite being a lawyer, Stewart was bound by the SAMs but knowingly and willfully lied about her intentions to comply. The court also found that Stewart provided and concealed material support to a conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) and US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) expressed support Nov. 15 for the Obama administration's proposal to move Guantánamo Bay detainees to a facility in northwestern Illinois. The Obama administration is reportedly evaluating the Thomson Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison located about 150 miles west of Chicago, as a possible location to house accused terrorists. Quinn and Durbin requested that the administration conduct a preliminary economic impact analysis on the purchase of the facility for use by the federal Bureau of Prisons. They pointed to the addition of an estimated 3,000 new jobs to the community and an estimated $790 million to $1.09 billion impact over four years as reasons to support the proposal. Durbin said the sale is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to inject a much-needed economic boost to a struggling region.

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Nov. 13 announced that the government will pursue federal charges against five men accused of conspiring to commit the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Walid Bin Attash, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi—all currently detained at Guantánamo Bay—will be tried in a Manhattan district court by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia. Holder said that he recommended that the men be tried in civilian court after a case-by-case review conducted by the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense according to a new protocol announced in July. Addressing concerns that the civilian court system would be unable to prosecute high-level terrorism cases, Holder said he is "confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit Nov. 10 on behalf of US citizen Amir Meshal, alleging that FBI agents were involved in his interrogation and rendition in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia in 2007. The suit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that agents repeatedly threatened Meshal with torture, disappearance, and execution in order to force him to acknowledge ties with al-Qaeda. Meshal was originally detained in Kenya while fleeing fighting in Somalia. After being held in Kenya, Meshal was returned to Somalia and eventually taken to Ethiopia where he was held until his release in May of 2007. No charges were ever filed against Meshal. (Jurist, Nov. 11)

Lawyers for four Chinese Muslim Uighurs detained at Guantánamo Bay filed a petition with the US Supreme Court Nov. 10, raising issues with the policy for transferring detainees from the facility. The case, known as Kiyemba II, is an appeal from an April ruling by the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and is separate from a case that the Court agreed to hear last month, known now as Kiyemba I. A critical issue raised in the appeal is whether a federal court can require the government to give 30 days notice before detainees can be transferred out of Guantánamo. This period would give the detainees time to bring any claims such as persecution or torture in US courts before they are transferred to locations outside of federal court jurisdiction. (Jurist, Nov. 11)